This workshop is perfect for any group or individual who would like to become more inclusive and expand their ideas of diversity but has no idea where to start.
Our 60-90 minute interactive workshop provides a safe, fun, and insightful space to begin the conversation around disability inclusion.
Participants will learn to recognize societal and personal stigmas while activating empathy and inclusive communication skills toward change.
Businesses that ignore disability issues lose millions in disabled people’s talents and patronage without realizing it.
With a whopping $8 Trillion in spending power, people with disabilities make up the largest minority group in the US at 26%. Compare this group of 61 million to 60.5 million Latino Americans, and you’ll begin to see the picture.
Is your brand, service, or product line excluding people with disabilities and leaving revenue on the table?
This 60-90 minute interactive workshop sheds light on some of the most common barriers brands & designers unknowingly place on disability inclusion.
Participants will gain powerful insight and creative tools for enhancing inclusion and business growth!
How do we accept our physical challenges and learn how to embrace the things we can’t change? How do we communicate our feelings, needs, and desires with confidence, humor, and style?
Talking about disability & asking for help can be hard… but it doesn’t have to be!
This 60-90 minute interactive workshop empowers participants living with a disability or chronic illness with tangible tools for self-advocacy.
Utilizing role-playing, humor, and vulnerability, Lainie & Estela will help boost your confidence & communication tools for interacting with strangers, partners, family, friends, co-workers, and more!
EveryBODY should be able to find clothes that make them feel confident and fit them well. Did you know that people with disabilities control $8 Trillion in spending and make up the largest minority group in the US at 26%? Compare this group of 61 million to 60.5 million Latino Americans, and you’ll begin to see the picture.
Despite the sheer magnitude of this demographic, there are still more clothing lines for pets than for humans with disabilities. Luckily big brands are beginning to take notice and expand their collections into an explosive adaptive clothing market estimated to reach $400 billion by 2026.
This 60-90 minute interactive workshop exposes some of the most common barriers placed by the fashion industry and shares the powerful role clothing and representation play in creating authentic inclusion.
Participants will gain creative marketing, communication, and design-thinking tools for embracing inclusion and leading business growth!
Lainie Ishbia is a high-energy public speaker, writer, entrepreneur, and disability advocate born with a rare and progressive neuromuscular disorder called Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease (CMT). She refuses to let her disability stop her and has made it her life’s mission to empower others with disabilities to do the same.
After receiving a master's of social work degree from the University of Michigan, Lainie spent most of her 30+ year career specializing in adolescent girls' and women’s self-esteem and body image issues.
As a self-proclaimed fashionista and disability hack expert, Lainie founded the lifestyle and fashion brand Trend-Able in 2017, where she has helped thousands of other people living with disabilities to embrace their challenges, focus on their strengths, and discover adaptive fashion and other tools for looking and feeling their best.
Lainie is the co-creator of the Embrace It Podcast and the EmBrace It Workshop Series. In addition, she has partnered with numerous nonprofits, businesses, and Fortune 500 companies to train employees on disability-related communication and to eradicate micro-aggressions and negative stereotypes of people with disabilities in the workplace.
Lainie gave her first TEDx in Jacksonville, Florida, on October 22, 2022, with her Talk titled, The Wheel Of Humanity: Gambling With An Invisible Disability.
Estela was diagnosed with a progressive neuropathy called Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) at four years old, followed by her younger sister two years later.
In 2002, she graduated from FIT with a Bachelor’s in Interior Design. Today, her professional background in design, marketing, trend forecasting, and creative direction brings an unexpected approach to connecting the disability community to wellness, empowerment, and health.
After volunteering for eight years, Estela joined the Hereditary Neuropathy Foundation full-time in 2018 as their Program Development Manager. Later in 2018, she testified before the FDA on the patient experience and the importance of funding CMT studies and potential therapies.
As moderator for the CMT-Connect webinar series, Estela enjoys sharing resources and expert information with the CMT community on various valuable topics. On the EmBrace It Podcast, she interviews community thought leaders and aims to empower women living with disabilities in all facets of life. Estela and co-host Lainie Ishbia also provide inclusion consulting and original workshops focusing on improving advocacy & DEI through communication tools, starting with “How to Communicate with Anyone About Disability.” They’ve worked with many top brands, such as Levi Strauss, Pinterest, Lockheed Martin, The Abilities Expos, SUNY Farmingdale College, Pace University, Health Union, and more.
In 2019, Estela gave her first TEDx talk titled “RePurpose Your Pain” on turning adversity into life’s most beautiful work. In addition, she co-teaches inclusive and adaptive design at the Fashion Institute of Technology for their Design for Social Impact program. She is represented by Gamut Management, an all-inclusive talent agency.
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