Deborah is now very excited to announce PUSHliving’s newest, and possibly her most significant, venture to date PUSHLivingPhotos
With the inspiration that comes from PUSHLiving, Deborah feels she has entered into a “revival” phase of her life.This period of rebirth came about after her previous life, as she had known it, drastically and suddenly changed. Her two beautiful girls left the nest, bound for college. She had married a man that was rarely in the country due to work-related travel, so she was most often alone. Deborah had to retire from a full-time 20-plus-year professional career due to what she described as a full-blown rebellion by her body. This came as a result of the number of years in the chair ( the result of a car accident at 18), extreme fatigue and what her doctor referred to as “overuse syndrome” affecting her ability to use her hands and arms.
However, a few years later, with no children at home and no job, loneliness and a lack of a sense of purpose caused her to become isolated and frozen in self-doubt and inactivity. She developed social anxiety, an inability to focus, and no desire to leave the house except when husband or family was home. Other than the wonderful family travel opportunities afforded to her by her husband’s job, she was left wondering what she really wanted to do with the rest of her life.
Who did she want to be “when she grew up,” thought Deborah. “Therapist?” she contemplated. However, when she approached Vocational Rehab for possible funding for a degree, they declined. They felt the salary is too low with too many of these degrees flooding the market. “But I will be different; I want to help others like me on my own schedule that will accommodate my needs and write a book once I get my Ph.D.,” Deborah explained. “Nope. You have a degree in Business; we won’t help pay for another.”
“Actress/Model?” Yeah, she could go on casting calls when she felt up to it, and do commercials and increase the use of people with disabilities in these ads! “No,” said the casting agents. “We never see a request for a ‘disabled role,’ and she was already in her 40’s. Besides, she hated sitting for hours getting her makeup done and picture taken. It was exhausting work, and it did not fulfill her mentally and spiritually.
“What about ADA training and consulting?” suggested her business partner, Bill. No, she did that much of her life, as she was an ADA trainer and worked with cities and county governments throughout Florida. She was once contracted to develop and train every department in Miami-Dade Government, including all Police Departments. She also did private work for Miami Beach hotels and venues. She needed to take a different, broader, and less physically demanding approach.
“Documentary film producer?!” She had a great idea to feature women with spinal cord injuries that would help other woman to overcome the misconceptions and fear that made her life so much more challenging. She wanted people to see that women with spinal cord injuries are great partners, sexual beings, and mothers. But with no film experience and no money to fund it, she would have to let that be a dream for later. Anyway, now there are amazing actresses like Teal Sherer and her web series “My Gimpy Life,” as well as “Push Girls” featuring four spinal cord injured women, which made her just as happy as if she’d executed the idea.
Finally, one day Deborah realized through their work advocating for barrier-free design in the travel and hospitality industry through TravAbility.travel, that even if the company did comply with the accessibility “laws” of the land (in the countries they even existed in), they often did not really see the true economic value of marketing to people with disabilities. “That’s it!” they thought. We will continue to educate them, but add a new division that will go one step further. They would help travel, leisure and lifestyle venues and companies to communicate their inclusive design and benefits in their advertising and marketing campaigns. For companies that did not have the time or money to set up a custom photo shoot, the site would provide the images that could be incorporated via a Stock Photo Library specializing in the positive imagery of people with disabilities! PUSHLivingPhotos (formerly PhotoAbility) was born!
Deborah is now re-inspired and feels a sense of passion and a bigger purpose. This new company uses all her skills and experiences developed working with and for others over 20 years. After graduating from the University of Miami with a business degree, she had started her career working in nonprofit fundraising and special events management for organizations such as the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, Junior Achievement, and Abilities of Florida, where she became Executive Director.
Her work did enable her to support her two girls, whom she raised mostly alone from the ages of 1 and 3. Personally, she had fought hard after divorce to find the love and stability she wanted, and this did not come easily either. As a woman with a disability with two children, there were a lot of challenges to overcome.
While she was afforded the opportunity to stop working and do what she needed to take care of herself, after almost four years of trying to find out what she could do and who she wanted to be, she is now finally ready and able to take on this new venture.
This time, she is making sure to take better care of her health and her body. She now has stopped all gluten and dairy, lost all the weight, and is even back to a manual chair. She is swimming and even working to develop a fitness series for PUSHliving.com that focuses on higher-level injuries who do not have trunk support.
Through PUshLivingPhotos, Deborah wants to share the cooperative spirit of a venture that supports and gives back to all those involved. This is a project where everyone wins. A portion of PUSHliving Enterprise and PUSHLivingPhotos division revenues will be donated to charities that work to support and build a more inclusive society. Photo models and non-model subjects whose photos are submitted and accepted into the library will be promoted, and revenues shared on all sales. Their library pays more commission per sale than any other library, with 30% going to the contributor of the photo to the site, be it the photographer or the subject. Custom shoots that are done just to add images exclusively to the library will pay even more. Having been through some tough financial times, and still trying to work her way back to financial independence, she understands how much a little extra income can mean to so many.
If you want to donate your photos but do not care to receive the royalties yourself, you can allocate your sales to a charity or individual of your choice. The site will support other organizations by linking to them in photos featuring their members, founders or supporters. Businesses can showcase their products in photos with a link going back to their site so people can learn more about useful equipment and products to make their lives better.
The BIG picture goal of all this work in increasing the use of a person with disabilities in advertising, marketing and media sectors is to change how the world perceives and values its citizens with disabilities. The social stigma that still exists in the mind and cultures of many in the world is what allows for lack of motivation to eliminate or reduce barriers. A wave of change reflected in popular media can make an impact on laws and attitudes, and even more importantly on how many of those who have not had a voice or have been hidden away see themselves.
Deborah is extremely grateful to those photographers and fellow “wheelers” who have contributed images and given their time and support to review the site, give feedback and “like” the PhotoAbility Facebook page. The photo library now has some stunning, and powerful images that will surely change perceptions and inspire those who make the decisions on what is being included in media and advertising to want to include people with disabilities and all that they represent: beautiful, perfectly imperfect, and economically powerful individuals who want and deserve to see themselves reflected back at them in the world full of physical and social barriers. This will begin to show the world the real face of inclusion.