Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:01:00 This is Kfa I, 90.3 fm, Minneapolis and kfa i.org. G. You're listening to Disability and Progress, where we bring you insights into ideas about, and discussions on disability topics. My name is Sam, I'm the host of this show. Charlene Doll is my research person. Special thanks to Miguel for doing my engineering this week. Also, thank you to Erin, who is my podcaster. This week we are speaking with C e o, Paul White. Paul is the c e o to the Hidden Disability Sunflower Team. Hello, Paul.
Speaker 4 00:01:36 Good afternoon or good morning to you, Sam. Thanks for, um, thanks for inviting me along
Speaker 0 00:01:40 Today, <laugh>. Yes, and thank you for being willing to do this. It's great that we can do this with all parts of the world, but we, we do stream and we have a podcast and we do, um, we are online, online as well. So we really do reach out to everyone. So I wanna the tonight or now we're gonna talk about, uh, the Special Olympics, the Hidden Disability, sunflower, and, um, anything else that you think is appropriate for this topic. So I wanna start out by having you tell us like what is the Special Olympics and how, kind of like the little bit of the history behind it, because everyone knows about the Olympics, but I don't think they always know about the Special Olympics.
Speaker 4 00:02:27 Well, the, the, the Special Olympics is, is held, um, every, every two years. Um, and the, um, the Special Olympics championed inclusive sport, um, to bring together an international community of athletes with intellectual disabilities. So it's the world's largest inclusive sporting event. Um, and thousands of athletes, as I say, with intellectual disabilities come together to, to compete. Um, this year, um, it's, it's held in Berlin. There's eight locations in, in Berlin, and there's 7,000 athletes attending from 190 delegations. There are 26 sports that range from athletics to cycling, to gymnastics, to swimming, to tennis, to football. Um, there's 3000 coaches and there are 20,000 volunteers that are there to that there to put on the, um, to put on the games.
Speaker 0 00:03:27 That's really quite amazing.
Speaker 4 00:03:29 Yeah, absolutely. It's a, it is a fantastic, uh, um, event. And the sport is often described as a great equalizer. And large sporting events really can improve the public's perception of people, um, of people with a disability. And the, um, an event such as the, um, the Special Olympics really go a long way into creating, um, an inclusive, um, environment society for us all. I, I feel,
Speaker 0 00:03:57 And so, uh, did it always include this particular disability or can you have multiple disabilities and be in it? Um, and was it always this way or has it changed throughout time?
Speaker 4 00:04:10 Well, the Special Olympics has always been around inclusion, Sam, it's, um, it's, it's different to the, the, the Paralympics. It's, it's a much more inclusive event. It's an event for, uh, for for all if you like. Um, and as I say, they, they really, their, their aim is to bring together this community of athletes with, with intellectual disabilities. So as, as years gone by, it's got, it's got bigger and bigger. I'm not quite sure where it started from. I mean, this is the first year that the Sunflower has been involved with the, so, so for me, it's really the first year I've really become aware of the special and, and what it does. Um, it's um, it's, it's an incredible event, as I say. And the sheer scale of it is just, is just enormous and it really demonstrates that, as I say, sport is, sport is for all of us.
Speaker 0 00:05:03 Right, right. And so it happens every two years. How do they pick where it's going to be held? Do you know,
Speaker 4 00:05:11 I dunno that either. I'm sorry. I dunno. That's okay. The details of the, of the Special Olympics, as I say, this really is the first year, Sam, that we as an organization have partnered with the, with, with the Special Olympics. And, and what we do is your come upon is the ability to support the, the athletes and the, um, and the, uh, the attend the, the volunteers and all of the people attending the event is where the Sunflower is really gonna be, uh, assisting the Special Olympics and adding value to the Special Olympics. But no, I, so, so this really is a first year I've become aware of it and I've really sort of got into it and researched obviously what the events are and everything else. And, um, and I will be attending, which is also a real, a real thrill for me. So, ah, excellent. I'm not exactly sure on what day yet, but, um, but I'm gonna be attending the, the Special Olympics, so I'm really looking forward to that.
Speaker 0 00:06:03 I wanna talk about the Sunflower. Um, it's kind of a, a signature for, uh, hidden disabilities that you have brought to the table, but can you start out by telling people what a Hidden disability is and, uh, what qualifies as that?
Speaker 4 00:06:22 So, a hidden disability is any disability that is, isn't immediately obvious and people with hidden disabilities are not gonna have any physical, physical signs and hidden disabilities range from, um, from learning difficulties to mental health, to, to visual or, or hearing impairments. Um, they can also include, um, chronic illnesses such as diabetes or asthma. Um, and it's whenever these illnesses or conditions, um, affect a person's day to day life and, and living with these conditions, Sam makes daily life more demanding for, for many people mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and you haven't got visible evidence of your condition or impairment. It's very difficult for others to recognize the, the challenges and the barriers that that person faces. And as a consequence, life can be painful, exhausting, um, and isolating some.
Speaker 0 00:07:18 Um, can you talk a little bit about the Sunflower, the Hidden Disability Sunflower? How did that come about? And um, just give us a little bit of history on that.
Speaker 4 00:07:31 So the Sunflower is, um, is a simple tool to demonstrate that a person has a non-visible disability. And when people see that, whether that's businesses, public, the public organizations, they can recognize that there's, there's something going on with that person they can't see. And it gives people the ability to give that person any additional time, care patient's understanding or kindness that they, that they may need. So the, the Sunflower was created in Gateway Care Airport in 2016, and the, the airport recognized that, um, sorry, the airport could, could recognize when people had invisible disability, such as in a wheelchair, for instance mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but what all these people with disabilities that, that weren't visible. Great. So part of an organization that, um, we were, so I worked for an organization that provided, provided merchandise for the, for the airport. And the, the airport came to me and said to me, we've got this idea.
Speaker 4 00:08:36 We want to use a sign. Have you got any ideas? And I had to think about it and with my team, and we came back and we said, well, how about using, using a sunflower as a simple, as a simple tool? Um, and the airport loved it. The airport thought it was a great idea. They implemented it in the way that we provided lanyards and PIN badges and passengers started to, to wear, to wear, wear the sunflower of it going through the airport. And that gave the airport staff the ability to be able to provide that person, um, support the, it was so popular at Gallery Airport, it then moved to, to Heath Row and then moved from Heath Row to to to other airports. And then at that stage, a lot of other businesses began to get involved in its own, such as supermarkets, the, um, transport, and really now anywhere, um, that people shop travel work, is it Sunflower Now has a, now, now has a, has a presence. So we've, we, we've, we've provided the sunflower in a, in, in a, in a, in a relatively simple form in the way that anybody can obtain a, um, a sunflower who, uh, who feels they would need, need that extra layer, layer of support and the, and what, what the sunflower gives that person is just the simple ability to demonstrate they have a condition, and as I say, for others to give that person that extra level of care.
Speaker 0 00:10:03 And how did you come about thinking that the sunflower would be an appropriate or a good choice?
Speaker 4 00:10:11 Well, the sunflower to me demonstrates happiness, positivity, and strength. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, that's what it demonstrates to me. Um, and it's also around growth, it's also around confidence. And we really was looking for a single that, um, people would be able to, um, to resonate with and what people would be able to, and a global symbol that's gender neutral. Neutral, of course. And I really feel that, I felt, and I still feel now that the, the global symbol for disabilities of a person in a wheelchair really doesn't resonate with so many, so many people with right. Disabilities only, um, only 7% of, of of people with disabilities use a wheelchair sand. Right. So that means 93% of people that, that really can't relate to that symbol. Right? So, so the sunflower we has has really become the, um, the go-to symbol for people with non-visible disabilities. And it's being used globally now, um, across the world for people to be able to demonstrate they have, they have a condition or impairment.
Speaker 0 00:11:18 I really like the idea of having a symbol that reflects all people almost with disabilities, because I under, I agree with you that, that it doesn't always reflect what they use. It's like if you took somebody with a guide dog, you know, how many percentage of people use a guide dog? And obviously that wouldn't represent all people with disabilities. Um, and you, you, it started in 2016, you said?
Speaker 4 00:11:45 That's it. 2016 was when we was, when we started, and we've, we, we've grown now, we, we now have, um, so, so to date we provided, um, over 3 million lanyards is is the volume of lanyards we provided. There are 25,000 organizations now that support the Sunflower globally. We have offices, um, around the world, um, in, in the u uk of course, that across the eu, US and Canada, we just launched in, um, in, in Brazil and Chile. We have an offices in, um, in the United Arab Emirates and also in Australia and New Zealand. So it's really becoming a, a global, a global symbol. Um, and the Sunflower really grows organically. You'll, you'll find that mainly an airport will rec use the sunflower because it's been so widely used in the air network. And then once it gets a, a foothold in an airport in a certain region in the bus company or the train company, or the cat company picks it up, person wears the sunflower, then go into the shops and the supermarket, and you really see this organic roof from that company that stems from, from one re from one, one simple, simple area or one simple business.
Speaker 0 00:13:02 And it is interesting because, um, until I saw your thing, I had no idea of, of the sunflower. So there obviously we need to do more promotion, um, and it sounds like it's really well known there in um, Europe, but maybe the US has a little ways to go.
Speaker 4 00:13:22 Well, it's certainly really well known in the US across the airports. Um, um, I I'm not quite sure the number and I should have researched this, but um, certainly I know that the, that Minneapolis airport recognizes
Speaker 0 00:13:34 Yeah. Well, and, and I, I, yes, then that would be, I, I mean my hope would be that it would spread more to, you know, like you said, markets and, and shops and, and other events that would promote that kind of thing.
Speaker 4 00:13:52 So there are, there are pockets of, of organizations in the us so it's, it's certainly been very, very popular across, um, for, for airports and certainly for airlines as as well. So, so travel really is, um, is a really big, um, is, is is been a really part, big part of the sunflower for people to wear it and be supportive when they, when they travel. And the challenge for us really is, is how we get other organizations and businesses involved. And as I say, there's there, there's pockets of organizations that recognize the sunflower across, across the us but we, um, the, but we, we, with the Sunflower, the more organizations that that can recognize the sunflower, the more people can feel supported, um, when they go out and visit these locations. So it really is a win-win for, for, for businesses if they, um, if they support the Sunflower, because all they're really doing is just providing that, that just attracting Sunflower wearers to, to their, their location because Sunflower wearers can feel confident and comfortable. They'll be supportive when they visit that location.
Speaker 0 00:14:55 Do you, um, do you encourage people to wear the, I guess I'm wondering like how people feel with, you know, there's always that thing of labeling yourself. Do you actually wanna take that step and label yourself? You know, some people are frustrated because they have a hidden dis disability and it's so difficult for people to understand. And I feel like that's where the sunflower really comes in. But there's also people who think, you know, if I can get away with not telling people I have a disability, I'd rather do that just because there's, you know, obviously there's people who look a different way at people with disabilities.
Speaker 4 00:15:37 The sunflower is a choice, sir. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's, it's an absolute choice. People choose to wear the sunflower because they want to demonstrate they have a condition and they want to show, um, they want to receive that extra level of parents at support that they may need. Right. To, to be able to, to get through, get through their, their their day. And certainly for the, the majority of people that, that I know with, with hidden disabilities or nonvisible disabilities, they, they certainly don't want my sympathy, but what they do want is, may want my understanding. Right. And certainly the, the sunflower gives gives the ability to offer that level, level of understanding. I could only speak for myself, I mean, I certainly was in a space, um, previous to, to, to being involved in the sunflower where I would see a naughty child on the, on an airplane. And I was thinking, why is that parent not con not not controlling that child? And why is that not really considering that, that there might be something else going on in right.
Speaker 0 00:16:34 With
Speaker 4 00:16:35 That child and with, with that, with that family and, and the stigma that that family could, would, would be, um, would be feeling. And um, and certainly that that really kind of demonstrates that how the sunflower really can work. Cuz it really can help to, I think for me it, it's really helping to normalize disabilities. Um, and it's really sort of providing that tool and that and that reference point that whil else, we are all equal. We are certainly not all the same. And that that's true is one key. That's one of the key points of the summit.
Speaker 0 00:17:08 Yeah. And I could see that point in regards to, I like that you gave that example because I think there could be a lot of that and that can sometimes happen and people that takes a little bit of the blame or, or pressure off the parent and terrific. Maybe, hopefully it extends, you know, some understanding or empathy from people to understand what might be going on. Um, so they might and might make them even more willing to reach out and things like that.
Speaker 4 00:17:40 Yeah, I com I, I I complete completely agree. I mean, I mean, using my, my own personal circumstances, my, my daughter is, is autistic mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, and traveling with Maddie when she was younger was what was, was tough was, was challenging. Maddie didn't like to, um, while she was fine traveling, the, the security was a real barrier for us being split up insecurity, somebody looking through her bag, all of this was, was a really challenging for us mm-hmm. <affirmative> as a, as a family because Maddie would then start to feel real anxiety around that, that time. And now by wearing in the sunflower, it removes that level of, of anxiety. It gives her confidence that she can, that that she can then go out into society and be able to live perceived normal life without any, any real fears. Because if she starts to feel anxious or in any, any moment starts to feel worried or alienated by the barriers in society, she feels she has a sunflower, she's able to be able to demonstrate that through, through wearing, wearing a sun sunflower, landard. So once I thought about the idea of the sunflower landard and thought about how that would help him with hidden disabilities, the first person that I gave it to was mad and
Speaker 4 00:18:58 She used it. And it helped us enormously as a fan <affirmative> traveling. It really helped us to, to be able to, to, to go out and not feel that kind of stigma that I, I suggested, suggested earlier because of, because of how travel used to used, used to affect her. And now, wherever Maddie goes, I mean, her line is, um, is phone keys, sunflower is kind of a mantra that she, that she goes by. That she just, whenever she leave the house, she might not always wear it, but it's always in her bag. It's always in her pocket. And if she feels that she's in a, in a position or if she's in, um, any, any place that she feels she might need that support, she pops it on and then she, she kind then feels, it gives her a lot more confidence and that really is
Speaker 0 00:19:44 Right.
Speaker 4 00:19:45 Other people feel the same.
Speaker 0 00:19:47 Well, and I think that is a really good point in regards to, you know, people when you're going through things like, like, um, you know, security or things like that, there's a certain expectation I think that people have of society or just quote an average whatever person that might be walking through. And if you have a little more understanding, hey, this person's in a wheelchair, they'll need this extra help. Or this person's, you know, got this anxiety level and they'll need a little bit of extra explanation or understanding that I could totally see how that would make a, a huge difference. Um, what type of training does the Olympics kind of go through with understanding the sunflower?
Speaker 4 00:20:33 So we provide, um, training modules to the, the Special Olympics and the, the training modules really is kind of what we're talking about now, as in, as in see, recognize what some of the meaning of the sunflower is, is to the wearer, recognize that that person has a condition that you cannot see and really just give that person the time, care, patience and support that they need. There. There really is no need or to, to know or, um, or ask for a person's condition is completely irrelevant. The, the, because the sunflower is just a simple sign that that person has a non-visible disability and gives that organization the ability to offer that person the extra, um, the, the extra care. So, so we've, um, so we, we've, so the training has been, um, has been given out to 20,000 of the volunteers, which is great.
Speaker 4 00:21:25 So the whole location is going to be going to be sunflower friendly. The, um, Berlin Airport was the first airport in Germany to, um, to recognize the sunflower. So the first touchpoint where the athletes and their poaches and the, and the spectators will be, will, will, will be coming into the country, obviously is bird in airport. So from the minute they arrive, they can, they'll, they'll be able to, to wear their sunflower and to be able to be supported all the way through their journey from the airport and then whilst they're either competing or, or visiting at the games.
Speaker 0 00:21:59 Excellent. Um, so can you give me a little bit of history in regards to you and how you, you have, I see a disability store in your, your U R L, um, exactly what do you do? Where is your part in the sunflower and how did you kind of get to that point?
Speaker 4 00:22:22 So how I started with the sunflower was kind of, I explained earlier in the way that I was part of an organization that was providing the, the products to the airport. And, and when I was, um, and we, when we first took the product to market, if you like it, um, I was able then to obviously see the, the value of what the Sunflower sunflower was giving. But, but at the beginning it really was, it really was just a commercial decision is in, in all, in all honesty, in the way that I could see there was a place in the market to provide this product and I could see that there was a real appetite or, or for the sunflower. So we opened up the store, we opened up the website, and we started selling, selling merchandise. And then what happened, Sam, was I then started get getting messages from people about how the sunflower changed their lives. How by wearing the sum, a simple tool or simple sign that I create helped to create, had given people their independence back, had enabled that person to, to go out and, and experience things that they, they hadn't done before. And I'll just share a quick story with you. Sure.
Speaker 0 00:23:30 Absolutely.
Speaker 4 00:23:32 I, I'd an email from, um, from a gentleman who, um, who has had, has dementia and he used to play walking football, walking soccer in your language. He used to play walking soccer <laugh> with, with his mates at the, um, at the local sports center, Uhhuh <affirmative>. And the, the bus company recognized a sunflower. And because the bus company recognized a sunflower, he could independently travel to football, play football with his mates, and then independently travel home safe in the knowledge that if anything happened, he would be supported. And to him, that gave him his life back. And that really had a big effect for me as a person. Just hearing that story, I thought to myself, this is, this is more than just selling a load of,
Speaker 0 00:24:17 Right.
Speaker 4 00:24:18 This has really got the ability to, to really do something for good for society.
Speaker 0 00:24:24 Yes, it does.
Speaker 4 00:24:25 I real had a real 180. I thought, what am I doing here? I stepped away from the organization that I was working with at the time. I went, I jumped fully 150% with working with, with the Sunflower. I created a team around of people around me to, to provide the, the su the sunflower. And now my goal with the Sunflower now really is just to, is for it to become the, uh, global symbol for people with, with disabilities to, to be able to, to launch the sunflower in as many countries as possible, to support as many country, um, people. Um, and, and, and in general, my, the, the whole point of sunflower is just to improve the day-to-day life of people with nonvisible disabilities. So, so quite a big, it's quite an ambitious task of course, but that's certainly, um, a, it's certainly an ambition of, of mine and my team within the sun.
Speaker 0 00:25:20 Actually. I think it's quite brilliant that you started in airports and in the whole, um, traveling, um, area because people go everywhere, right? Traveling has now become just really a global thing. Um, sure that is <laugh> innocence. That's why we had the pandemic, right? People just, nobody stays in one place. Everyone goes all over the place. Within hours you can get places. So really, um, you're probably in more countries than you know, because people will take it everywhere. But how many countries are you currently in that you know of?
Speaker 4 00:25:55 So we are in 27, 27 countries recognize the, recognize the sunflower. So we've got this organization in 27 7 of the global global organizations. Uh, as I say, there's 25,000 global organizations that, that recognize the sunflower, and we've provided over 3 million land yards. But that's nothing that really is nothing. If you look at, if you think of over 1.3 billion people in
Speaker 0 00:26:22 Right,
Speaker 4 00:26:23 With some form of disability, and we've provided, um, 3 million Landy yards, we've really just scratched the surface, if you like mm-hmm. Of, of the number of, but we hope that, as I say, we, we hope that we are giving people, the people, people the choice. And, and we get messages literally every single day, Sam, about how the Sunflower has giving people the ability to, to, to go out and do things independently and to go out and do things that they, they didn't feel they could do before. And it covers, as I said before, it covers all elements of society, from sports to, um, to businesses to, and, and another way that the Sunflower is certainly being, being used in, in businesses is with businesses that aren't customer facing user sunflower. Um, uh, quite a, quite a bit. And the way that they do that is they're really using the sunflower to help to create a culture where people feel comfortable to disclose that they have a condition without fear of being marginalized. Because they've demonstrated without fear that because they've said they have a condition, any future prospects will, will be, be withheld. So by an organization supporting the sunflower and providing a sunflower for its, for its start, for its its colleagues, it really is helping to create that culture across businesses and creating that inclusion culture, um, that all, that all of us, all of us want, all of us want a diversity. All of us seek, seek inclusion, inclusion and businesses really are using the sunflower for that. For that one of, one of those ways
Speaker 0 00:28:01 You are tuned to K ffa, I 90.3 fm, Minneapolis and kfa org g this is Disability and Progress. We're speaking with C E o Paul White, he's, he's the c e O of the Hidden Disability Sunflower Team. And we're talking about the sunflower that will be held, uh, hosted at the, um, the Special Olympics coming up. And it, it's held every two years. When is it actually happening?
Speaker 4 00:28:30 So it happens on the, it's between the 17th and the 23rd of June. Is the,
Speaker 0 00:28:35 Um, and do you know, can it be viewed at all on, um, any stations or is somebody doing YouTube with it or do you know anything like that?
Speaker 4 00:28:45 Well, I think the, the best, the, the best place is always to start with their website. If you Google Special Olympics Berlin, there will be links on there I guess that we'll be able to take you to. And I'm sure though it's, it's a very inclusive event, excuse me. So I'm sure it will be able to view it, um, on, um, on online. But that really is the best place to start, is to visit their site.
Speaker 0 00:29:07 Excellent. And, um, how can people find out more about the sunflower and how to get involved with it?
Speaker 4 00:29:14 So if you'd like to find out more about the sunflower, then please visit our, our website. So our website is hidden disabilities store.com. Um, we have a, um, a US site, so that will give you all the information about how the sunflower is used across the us. There's, um, there's a map on our site that shows all of the locations that, that recognize the sunflower. So if you're a sunflower wearer, you will be able to see where you will be, um, supported. And then certainly in travel, you can put end-to-end travel destinations and see what organizations will support you in on your travel plans. So if you are flying from the US to Canada, for instance, you'll be able to see the airports that recognize the sunflower, and then you can potentially tailor your plans if you want to be recognized all the way across your journey.
Speaker 0 00:30:03 And, um, if you were to explain the sunflower to somebody, because this is radio, is it just a regular sunflower or does it have any words in it? Or how is it, how is it shown?
Speaker 4 00:30:16 It's a regular sunflower on a green background.
Speaker 0 00:30:20 Ah, okay.
Speaker 4 00:30:21 And that's, and that's it. There's no words, there's no words in it. It really is just a symbol, um, that, um, that is there to, to demonstrate you have a non-visible disability. The, it's mainly, uh, the main product we provide is a, is a lanyard mm-hmm. <affirmative> mainly because people can take it on, take it off, those kind of things. It's quite, it's quite handy, right? We have, but we have PIM badges, we have wristbands, we have cats, we have every single element. You can, you can think of <laugh> with a, with a sunflower, with a sunflower on it, but it all, it's all there for that one, that one, that one purpose, which is just to demonstrate you have a condition.
Speaker 0 00:30:57 And I'm just curious, did you have any other competition with any other products that use the Sunflower?
Speaker 4 00:31:04 Not, not really. I mean, one of the things that always surprised me when we created the, the sunflower was there was no go-to symbol for all disability for all people with disabilities or all conditions. Yeah. There was, there, there were there, there were, there were certain lanyards and things that said, oh, I'm autistic, for instance, and buttons saying, oh, I've got adhd or something like that, that I saw. But there was no one symbol that captured, that captured everything that, and didn't really capture the essence of what we were trying to, trying to provide was, was not to actively be able for you to show what, say what your condition was. Because for us, that wasn't, was wasn't relevant, right? It was just to be able to show that there is something going on that, that you can't see. And as such, because I've got this thing going on that you can't see, I might need that extra layer layer of support. So no, it, it, it always surprised me at that, at the beginning that there, there, there wasn't any other organizations doing anything like this. And I think that's why we've been, we've potentially have been so successful is because it really has captured the, the public's imagination.
Speaker 0 00:32:11 And do you see that maybe this might spill over to, you know, even visible disabilities that people might use this?
Speaker 4 00:32:21 Well, certainly with people with visible disabilities, you,
Speaker 0 00:32:24 I mean, you do know, but, but you know, I, I don't know, I just kind of see it as sometimes people, you know, like the, the, the service dog has a harness, you know, that definitely is something that shows, um, so I was just, you know, I'm, I could almost see how this could,
Speaker 4 00:32:44 With some people with vi with visible disabilities, they may have a non-visible disability running, running in parallel with their visible disabilities <laugh>.
Speaker 0 00:32:52 Yes,
Speaker 4 00:32:52 That's true. So with a lot of people, there's, there's, there, there are more than one P one condition that's, that, that's, that's going on. So people with visible disabilities do wear the sunflower and, and we are delighted if that is the case. I mean, we're not, we, I mean we, we, we certainly, we we provided the, the sunflower for, for, for the reason that, that we, we've explained that if you haven't got a visible sign, if you haven't got here in here in aid, or you haven't got a white cane, or you have, or you, you don't use a wheelchair, how can that person demonstrate that they might need that extra level of support? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, how can that person demonstrate that they might need that seat on the bus? How do they do that? And it, it, and it, it must be exhausting to continue to, to maybe justify yourself and say, could I have that seat? Please, sir, because I've got this, this problem and I can't stand fort for too long. It must be absolutely exhausting to, to have con constantly justify yourself. Right. So hope some really remove some of those barriers.
Speaker 0 00:33:51 Um, well I appreciate you coming on and talking about this and I, I hope you have great success and it sounds like it's well on its way. Are there any other comments you have in regards to the Special Olympics sunflower and HIN disabilities?
Speaker 4 00:34:07 No, I would just say that if you are visiting the, the Special Olympics, then um, please go onto our site and try and get yourself a sunflower landard if you would like, if you choose to wear one. So, because you will be recognized at the, um, at the event, remember that, um, that Berlin airport also support the sunflower. So wear your Sunflower landard through, um, through, through, through the airport. And if you are visiting, have an amazing time.
Speaker 0 00:34:34 And could you give us the website one more time, how people can find out more about or get their sunflower?
Speaker 4 00:34:40 So it's hidden disabilities store.com.
Speaker 0 00:34:45 Paul, I appreciate you coming on. Thank you so much for spending your time with us.
Speaker 4 00:34:50 Thanks, Sam. It's been an absolute pleasure speaking to you.
Speaker 0 00:34:53 Thank you. We've been speaking with Paul White. Paul is the c e O to the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower, and we were talking about hidden disabilities, the Sunflower and the Special Olympics. This is k kfi org and KFI 90.3 FM Minneapolis. This is Disability and Progress
Speaker 2 00:35:16 Kfi.
