The Kindness Matters Podcast
So. Much. Division. Let's talk about how to change that. Re-engage as neighbors, friends, co-workers and family. Let's set out to change the world. Strike that. Change A World. One person at a time, make someone's life a little better and then do it again tomorrow and the day after that, through kindness.
Kindness is a Super-Power that each of us has within us. It is so powerful it has the potential to change not only your life but those around you, too. Let's talk about kindness.
The Kindness Matters Podcast
Kindness, Grit, And A New Hip
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What happens when grit, humor, and sharp self-advocacy meet a system that still talks over disabled people? We sit down with author, podcaster, and athlete Win Charles for a wide-open conversation about cerebral palsy, pain that won’t be ignored, and the stubborn hope that keeps her training for Kona even as she prepares for a hip replacement at 37.
Win breaks down what CP actually feels like—spasticity that clamps like a rubber band, a startle reflex that can derail recovery—and the cascading impact of a fall that left her hip 50 degrees out of the socket. She shares the moments that cut deepest: being dismissed at the ER, a pre-op staffer asking others to sign for her, and an anesthesiologist who brushed off her documented allergy. Through it all, she models what real advocacy sounds like: clear language, repeated boundaries, and a refusal to surrender decision-making power over her own body.
We widen the lens to education, where accommodations exist on paper but often vanish in practice. Win calls out professors who skip IEPs, highlights the invisible labor students carry, and offers concrete steps for allies: learn the basics of CP and disability, shadow a special education teacher, and design access before it’s requested. Then we come back to the everyday—the narrow clinic doorway, the broken door button, the shower that turns into a puzzle—because access lives or dies in these small, solvable details.
There’s joy here too. Win's Ironman story challenges every lazy myth about disability and ambition, and her rebuild plan after surgery is both disciplined and hopeful. The throughline is simple and strong: speak to the person, not the aide; hold the door when the button fails; believe people when they describe their bodies; and when it’s your turn to move, just do it.
If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review to help others find conversations that center dignity, access, and action. Your support keeps these stories in the light.
Welcome to the Kindness Matters podcast. So the powerful truth. That kindness can change the world. Every week I aim to chinalize out people and organizations making a positive difference in their communities. Proving that action, empathy, and connection. So five. This podcast is about 400 stories. It's about three-fourth interacts. To hot felt conversations, inspiring acts. To free discover the power of kindness, force for people, genuine connection. If the message of this show resonates with you, share it with your friends and family. Because when it comes to kindness, the ripple effect is the limitless. Hey, hello, and welcome everybody to the show. Thank you so much for choosing the kindness matters podcast to listen to, to spend 30 minutes of your precious, precious time on. I greatly appreciate it. And it just it warms my heart, if you will. And living in Minnesota these days, that it needs some warming, let me tell you. I have such a fantastic show for you today, folks. My guest today on the Kindness Matters podcast is Wyn Charles. And Wynne is an author, podcaster, and motivational speaker who has turned life with Cerebal Palsey into a master class in grit, humor, and heart. Wyn literally wrote the book on navigating a non-disabled world with a disabled body, inviting readers into her story through her memoir I Win. And other titles also that shine with honesty and hope. When she's not writing her podcasting, Wynne is out proving that labels do not get the last word. She does. Her voice is equal parts candid and contagious, and today she talks, joins us to talk about resilience, redefining possibility, and why kindness to ourselves and others is not just nice, it's necessary. Welcome to the show, Wynne. I am so happy to have you on.
SPEAKER_03:Well thank you for having me on, Mike. And no, I did not write the book on I did not write the Man of Festival on Sable Palsy. Yes, I have Sable Palsy, but it d well let me backtrack. It used to not stop me. Right now we have a temporary glitch of cerebral palsy stopping me and leaving me red bound, but that's going to change as of JMDR. So we'll be back where we start. So yes, my name is Wynn. I have cerebral palsy. I taxia spastic cerebulsy, but all you guys need to remember is CP. So that's me and CP is lack of oxygen injury at birth. So I got an at birth being born at five months equates that to twenty-seven weeks. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Wow, you really were a preemie.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Oh wow. I was and you know what? Yeah, I think you just kind of answered my first question. Um so you you got CP or or yeah. That is so much easier. First of all, thank you for letting us say it that way. CP. Because I have a horrible time saying cerebral palsy. My mouth doesn't want to do that. Um so you you got that at birth, basically.
SPEAKER_02:Um and what what does CP do to your body? For for people who may not know.
SPEAKER_03:CP wrecks havoc on your body. No, I'm kidding. Um C P does do a number on your body. Spasticity makes you so tight, it's like putting a rubber band around your leg and that rubber band and not letting go. And so basically what landed up happening is I fell on my birthday, didn't deal with it. I know bad patient with cerebral palsy, doesn't deal with it, goes to give a speech about CP on my birthday to my church. And at the end of the speech, I feel my leg starting to go up. I'm like, well, this is not good. And so then fast forward to July sixteenth, early morning of July seventeenth, yeah, that was the night of July sixteenth, yeah, that was fun. I got no sleep. So July 17th, I I'm sitting at my breakfast table, I look down, my leg won't go down. So I'm like, this is not good. Call 911 to get me out of here. I um we manage 901 and then I say in the emergency room, my hip is out. My hip is out, my hip is out. Um wasn't screaming, my hip is out by any means, but enough so they can hear it. They don't know you're not your hip is not out. Well fast forward, turns out it's fifty degrees out of socket. It's painful as we sit here today, and I am having a hip replacement on January 12th at the age of 37.
SPEAKER_02:Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01:Oh.
SPEAKER_03:So, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So when you fell, you you dis literally dislocated your hip. Yeah. Knocked it out of the oh my god.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, literally dislocated my hip when I fell on my birthday. Didn't deal with it on my birthday, me being stubborn.
SPEAKER_01:Do you think it could have been repaired if you'd gone straight into the hospital with it?
SPEAKER_03:Or yeah, I think it could've they could have done something. I mean, looking back on it, I f felt it go out. I just thought I internally boosted. I I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:Bad patient. Bad, bad patient.
SPEAKER_03:That's okay. I get cold the bad patient all the time.
SPEAKER_01:Does that happen a lot?
SPEAKER_03:I get called the bad patient all the time. I get called patient insisted on a hip replacement. No, the hip replacement is the best option. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I'm a bad patient too. I but I've never had a hip replacement. Knockwood. Um, so talk to me what what kind of misconceptions do people often have about CP or about disability in general that that bug you or or that you'd like to correct?
SPEAKER_03:Well, one we they think CP has no brains. And I have stories at the yin yang to line that up to prove that wrong, but my latest one was I had my pre-op for this surgery. So the doctor gets done, he leaves the room, his medical assistant or scribe um leaves the room, a woman literally comes running in, um one of the physician's assistants comes running in and says, I need someone to sign off on the surgery. I say me. She goes right past me and says and turns to the two other people sitting in the room, one being my aide and one being my medical liaison, and says, Who's signing off for the surgery? I'm sitting over in the corner. I say me hello and as I can't. She goes, Oh, I thought there was a medical power for turning into verbs. I I almost said, give me the GD iPad and let me sign off on the surgery. Give me the iPad. So, yes, that's a story to prove that people um think CP, they think a lot of disabilities don't have a brain.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, for sure. Um had there been any moments in your life where and they could be big or small, uh, that made you feel supported or seen by others?
SPEAKER_03:Well, my podcast, I did not realize writing book would um I did not realize losing my mom would turn into writing a book, would turn into a podcast, would turn into me being a motivational speaker, and me getting podcast interviews right and center because of my story, and then I didn't realize that people were hungry for education on CP.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean uh a lot of us we all we've heard the phrase before, we we've heard but I don't know that we necessarily know somebody with CP. And I think that kind of goes to show that people want to learn and understand maybe so they can support people with CP better?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. People with disabilities better in general.
SPEAKER_02:In general, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um Okay, this is kind of going back to okay, let's What what is what is one of your your pet peeves about um the way people treat people with disabilities Is there just one?
SPEAKER_03:Where do I start on this one to Where do I store on this one too? They talk to the I'll give you the short version. They talk to the aid, not the disabled person I'm sorry, I'm I'm I didn't catch that, I apologize. They talk to the aid, not the disabled person.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. Yes, I can see where that would be horribly.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um So what were some of the biggest challenges you faced as you were growing up? And what helped you navigate them? Because I think again, I uh it probably goes back to that that whole um I I Well I I can't excuse the the medical person, but um for the general public it helps us to understand if we know what you were going through.
SPEAKER_03:Yes. Well, the education system and I'm going back into the education system here pretty dang soon and uh I um the education system is cruel on people with disabilities. It's cruel on people with disabilities, it doesn't support them. You have to look under the rock for support. I mean they may have offices of disabilities, but yet the professors don't read the accommodations, wonder why the student is failing, yet the teacher doesn't read the IEP individualized education plan, wonder why the student is not succeeding.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:That would be horribly frustrating.
SPEAKER_02:I could see that.
SPEAKER_03:I've literally had professions tell me, oh, why why didn't you do it this way? I said, because I need accommodations. Didn't you read the accommodations note that I eat that I handed to you at the beginning of class virtually? They don't know. They literally said no.
SPEAKER_02:Wow. Wow.
SPEAKER_01:I and I I spoke once with a a woman who has um Aylers Ailers Danos syndrome. Do you know what that is? Yes. Okay. Yes. Her daughter also had it. Um I think it's genetic. Um but her daughter obviously was in school and and she was all she was very apparently they were very good. This is this is over in Wisconsin, I think. And they were very good with her um Oh shoot, you just said it.
SPEAKER_03:Individualized education.
SPEAKER_01:You know, if she needed a break for her hand from writing or what have you, they were very, very good about that. So but yeah. I can see do you think it gets worse as the further along in in your um education? Do you think it gets worse when you get to the university level?
SPEAKER_03:Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And yeah. Yeah. Um so talk to me about your day-to-day life.
SPEAKER_01:Um what are some of the invisible challenges that people might not realize that you deal with? What's it like for you to do that?
SPEAKER_03:Well right now Pardon? Well right now, getting in the shower is the toughest thing ever.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Because you need a new Because Yeah. I can only imagine that's yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So uh normally now after the new hip, normally it wouldn't be a challenge, but it is a challenge now.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Obviously. For obvious reasons.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, for obvious reasons. But yeah. But I will need help getting dressed. I do need help getting dressed. I do need help right now, um, showering, but normal I do have people that help me shower, but normally I can do it ninety percent on my own. Right now it's um zero percent on my own. So when against the shower is not happening was how to help. And I'm like, um, okay, where's the hip replacement?
SPEAKER_01:I have a feeling that after the surgery, for a while at least, anyway, that's not gonna go anywhere soon. Because I have a funny feeling and you'll have to.
SPEAKER_03:I have a funny feeling that's not gonna go anywhere soon either, because um after my knee reconstruction, I scared my phew, well, I jump so easily at noises that it's not even funny. My null reaction, my starter reaction was like a baby's. It's still on newborns to this day. So I jump half a foot when when scary noises happen. I don't um they can be not so scary to some people, but scary to me. So after my um reconstruction surgery on Valentine's Day, I was leaning forward trying to be this little independent here, and scared myself, shot myself into a muscle spasm. Yeah, that's that didn't Go all the well. So, yeah. Next time I know not to do that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no kidding. So you've had knee reconstruction as well as the upcoming hip replacement? Yes.
SPEAKER_03:I have had over 100 surgeries.
SPEAKER_01:Do you sometimes feel like as they're wheeling you into the surgery room, you you would just go, here let me do it. I'm well aware of everything that's going on here.
SPEAKER_03:Basically, here let me do my own surgery. Yeah. I was put up with so many antics in the um or in the pre-op that it's not even funny. I have uh allergy to anesthesia. I'm one of those types that has an allergy to anesthesia. So yeah. So um so I'm allergic to propofol, which is one of the anesthesias they use. It's common. It's common, and I'm one of the thousands of Americans that's allergic to it. I get ketolacidosis, which in layman's terms, my blood turns acidic. It's lovely. And I'm out, so I don't realize this. I'm out like light, so I don't realize this. But the when I had my knee reconstruction surgery, I was trying to tell the anesthesiologist that I'm allergic to post ball. He looked at me and said, I don't have time for this.
SPEAKER_01:I gotta go prepare the and I'm like, dude, you, you little I was just gonna say, you should you could almost be an anesthesiologist, as many and you told him that you were allergic, and he said, I don't have time for this.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I don't have time for this. Oh my gosh. Oh. And then as the um as I'm on the operating table going to sleep before they give me the oxygen, which is truly inlasting, he says, Don't worry, I've been in this field for 30 plus years, don't worry, I'll handle it. I'm like, dude, just put me to sleep.
SPEAKER_01:You're like saying, I've been in surgery for years as well. Yeah, just put me to sleep. Yeah, just put me to sleep so I don't have to listen to you anymore.
SPEAKER_03:No, all kids aside, they say that people with disabilities make great doctors and great nurses because they have the understanding based on manner that no one else has.
SPEAKER_01:That makes perfect sense. And you really don't see in general terms, and it's funny, my wife and I were just talking about um Laura Innes. You know who she is? She's an actress. But uh she used to be on the TV show um ER back in the nineties. It's probably too late, too, too old for you. But I don't remember what her character had, but she had to use a cane to get around the uh the the hospital. And I was like, you just don't see a lot of representation of people with disabilities in medical dramas, let's say.
SPEAKER_02:No. Um there's a n there's a character on the show The Pit.
SPEAKER_01:Um I don't know if you've seen it. Um it stars No, I haven't. Okay, it stars Noah Wiley. He played Dr. Carter on ER. Um, and it got a lot of praise for for the reality. But there is a doctor on there that that is neurodivergent.
SPEAKER_03:But that's not really that's not really disabled, is it having a neurodivergent is all disabilities are no diversion. What all disabilities are no divergent. We call ourselves no diversion. Fun fact of thing like you learn something new every day. All disabilities are called no diversion.
SPEAKER_01:I did not know that. Look at me! I'm learning stuff.
SPEAKER_03:So autism is called no diversion, sample palsy is called no diversion, dyslexia is called no divergent.
SPEAKER_01:Oh I did not know. I think she's ADHD, but I don't don't don't quote me on that. Anyway, yeah representation matters though, right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay, let's talk about something nicer more fun.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um for you as a disabled person. What does kindness look like to you?
SPEAKER_03:Oh just a person holding a door open for the age and myself I mean my st my no um my orthopedic's office who's doing my hip replacement has the smallest pathway to get into his office I've ever seen. So just holding the door for someone who is disabled and they're struggling to get the wheelchair in the door and the person in the wheelchair is struggling to navigate the door. Just hold the door open.
SPEAKER_01:They have one of those automatic doors?
SPEAKER_03:It'll just They do, but the automatic doors half the time don't work.
SPEAKER_02:Jeez Louise.
SPEAKER_01:People get and you would think in an orthopedic doctor's office that would that would be a no-brainer, wouldn't you? Make sure the automatic doors work okay.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I thought we were gonna be nicer, but apparently not. So talk to me about what accomplishments are you most proud of, either personally or professionally. I know you used to rock climb, right? Back in the day.
SPEAKER_03:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:That's crazy.
SPEAKER_03:Back in the day before I moved. So I am proud of my doing the Kona Iron Man. I am a Kona Iron Man competitor. No, I didn't win the dang thing after my hip replacement. I am probably going back to coma to um do the cone Iron Man, but um we'll see about that if they want to send me to France, that is fine, but because I'm a disabled team, they would probably put me in coma.
SPEAKER_01:That's incredible. I mean, an Iron Man. So for people that don't know, that's swimming, biking, and running?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. So it's a triathlon.
SPEAKER_03:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:But it's not any triathlon. Nope. That's ruining for anybody.
SPEAKER_03:The top of the woman high um competitive triathlon triathlete. And yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I could never, ever, ever, ever w as training twenty-four hours a day, I could probably not compete.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. So So that's what I'm doing after my hip replacement.
SPEAKER_01:Good for you. I will follow I'm gonna follow you and and and see how that goes. How much time do you think you're gonna need after your hip replacement?
SPEAKER_03:To get to get back in shape? Yeah. I need a good three to four months to get back in triathlete shape.
SPEAKER_01:Three to four months?
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I would need years.
SPEAKER_03:Three let's say three um three months. Definitely four months of great to give myself a ghost period. Four months.
SPEAKER_02:Cool. Um okay. Wrapping it up here. What advice would you give to people who want to be better allies but aren't quite sure where to start?
SPEAKER_03:Uh want to be better allies, but uh don't know where to start. Okay. One I I would say Google Sam. Start with learning the basic knowledge about CP or any disability, and then go see if you can shadow a special ed teacher or go into special ed yourself. If you're a high school student or maybe even going back to a degree, consider going into special ed.
SPEAKER_02:Perfect. Yeah, for sure. Um, okay. Last question What message of hope or encouragement would you like to leave with listeners today? Just do it. Just do it.
SPEAKER_03:Do it. Um they say the best time to start a podcast is now. So just do it. If you have a dream of doing anything, just do it. Just get the researcher and get the finances together, get everything you need and then just do your dream.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah. I mean and if I have to throw my throw Wynne Charles in my face when I don't want to do something and go, if Wynn Charles can do it, I can do it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it it's it's a great message. Wynne, thank you so much for taking the time to be here today. I really, really, really appreciate it. Um because you're such and I know this will probably rub you the wrong way, but you are an inspiration to a lot of people out there, and hopefully more after this. But um I I appreciate you. Thank you.
SPEAKER_03:Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:We will talk again soon. Take care. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Kindness Manners Podcast with my guest, Wynn Charles. I hope this episode left you feeling a little easier, a little more hopeful, meaning a little bit more inspired about the state of the world that we all share. If you enjoyed this episode, please feel free to tell your friends, family, and co-workers about us. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter for us in comments delivered, tweet your email inbox every month. It's free, and there's a link to sign up in the show notes. You have to listen to the Tinest Matters podcast on your host, Minecraft. We'll be back again next week. Brand new episode, and we would be honored if you would join us again. Until then, Tigers Matter.
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