It’s the Season 6 FINALE episode, so we had to celebrate in style not only bringing on a brand new special guest, but someone that had created a business of interior design that’s beautiful and functional. It’s the founder and principal designer of Blue Copper Design, Maegan Blau. After an accident 15 years ago left Maegan with a spinal cord injury and became a wheelchair user, Maegan took her love of interior design and her challenging experience of finding an accessible and beautiful home and created her own interior design company in 2018. Blue Copper Design, based in Arizona, fuses modern, southwest aesthetic with barrier-free design so clients are empowered to have beautiful homes that are functional for their needs. And they relay even more advice online for all those looking to make their spaces accessible and beautiful. 

Here’s our Four Hot Takeaways: 

1. At 3:34, Maegan examines all of her ‘lasts’ like the last design in a home she became obsessed with, the last new restaurant she went to, the last time she watched a home renovation TV show as actually an episode she was on. 
2. At 12:16 Dominique and Maegan talk all about Maegan’s origin story of going from homebuyer to interior designer, why it’s valuable for our personal spaces to mirror our aesthetics and functional needs, the reasons it’s important to break the mentality that you can should adapt to live in your own home, and the top tips to mention to a realtor, construction worker or yourself when making your non-negotiables during the house/apartment hunt. 
3. INTERMISSION STORY TIME at 31:02 brings the humor as Maegan tells the story of when she worked at Lululemon and fell backwards in her wheelchair while ringing out a customer and had a good laugh as her coworkers had to find her. 
4. And the final segment at 35:21 gets deep in the interior design feels as Maegan and Dominique talk about the ways you can bring some styling and accessible projects to your home without a full renovation, what’s the difference between renovating communal spaces versus private spaces in your home, how to get creative when figuring out renovation projects so you tackle one room at a time, and why it’s not you, in the space, when it comes to making it functional and beautiful for each person. 

Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Maegan @bluecopperdesign on Instagram!

Donate during our Donate Match Campaign until New Years Eve on our website (www.invisiyouthcharity.com/donate) and all donations will be matched by a private board member! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!

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29th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.

It’s the final addition from our “InvisiYouth Galaxy Question Box Series” for 2024, where all episodes have been InvisiYouth answering questions submitted by our InvisiYouth Galaxy Community that are life challenges they need some advice and guidance.

Our final 2024 question dives deep into how you can be empowered through your own preliminary research when you want to make requests at your job or school for supports or accommodations and you feel nervous to ask for fear their lack of experience will hinder you, but rather your presentation of knowledge can make things easier for all.

Learn the steps on why people feel the double edged sword worries of needing to ask for supports in their jobs or schools but feel they won’t be supported, why preliminary research skills are good out of the classroom so you can have knowledge to succeed, the reminder that others ignorance on your accommodations or accessibility at work or school shouldn’t hinder you from requesting it, and the ways it’s valuable to remember you’re never asking for too much when it’s just to equal the playing field. Gain the ideas behind our life-improving technique, Mise En Place Research Method, how you can learn the mental visual of ‘everything in its place’ that works for prep work when setting up for successful cooking actually works for how to prep your reasons/skills when asking for supports in the workplace or classroom, why gaining your personal knowledge on the how’s and why’s of getting the supports you need can be achieved will help you when presenting the ease it can take for your job or school to provide them for you, and the reason requesting to reach the same end goal in a new path is never a bad thing.

Plus, founder Dominique talks about her early years working in the publishing industry and how she had to do that research of ways she could run errands and out-of-office tasks when she was dealing with new health issues, and the way she presented it to her boss that not only enabled her to feel comfortable giving the supports, but it also make tasks easier for coworkers.

Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!

SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth

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Bringing back an old friend always brings the fun on a podcast, and this episode doesn’t disappoint. It’s returning guest, burn survivor, physiotherapist for Katie Piper Foundation, model and public speaker, Catrin Pugh. After surviving a coach crash and fire in the French Alps in 2013, Catrin was left with 96% burns on her body, and along her journey, Catrin has found great work sharing about her life and getting to charity work, public speaking, and modeling in campaigns for Avon Beauty, or feature in Vogue Portugal. And now, she’s a physiotherapist for Katie Piper Foundation, a nonprofit that provides rehabilitation and supportive services to survivors of burns and traumatic scarring. 

Here’s our Four Hot Takeaways: 

1. At 3:25 Catrin drops her favorite word in another language (which also connects to her favorite vacation spot), why she loves a cozy meal, her favorite scent, and why she’s a talker over texter. 
2. At 13:33 Catrin and Dominique share lots of tips on how to travel and vacation successfully when you’re traveling as someone with a chronic illness/disability, some fun stories about her modeling campaigns like how a last minute modeling job ending up being put in Vogue Portugal, and the girls advice for remaining confident in the dating scene as a young person with chronic illness or disability so you can get the most out of new people and find the partnerships that allow both to shine. 
3. STORY TIME INTERMISSION at 30:32 let’s Catrin share a story about how a time when she was in a bit of a rut, traveled to Paris and ended up meeting people that were inspired by her sharing about her scarring and being a burn survivor so it reinvigorated her love of motivating others. 
4. And the final segment at 36:43 had Catrin sharing about her experience getting into physiotherapy, how others had preconceived notions of her capability and she worked through it to succeed in schooling, what about physiotherapy intrigues her the most, and advice from Dominique and Catrin on how to confidently strive towards professional goals in the face of adversity and outsiders questioning capability in order to still love your work and adapt to thrive.  

Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Catrin @catrinpugh on Instagram! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth! 

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28th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio  Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.

It’s the latest addition from our “InvisiYouth Galaxy Question Box Series” for 2024, where all episodes will be InvisiYouth answering questions submitted by our InvisiYouth Galaxy Community that are life challenges they need some advice and guidance.

Our latest question dives deep into how to improve our way of becoming more proactive in your mindsets of communicating your needs when you feel like you’re not getting invited to as many social gatherings after needed to say “no” to invites, so you’re able to regroup and keep the invites open. 

Learn the steps on why so many people worry that if they decline too many invites from friends that it’ll negatively impact their friendships and possibly mean they’ll be excluded from future hangout, why most young people feel pressured to say yes to invites even if it doesn’t sync with their health or disability needs, and what are the reasons many young people with chronic illness and disability need to spontaneously cancel plans or not meet and why communicating that with friends is vital for healthy friendships. Gain the ideas behind our life-improving technique, No Now But Boomerang Later Method, how you can learn how to proactively reframe your way of communicating to avoid being forgotten or uninvited to social gatherings when the reasons you say no are out of your control, how to use causal conversation ques to share the rationales and reasonings behind your no’s and validate your desire to continue being invited, and how to empower your friends to never take your no’s personally, but rather, feel confident in adapting hangouts to your accessibility or health needs, and keeping the boomerang of invitations.

Plus, founder Dominique talks about her first year with chronic illness when she had to say no to more invites and that resulted in her beginning to be invited out less often with friends, so she had to proactively share her reasons behind her declines and reinforce to her friends that she wanted to them never take it personally and continue to invite her and thus, allowing her to have open invitations. 

Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!

SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth

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We’ve got one of our favorite sister duos back on the podcast, and we’re celebrating all of their achievements! It’s Rachel and Abigail Heringer! You’ll remember Abigail from Season 25 of The Bachelor and Season 7 of Bachelor in Paradise (where she met her fiancée Noah) but now she’s a published author to her new memoir, The Deaf Girl! Abigail and Rachel have grown so much in the years since they were on the podcast in Season 3, both now living in Tulsa with their dogs, and they’ve been achieving successes!

Here’s our Four Hot Takeaways: 

1. At 4:20 Rachel and Abigail answering questions about each other and reveal the new things they learned about each other from living together, what reality shows all four Heringer siblings would excel on together, what Abigail thinks a book about Rachel’s life would be titled, and the priority Rachel has when helping to plan Abigail’s bachelorette party and bridal shower. 
2. At 15:00 the sisters dive deep into Abigail’s book and why now was the time to write Abigail’s story, how gaining their mom’s perspective on raising two daughters that were deaf and going through their CI journeys made them appreciate her strength even more, and how Rachel and Abigail believe the book writing experience allowed them to value and appreciate each other’s journeys with CI’s. 
3. STORY TIME INTERMISSION at 33:13 and Rachel and Abigail share stories how a fender bender meant one of them lost their “ears” (AKA processors) and couldn’t communicate with the driver, and why Abigail will forever recommend looking at magnetic materials first since she misplaced her processors. 
4. We end at 38:29 with Abigail and Rachel talking about their moves to Tulsa and their tips to acclimating to a new environment, and how Abigail’s fiancée Noah played a big role in welcoming them to the new city, why they both agree finding confidence in how you want to share about your disability allowed them to find deeper friendships, Abigail’s piece of advice for those dating with disability, Rachel’s advice in building up relationships with new family members/friends so they’re comfortable being a good support, and why they both love being dog moms to Abigail and Noah’s dog, Maki and Rachel’s dog, Lou. 

Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Abigail @abigail_heringer and Rachel @heringer_rachel on Instagram! Check out Abigail’s new book, The Deaf Girl on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

And enter our donation book giveaway until October 4th to win a signed copy of the book by just donating any amount on our website www.invisiyouthcharity.com/donate !

Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!

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27th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio  Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.

It’s the latest addition from our “InvisiYouth Galaxy Question Box Series” for 2024, where all episodes will be InvisiYouth answering questions submitted by our InvisiYouth Galaxy Community that are life challenges they need some advice and guidance. 

Our latest question dives deep into how to improve our way of reframing our mindsets both introspectively and interpersonally when it comes to sharing about good and bad health days and the worries and guilt of how others will perceive it, and how we’ll feel if we’re not there yet. 

Learn the steps on why understanding the elements of imposter syndrome in our mindsets and behaviors can reframe how we approach potentially feeling guilty for both good and bad health days, how it is important to learn that each person’s health journey is unique to them and doesn’t get to be mirrored by others and their timelines, and the value of understanding how we personally can feel confident in not just sharing with others that understand, but feel confident in how we internalize others’ updates without infusing it into our view of our own journeys in negative ways. Gain the ideas behind our life-improving technique, Imposter Guilt Syndrome, how you can learn how to introspectively reframe your way of thinking to yourself when you want to feel confident about your current relationship with your chronic illness or disability, and how that can then be relayed to others in a kind delivery, and the ways you can be honest in your delivery of your health wins and flare ups so they are personalized to you while being mindful of others not experiencing the same situation as you at that time. 

Plus, founder Dominique talks about a situation when she used Imposter Guilt Syndrome when she was working with other young people with chronic illnesses in a grant research group and how she used this technique to feel confident in the ebb and flow of her chronic illness, while confident in how she was mindful of delivering updates on her good and bad health days with kindness and personalization so guilt wasn’t felt all around. 

 Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!

SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth

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It’s all about hanging with the besties on this podcast episode as our host, and InvisiYouth’s founder/executive director Dominique, brings back a returning podcast guest that’s also one of her closest friends, charity social media manager and social lead at The Children’s Society, and disability/chronic illness advocate, Ali Hemsley. Ali has a plethora of experience in social media and the chronic illness community, and has evolved her career from being an influencer to now being in the charity sector sharing her skills to positively impact great causes.

Here’s our Four Hot Takeaways: 

1. At 3:08, Ali goes through so quirky questions as she explains her perfect date with her husband, James, the first thing she notices about new people, how her dog, Piper, would want an ideal day to have lots of activities, why a favorite water bottle can make a home office all the better, and which motto to live by is also tattooed on her arm. 
2. At 10:24, Ali and Dominique dive deep into her social media experience and how to establish friendships through the digital space first (much like these besties did), how she navigated sharing her new Crohn's diagnosis to her social media community that knew her for her first chronic illness, and the value of being flexible in bringing things into your life that you loved before a diagnosis. 
3. STORY TIME INTERMISSION begins at 28:23 when Ali shares about the challenging experience of her first part-time job when beginning to add work beyond her self-employment actually led to her learning a lot of disability rights in the workplace and advocating for herself to the highest level. 
4. And we end the episode at 36:29 as Ali and Dominique share how to make decisions on going into self-employment versus working for a company, the pros and cons for both directions when living with chronic illness and disability, how Ali knew when making a career change was necessary and how she still remains passionate about social media management in a new charity sector with The Children’s Society, the best advice to evolve your career while still maintaining some joy, and how BTS’ member Jin might have inspired some advice on passion within jobs versus hobbies.  

Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Ali @alihemsley on Instagram! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth! 

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26th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio  Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.

It’s the latest addition from our “InvisiYouth Galaxy Question Box Series” for 2024, where all episodes will be InvisiYouth answering questions submitted by our InvisiYouth Galaxy Community that are life challenges they need some advice and guidance.

Our latest question dives deep into how to improve our way of reframing a mindset when we have to change our plans and goals in life, especially when the reason we need a quick pivot is because of our chronic illness/disability changes. And it’s all about getting creative and building around the setbacks for the same end goal. 

Learn the steps on why it is vital to be comfortable with spontaneity and unpredictability—especially as a young adult living with chronic illness or disability, why the origin story of Lego actually connects greatly to how you need to approach change to plans in your life, what’s the major value in utilizing creativity in order to solve our problems so we can consistently adapt to thrive, and the purpose of acknowledging all our emotions when plans are forced to change, but not harboring negative ones because they’re counterproductive.

Gain the ideas behind our life-improving technique, Creative Legos Practice, how you can learn how to proactively reframe your missteps and flareups so they’re less of fully destructive burdens are rather opportunities to continue building around them, the importance of not consistently starting back from the start to rebuild but building up from where you’re paused, how getting creative with the available tools and supports around you can allow you to build a new formation that’s equally successful, joyful and enjoyable, and the benefits of adapting to thrive. 

Plus, founder Dominique talks about how she had to utilize the Creative Lego Practice during the early years of InvisiYouth Charity when she was busy with the initial plans of our programming and needed to pivot quickly when health and life changes happened spontaneously. And how when those original plans had to be changed, Dominique’s usage of our practice ultimately led to our current roster of digital resources, and the Audio Flash Files.

 Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!

SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth

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It’s great to catch up with old friends and our special guest has been part of the InvisiYouth community for over six years! We have award-winning British blogger and freelance writer and cerebral palsy activist, Chloe Tear. With over 11 years of blog/freelance writing experience, and years of working in the cerebral palsy community, Chloe has carved a lane for herself as someone with wit, intelligence and passion to support the disability community, and share her life experiences along the way to empower others.

Here’s our Four Hot Takeaways: 

1. At 3:20, Chloe answers some rapid-fire questions about her secret talent, the language she wishes she was fluent in, why Grey’s Anatomy is still her guilty pleasure five years later, what’s the phrase her guide dog, Dezzie, would say to her if he could speak, and the one person Chloe would love to interview.  
2. At 11:45 Chloe and Dominique talk about the reality of how lengthy and in-depth it is to get a guide dog, how training and compatibility matter for both human and dog, and why Dezzie is actually like owning two dogs as a worker and nonworker.  Plus, Chloe shares about how independent living as someone with CP has been while owning her first home, what she’s done to bring accessibility into her independent living that other young people with disability can learn from, and why we believe altered independence is the way to go for a realistic mentality. 
3. At 33:29, STORY TIME Intermission gets us in the romantic vibes as Chloe talks about one of her first dates with her boyfriend, George, and how a health lock-up and some hand-holding actually led to their first kiss at sunset. 
4. At 37:56 we end the podcast as Dominique and Chloe talk about the realities of balancing freelance/entrepreneurial work with a traditional job, especially as people with chronic illness/disability, the ways you can find freedom in structure and find freedom in knowing that you can have an ebb and flow in your work amount and still feel passion, why Chloe has trusted her instincts to find a new relationship with her public social media platform, and why she wants to create a book on cerebral palsy in adulthood is a must-cover topic.

Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Chloe @chloe_tear on Instagram and her blog, www.chloetear.co.uk! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth! 

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25th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio  Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.

It’s the latest addition from our “InvisiYouth Galaxy Question Box Series” for 2024, where all episodes will be InvisiYouth answering questions submitted by our InvisiYouth Galaxy Community that are life challenges they need some advice and guidance.

Our latest question is a shoutout to our stellar healthcare professionals, to the doctors and nurses, and medical and nursing students, that do their work to strengthen our health. We’re diving deep into how to improve communication with healthcare teams so the “why” questions get asked more, and that open dialogue can happen to create well-rounded healthcare plans so young people can thrive fully. 

Learn the steps on why it is vital to have steady and open communication with the doctors and nurses treating young adults living with chronic illness and disability, why the healthcare professionals have to look at the full person and full life behind the diagnosis to treat each person uniquely, and the value of asking the why questions not only of your young adult patients specifically because they understand the ramifications of treatment plans on their equally important non-medical life, but also the value of healthcare professionals sharing their whys on the rationale for their treatment ideas and those pros and cons. Gain the ideas behind our life-improving technique, The Why Effect, how you can read body language to see if a young adult patient is overwhelmed or closed off to the plan, how using supportive language around asking your ‘why’ questions is how you can dig deeper to learn the rationale of your young adult patients and what non-medical aspects of life are super valuable to them in order to treat the full patient, and why it’s necessary to have open dialogue and learn the value of tailoring treatment so you can compromise treatment plans without compromising the health of your patients.

Plus, founder Dominique talks about the first time she had a doctor ask her the “why” questions to dig deeper into why she wasn’t agreeing to a new treatment plan for her chronic illness and once that dialogue was open and trusted with her doctor, they were able to work together to find a new avenue of treatment that was a compromise to the original plan but not a compromise to her health and full life.

Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!

SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
Google Play: https://podcasts.google.com/search/invisiyouth%20chat%20sessions

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