My Journey As An Actor & Model Living in Hollywood
I am an actor, model, and disability lifestyle blogger/ influencer living in Hollywood, California. I was born with Spina Bifida, and I use a wheelchair as my primary form of mobility. I started my own company called AccessibleHollywood.com where I share my journey as an actor and model living in Hollywood. I also include fun material including, fashion, beauty, hair, makeup, and all things glam!! In addition, I am also the Hollywood Cur8tor for the fashion and lifestyle website for people with disabilities called Cur8able. This website was founded by Stephanie Thomas who is an amazing friend, mentor, and disability fashion stylist. Ovreall, I enjoy promoting accessibility within the entertainment industry and mass media.
I was recently featured in Apple's first ad campaign & commercial featuring people with disabilities. The goal was to show how their products make people with disabilities live more accessible lives. I'm also an official accessibility ambassador for Apple. Additionally, I've been featured in viral videos that discuss topics realating to disability and I promote the inclusion and normalizing of having a disability.
Celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness Day At Apple
I recently left the Hollywood scene for Silicon Valley, which was the most enlightening week of my life. Some of you may have heard of Global Accessibility Awareness Day or #GAAD. It’s a day that was created to spread awareness about how important accessible technology is for people with disabilities. Since Apple is one of the most innovative companies in technology, they are not only supporting the movement but spearheading it.
In honor of GAAD, Apple held a week long series of fun and interactive activities for the employees. One of them being a panel of accessibility activists with disabilities that have online social media presence. Those in attendance were able to hear myself, Rikki Poytner (Closed Captioning Activist & YouTuber), and James Rath (Film maker with Ocular Albinism) speak about how accessibility is crucial in our content making as well as our everyday lives. We also shared our negative and positive experiences being people with disabilities. My personal goal on the panel was to relay my appreciation and gratitude to the makers on the technology front that makes my life easier being a wheelchair user.
I can’t be the diva I am without the assistance of a good selfie device! *just jokes* But in reality, Apple does a great job making accessible products. They have a whole page dedicated to accessible products. I love their new videos on YouTube which show people with disabilities living their everyday lives. When you watch the new “Designed For” commercials, you will notice their disabilities aren't mentioned. This was so amazing because having a disability shouldn’t matter. It doesn’t define us! We also had a chance to see short films from the Deaf Film Camp, which was so awesome. I had a chance to meet the Director of the DFC, Michael Kaufer, who is one of the coolest guys I’ve ever met. I now have an interest in ASL and will be learning about it soon!
Over all, it was a great trip and I couldn’t have found a better way to celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day!! Thank you so much to everyone at Apple for inviting me!! Be sure to check out the video of my trip that I made using the app Clips!!
Enjoy & Thanks for Reading
Tatiana A. Lee
IG/Twitter @MsTatiLee
Article Directly From AccessibleHollywood.com
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