ReelPeople: UP Abilities, in partnership with The UP Experience, features presentations from three experts - Josh Blue, Christine Ha, and Mike Veny - who will open a window into the world of disabilities with both intimacy and urgency.
Following his third place finish on NBC’s America’s Got Talent, Josh Blue is hitting the road with his As NOT Seen on TV Tour. Josh has cerebral palsy, specifically classified as spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy, and many of his jokes center on living with his disability, how he deals with it, and how other people view him. Josh does over 200 shows a year, continuing to spread laughter and break down stereotypes. His stand-up routine is in a constant state of evolution and his off-the-cuff improvisational skills guarantee that no two shows are ever alike.
Christine Ha is the first-ever blind contestant and Season Three winner of the competitive amateur cooking television show MasterChef with Gordon Ramsay. She defeated over 30,000 home cooks across America to secure the coveted MasterChef title, a $250,000 cash prize, and a cookbook deal. Christine received the 2014 Helen Keller Personal Achievement Award from the American Foundation for the Blind, a recognition formerly bestowed upon Ray Charles, Patty Duke, and Stevie Wonder among others. Ha’s first restaurant in Houston, The Blind Goat, was named a semi-finalist for 2019 Best New Restaurant in America by the James Beard Foundation. Her second restaurant, Xin Chào, opened in Houston in September 2020.
Mike Veny’s path to becoming a great salesman became evident at an early age. He convinced the staff at several psychiatric hospitals to discharge him three different times during his childhood. In addition to being hospitalized as a child, he was expelled from three schools, attempted suicide, and was medicated in efforts to reduce his emotional instability and behavioral outbursts. As an adult, Mike spent many years facilitating drum workshops for children with special needs, teaching them to channel their energy by banging a drum while also learning how to listen, focus, work together and succeed through teamwork.
ReelPeople: UP Abilities, in partnership with The UP Experience, features presentations from three experts - Josh Blue, Christine Ha, and Mike Veny - who will open a window into the world of disabilities with both intimacy and urgency.
Following his third place finish on NBC’s America’s Got Talent, Josh Blue is hitting the road with his As NOT Seen on TV Tour. Josh has cerebral palsy, specifically classified as spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy, and many of his jokes center on living with his disability, how he deals with it, and how other people view him. Josh does over 200 shows a year, continuing to spread laughter and break down stereotypes. His stand-up routine is in a constant state of evolution and his off-the-cuff improvisational skills guarantee that no two shows are ever alike.
Christine Ha is the first-ever blind contestant and Season Three winner of the competitive amateur cooking television show MasterChef with Gordon Ramsay. She defeated over 30,000 home cooks across America to secure the coveted MasterChef title, a $250,000 cash prize, and a cookbook deal. Christine received the 2014 Helen Keller Personal Achievement Award from the American Foundation for the Blind, a recognition formerly bestowed upon Ray Charles, Patty Duke, and Stevie Wonder among others. Ha’s first restaurant in Houston, The Blind Goat, was named a semi-finalist for 2019 Best New Restaurant in America by the James Beard Foundation. Her second restaurant, Xin Chào, opened in Houston in September 2020.
Mike Veny’s path to becoming a great salesman became evident at an early age. He convinced the staff at several psychiatric hospitals to discharge him three different times during his childhood. In addition to being hospitalized as a child, he was expelled from three schools, attempted suicide, and was medicated in efforts to reduce his emotional instability and behavioral outbursts. As an adult, Mike spent many years facilitating drum workshops for children with special needs, teaching them to channel their energy by banging a drum while also learning how to listen, focus, work together and succeed through teamwork.
ReelPeople: UP Abilities, in partnership with The UP Experience, features presentations from three experts - Josh Blue, Christine Ha, and Mike Veny - who will open a window into the world of disabilities with both intimacy and urgency.
Following his third place finish on NBC’s America’s Got Talent, Josh Blue is hitting the road with his As NOT Seen on TV Tour. Josh has cerebral palsy, specifically classified as spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy, and many of his jokes center on living with his disability, how he deals with it, and how other people view him. Josh does over 200 shows a year, continuing to spread laughter and break down stereotypes. His stand-up routine is in a constant state of evolution and his off-the-cuff improvisational skills guarantee that no two shows are ever alike.
Christine Ha is the first-ever blind contestant and Season Three winner of the competitive amateur cooking television show MasterChef with Gordon Ramsay. She defeated over 30,000 home cooks across America to secure the coveted MasterChef title, a $250,000 cash prize, and a cookbook deal. Christine received the 2014 Helen Keller Personal Achievement Award from the American Foundation for the Blind, a recognition formerly bestowed upon Ray Charles, Patty Duke, and Stevie Wonder among others. Ha’s first restaurant in Houston, The Blind Goat, was named a semi-finalist for 2019 Best New Restaurant in America by the James Beard Foundation. Her second restaurant, Xin Chào, opened in Houston in September 2020.
Mike Veny’s path to becoming a great salesman became evident at an early age. He convinced the staff at several psychiatric hospitals to discharge him three different times during his childhood. In addition to being hospitalized as a child, he was expelled from three schools, attempted suicide, and was medicated in efforts to reduce his emotional instability and behavioral outbursts. As an adult, Mike spent many years facilitating drum workshops for children with special needs, teaching them to channel their energy by banging a drum while also learning how to listen, focus, work together and succeed through teamwork.