Topic: Health & Wellness

Since Ezra Frech was four years old, he has been an advocate for persons with disabilities. Born with congenital limb differences, he is missing his left knee and left fibula, and fingers on his left hand. Ezra later had surgery to remove the lower, non-functioning part of his left leg and to transplant a toe from the amputated foot to his left hand. At eleven months, he received his first prosthetic leg and has been involved in sports ever since. Growing up, he played basketball, baseball, soccer, flag football, skateboarding, karate, surfing and track and field. His passion for sports ultimately led him to create Angel City Sports and the Angel City Games, an annual, multi-sport competition for children, adults, wounded warriors, and elite athletes with disabilities. In addition to his athletic endeavors, he serves as a motivational speaker and ambassador for adaptive sports. Ezra is also in charge of his fundraising organization, called ‘Team Ezra.’ The organization has raised more than $400,000 for non-profit organizations that support people with physical impairments.

As one of the youngest members of the Team USA Paralympic Team, Ezra competes in long jump, high jump, and the 100 meters, with hopes to bring home a gold medal. In addition, Ezra has set his sights on competing at the 2028 Games. On Facebook he writes, “I just want to be the best person that I can be and share my story and try to help others become the best person they can be.” That sounds like a winning attitude.

In the interview with our Different & Able President and Founder, Alexandra Nicklas, Ezra discusses how he uses his positive energy to drive his dreams and ambitions, which is his key to becoming successful. He shares his passion for adaptive sports and believes people should be empowered to compete at their best; so people with or without difference feel like a champion. After all Ezra’s motto is, “You can dream it, you can hope for it, or you can make it happen.”

Bio provided by: Ezra Frech (teamusa.org)

Mia Schaikewitz is a television personality and spokesperson for disability advocacy. In October of 1993, Mia Schaikewitz was 15 years old and a rising star on her high school swim team. She was training for a new season when suddenly one evening, she found herself unable to move her legs. Within twelve hours, doctors discovered that a Spinal Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM) had ruptured in her spinal cord, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down. With resilient determination and a positive attitude, she moved forward to pursue her life goals.

Mia finished high school and then attended the University of Florida where she excelled socially and academically. She became the first woman in a wheelchair at the school to rush and pledge a sorority and graduated with top honors in Media Production. After college, Mia moved to Los Angeles where she worked in the recording industry; Mia later developed an award-winning career in graphic design and branding.

In 2012, Mia became one of the stars of the hit TV show Push Girls, which continues to impact audiences worldwide. The show is considered a trailblazer for breaking stereotypes about disability in Hollywood and it won the Critics’ Choice Award for “Best Reality Series” in 2013. This prompted Mia to become an advocate and prominent speaker for accurate inclusion in the media. She has been interviewed on Good Morning America, CNN, E! Entertainment, Ellen, and many other outlets.

Within her dynamic career pursuits, Mia is dedicated to raising AVM awareness and has a passion for staying physically active. She returned to her former sport of competitive swimming; Mia became the Swim Director for Angel City Sports, a leading Paralympic event. She is also a founding member of Infinite Flow — America’s first professional wheelchair ballroom dance company, which now leads a global social movement for inclusive dance.

In this interview, with our Different & Able President and Founder, Alexandra Nicklas, Mia shares her amazing insights on the importance of perspective, why you should never settle, and how she journaled through depression. Mia also discusses Spinal Arteriovenous Malformation and her resilience in the face of darkness, insecurity, and fear. Today, Mia continues to live by her motto, “Believing in yourself means never having to say, ‘I can’t’!”

Sophia Rose Gigante is an entrepreneur, an author, and hydrocephalus warrior. Her book, Strength, Resilience, Growth: How I Defied Physical and Mental Limitations and Took Control of My Future, inspires others to harness their inner power, to bring their health and wellness goals to fruition. Sophia’s true goal is to help people with difference, just like her, live a healthy and rewarding life.

At just 22 years old, Sophia launched her own business, SRG Fitness in Westchester, NY. Her all-inclusive approach to health and wellness is offered through personal training, virtual training, and her expert nutrition counseling and meal planning.

Sophia is an NCSF Certified Personal Trainer and NASM Certified Sports Nutrition Specialist; with this knowledge and her empathic personality, she specializes in helping clients with special needs, Autism, anxiety disorders, Scoliosis, Epilepsy, and stroke victims.

Sophia’s unwavering affable disposition and her everlasting drive to support her clients, she advocates living life to the fullest. In this interview with our Different & Able President and Founder, Alexandra Nicklas, Sophia shares her journey with difference and her altruistic spirit. When you finish watching, it will be hard not to feel emboldened. You will want to put on your sneakers, grab an apple, and start your own wellness journey with Sophia.

Courtney Schnabel Glick, MS, RD, CDN is a Registered Dietitian at the New York University Langone Medical Center’s Comprehensive Epilepsy Center in New York, NY. Courtney has thirteen years of extensive pediatric clinical nutrition experience. She has worked with patients of all ages, but practices in pediatrics at the inpatient and outpatient clinical level. She completed her bachelor’s degree at Syracuse University and her master’s degree in clinical nutrition at New York University.

Courtney is also a Certified Specialist in Pediatric Nutrition and a Certified Lactation Consultant. She currently helps individuals navigate the ketogenic diet therapies for epilepsy at the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, as well as managing her private practice, Courtney Glick Nutrition, where Courtney specializes in pediatric and maternal nutrition. She has also co-authored the book, Epilepsy in Children: What Every Parent Needs to Know with Orrin Devinsky, MD and Erin Conway, MS, RN, CPNP, which provides insight to parents and caregivers on how to manage their child’s life with epilepsy.

Interviewed by our Different & Able President and Founder, Alexandra Nicklas, Courtney shares her expertise on the use of a ketogenic diet in children with epilepsy. She also discusses information and divulges advice to help parents respond to seizures safely and effectively and understand treatment options. As a trusted source of credible and practical nutrition information, Courtney bridges the gap between nutrition and epilepsy.

Tasha Schuh is speaker, resilience expert, singer, songwriter, and author of two books, My Last Step Backward and My Next Move Forward. Tasha started the PITCrew Movement, which is a support team for mental health analogous to a racing team; “It shows the importance of asking for help, supporting one another, and knowing who is there to help us when we need it.” In support and expansion of the PitCrew Movement, Tasha founded the Power of PATH: Building Resilience for Mental Health and Suicide Awareness Curriculum™, which is SAVE* Certified.

Tasha has learned to live life to its fullest despite any obstacles. At sixteen, Tasha was rehearsing for a theatrical performance of “The Wizard of Oz” on her high school stage. During a scene change, she inadvertently fell backward through an open trap door. Tasha fell sixteen feet to the concrete below, ultimately leading to paralysis from the chest down. Doctors were pleasantly surprised when they realized Tasha still had function in her wrists. This realization allowed Tasha to maintain her autonomy; she had the ability to drive, independently eat, apply her own make-up, and complete other tasks.

Tasha has stated that, “To have a wonderful life, people must endure the bad times. When they come out on the other side, they will see that everything is even better than it was before.” With this positive and inspiring life view, Tasha was able to journey forward; earning two bachelor’s degrees, one from Winona State University and one from Maranatha Christian College, being crowned Ms. Wheelchair USA, and receiving the National Rehabilitation Champion Award in 2012. Today, Tasha continues her inspiring path presenting her speech, “Enjoy Your Ride” and through her album, Hold on to Hope. The album features Tasha’s cover of “Somewhere over the Rainbow” by Judy Garland, and her first original song entitled, “Hope.”

Alexandra Nicklas, our Different & Able President and Founder, interviews Tasha about her diagnosis, her love of musical theatre, and her work as a motivational speaker. Tasha’s vivacious personality, her empathetic nature, and her amazing spirit illuminates this video, as she shares her amazing life story. Tasha’s vision for her future and others is clear; “Make sure you love every moment of today. Live in a state of awe of your blessings. And never settle for anything that steals your joy.”

*SAVE is an acronym for the following: Signs of suicide, Asking about suicide, Validating feelings, Encouraging help and Expediting treatment.

Editor’s Note: We received this letter, from the ‘front lines’ of the battle with depression, from a reader who has a message for others: don’t give up.

I struggle with depression and anxiety.

When others ask me about my mental illness, I try to explain it as seeing the same light as everyone else, only darker. I say how everything that made me happy earlier stopped having any value. I tell them that I felt like the dark was consuming me and taking all the light with it. Sometimes I just say I felt sadness because that’s almost the right word, though it’s not exactly how I feel. What I felt is an emptiness that is extremely heavy. I felt like I didn’t care about anything anymore. And that’s the feeling of being depressed. What about anxiety? In my opinion anxiety feels like caring too much about everything and seeing even small obstacles as if they are impossible. This combination makes it hard to explain having both depression and anxiety – it’s a mixture of a lot of different feelings.

It took me a long time to tell my parents how I was feeling. When I did, they helped me find a psychiatrist, who prescribed medication. I have been taking medication for almost two months now and I feel relief as I get a little better every day.

When I was finally diagnosed I started trying to tell friends about the way I was feeling. Over time I started talking more openly about my depression and anxiety and was surprised to learn that there were other people feeling the same way. Some of them told me their stories and I was and still am here for them. I’ve found that helping others made me feel better. Plus, it made me feel that I had someone I could relate to. I have support from my friends and family and though I really appreciate it, I always thought I was the only one struggling with my symptoms. When I reached out to others and learned they had similar experiences, I started accepting my illness much more.

“I was surprised to learn that there were other people feeling the same way.”

Back when I hid my feelings, I had obstacles with my social life. When I started talking and learning more about myself and my illness, I felt better. The change came mostly because I could tell my friends honestly that I didn’t feel like going out on a particular day.

Along the way I definitely learned to listen to myself and know my limits. I learned that if I feel like staying at home I can do it and accept the fact that I have had a bad day. I stopped seeing myself as a failure. I am not failing. I am healing. It’s a slow process and I have to be patient. I am getting better. I am healing and I believe that I can recover.

Lately, I have started noticing positive aspects of my life. Every day I try to find something that I am thankful for. I try to celebrate every little success. I feel very thankful on the days when I wake up with enough energy for the day. When I don’t, I’m thankful for my ability to motivate myself to do it. When I am not able to get up at all, then I feel thankful that I find enough strength to just hold on one more day.

I used to think that I couldn’t change anything about my mental illness. I used to think that I couldn’t win with it. Then I thought about suicide. Now, I am really glad that I didn’t give up after all. I’m happy that I managed to stay alive for another day, because now, after many evenings spent dreaming about ending my life, I can’t wait for tomorrow.

Why am I writing all of this? I’m doing it because I want to tell you, whoever you are: depression feels like constantly falling down. It’s a battle that seems impossible to win. But it is possible. It’s possible to get better, to recover. You have a lot more strength than you think. I know it all seems pointless, but there are reasons to stay alive. I love poetry so on some really bad days I tell myself I’m just staying here to read another poem. There is always at least one little thing you should hold on for. It doesn’t matter if it’s someone that you promised to keep on living for or if it’s a new coffee at Starbucks. Just hold on one more day.

Feeling depressed or anxious? Considering suicide? Though it may be hard to do, try to reach out to someone and tell them how you’re feeling. That can be a suicide help-line, a friend, a therapist, or a teacher. You can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, or visit 988lifeline.org. There you can get help in an emergency, find providers for long term care, and volunteer to help others.**

Mandy Harvey is a deaf American singer, songwriter, and motivational speaker whose story has inspired millions of people. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1988 and raised in Colorado, Mandy grew up with a deep love for music and aspired to be a vocal music educator. At the age of 18, while studying vocal music education at Colorado State University, she began to lose her hearing due to a connective tissue disorder and became profoundly deaf.

Devastated by the sudden loss, Mandy stepped away from music for a time. With the support of her family and perseverance she continued on her musical journey.

In 2017, Mandy rose to national fame as a finalist on America’s Got Talent, where she earned Simon Cowell’s Golden Buzzer for her original song “Try”. Since then, she has released multiple albums, toured internationally, authored a memoir titled Sensing the Rhythm, and has become an advocate for people who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Mandy continues to break barriers and challenge perceptions of ability, using her platform to promote inclusiveness to spread the belief that “hope is never lost.”

Marya Hornbacher is an award-winning essayist, journalist, novelist, poet, and survivor. Five of her books have been named New York Times bestsellers. She is best known for authoring “Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia” (1999), which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize; the book discusses her back-and-forth journey between bulimia and anorexia. Marya recounts how she thought she was “fat” at the age of five, how she developed bulimia at nine, anorexia at fourteen, and cycled through eating-disorder clinics and hospitals until she was gravely ill at age eighteen; this was when Marya was told she would not live longer than a week.

Though Marya survived her ordeal with eating disorders, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in her mid-twenties. Marya went on to write “Madness: A Bipolar Life” (2009), which eloquently described the frightening battle of her experience of mental illness. With the proper diagnosis and treatment for bipolar disorder, came self-knowledge and a remarkably stable life for Marya.

Marya continues to write poetry, non-fiction pieces, and work in the journalism field. Her writing encompasses many topics, including bulimia, anorexia, recovery, mental health, addiction, and spirituality. Marya is hard at work on her seventh book, a collection of essays on the subject of solitude in women’s lives. She is also closely engaged in advocacy for mental health recovery, and is a frequent visitor to community-based mental health groups of all sizes and kinds, including National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

In the interview with our Different & Able President and Founder, Alexandra Nicklas, Marya shares her compelling story and her journey of recovery. Marya discusses how self awareness and self compassion are vital in the process of healing. She also touches on the unintentional/intentional “glamorization” of eating disorders in the media and how the invasiveness of social media consumption plays a role in one’s mind. In addition, Marya provides outstanding writing advice for aspiring memoirists and writers. One can see the passion, honesty, grit and authenticity with which she speaks and writes. After all, Marya has stated, “When you deal with nonfiction, you deal with human characters.”

Ben Aaron is an Emmy award winning television reporter for Pix11 and the former cohost of Pickler & Ben. In this funny and earnest conversation with D&A founder Alexandra Nicklas, he talks about his experiences living…and thriving…with obsessive compulsive disorder.

You can learn more about Ben by following him on Instagram (@benaarontv) or watching his new show Renovation Realities: Ben and Ginger which follows his experience renovating a home with his wife, ABC Chief Meteorologist Ginger Zee, whom we have previously spoken to about her own experiences with mental health. Ben is also the author of the children’s book “Where the Sun Goes,” which you can purchase here.

Alexandra Nicklas is a native New Yorker who lives with her mini goldendoodle, Sadie. Alexandra was born with an in utero stroke that was diagnosed at eight months. As a result, she had physical, learning, speech, and emotional deficits to overcome. Her right arm is weak and with her poor fine and gross motor skills it has affected her ability to perform two handed activities. In addition, her speech and language were also delayed. In the fourth grade, she started experiencing difficulties with attention, executive functioning, and reading comprehension. With treatment, Alexandra has learned to compensate for her difficulties.

During her younger years Alexandra struggled, but no one expected that Alexandra would be diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 22. Her epilepsy is now under control and she is now an advocate for all those affected with epilepsy.

Interviewed by our Interview Series Director at Different & Able, Cameron Kalajian, Alexandra shares her epilepsy journey and her involvement with the epilepsy community.

Alexandra Nicklas was gracious enough to share her story as a patient speaker for freshFACES, below is a link to the speech she gave.

FACES FALL E-NEWSLETTER 2018.pdf (nyu.edu)