Comedian, actress with cerebral palsy headlines Disability Awareness Week
JMU in the Community
Comedian and actress Maysoon Zayid will be the keynote speaker 7 p.m. Monday, March 23 to help kickoff the sixth annual Disability Awareness Week at James Madison University.
Zayid, who has cerebral palsy, is the co-founder and co-executive producer of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival and is a guest columnist at The Daily Beast. She has been a full-time on-air contributor to Countdown with Keith Olbermann; was a speaker at TEDWomen 2013; and appeared in Adam Sandler’s "You Don’t Mess With the Zohan." She has performed her comedy worldwide as a headliner on the Arabs Gone Wild Comedy Tour and The Muslims Are Coming Tour.
Away from the stage, Maysoon directs Maysoon’s Kids, a scholarship program for disabled refugee children, and serves on United Cerebral Palsy of NYC’s Women Who Care committee.
Zayid's talk is free and open to the public and will take place in the Wilson Hall Auditorium.
The first event of Disability Awareness Week is an open house from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Monday at the JMU Office of Disability Services in the Student Success Center, suite 1202.
A panel discussion on the arts and inclusion will take place from 3-4 p.m. Monday in the Student Success Center, Room 1075. Alyssa Herzog Melby, a champion of accessibility in the arts, and Zayid, will discuss their legacy of advocacy on behalf of people with disabilities in the arts.
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