Raising Resilience: A Father–Daughter Journey Through Disability Investing In Accessibility podcast

Raising Resilience: A Father–Daughter Journey Through Disability

5d ago 51:45

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In this episode, co-hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher welcome a very special guest: Chris’s oldest daughter, Charlotte Maher—an EMT-turned-emergency management professional whose life with spastic hemiplegia has forged extraordinary resilience. Charlotte shares early memories (and family stories) of therapies, leg and back braces, and the infamous “constraint camp,” then traces how those experiences shaped her confidence, leadership, and service mindset.

Charlotte takes us inside life on an EMS crew, the power of teamwork-based accommodations, and why inclusive planning isn’t a nice-to-have in crises—it’s table stakes. Fresh from FEMA’s Emergency Management Basic Academy, Charlotte demystifies tactical project management, whole-community planning, and accessible communications—closed captions, ASL, multilingual alerts, and more. This warm, funny father–daughter conversation delivers practical insights on designing for everyone, building resilient systems, and picking yourself up and dusting yourself off to keep moving forward.

Links & Resources:

Charlotte Maher: LinkedIn

GWU Campus Safety: Website

FEMA: Website

COMING SOON!

American Sign Language (ASL) and Captioning for each episode will be provided on our YouTube channel. Go to handle @SamaritanPartners.

Chapters

1. Raising Resilience: A Father–Daughter Journey Through Disability (00:00:00)

2. Introduction to Investing in Accessibility (00:00:06)

3. Meet Charlotte Maher: Chris's Daughter (00:01:24)

4. Charlotte's Childhood with Polymicrogyria (00:03:26)

5. Childhood Therapies and Medical Decisions (00:08:17)

6. The "Restraint Camp" Story (00:13:56)

7. From Medical Interest to Emergency Management (00:26:30)

8. Accessibility in Emergency Management (00:35:00)

9. Future of Emergency Systems and Accessibility (00:45:20)

10. Closing Thoughts and Contact Information (00:50:30)

22 episodes