![]() ZA: I had this idea that I wanted to do a show about physical fitness that was actually encouraging. ![]() PM: So how did the Workout Wednesday series come to be? It’s like ‘Can he get on the plane by himself?’ Then I speak up and explain to them that I can, and I’ll throw some big words in there so they know that I have my shit together. Instead they ask whoever I’m with to answer all the questions that I have an answer to. Usually people’s fear that I won’t be able to answer or speak for myself means that they don’t engage with me. The strangest thing is going through airports. I do a lot of that with humor, and trying to show people that if I can laugh about it, you can laugh about it, we can share in this experience, and have a good time together. It’s not, ‘This is how you should treat someone with a disability,’ instead it’s more like ‘How do you treat people? What is the way you engage with any new person that you come across in a social interaction?’ I want people to feel safe enough to have the conversation. My goal is to engage with people in a way that makes them feel comfortable to ask the question even if it’s the wrong question, or politically incorrect. What that does though, is sort of curb the conversation. It doesn’t come from a bad place, it comes from a place of ‘I have no idea what this disability entails, and I don’t want to offend anyone or make them feel awful.’ ![]() ZA: People tend to treat people with disabilities sort of like they’re aliens from another planet. PM: In your book you mention that one of your first jobs when you meet new people new is to address all of the misconceptions they have about people with disabilities.
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