Hot Seat With Cognizant Clay

I had a great chat with Victoria Berezovich today. She is the branch leader of the leading and only branch for Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease in Canada and a cast member of CBC Push. She is also a model and has made several public speeches for CMT awareness.

Natasha Urkow is a cast member of the CBC Docuseries Push. She has her Masters Degree in Fine Arts in Theatre and is a loving wife and mother. She is also the co-host of the podcast called The Mixed Crips.

Kyle Lewis Jordan is a freelance curator and archaeologist. Born with Cerebral Palsy, Kyle has been passionate about Egyptology since the age of six, and has aimed to be Director of the British Museum since the age of ten. He went on to study a BA in Ancient History and Egyptology and an MA in the Archaeology and Heritage of Egypt and the Middle East at UCL, where he specialised in the study of di...

Brittney Neunzig is a content creator and part-time substitute teacher. At the age of 13 she became a T6 paraplegic following a snowmobile accident. After many years of feeling insecure and unworthy as a person with a disability, Brittney flipped her perspective and now sees her disability as her greatest asset. She has channeled her strength into creating the "Empowered Para" YouTube channel, ded...

Roneel Gounder is a Bollywood dancer. He founded Bollywheels, a dance group that includes dancers with disabilities. The group includes fellow CBC Push star Bean Gill.

Aleem Jaffer is a public speaker, model, and one of the stars of the new docu-series PUSH on CBC and CBC Gem. PUSH is an unscripted series that takes audiences into the inner world of the “Wheelie Peeps,” an unlikely group of friends and wheelchair users, bonded by their shared experience of navigating life on wheels which currently is streaming on CBC Gem & AMI+. Additionally, Aleem is a Job Deve...

Brian McPherson is a former athlete. He has competed as a member of the Canadian national bobsledding and sledge hockey teams. He is also a former machinery operator and mechanic who currently works fixing mobility devices. He is featured in CBC's docuseries Push.

Riccardo Baldini is an entrepreneur and pianist from Italy currently living in Alberta. He is the cofounder of Strathcona Microgreens. He also cofounded Resonate, an adaptive piano pedal that helps people press the pedals of a piano without using their legs. He was featured on the CBC docuseries Push.

Benveet "Bean" Gill is an actress, entrepreneur and model. In 2017 she co-founded ReYu Paralysis Recovery Center - a non-profit she started with her Neuro-Exercise Specialist and zero capital. The wellness center exists to inspire, motivate, and promote recovery with increased function for individuals with spinal cord injuries and associated neurological disorders. "We show them tha...

Sean Towgood is the creator, writer, co-executive producer and star of You're My Hero, a new CBC Gem original comedy series about navigating life with cerebral palsy. He is a Radio Broadcasting graduate from Humber College, and won an Emerge Media Award for the short radio documentary Stigma. Towgood is also the creator and co-producer of the audio documentaries Independence Day and Welcome To...

Chris Mitchell is a successful self-employed person with 3 major disabilities: a physical disability, a visual impairment, and a neurodiverse diagnosis of ADHD. Chris is a certified confidence life coach. He is also a professional speaker and presenter. He helps people with disabilities develop the self confidence needed to succeed in a professional setting. Thanks for tuning in to my channel! I a...

Tim Balz is an award-winning engineer who is passionate about designing mobility technologies for people with disabilities. After working on high profile projects for SpaceX, Balz founded Kalogon in an effort to develop solutions that would radically transform the way the world sits and, most importantly, give wheelchair users their independence back. In 2014, Balz invented the first smart wheelch...

I sat down with Anna-Maria Mountfort. She is the founder of MimiTENS, a custom fabrication company that makes bags and mittens for children. MimiTENS also makes mittens for children with Limb Difference. She also started the GET In project which was started to raise awareness for the disability community. https://mimitens.com/ https://instagram.com/mimitens?utm_medium=copy_link https://m.facebook....

I had the honour of sitting down with George Stroumboulopoulos. George is an icon in Canadian media. He is the former host of NewMusic on Much Music. He served as the host and co-executive producer of George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight (formerly The Hour) on CBC for ten seasons from 2005 until 2014. He was the host of Hockey Night in Canada from 2014 to 2016. He is currently the host of STROMBO on A...

I had the honour of chatting with Steve Way. Steve is an actor, comedian and substitute teacher. He is one of the main characters on Hulu's Ramy. Steve was born with Ullrich Congenital Muscular Dystrophy, a very rare form of MD. He has also been a public speaker for several years, mainly for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Daniel P. Malito. Daniel was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis at age 9. He has been writing for over ten years. He authors weekly columns for several prominent websites such as Creaky Joints, The Huffington Post and "Can I Play That?". He has also published an autobiography titled "So Young - A Life Lived With Rheumatoid Arthritis."

I sat down with Bobbie Cherepuschak. He is a hunter from Saskatchewan who was born with Spina Bifida. With the help of Trent Wotherspoon, member of the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly, he was able to lobby the provincial government to allow people who use motorized wheelchairs to go hunting. Before the change they were deemed ATVs and were not allowed to be used to hunt.

I had the honour of chatting with community planner and disability activist Al Etmanski. His daughter Liz was born with Down Syndrome. Al has been an activist for people with disabilities for over 30 years. He is the co-founder of Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network (PLAN), a non-profit social enterprise assisting families address the financial and social well being of their relative with a disabili...

I had the honour of chatting with R&B and Hip Hop artist Joshua Karpeh, better known by his stage name Cautious Clay. We chatted about his career as well as his relationship with his brother, who is on the Autism spectrum.

I had the honour of chatting with Alex and Mark Starratt. Mark served as the Director of The Paralympic Foundation of Canada from 2015 until 2019. Mark and his wife Jennifer founded The Starrett Family Foundation in 2013. It was founded to raise awareness and funds for Neuromuscular research and to make the world more accessible to those with disabilities. Alex, Mark's son, is 12 years old and is...

I had the pleasure of talking with my good friend Dominique. Dom is a Barre, Pilates and Yoga instructor. She has an acquired brain injury from a fall from a second floor balcony. Dom also has a podcast called Embodied Alchemy Pod. Dominique's Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/37qHjQCoa5AFJWJ6Fi27zP?si=nvQPky0GQ2etxRtbsdogKQ

I had the honour of chatting with Kate Strohm. Kate grew up with a sister who was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. She wrote a book titled "Siblings: Brothers and Sisters of children with disability". in 1999 she founded the charity Siblings Australia, which provides support and resources for those with disabled siblings.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Trinity Jagdeo. She is the Founder and CEO of the charity From We Can't To We Can. She publishes and illustrates children's books where the main characters are disabled superheroes. She hopes more companies in media and illustrating start including characters with disabilities.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Tricia Simons. She is the co-owner of The Triple C Farm in Ancaster, Ontario. Her three sons Geoffrey, Michael and Richard were all born with Autism. She founded Triple C Farm in 2013 to allow her eldest son Geoffrey to realize his dream of becoming a farmer. Tricia also wanted a safe and inclusive environment for people of all ages and disabilities to enjoy. Th...

I had the pleasure of chatting with Eddie Rice and Louise Russo. They are the co-foundees and co-chairs of the Canadian Coalitiion for Mobility Challenged Drivers. The coalition was founded in 2017 and aims to provide a barrier free environment for drivers with disabilities and mobility challenges. You can find more info on the Coalition here: https://ccmcd.ca/