Simple as a free text message could free an abducted child I unit. Thankfully that is in the wireless Amber Alerts dot org a child is calling for help brought to you by the Ad Council I protect my family and the environment by the safe disposal of medications it's easy to do it gives me peace of mind do your part and learn how to dispose of your unused or expired Department of Public Health and Environment the Colorado Broadcasters Association and this station. You're listening to calle d.c. Denver 1820 am 95.3 f.m. And streaming online at 1220 k. Or d.c. Dot com for broadcasting guy it's a country station. Welcome to behind the men with to Central Perk and its listen today as we show you how to love God and love people and impact the world for Christ's sake. Hello everyone Cassandra Parkins here I'm behind the mask I am so glad that you are here with me today and joining us on this lovely Tuesday I am so happy to have my guests on for today they are dear dear friends in my life and I love people who have a message that corresponds with mine and that reaches my heart and this message I feel personally that this impacts all of our lives in one way or another such as the suicide suicide is something that connects to our life in one way or another and I really feel like this is a message that connects in our life to one way or another whether we know somebody with this whether we don't know so our we know somebody who knows somebody whatever the case is and really what that message is is invisible disability and the message behind invisible disability is so it's so impactful Personally I'm blind in my left eye so I live with an invisible disability but you know it's not debilitating from my life it's not it doesn't debilitate me from doing things but there are visible disabilities that do debilitate people and really can change people's life in the way that they function and so being able to bring awareness and make these these disability visible and show people that even though you can't see it that it's there that that's really the message here and that's really what I think my guests today are. Are really spread it is spreading and they've been on my show before and I am so close with these people I love them to death and I'm an ambassador for the invisible disabilities Association as well as Mandy Harvey you're sitting to my right here yeah and I am just so blessed to have a message like this in my life because this is something that needs to get out there more and when we talk about this and when we put this out there even though we just bring it up you know I'll just be in the parking lot and just be telling somebody in the parking lot or I'll just be in the grocery store and telling someone in the grocery store over it is people correspond with the message they truly do they say wow that makes sense or wow I know somebody like that so this just shows that there's a real need for this and that's why I'm just so happy that we can now has really just created this amazing platform this amazing organization to talk about these things in bring out the invisible disability and make it visible and I love that you are doing that and I'm so blessed to even be a part of it and well I think you know my life thank you so much Cassandra Yeah you know we can't do this organization you know we've been doing it for 20 years now without amazing ambassadors such as you and Mandy and and all the people that are out there that are that are volunteering that are on our online social networks that have visible disabilities community dot org who are doing this as we're getting ready for a gala coming up this one coming up on October 21st you know it is making something visible that's invisible is a difficult thing in some sense right helping people understand something they cannot see right you know we've heard the term Seeing is believing Well what if you can't see it do does that mean we don't believe in a lot of times nationally we don't dis We don't believe something because we can't see it and so invisible disability is it's a very isolating loneliness a lot of times because of that people's disbelief of people so we're here to bring awareness to this so that people can understand that you know what yes we are in a sense dealing with difficulties every day in our lives and we forget that about people. We forget that the person standing next to us we don't know what they're going through right or it's the person that you gets angry Yunior thinking oh they're just being angry when in reality is we don't know if they're in chronic pain or they've got a loved one at home they're that that's dealing with issues and they've been up all night in their cranky because of that or whatever that is and so we want to believe people you know it's not just believing them it's changing the community idea that the person next to you is is somebody that we can judge instantaneously based off of how they look and we need to change how we look at people on a daily basis and say you know what I don't know what's going on in your life so maybe I shouldn't stick my nose into your business and just make a judgment call based off of 2 seconds of interaction and say we're all dealing with something and maybe that's something that's going on with them yeah absolutely Mandy I think that's fantastic good that you're brought that up really it is about you know are we judging people based upon that little 30 seconds for that little yes' that we see them the person walking slow in the cross walk and we see them walk across on the crosswalk you know at the grocery store we get mad it's like I want to get a hurry up and we don't know that maybe that's the 1st time they've been out in a in months and maybe a fast is that they can possibly wa and they're like in their mind they're at but they're doing the whole chariots of fire right on the right side as they're going for it right and who knows maybe they got out because they're getting a gift for a friend for a birthday or whatever that is and they're doing that because they know that that's what's important you know it's the time when somebody comes to a party or you know a Thanksgiving that's coming up or something along those lines and we think oh you must be doing great you're here you know thanks and reality is they're there because they want to spend time with you it's so important and for 3 weeks afterwards they're going to be in bed and they're going to be in pain but you are the person that's important to them and that's why they're there and so what we want to do is we actually want to thank them for being there wow you know instead of just making this assumption that all of a sudden they've been they've been in pain for 30 years. And they must not be in pain today you know the reality is they probably are in pain today but but their pain is more important as less important when they have a friendship or a family member that they want to spend time with Yeah absolutely and I think once we get rid of that stigma and people may know never even heard from it as this point of view of this is what this person is going through they many of never even recognize us so that's why I love the invisible disability Association so much because we're not only giving us a place in a community for people to connect to have invisible disabilities but we're also informing other people of what's going on in that person's life and how they feel about things and someone may never recognize that or realize that before and so that's why it's so incredible Let me read a little bit about what really what the invisible disabilities so Cieszyn is I want to introduce you both and read a little bit about your background and we can really dive into the questions and really what the invisible Association how it's created and why you think this is so important and then Amanda is so incredible and she's a singer and songwriter and just a beautiful just beautiful singer and songwriter. You're I can attest to it hey I'm a fan. I know I was I was I'm on vacation with my family and I just I show you off to everybody I was an indication of my family in Cape Cod And I'm like you guys have to see this girl she's so incredible and she's just beautiful just let me because I do the same for you I'm like This is my 1st. Body of love I love it and it's true because I'm just so proud of you I'm so thankful to have you in my life and it just shows that once we bring our awareness to talk about this it connects people it really does it brings people together and I want you to later on in the show I want you to sing a song for us and k. And talk about your story as well so people are familiar with your story but she's truly amazing and I'm so glad that we could all 3 be here to get today so let me Sandra Absolutely thank you so the village visible disability association idea encourages in educating. Next people organizations that are touched by illness pain and disability and that's from everything from you know physical pain to mental pain depression anxiety whatever the case is it is right p.t.s.d. Whatever the case is that you're going through those That's an invisible disability and it might be a mental thing and I love that that that's really part of that too because that's something I'm very passionate about in my life as well it was founded in 1996 incorporated in 2004 as a 501 c 3 a nonprofit and it reaches around the world to people living with various conditions as well as their loved ones and that's so important because the caretakers need the support too because it's hard for caretakers it's hard to to know the right things to do the right things to say how to be there the right way so to support them to give such a great foundation and you know really supports the person who is dealing with the illness in their life good well just thinking about that though the caregivers you were just talking about is think about how many caregivers have taken the time to start organizations to put the word out about family members that that have gone through illnesses they've had to learn that whole aspect of living daily with you know all the difficulties of that you know and so sometimes we do forget about the caregivers we do forget that really they're the people that are on the front lines a lot of times are going to work full time a lot of times or they're working 2 jobs even some to some people so that they can take care of their friends or their family members and it's so important for them but we do forget about that and and the difficulties that they go through sometimes or deal with illness themselves even right top of that right right which is why we need to have that support system and put that in place so people can recognize that and truly I give to each other it's all around it's a circle of life really it's it's a wheel it's a spoken really you've had your own experience Wayne in your own connection with this in this is why you really created this and you're the founder and the president of idea but your inspiration really comes from just your beautiful wife Cher. It who has just such a light in my goodness I love her to death and I know that she's listening because do you know supporting us all the way all the time she is such a wonderful person and I love her the absolute deaths of sherry Hello from everyone here hello for my mom who's a sweetie hero. Mandy we just we love you to death and really she's the inspiration behind this and for her to be able to get out her story as well and put it out there what good for her for being so transparent and honest and talking about the difficulties and the struggles in life that's such a hard thing to do to be transparent open but I can tell you guys just by being open about your family and everything that you're going through that it's helped our family that it's helped other families I just personally from my experience and I just want to thank you guys for doing what you're doing and being so transparent you know it is difficult to right share the illness that you're going through because of people's perceptions i would it is you know they have a perception that you know many will surely a bit about some of the disability is she's deals with right but and people's misperceptions about it and they and the unbelief that we have and so when you put that out there that raw emotion people are like Well but you don't look that way or you don't look sick or you but you look good or whatever those things you not say what people don't know about me is you know I may be a caregiver but you know I have an issue called the 9 positional vertigo Ok live on radio I'm saying that right now but I'm position Vertigo's where the calcium breaks off in my inner ear from a head injury and I can actually sometimes wake up in the morning or in the middle the night and I feel like the bed spinning and gripping the bed and think I'm going to be thrown on the floor and sometimes it's impacted me to the point where I couldn't walk and you can through physical therapy and stuff you can actually move this little cousine back down the ear canal but what people don't understand they think you know well but I don't have a thing I'm doing but I am you know that's part of it so I have a little inkling of what my wife goes through with her m.s.n. Or Lyme disease in those things but you know we're all. You know just. Putting that out really is is something you're like oh I'm being vulnerable now you know how are people going to think about me and they don't think differently about me and so that's what we want to say with it through invisible disability we want people to be invisible no more we want to want them to understand that actually you know for me some of the most abnormal people in the world are the Ironman triathlon right I mean they're the person that all my goodness what they can do that's not normal the rest of us are normal and that's what we need to really think about versus this whole thing of that if you have an illness or disability that you're abnormal No all of us you know especially as we get older eventually we're all going to end up some kind of illness or deal with something they were but people that it's impacting from a younger age right they've had to deal with it for a longer time but they're amazing people they're resilient right they're great project managers in the sense are from a business standpoint right they know how to you know they've got to deal with you know do I do it take this vitamin or this medicine here do I do this or go there's a form and they're costly managing their life and so we have I really want to praise him for that in the sense of what how you know every day that you make it out of bed each day and you move forward as have as phenomenal Well I mean we look at someone who we all have a connection with like Markey and my good friend Mark Ian who has cerebral palsy and he is just the most positive outgoing kind loving person he's the most happiest to be out of bed to go and live his life he's truly the most positive person I know and he lives day to day with a disability and the fact that he's just so positive and outgoing just shows that brings to our attention that we should live every day like that as if it's our last and that life is just a beautiful gift and that's hard to do sometimes when you're when you're on your lower you're in that dark place in your life it's hard to do sometimes but to bring that to attention and truly live your best life is yes when people become accepting of it right even though they can't see it right it's when they don't accept it because they can see it that's when people are like you know how do I be positive in that you'd be positive is when people start accepting you and believing you and they become your friend right there. Absolutely and to be able to have that friend is so incredible and thank you Wayne for being so transparent and honest with us it's truly amazing and Mandy are doing just the absolute same thing she says award winning singer and songwriter and who just happens to have an invisible disability of your own which is that you are deaf but you're living your true life and you're going out and sharing this message and being transparent and honest too and in doing that you truly open up a door for everybody else to relate to you and to come to you and say wow she's sharing her voice I would love to share mine too and whatever case that is whether it's singing whether it's talking whether it's getting out of bed in the morning and going to the grocery store or whatever the case is for you whatever that step is for you to share your voice your inspiring people to do that so thank you for being on my show and sharing that you know I'm absolutely honored to be a part of all of this and one know that will keep continuing to talk about it and move forward and hopefully change the community around us and change a culture right we have really create this and get rid of the stigma around the invisible disability and the fact that we're sharing our voice here and sharing different opinions we never know whose life we're going to touch and whose life my listeners can touch as well by sharing their ver voice and their story we do have to take a break but we return we're going to talk a little bit more about the invisible disability we've got a gala coming up here soon that people can attend we want to figure out how we can get involved with that as well stay tuned we'll be right back. Hello this is the Ender Perkins and I'm here with Bill are Taylor who is the host of the 17 biblical principles of success my friend what does the program consist of Fandor Oh we're so delighted to be able to bring this program have you ever met somebody who doesn't want to be successful. Or want to be successful right whether it be in our marriage or professions or job at school whatever it is God given us a blueprint a specific formula for us to live a life that is full meeting told significant and successful and so this program really breaks down 17 bit little principles that God has imparted to us through His Word in order for us to live that life that is the craft and the Bible does talk about success and so we've invited 51 contributors onto our program from various professions who share their personal stories and experiences in light of what the Bible and how the Bible has impacted them and of course filled in this program are anecdotes and thoughts from scripture that will inspire and uplift you to live a life of success as God is designed you it's truly an amazing program and I want people to be able to get a hold of this so what is the information where can we find more and birches this 70 biblical principles of success it's really all one has to do is go to 17 biblical principles of success thought org and that held out number one to have been biblical principles of success thought org. I am Cassandra Perkins host of behind the mask and I'm just in Cruiser the founder of Project help and now just in I think we can all agree that when we volunteer it does great things for the community but what are the benefits for the volunteer our mission is to use the joy of purpose that's created by volunteering to improve mental wellness we create very engaging social and easy to join volunteer projects to leverage those health benefits great Where can we find more information and get involved you can visit praja. Helping dot org And right on the home page there's a get involved button Hi I'm Cassandra Perkins host of behind the mask and I'm Brian or Nicky and I'm in the cystic fibrosis for 17 years Brian what is cystic fibrosis Cystic fibrosis is a disease that attacks the digestive system and slowly shuts down the lungs and it makes the mucus in your lungs more syrup be so the new kissing everybody else's love is really watery and you clear by just breathin