These Giveback Podcast interviewees are people who show every day that people with disabilities can work hard, enjoy life, and contribute to their communities just as much as anyone!
Eliana Bravos
Chair, Viable Careers
Eliana Bravos works with Viable Careers, a youth team working to co-create brighter futures with neurodivergent people and allies. 70% of the team is neurodivergent. She is neurodivergent herself, and a fourth year student at the University of Toronto.
Email Eliana: info@viablecareers.org
Meghan Hines
Meghan is co-chair of the REACH Employee Resource Group at RBC, which works to bring people with disabilities into the inclusion conversation and helps create a workplace where people with disabilities can thrive. She also brings her over 20 years of experience as a para-athlete to and love of powerhockey to her position as co-founder and President of Powerhockey Canada.
David Lepofsky
David Lepofsky is a Toronto lawyer, writer and advocate. In his over 40 years of work in disability advocacy, he has fought for and won many major battles for rights of people with disabilities to be encoded into Ontario’s municipal and provincial levels. He even appeared before the Joint Committee of the Senate and the House of Commons on the Constitution of Canada, on behalf of the CNIB, for an amendment to the proposed Charter of Rights to guarantee equality rights to persons with disabilities.
David has an Order of Canada, an Order of Ontario, and several honorary doctorates. He is currently volunteer chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disability Act Alliance.
Dr. Pamela Lindsey
Founder, College of Adaptive Arts
Pamela Lindsey co-founded the College of Adaptive Arts (CAA) with DeAnna Pursai in 2009. CAA offers a diverse and rich post-secondary learning experience to adults with disabilities, helping them to live a full and empowered life as successful, contributing members of the community
Email Pamela at info@collgeofadaptivearts.org
Lizzy Murphy
It’ll take more than Multiple Sclerosis to stop Lizzy from doing what she loves best: flying her own plane (Vyctor) as often as she can! Read about her flying at adventures on her blog at http://lizzymcfly.com/
Jeremiah Opperman
Founder and CEO, Disability Desk
Jeremiah was born with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a deteriorating eye condition which results in total blindness. Since starting his own HR marketing consultancy in 1999, he has increasingly focused on disability issues and is passionate about the unhesitant and natural integration of people with disabilities into mainstream society. He lives in South Africa with his family and guide-dog.
Email Jeremy at his website
Jeffrey D. Pledger
CEO, CyberAI
Jeffrey’s background in leadership, IT management, and execution presentation includes 26 years at Verizon, and founding the first web-based multimedia company to provide fully accessible interfaces for archived and live video streaming. He is now the CEO at CyberAI and, as a blind man, very involved in disability advocacy.
Email Jeffrey at his website