ANCOR Links: Season 1, Episode 7
André Floyd
Welcome to ANCOR Links. I’m your host André Floyd, and we are super, super excited about this episode. This is all about your 2023 Holiday Gift Guide. That’s right, we’re going to take you through so many different products and gifts to support people with disabilities where you can order them, buy them, support them, please do. There’s so much stuff out there. It’s so fun. We had a great time curating this list. And, you know, I’ve got my colleagues, Alli and Tricia, what we’re going to do is have a little bit of a share and tell, so to speak, in audio format! We’ve been browsing their shops with a lot of envy, a lot of desire and want, we know this gift-giving season is usually for giving gifts to others, but who knows, we may get a thing or two for ourselves, or 10 or 20. We’ll see. But we’re gonna have a good time talking through these different gifts. So stick with us after the break, we’re going to jump right in.
Alli Strong-Martin
We are going to kick off our holiday gift guide share and tell, and I’m really excited about the chance to talk about Grace Place Art. So, Grace is an artist with Down syndrome. Grace and her mom are a mother-daughter team who are in business together, they actually reached out to ANCOR via email and that’s how we found out about them! Grace is a really, really great artist. She has a bunch of different items for sale that she has created the artwork herself. You can find it on her website, graceplaceart.com. And she has artwork for sale that ranges from different prints of her artwork, thank you cards, bookmarks. Other original artwork, again that she has created, she’s gotten her artwork put on two mugs, which are super cute. And also for this holiday season, they have a couple of different holiday collections that Grace has created. They have different candles and again, like mugs, one of my favorites that I’ve seen is wrapping paper that’s Grace’s artwork on wrapping paper. And also some very, very cute and adorable gift tags that you can put on the gifts that you give people. And I just think that they’re the cutest things ever. And you should go check them out!
Tricia DePalatis
Alli, you know what, I did a little bit of shopping the other night using our holiday gift guide. And I ended up buying the “music to my ears” gift tags. And they’re so adorable. I cannot wait for them to come in. They also sell “music to my ears” prints and cards. And it’s just the kind of store where I was looking at everything available. And thinking I really wished that I sent more letters and cards than I do. And it made me want to be somebody who writes cards and sends them. So I might become one of those people to continue being able to buy things from Grace Place Art.
Alli Strong-Martin
I love that so much.
Tricia DePalatis
I am excited to talk to you about Bitty and Beau’s, a coffee shop started in 2016 by Amy and Ben, Wright, who are parents to four children, and Bitty and Beau are two of their children who were born with Down syndrome. So, it was very important to them that they started to realize that about 80% of people with disabilities were unemployed. One of the things that I read an article, Amy said, sometimes for adults with disabilities life can feel very isolating. And they wanted to start building a better community place where their kids would grow up feeling valued, and know their worth. They want to be a part of the economic fabric of society. So with that mission in mind, they created a coffee shop called Bitty and Beau’s. That was in 2016. And today, they have 20 stores in 12 states along with the District of Columbia. So, they have franchised at a really impressive speed! They’re all over the country. And I actually realized when I was looking at this store a couple of nights ago and I was thinking okay, I definitely know people that I can purchase coffee beans for they have an online shop so I was looking at the holiday gift boxes and apparel then all of the cute drink where there’s so many amazing things on their website. But I realized looking at the locations that there was actually a Bitty and Beau’s about 20 minutes from my house in Boulder, Colorado! So over the weekend, I went there and had an amazing time. I got a white peppermint bark mocha. And my husband got a gingerbread latte. Both drinks were amazing. And there were four people working there. One of them was the owner. Her name is Julia Fetzer. So I got to chat with her and the employees who were there. And the mission of Bitty and Beau’s is that each location hires about 30 people with disabilities. And they have five to eight employees who work as supervisors and trainers. But it was really amazing because you go in and you see people with disabilities behind the counter greeting you, they’re really happy to chat. They’re making drinks, they’re calling out names, they’re taking orders. And it just was amazing. Because oftentimes, I think, unfortunately, people with disabilities, depending on where they are employed, they’re not necessarily front of house. So, getting to chat with the workers there and just let them know that hey, we put together this gift guide. Thank you so much for doing what you’re doing. Also, this Bitty and Beau’s in Boulder just opened on September 30, 2023. So, they’re pretty new. And they seem to be doing really well, the employees were happy to be there. Yeah, so I definitely recommend seeing if you have a Bitty and Beau’s close to you. They’re in 13 different states. So I will definitely be back. And I had a nice time chatting with them. They were lovely.
André Floyd
All right, and I want to talk about John’s Crazy Socks, because John has some crazy socks. In fact, John has a lot of crazy socks. And I got to talk to John, as you’ll hear a chat and a little bit, but they have over 4000 different styles of socks. So johnscrazysocks.com. That’s with an H and the website, you will see they have holiday socks they have everyday socks, I have so many themes I was scrolling through I saw pizza, pickleball—they’re up on the latest trends! Whatever it is, I’m sure there’s a sock for it, or there soon will be. I really, really enjoyed this. I’m a person who enjoys a silly sock. So this really spoke well to me, I enjoy wearing weird socks. So I this was really fun story to kind of scroll through and another thing and chatting with them. I just absolutely loved hearing the story about how the business began, John started selling socks, basically door to door, we’d go and drop them off to people door to door and then it just kind of grew and grew and grew. So it’s a really cool story. Very interested to hear you all hear John talk about it. But yeah, go to johnscrazysocks.com and take a look at all the socks. Don’t get overwhelmed, there’s a lot of selection. But you really can’t go wrong with anything that you look at, because everything I saw was just really, really fun. Really, really cool. And I think everybody’s going to enjoy it again. Have some fun with your socks, or have somebody else has some fun with your socks. This is a fun thing to go through. I was trying to figure out what my favorites were. Like 4,000 is a lot to go through, I’m like I can’t choose a favorite yet. I don’t think I’ve seen them all. But also how are you going to remember all these socks? Anyway, I’m very excited about it. I thought it was really fun. So here’s John to talk a little bit more about John’s Crazy Socks and what he decided to do, and how the business came about. It’s a really good conversation. So, let’s hear from John real quick.
John Cronin
My passion is I love putting socks and white socks. i It’s fun. It’s colorful, it’s craft is always let me be me. I want to quickly talk my whole life.
Mark Cronin
So John had entered his last year of school, so he’s trying to figure out like everybody else, what do I do next? And what were you looking at?
John Cronin
I look at Job programs and schools I can’t find anything that I like.
Mark Cronin
You couldn’t find anything. And, unfortunately, that’s a reality. For too many people just aren’t enough opportunities. John is a natural entrepreneur. Yeah, you didn’t see a job you wanted. What do you say?
John Cronin
I’ll make one. I told my dad let’s go into business together.
Mark Cronin
So the only marketing we did was to set up a Facebook page and I took out my cell phone and we made videos. And who do you think was in those videos?
John Cronin
I talked about socks, socks and socks!
Mark Cronin
And so we opened not knowing what to expect and the first day we got 42 orders and most of them were local. So how do we deliver those first orders?
John Cronin
We hand delivered and put socks into boxes. I put my personalized thank you notes in them.
Mark Cronin
Yeah, John hand-wrote thank you notes. We put candy into boxes. Yes, loaded up the car drove around, knocked on doors, and you were handing out socks. How’d the customers respond?
John Cronin
The customers loved it. I took a picture with me and that customer and the socks and shared it on social media in a way I can express it.
Mark Cronin
But now seven years later, how many different stocks do we have?
John Cronin
We have 4000 different kinds of socks! Our website is johnscrazysocks.com—buy from us!
Mark Cronin
When you support us you get great socks!
John Cronin
Oh it is wonderful!
Mark Cronin
We have over 30,000 5-star reviews. But more than that, you help us employ people with differing abilities you help us give back and most of all…
John Cronin
You’re going to help us change the world, help us create happiness!
Tricia DePalatis
Another one of these businesses that I was truly delighted to peruse their website was Madam Clutterbuckets Neurodiverse Universe. They are based out of Asheville, North Carolina. But fortunately for all of us, they have an online store. And I’m not even kidding. I was cracking up going through this store’s website. I had so much fun looking at all of the products. So, um, a little bit about Madam Clutterbuckets. They have a mission to equalize the workplace. You go to their website it is madamclutterbuckets.com. So just give them a little Google and you’ll just see an image right on their website of some of the employees that they have on staff. And they’re proudly wearing their Madam Clutterbuckets merch. So it’s a retail store staffed by adults with developmental disabilities, and a family-owned business. And you can just see in the products that they that they sell. That Disability Pride is not just a hashtag for them, like so much of what they are selling has to do with being proud of being neurodivergent. And there’s a whole category when you’re looking at what they sell. They actually linked to John’s Crazy Socks. That is one of the brands that they source, but also John Celtic Art. He’s an artist with Down syndrome. What I enjoyed there are some things that I bought from here one of them. I’m hoping that my niece isn’t listening to this. I don’t think she is, but I bought her a little fidget. She’s in sixth grade. And kids just love fidgets. So, I bought her a cute Squeezy ball that looks like it’s gonna be a ton of fun to play with. I also had fun in the pet section. I got a scarf for my dog that says Squirrel Patrol. know some of the pet products are hilarious. There was like a little DJ scratcher set for cats. So if anybody you know if you have a cat, you know they want to scratch everything they’re not supposed to. So get them a cute DJ scratching set that’s you know, totally adorable and they won’t be scratching with they’re not supposed to. Yeah, I was laughing out loud. Some of the some of my favorite things that they sold too are like, kind of gag gifts. So you can look into I think that the section that was that I found this under was maybe products we love. And yeah, they have a whole section of great gifts. You’re just gonna laugh out loud looking through some of these pen sets and diaries and notepads. And there’s just a ton of stuff there. So I really encourage you to look at it and you might as well support an amazing organization when you’re buying things for people for the holidays. So I had a lot of fun. Just like André said at the beginning, I’ll be honest, not everything that I bought from the stores is a gift some of it is for me. That’s always the struggle but you’ll still be guaranteed to find something for people on your list. Something for a pet or maybe something for you and that’s okay!
André Floyd
First of all, I have to say Madam Clutterbuckets, like you sold me at the name. Amazing name, but then like the vibe like said the products just kind of fit the quirkiness of the name as well. I absolutely love this shop scrolling through it on online was really really funny. I saw so many shirts that are so fun cure ableism not autism, like so many good stuff. Good things on here from shirts to stickers to hats. I’m just like, yeah, I could spend a lot of money at Madam Clutterbuckets and probably will.
Alli Strong-Martin
I will also be adding one of their fidgets that you were talking about Tricia, for myself. So I love fidgets, and I get through my workday, using fidgets a lot of the time. So I think they have a great selection and I agree I hope your niece is not listening but I think that she will be very pleased with the gift that her aunt got her.
Tricia DePalatis
I’m hoping so I think she will if she doesn’t want it. I’ll be like well then give it to me.
André Floyd
The best kind of gifts. I want to chat a little bit about Collettey’s. Colletteys.com/cookies. That’s two L’s two T’s and E y s co l l e t t e y. s.com/cookies. They an awesome story. So it’s a young woman named Colette, who has Down syndrome. She enjoys baking and has a passion for it. So tested out several cookie recipes and came up with an original I’ll listen to this cinnamon chocolate chip cookie. I’ve had plenty of chocolate chip cookies. I don’t think I’ve ever had one with cinnamon, but people really enjoyed it. And all the friends and family kept asking for that recipe. So she decided to call it the amazing cookie. That’s the name of it. So that is like the anchor for the shop. But she doesn’t only do the amazing cookie, though. I mean, listen, if people are raving about it, and it has its own name. I feel like we all need to try it. We all need to order the amazing cookie. Well, there’s plenty more there’s oatmeal raisin, there’s a healthy breakfast cookie. There are all kinds of things, chewy peanut butter cookies, these are great. And they do ship all over the US as well. So I’m really, really excited about it and fun to try. Because you know, here’s the thing there. There are multiple things to do during the holidays, very stressful things, buy gifts, but also eat a lot of cookies. And that’s the thing I can get behind these two notes. Now, I have a bit of a sweet tooth. Just a small one, maybe several. But yes, in this. So I absolutely was delighted to see this and cannot wait to taste my amazing cookie because listen, I’m all about a chocolate chip cookie and you tell me you you’ve elevated it. I’m all I’m here for that. So I’m very excited to try Collettey’s cookies, and the amazing cookie specifically,
Tricia DePalatis
I am also definitely planning on purchasing some of Collettey’s cookies. And yeah, that’s one of those tabs that is open in my personal laptop, because apparently they keep well for about 20 days. So I’m trying to figure out with shipping and wanting them to be here for the holidays, when is the best time to buy it. But I will be purchasing some of Collettey’s cookies. I’m very excited about that.
Alli Strong-Martin
We were so lucky to also get to sit down and chat with Poppin’ Joe’s Gourmet Kettle Korn. So you’ll get to hear from Joe and Tricia in just a few minutes. But we are super excited to talk about their story. So Joe started with his dad, back in the fall of 2000, they first started exploring the concept of going into business as a family. Joe was really interested in producing and bagging and selling kettle corn. And so that this business was officially launched in April of 2005, with Joe as the sole proprietor, and it really created this unique opportunity for him to operate and manage his own business, which again, he talks to us about. So, we’ll hear more from him. And so they the business prop and Joe’s started out in Kansas. So actually Joe and his mom wrote a business plan again back in the early 2000s. And the Kansas Department for Developmental Disabilities actually awarded them a grant to expand their business and purchase new equipment. And this business has really taken off. Joe moved to Georgia a couple of years ago in 2020. And so now he has a new production site in Southeast Georgia, but they do ship outside of Georgia. They have an online store. It’s at poppinjoes.org. And they have the all- original, the classic kettle corn flavor that we all know and love, the sweet and the salty. That’s their—I don’t want to say bread and butter because –they sell popcorn. But they obviously sell a bunch of kettle corn original flavor, but they also it looks like they’ve got they’ve got white chatter. And yes, and I’ve got another sweet and cheesy kettle corn.
Tricia DePalatis
Also Alli, I hate to interrupt you. I was excited to hear that they have specialty flavors of the month.
Alli Strong-Martin
No way!
Tricia DePalatis
Yeah, so they change it up. There are things like garlic parmesan, savory dill, jalapeno, for anybody who likes things spicy. And then around February white chocolate raspberry, how romantic. How adorable. Isn’t that super fun? And it sounds like currently, I think their shop is through Etsy. But they will soon be launching a shop right on their website. So
Alli Strong-Martin
Oh that’s exciting—thank you. No, that’s great. That’s great. Here’s more from Joe.
Tricia DePalatis
And his sister Jen also joined us!
Joe Steffy
I started with dad in 2000, and have been the sole proprietor of Poppin’ Joe’s since 2005.
Jen Steffy
Joe kind of shares him and mom and dad started this back when he graduated from high school. So he did some trials for almost five years.
Joe Steffy
For three to five years during the trials Dad and I worked side by side as he taught me all the steps to pop. I loved working with dad and using my strengths to be productive. I have always loved doing those two things. So I love being Poppin’ Joe from the very beginning. My parents were fierce advocates for me and helped me with the initial startup challenges. We all have strengths and things we aren’t so good at. Mom and dad knew me well. Kettle Corn uses my strengths and allows me to do many tasks. For the things that I am not so good at, they put supports in place for me like bookkeeping, having a driver to get me places.
Jen Steffy
So there’s lots of things that any of us, any business owner doesn’t do all the work themselves. They have people they hire to do the things that either they don’t want to do or that they need help with. And that’s kind of what mom and dad set out with Joe is you know, bookings, bookkeeping and math skills aren’t exactly one of the things that he would want to do or be good at. So they have a bookkeeper who would take care of that Joe isn’t able to drive so having someone to drive him places to get him to and from the event so to pick up the supplies or do deliveries, buy the ingredients he needs and to go to the bank and put his money in the bank.
Joe Steffy
I became a pioneer in showing that an individual with disabilities can be a business owner that I could succeed and have a great life and have had so many amazing opportunities as Poppin’ Joe. I have met incredible people all across the country and made amazing friends. Life is good. Thank you for inviting me to share my small business with others. Please check out my website and follow me on social media. Remember that biggest disability is low expectations. Don’t limit your potential and have a poppin’ great day.
André Floyd
Another shop I came across was Billyfootwear.com. I like Billy footwear because they have a really interesting dynamic for the way that they create shoes. And the reason why they do is because one of the cofounders at broke his neck fell from three stories in October of 1996 and became paralyzed from the chest down, lost the ability to move much of his body including fingers. So this brand of footwear was all designed with the concept of universal design. So you’ll see zippers that go along the side of shoes around toes you’ll see different ways you know the wearer can place their foot onto the shoe footbed on obstructed so people who have disabilities and people with disability physical disabilities that prevent these things can be able to pay more easily and dress themselves and get their shoes on and everything so you guys zippers you have other things that make it simple to be able to utilize the footwear. I just think it’s a really cool concept and I’m super glad that something like this exists and they have a lot that many different collections so many different styles and they look pretty cool too. Like I’m kind of a Converse person in my daily life. So Tricia and Alli probably know if they’ve seen me whenever we’ve been around each other at work, I’ve got my Converse on. They have so many they look just like that, like these shoes are really really cool. And honestly just the universal design factor of it is super important. And I think it’s really, really awesome that this exists. And it’s a really great concept for a lot of good reasons, obviously, for people with physical disabilities, but also for many other reasons. Again, we kind of talked about this when it comes to ableism, ableism. And how accommodations like we’ve had plenty of episodes where we talk about these sorts of things and say how it’s not people kind of frame it almost as a burden. But it’s not like this is something that everybody can utilize this such a cool way, like shoes don’t have to be one particular way. So I’m, this is another thing for me, I’m super excited to order some of these shoes, because quite honestly, I’m going to be real, which I tie my shoes once and then I just slipped my foot in and out of it everything else make it so much easier. And it’s just not that I’m lazy. Maybe it is because I’m lazy. It’s just like it’s just so much easier. And so I love this as a concept. But I also love it for a gift for someone who needs it and need something like this, as well. I love that it exists. And so check it out. It is Billyfootwear.com. Their logo is also a billy goat and that makes me happy.
Tricia DePalatis
The next business we’d like to talk to you about is Little Red Hen. Little Red Hen is based out of Chico, California. And they are a nonprofit organization, they have many locations, and 100% of their sales benefit their programs for children and adults with developmental disabilities. They also employ adults with developmental disabilities at all of their locations. And on their website, they proudly state that they do not all caps not pay below minimum wage, which is fantastic. So yeah, it’s not only is this an amazing organization, just reading the About Us portion of their website, you’re going to be like, Oh, I definitely want to purchase from them. But also, it’s really fun to shop on this website. And I did purchase a few things from them. So you’re picking up on the fact that I had a little retail therapy a couple of nights ago, whatever, it’s the holidays. But yeah, they’ve got accessories, baby and kids products, home and gifts, kitchen and dining. They also do flower deliveries, I’m assuming you would want to be local to California. But I actually didn’t look into that. So don’t take my word for it. The reason that I really loved this store is that for a short time, a few years ago, I worked in a retail store, I was a manager and we did both businesses in our brick and mortar store, as well as E commerce. So that seems to be what their model is as well. And that is not an easy task. So I kind of had fun like seeing products that we sold at the store that I worked at. They had some really beautiful candles by Simpatico, some jewelry, and some really cute signs. Some they had like fun pacifiers with mustaches and things like that. So I did I purchased some earrings. I did buy one pair for my friend. So not everything for me. But don’t ask how many pairs I bought for myself. And what else did I get here? I don’t know. It was just, it’s really it’s the kind of place where you’re sure to find something for somebody on your list. And you know that not only are you buying a great gift, but you’re also benefiting this amazing organization. So definitely check them out.
André Floyd
You know, one of my favorite things about Little Red Hen is their vintage section. I could not help myself, but I went to the vintage section and I want so many of these things. There’s Marvel’s there’s whoopee cushion, of course. Galactic ooze Silly Putty. There’s so many things that remind me yes, I’m dating myself, but whatever. There’s so many things that remind me of what I played with as a kid. And you know, just because I’m not a kid anymore, doesn’t mean I would want to play with these things again, so I like to see them on sale. And like, Trisha, you as well, I might end up you know, getting myself some things in the mail and saying, Oh, who would? Who would have thought that I would have liked these things? Oh, me. I did. I bought this for myself.
Alli Strong-Martin
The next business that we were able to come across is called By Mara. They have a really cool story. Mara started out in fashion design and production in undergrad. And her goal was to work one day in the fashion industry. And she really turned what she shares as some real communication barriers that she encountered as a Deaf person in the fashion industry. And when she came across these accessibility barriers, Maura really decided to go her own way and create her own business and so that’s where she launched By Mara. Her logo is a really unique design of the I Love You symbol in American Sign Language and so that you’ll find all over her different products. She’s got some really great different collections she’s got t-shirts and hoodies and stickers, postcards, I was able to find a really cute keychain that I love, even a really fuzzy blanket on her store and again they all feature this I love you sign spelled out in in American Sign Language. On their website, she talks about hoping that this I Love You logo can bring awareness to not only the history of inaccessibility and oppression that Deaf people have faced but also the collaboration and the connection and identity and culture that Deaf people have been able to build over the years. So just all around a really cool story. And then the products themselves are, are super are really great, too.
André Floyd
I am a big hoodie person. I love hoodies. I pretty much wear hoodies exclusively as soon as the temperature drops below like 69. And I’m looking at this wildfire a wildflower. I’m sorry, wildfire might also be awesome. That’d be wildflower I love you hoodie. I think I need it. I do. It’s the raspberry color. Yeah, yeah, I think I need that I’ll be buying. Again, this is dangerous for me. I’m going to buy myself so many things.
André Floyd
All right. And the next one I have to review is a little different. It is a website called The Squeaky Wheel. The Squeaky Wheel has a really cool concept. And this is another owner that we got to talk to this was Steven, who started The Squeaky Wheel. So if you’re familiar with the kind of internet satire site, The Onion, this is like The Onion but written by people with disabilities. It is so clever. I could have talked to Steven for hours. And I may talk to him longer than I said I was going to so sorry, Steven. But I thought that the concept of using like satire-inspired publications and articles was really, really cool. So Steven talks to us a little bit about why he decided to go this route with the articles. But trust me when I say that there’s plenty more you can do to support and also some things you may want to buy and actually have even though this is an online publication, so I’ll get into that. But first, I just want to hear you have you listened to Steven and talk about why he started this site. And the reason why they went with satire as the as the main hook of a site like this.
Steven Verdile
So actually started initially trying to write more short stories, I was thinking about maybe doing short films, I was trying to figure out the right medium to tell these silly disability stories that I had, you know, sitting in my head. And when I realized very quickly was that writing is one of the most accessible mediums and that I could create this website and get the stories up and running within a matter of seconds like making a short film that requires a lot more people and a lot more effort. And I wanted something that I could kind of own and get up and running on my own without needing a lot of support. And the second thing was that I kept coming across all these real-world news stories about people with disabilities. And as a disabled person to see kind of mainstream news sources talk about disability felt very silly, the way that they covered it. There was one in particular I saw about a girl who had Down syndrome being asked to prom. And just the whole angle of the way the news was covering it. I was like, This feels like a joke like this doesn’t feel like news. It didn’t feel like it was done tastefully, or respectfully. And I thought that there was a way to flip that sort of power dynamic. And when you have these silly disability stories that are not only coming from disabled people, but as satire are fictional, that really becomes much more powerful. I think their being fictional is a really important element that both protects the privacy and spirit of the writer, but still speaks truthfully to the kind of silly experiences that people go through. They’re very much inspired by the real events of their lives.
André Floyd
There are a couple of ways you can you can support The Squeaky Wheel, I definitely encourage going to thesqueakywheel.org and reading some of the publications. I know I shared this with one of my co-workers, and they just spent like half the day just browsing through the articles and laughing because there’s so funny. You can also follow them on Instagram or Facebook. So if you’re somebody who digests content in that way, yeah, they have a really strong social media presence. And it’s really funny content. It’s funny, because it’s terrible, you know, you’re gonna cringe and laugh at the same time, but they’re super clever. You can be you can donate to them, so they keep paying their writers and they have disabled writers all over the world. It’s not just the US. I know, when I talked to Steven, he mentioned as a writer in England, because there are some things that are happening in England as well that aren’t great for people with disability. So you also get some awareness of other things that are going on as well through this site. Or you can join their Patreon. It’s kind of like a subscription, if you will, so you can go there and join their Patreon. But they also have a shop, Steven told me that he was a former graphic designer. So if you’re wondering why everything looks awesome, it’s because Steven designed it and he’s got skills. So this was really really fun for me to talk to, I have a bit of a graphic design background, Steven is much better than me. And I don’t mind saying it because it is very much true. But there are so many shirts and other items, I’m just going to talk about two of my favorites, because Steven talks about some of the best sellers as well. But one of the best-selling shirts and one of the funniest shirts, I think on the site is their “I may be disabled but I’m also fairly mediocre and uninspiring” shirt, which kind of shows that the nature that people with disabilities often get told that they’re brave, or they’re an inspiration. And so this shirt kind of mocks that a little bit. And I also really love one of the other items. It’s a dog bowl for service dogs, and the dog bowl says “I’m not like other dogs, I have a real job,” which is amazing. So like, there’s just so many things that you can check out on the site. They have many different shirts, I just mentioned one, but there are so many different kinds with different messages. And some of them are PG-13. If you’re not into that kind of thing. Okay, cool, no worries. But just to let you know, I thought this was a really great idea. And from publications to the shop to the items in the shop. I think Steven is doing a great job has done a great job putting this together. And I just definitely want to support him and think supporting the work. And I thought this would be a great thing to include in the gift guide because it is so unique.
Steven Verdile
Just this year we incorporated as a 501c(3) nonprofit organization, so any money that you do contribute to The Squeaky Wheel is going directly to our operations, primarily paying all the talented disabled riders to write for the website, as well as other website costs. And then and then you can either donate directly through our website through Pay Pal, you can join our Patreon for as little as $4 a month to make a recurring contribution. Or as you said, we have a merchandise shop and you can do some holiday shopping and find some funny disability merch that is not only fun to wear but done supports our writers.
Tricia DePalatis
The last store we want to talk about for this year’s holiday gift guide is called Inclusive Dinos. So you can find their store through red bubble. It’s redbubble.com/people/inclusive dinos/shop, we will link that in the holiday gift guide. So don’t worry about stopping your car and typing that into your browser right now! This store is simply adorable. The concept is it’s stickers there I also found a blanket so there might be besides stickers, there might be some other products but it’s all featuring dinosaurs and animals using some sort of mobility device for a physical disability. And I can’t tell you how adorable these dinosaurs are. The person who owns the store wanted to create an inclusive environment for all kids and adults so that everybody would be able to see themselves represented with within society. This owner was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition that causes multiple movement disorders. So that is how inclusive dino began. And I highly recommend that you check it out. There’s like a orange dinosaur riding a mobility scooter, it’s only $1.35. So these are, this is a really great stocking stuffer. If you know anybody who loves stickers, I know a lot of people want stickers on their laptop, or their water bottles or you know, their binder, depending on the age of the person you’re purchasing this for. But really adorable way to see the normalization of some of these mobility devices and accommodations. And yeah, I just, I wish you I just want you to go check out their website, because everything is just fabulous.
André Floyd
One of my favorite things and scrolling through the website was seeing the penguin with the four point cane. I just, it’s one of the most adorable things I think ever drawn. So I feel like I need it. It’s great. It’s like, if you’ve ever seen the movie Happy Feet, it’s similar but cuter. And it’s just amazing. So yeah, I love this. And I think like you said, Tricia, I think, you know, there are some, you know, the price variance amongst these things that we mentioned, you know, there’s a scale here, but I think this is definitely one that would be great to give. It’s just like thoughtful gifts, you know, smaller gifts, if you’re into doing something like that, again, I’ve got my laptop is covered with stickers. And I think that’s a great place for these gifts as well. But I’m also really excited to hear they have blankets and other things too. So I love this shop.
André Floyd
All right. And that is it, we are done. That is our holiday gift guide, we definitely did not get to everything that is out there. So certainly, if we didn’t come across something that you think is cool, definitely reach out to us because we’re very interested in it. And hey, we might just make this an annual thing. And maybe we’ll do it again next year. But we hope we introduce you to some really cool, some really interesting, some really fun items. So you can get some things to support people with disabilities and all manners, all different things. There’s so much that’s out there. That’s so fun. It’s so good, high quality from food to everything else. So it’s been great chatting with you, Alli. And you, Tricia, thank you for your work and for finding many of these businesses. And Tricia, thank you very much for letting us all be comfortable with the fact that we want to buy all these things for ourselves as well. I appreciate your honesty.
Tricia DePalatis
Haha, yes, of course, I’m happy to help in that way.
André Floyd
All of these businesses and links to their shops will be in the show notes but also in the gift guide which will also link in the show notes. So you won’t have any worries finding anything because it’s really been a really fun thing to go through. So thank you and Happy Shopping and we will talk to you all next time.