Discovering Beauty with Orbit Deen

In the Season 1 finale of Discovering Beauty , Orbit Deen sits down with musician, educator, multi-instrumentalist and creative force Iwalani Music for a deeply personal conversation about music, family, creativity, disability and the unexpected connection that brought them together through the song “ Zeenox .” When Mista Cookie Jar first invited Iwalani to lend her voice to Zeenox , she had never...

In Episode 13 of Discovering Beauty , Orbit Deen and Mista Cookie Jar tell the story behind “ Zeenox ,” a deeply personal song inspired by Orbit’s childhood experiences with disability, long hospital stays, surgeries, and the imagination that helped him make sense of it all. As a young child, Orbit rarely saw anyone who looked or moved like him. So he created another explanation: he wasn’t from he...

In Episode 12 of Discovering Beauty , Orbit Deen sits down with Grammy-winning artist, educator, activist, and longtime creative collaborator Fyütch for a powerful conversation about music as resistance, creativity as connection, and art as a force for change. Fyütch shares how 15 years of teaching music, poetry, songwriting, and production shaped not only the artist he became, but the person he b...

In Episode 11 of Discovering Beauty , Orbit Deen sits down with longtime friend and creative collaborator Mista Cookie Jar for a conversation about the ideas behind their song, Beautiful You : self-worth, visibility, creativity, and the radical act of accepting yourself exactly as you are. Together, they explore how Beautiful You grew from their years of friendship and creative collaboration, and...

Welcome inside the Clowcar. In Episode 10 of Discovering Beauty , I take you behind the scenes of some of the absurd, hilarious, frustrating, and unexpectedly beautiful moments that come with relying on other people for care. Caregiving is serious—but that doesn’t mean every moment has to be serious. Sometimes humor is how we survive the uncomfortable moments. Sometimes laughter gives us back a li...

Sex. Intimacy. Love. Attraction. For many people with disabilities, these topics are often ignored, misunderstood, or treated as though they don’t exist. In this episode of Discovering Beauty , Orbit Deen opens an honest and heartfelt conversation about disability, sexuality, relationships, self-esteem, and the universal desire for human connection. Growing up with cerebral palsy, Orbit shares his...

Sometimes the best songs are born from the darkest moments. In this episode of Discovering Beauty , I sit down once again with my longtime friend and creative partner, Mista Cookie Jar , to share the story behind our song “Nowhere to Go But Up. ” What began as a difficult season filled with setbacks became an unexpected source of laughter, friendship, and creativity. Rather than letting life’s cha...

How does a song begin? Sometimes with a melody. Sometimes with a memory. Sometimes with the people who inspire us. In this episode of Discovering Beauty with Orbit Deen , I take you behind the scenes of the creation of “ Magic Day, ” a song I wrote with my longtime friend and creative partner, Mista Cookie Jar . Together, we share where the idea came from, how the songwriting evolved, and why this...

For many people, leaving the house is automatic. For many people with disabilities, it’s anything but. In this episode of Discovering Beauty with Orbit Deen , I talk about the invisible emotional weight that comes with simply going out into the world as a wheelchair user. From strangers staring—or pretending you don’t exist—to unwanted touching and inaccessible spaces, every trip outside can becom...

Most people assume that once you make it into a doctor’s office, you’re in good hands. For many disabled people, that’s where some of the hardest experiences begin. In this week’s episode of Discovering Beauty , I share my own experiences navigating the healthcare system as a wheelchair user with cerebral palsy. From being underestimated and talked down to, to encountering inaccessible offices and...

How do the people who change our lives become family? In this episode of Discovering Beauty, Orbit Deen welcomes his longtime friend, creative partner, and chosen brother, Mista Cookie Jar, for a conversation about friendship, creativity, identity, and the unexpected ways our lives become intertwined. Together, they share the story of meeting in graduate school more than twenty years ago, the inst...

In this episode of Discovering Beauty with Orbit Deen , I share the story of a moment that changed the direction of my life. In 2017, after years of working as a filmmaker, educator, speaker, and creative professional in Los Angeles, I suffered a fall that left me stranded on my living room floor for two days. What seemed like a painful setback became the beginning of a journey that would force me...

Who is Orbit Deen? In Episode 2 of Discovering Beauty , Michael C. Cooney shares the story behind the name Orbit Deen and the winding path that led to its creation. From growing up with cerebral palsy and feeling like an outsider, to becoming a filmmaker, writer, musician, activist, and storyteller, Michael reflects on the experiences that shaped his identity and creative voice. Along the way, he...

Labor of Love Hello everyone, I’m Michael C. Cooney, also known as Orbit Deen. I was born with cerebral palsy, and I am a filmmaker, writer, activist, and lifelong storyteller. A few years ago, I was in the midst of a successful career in Los Angeles, working in the entertainment industry and pursuing the creative life I had worked so hard to build. Then everything changed. A series of health chal...

Welcome to the very first episode of Discovering Beauty with Orbit Deen . In this deeply personal conversation, Orbit shares what it was like growing up with cerebral palsy, navigating a world that often focused on limitations rather than possibilities. From childhood experiences and societal expectations to creativity, resilience, and self-discovery, this episode explores what it means to find be...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit orbitdeen.substack.com

Today I wanted to share a memory—one of the most important ones I have—about a friend from high school who recently passed away. I’ve talked about him before. With the winter weather settling in here in Los Angeles, I keep coming back to this moment, this tiny slice of my life that has stayed with me for decades. He was a junior when I was a freshman. I looked up to him more than he ever knew. He...

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my friend who passed away recently — and the happy memories we shared. One of those memories brought me back to an unexpected night many years ago, and I wanted to share it with you all. I’m originally from Boston, and I moved out to Los Angeles to go to graduate school and get my master’s degree in creative writing. Growing up, I was a die-hard Celtics fan —...

Once Upon a KISS Miracle Hey everyone — Orbit Deen here. I know I’m a little late with this one, but I wanted to talk about Ace Frehley from the band KISS , who we recently lost. He was one of my favorite musicians of all time. When I was a kid, KISS was everything. Two of their albums were among the very first records I ever bought with my own money. I can still picture walking into the record st...

From Harmful ‘Cures’ to True Acceptance: A #DisabilityStory #neurodivergent This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit orbitdeen.substack.com

There’s been a lot of talk lately about disabilities — about causes and cures. Everybody seems to be talking about it. It made me remember a story from my childhood, when I was at a school for students with disabilities. I had a friend who walked with crutches. One weekend, her mother took her to see a faith healer. At the end of that weekend, the faith healer told her she was “healed” — and they...

Hey everyone, Orbit Deen here. This story is really close to my heart. My grandfather was the one who introduced me to baseball — and his favorite player was Mookie Betts. When I moved from Boston to California, we kept talking every day — about life, sports, and especially the Dodgers. Before my grandfather passed, he said something I’ll never forget: “I can’t come to California to be with you, M...

I was moved from a school for students with disabilities into a school with non-disabled kids — mainstreamed — in sixth grade. It did not go very well at first. I was bullied a lot when I first got there because I was the “weird kid.”But eventually, after about half a year, the same kids who bullied me became my friends — and they’re still my friends to this day. Friends for life. One of the reaso...

Hey everyone — Orbit Deen here, rocking my Superman shirt today. I wanted to take a minute to talk about cerebral palsy , which is what I have — and what millions of people around the world live with every single day. For my entire life, I’ve been trying to describe to people what cerebral palsy actually is . And honestly, I’ve been trying to understand it myself too. A lot of people don’t even kn...

Today I want to talk about the album Never Enough from the band Turnstile . Over the past few days and weeks, I’ve completely fallen in ❤️ with this record. It feels like the best of new music, but it also pulls me back to the old days — like stepping into the late ’90s, drifting into the 2000s. This music is dreamy — it makes you feel like you’re floating — but it’s also hard, raw, and unapologet...