upworthy

accessibility

partnermouse/Wikipedia (Used with permission)

Fairy Godmother at Disney World perfectly nails ASL for deaf girl, helps her transform into Cinderella

Disney World is a truly magical place for everyone. And for Instagrammer Fallon Brizendine Mowl (@partnermouse), Disney World created the best day ever for her deaf daughter Gisele thanks to a very special ASL (American Sign Language) interpreter named Janie (@jan.i.e).

In a touching video shared by Mowl, she captured a recent trip to Disney World with Gisele for an unforgettable Cinderella experience. There, she met her Fairy Godmother, Janie, who helped her all day long as she transformed into the beautiful Disney princess.

"We asked if any Fairy Godmothers/Apprentices at BBB knew ASL—and we got Janie! Thank you, @jan.i.e and Disney, for making the magic inclusive and our experience not only special but truly seen," she captioned the post.

The video begins with Janie and Gisele meeting for the first time. "Hi Gisele! My name is Janie," she says in ASL. "We are going to play together, okay?"

Gisele tells Janie, "I want to be Cinderella!" And Janie responds, "Oh, I love her!" In the next clip, Janie is with Gisele as she picks out her hairstyle to dress like Cinderella. "Ponytail or flowers? Which do you prefer?" Janie asks her. Gisele would like a long ponytail, and Janie thanks her before leading her to a changing room to try on her powder blue Cinderella gown.

She leads her to a dressing room where Gisele changes into the sparkly gown. Before Janie leaves her, she says Fairy Godmother's iconic phrase in ASL: "Bibbidi, Bobbidi, Boo!"

Once Gisele has changed, it is time for her to get beautified by getting her hair and makeup done. And Janie helps get her set up in a beauty chair to pick her look. "Blue or purple? Do you want a a flower or butterfly?" Janie asks. And Gisele replies, "A flower." Looking on is Gisele's dad, and Janie jokes, "Let's look like your dad! A long beard...kidding!"

With her hair and makeup complete after a sprinkle of glittery fairy dust over her, Gisele's big reveal is done with Janie's help. "Let's close your eyes. I see a beautiful you, wow!" she says to Gisele. Then Janie says to Gisele's mom and dad, "And now...Princess Cinderella!"

Gisele is sitting in the beauty chair, and is turned around to show her proud mom and dad. She is absolutely glowing. In a final clip, she poses in front of Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom dressed as the princess herself. Gisele then says her final goodbyes to Janie with her family, and Janie is overjoyed to have spent the afternoon with them. She signs in ASL, "Thank you!" as the video ends.

And viewers are overflowing with emotions after watching Mowl's video with Gisele. "Why did this make me cry 🥹," one commented, and another added, "I am sobbbbbbbbbing, this is so beautiful! 🥹🥹🥹🥹." Another viewer wrote, "I hope Janie always gets to sleep on the cool side of the pillow. What a gem. I hope your daughter had the best day." And another touched viewer shared, "THIS is inclusion. And it's magical."

If you could give yourself a superpower or a superhero-style gadget, what would it be?

I always say I'd want to be a shapeshifter or have a car that could shape-shift à la the Batmobile because I like pretending to be other things.

It's a fun question to ask friends because it gets everyone to think outside the box and have a good time being creative.


Now consider this: What if you could take those ideas and actually make them functional? (Who else's inner comic nerd just perked up?)

That's the idea behind Superhero Boost — a weeklong workshop where disabled kids get to create their own superpowers in the form of wearable devices.

One kid's light-up prosthetic. All photos by Autodesk/Blue Bergen, except where noted, used with permission.

The workshop was launched in 2014 by Kate Ganim and has since turned into an intensive series of workshops that help kids harness their inner designer and/or engineer.

"We aim to create a space for kids to celebrate the bodies that they're in and to re-think their disability as a super-ability," writes Ganim in an email.

However, she stresses that it's not about trying to "fix" these kids. Many of them were born without a limb or part of a limb; because those were never there in the first place, the kids don't feel like they're missing anything. Instead, it's about helping them create something cool and unique that they're proud to show off.

"Why does it have to be a hand, when it could be literally anything and it could do things that a natural hand isn't able to do?" asks Ganim.

What's more, the kids get to make their body modification using state-of-the-art technology like 3D modeling, robotics, and Google artificial intelligence technology — with the help of trained experts, of course.

Since 15-year-old Sydney's a competitive BMX rider, she updated her arm prosthetic so that it lights up to intimidate competitors.

Photo courtesy of Andrea Howard.

This was her second year doing the workshop, and since she's now quite proficient in 3D printing, she was asked to be a mentor as well as an inventor during the June Superhero Boost workshop in San Francisco.

"The thing that I like as a parent is that they want kids to think on their own and be themselves," says Audrey, Sydney's mom.

Sydney's currently ranked seventh in her state in her age group for BMX, and her handle bar was custom made to support her prosthetic, so she wanted to make it stand out in a major way. When she learned Google engineers were going to be at the workshop teaching kids how to incorporate AI, she knew that had to be part of her design.

Thanks to help from Google engineers and staff from both Superhero Boost and Autodesk, the company that held the workshop and offered up their plethora of tech tools, she got her modification to work by the end of the week.

"The [engineers] are like little kids," remarks Sydney. "It's quite fun. They get so excited."

Meanwhile, 16-year-old Kenzie created something entirely different — a robotic arm sleeve with a glowing gem that even Iron Man would envy.

Kenzie actually came up with the idea at a one-day workshop she did with Superhero Boost in Boston, near her hometown, but she really got to flesh it out during the most recent weeklong workshop in San Francisco.

While in the end, it wasn't totally what she'd envisioned, it still looked pretty darn cool.

"I was like, 'It's going to have to shoot something or do something,'" says Kenzie. "It ended up just lighting up. It did a thing — not a fantastic thing — but it did something."

She devised the whole modification on the computer in something called Tinkercad, a computer-aided design (CAD) program that allows you to 3D print your creations. Kenzie had to do some futzing with the voice control aspect of the project, which initially failed to function correctly, but eventually she and her engineer helper figured it out.

This experience is about much more than making awesome gadgets, though: It's also helping these kids see that they really can do anything they set their minds to with technology at their disposal.

Kenzie and Sydney working at the Superhero Boost workshop.

For example, Kenzie was blown away by a wheelchair booster that her friend Anaiss made — it literally lifts her wheelchair higher, which is not only super cool, but also legitimately useful.

These kids are also taking skills with them that will likely be instrumental in whatever career they end up choosing.

Kenzie, for one, is looking to go into toy design, and thanks to the workshop, she's already connecting the dots to that dream. "One lady at the end was talking about how she's going to be working on this augmented reality project, and that she wanted to work with me on that," she says.

What's more, everyone who participated gets to keep working with a professional designer on their prototypes to make them as cool as they can be.

But while all these tools are great, the real superpowers come from the kids themselves.

The kids from the most recent Superhero Boost workshop.

"By nature, these kids are incredibly creative and determined," writes Gamin. "They're having to adapt every day to an environment that was not designed for them, and it's on them to figure out how to adapt."

However, since the most formidable beings are the most adaptable, there's no doubt these kids are going to be unstoppable.

The Walt Disney Company is the latest company to hop on the plastic straw-free bandwagon.

Joining Starbucks and Marriott, Disney has said it will eliminate plastic straws, stirrers, and cups in its theme parks, cruise ships, and stores. The company said it will start phasing out the products by mid-2019 and expects to save 175 million straws and 13 million stirrers every year.

But here's the thing: There are major drawbacks to a total plastic straw ban.


First of all, straws don't really account for a large percentage of plastic waste. There are other items that cause way more harm to the environment: fishing nets, shopping bags, bottle caps, balloons, cigarette butts, and food wrappers, just to name a few.

But more importantly, it's actually critically important for disabled people to have access to single-use, flexible plastic straws. (Read why here.)

For a company that's known to foster inclusivity, accessibility, and creative imagination, a total plastic straw ban is a pretty tactless move — especially since there's so much else Disney can do.

Some consider Disney's decision to ban straws hypocritical considering that some water rollercoasters at its theme parks offer plastic bags for riders to put their personal belongings in.

There are plenty of other impactful ways Disney can reduce plastic waste without negatively affecting disabled people.

1. There's no reason to ban plastic straws completely when Disney could just cut down on their use.

The company could order fewer straws and instead of handing them out to every customer by default, provide straws to those who ask for them.

2. There are many things Disney could ban instead of straws.

Many of the other plastic items found at Disney theme parks are far more harmful to the environment than single-use straws. Instead of straws, Disney could ban plastic utensils — one of the most common items found in California landfills — from their establishments and replace them with alternatives that are either reusable or compostable.

3. Disney could set up lockers instead of handing out plastic bags for riders to stash their personal belongings in.

Disney recently announced that Ziploc is the new official sponsor of Splash Mountain, which can seat up to 1,500 riders per hour, as well as Epcot's Kidcot Fun Stops. That's a lot of bags — and a lot of harm to the ocean. Plastic bags are also a land hazard because they can take up to 1,000 years to degrade in a landfill.

4. Disney could halt the production and/or sales of balloons.

Balloon litter has tripled in the past three years, according to Balloon Blows, a nonprofit dedicated to balloon reduction. While some states have already introduced laws that prevent people from releasing balloons in the air, it's not a law that's easy to enforce. That's why one of the most effective ways Disney can help curb balloon littering is by simply refusing to sell them.

Make no mistake: Disney is taking commendable steps toward becoming a more environmentally conscious company.

But we can all work together to clean and save our planet without harming people in our own communities.

Starbucks has announced its first U.S. signing store catering to deaf and hard of hearing people.

Opening in October in Washington, D.C, the store will employ 20-25 deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing workers fluent in American Sign Language. The location, near Gallaudet University — a private university for deaf and hard of hearing people — was chosen because it's already a vibrant, deaf-friendly hub.

The idea for the store came from a team of deaf Starbucks partners and allies who were inspired by the opening of Starbucks' first signing store in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2016. Like the Malaysian store, the D.C. location will provide both employment opportunities and a highly inclusive gathering space for the deaf/hard of hearing community and their friends.


That's great news for deaf and hard of hearing folks, who often face significant barriers to finding and keeping employment.

The simple act of ordering a cup of coffee is something many hearing people take for granted. Having a store where customers can order in sign language and know they will be understood is a boon to those who need it.

Just as impactful, however, is the purposeful embrace of employees who are deaf or hard of hearing.

According to the National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes, 72% of hearing Americans of working age are employed, while only 48% of deaf Americans are. And almost half of deaf unemployed people are not in the labor force at all, meaning they have either given up on finding employment or have decided for some reason not to seek it.

Barriers to employment for deaf and hard of hearing people include employers having an inadequate understanding of "reasonable accommodations" required by law, difficulties in communication, and inadequate educational preparation. In addition, 1 in 4 deaf workers have quit a job due to discrimination in the workplace.

Starbucks creating a mainstream workplace specifically catering to deaf and hard of hearing employees is a big deal.

Advocates have lauded the store opening as a step forward.

"The National Association of the Deaf applauds Starbucks for opening a Signing Store that employs Deaf and hard of hearing people," said Howard A. Rosenblum, the org's CEO. "Starbucks has taken an innovative approach to incorporating Deaf Culture that will increase employment opportunities as well as accessibility for Deaf and hard of hearing people, while at the same time educating and enlightening society."

Deaf actress Marlee Matlin celebrated the announcement on Twitter.

And when Starbucks responded to her tweet with a person signing "thank you," Matlin said she "couldn't wait to order [her] nonfat hot chai latte in sign."

Other people who communicate differently, such as some people on the autism spectrum who also utilize sign language, are also expressing excitement about the new store.

Starbucks' inclusiveness initiatives can serve as an example to corporate America.

The coffee giant doesn't exactly have a perfect track record when it comes to inclusiveness, having made news for a racist incident in a Philadelphia store earlier in 2018. In response, the corporation shut down 8,000 of its U.S. stores for a day in order to engage 175,000 employees in a company-wide racial bias training. The one-day training received mixed reviews, but Starbucks says it was just the beginning and that it has begun making such trainings part of the onboarding process for new employees.

Despite some bumps along the way, it's clear that Starbucks has consistently endeavored to lead the way in addressing systemic issues and creating inclusive workplaces and consumer environments. This new signing store is a great example of giving marginalized people the reins, supporting an initiative led by those people themselves, and pushing inclusiveness into the mainstream.

Well done, Starbucks.

Starbucks Announces First U.S. Signing Store

We are excited to announce that our first Signing Store in the U.S. will open in Washington, D.C. this October, building on our ongoing efforts to connect with the diverse communities we serve. Learn more here: https://sbux.co/2LarhAk

Posted by Starbucks Partners - Access Alliance on Thursday, July 19, 2018