For as slowly as January seemed to go, I still kind of can’t believe that we’re already a month into 2019. I think (hope!) this month will go pretty quickly for me – my calendar is starting to fill up, so I’m hoping that I’m able to keep some down time in there, too.
I think this week’s collection for Friday Favorites is a first for me, in that they’re all related to disability or inclusion in some way. I didn’t plan it, but I’m not complaining, either! I’m actually really excited and encouraged that without even trying, I was able to find so many great videos/articles on those topics. It means they’re becoming more mainstream!
ONE – Squirmy and Grubs YouTube Channel
I love sharing things that I find about other people with SMA, and this video is one of them. It’s a channel by a couple – Shane has SMA, and Hannah is his girlfriend – basically just chronicling their lives. Some are more specifically SMA-related, some are not, but they’re always fun to watch. They recently hit a subscriber milestone on their channel, so major congrats to them!
TWO – New Emoji
Who doesn’t love a good emoji?! I’m SO excited that people with disabilities are getting more emoji options to choose from – right now, the only one I really have is the universal blue “handicapped” sign. I’m really glad they have options for a manual AND power wheelchair, plus options for other kinds of disabilities, too.
THREE – Aerie Real Campaign
American Eagle has a huge corporate office here in Pittsburgh, so I love anytime I see them doing work to further diversity and inclusion in the news. Their newest group of “Aerie Real” models has not one, but TWO people with a disability in it, and one of them is Molly Burke (who I talked about in this post). I really love the work that Aerie is doing to promote a message of acceptance for all bodies.
FOUR – Microsoft Super Bowl Ad
Full disclosure – I did not watch the Super Bowl, but I heard this ad aired and have seen it all over the Internet ever since. When I was in college, we actually bought a Nintendo Wii because the controller/games were more disability-friendly than most other systems. This commercial is not only incredibly sweet, but also shows how important it is to include ALL types of users in design.
