Unfiltered Resilience: Dawn Olson's Journey

Forty-Five Minutes vs. Five

Most people hear the word "transportation" and think of buses and schedules. I hear it and think of freedom. Or the lack of it. In this episode I talk about what accessible transportation actually means for people with disabilities — and what it costs when the system fails. I tell you about an ADA meeting where my mom started keeping a tally of how many times the directors said "can't." I tell you about sitting in a cold hallway watching out a window, fingers crossed, afraid to look away because if I miss the bus I don't get a second chance. I tell you about a last-minute job interview I almost couldn't get to — and what I had to do to make it work. I also talk about the holidays. About never being able to visit the cemetery on Memorial Day because there's no transit. About the days that are supposed to bring communities together becoming some of the most isolating days of the year. And I tell you about the moment I hopped on a train in Washington D.C. and said out loud — free at last. Because for one moment, I was just a person going somewhere. Like anyone else. This episode is not about complaining. It's about helping people understand that transportation is not a luxury. It is a pathway to independence. And until it works for everyone, it doesn't really work at all. Unfiltered Resilience — advocacy, lived experience, and honest conversation for everyone who has been told independence is a privilege, not a right. I answer every email: unfilteredresiliencepodcast@gmail.com [unfilteredresiliencepodcast@gmail.com]

Hopeful & Forward "Two Words That Changed Everything"

In my last episode, I talked about the word "can't" — that earthquake feeling when a system slams the door in your face. Today I want to talk about the complete opposite. Two words that have opened more doors in my life than almost anything else: just try. In this episode I share what those words actually feel like — not the logic of it, but the feeling. The sunrise. The light at the end of a tunnel I wasn't sure had an end. And then I get honest about something most people don't talk about — that "just try" isn't always clean or comfortable. Sometimes the person trying still makes you feel like a burden. And that changes everything. I take you into a physical therapy gym four years ago where nobody was sure what was going to happen. I tell you about a taxi driver who made me feel like a little child being scolded, right in the middle of something that was supposed to feel like progress. I talk about a lawyer who didn't promise me success but was willing to try everything under the sun anyway. And I share two personal stories — one involving a Honda Pilot parked on a hill, and one involving my shower — that remind me that the most important "just try" moments are often the ones nobody else sees. This one is for anyone who has already decided something won't work before they've actually tried. Resilience isn't always about having the answer. Sometimes it's simply having the courage to say — I don't know if this is going to work, but let's try. Reach me at unfilteredresiliencepodcast@gmail.com [unfilteredresiliencepodcast@gmail.com] — I answer every email.

Can't: The Most Dismissive Word in the Room

"We can't do that." I have heard those words more times than I can count — in transportation meetings, in therapy rooms, from systems that were supposed to help me. And every single time, it lights a fire in me. In this episode, I get honest about the word "can't" — what it feels like, what it really means, and why I believe most "can'ts" are just "won'ts" in disguise. I share real stories, I draw the line between a genuine limitation and plain laziness, and I have something to say to every young person already hearing "can't" from a system that should know better. Spoiler: I graduated from BYU anyway. Unfiltered Resilience — because independence is a right, not a privilege. Reach me at unfilteredresiliencepodcast@gmail.com [unfilteredresiliencepodcast@gmail.com] — I read every single one.

I Started This for Me. I'm Staying for You.

A year ago, I almost didn't do this. I thought a podcast was too much. That I didn't have enough to say. That nobody would want to listen to one more person share their story. I was terrified — and honestly, I almost let that fear win. I'm glad I didn't. Unfiltered Resilience is officially over a year old, and in this anniversary episode, I want to be honest with you about something. This podcast is changing. Not because I planned it that way — but because life pushed me here, and I've learned that when life pushes you hard enough in a direction, you listen. What started as my personal story — a diary of life in a power wheelchair with cerebral palsy — has become something I didn't expect. It has become a mission. Because somewhere over the last year, I stopped seeing my struggles as personal problems and started seeing them for what they really are — systemic ones. The financial traps, the Medicaid rules, the impossible choices that disabled people are forced to make just to survive — these are not accidents. They are built into the system. And once I understood that, I knew this podcast could not stay only about me. In this episode I talk about what it felt like to start this show terrified and grow into it. I talk about the friend who looked at my situation and told me the truth — that the system is designed to keep people like me poor, not help us thrive. I talk about the book I still want to write someday, and the painful reality attached to that dream. And I talk about who I am really doing all of this for — because it is not for me anymore. I started this podcast to share my story. I kept going because I realized it wasn't just mine. Unfiltered Resilience is advocacy, lived experience, and honest conversation — for every person who has ever been told by a broken system that independence is a privilege, not a right. The next chapter starts now. 📧 unfilteredresiliencepodcast@gmail.com [unfilteredresiliencepodcast@gmail.com]

The Maze That Never Ends: What Fighting the System Actually Looks Like

Last episode, I told you about the reality of living with cerebral palsy and trying to stay in my own home — the 30% gross income rule, the attorney I hired, and the hope that didn't pan out. This episode is the next chapter. This is what happens after the hope runs out and you keep fighting anyway. I'm pulling back the curtain on what navigating the Medicaid system actually looks like from the inside — the asset spend-down rules that forced me to spend $30,000 I wanted to save, the legal tool that should have been available to me but wasn't because of my age, and the real cost of fighting back that nobody puts in a policy document. Not just the money. The energy. The emotional toll. The depression and despair that come from doing everything right and still feeling like you're losing. I also talk about what freedom really means when you live with a disability — and why the nursing home isn't just a financial question for me. It's a question of identity, dignity, and everything I have spent my life fighting to protect. Because my life started in an institution. And I have spent every year since making sure it doesn't end in one. This isn't just my story. It's a window into what millions of people with disabilities and their families are navigating right now — quietly, exhaustedly, and mostly alone. But not anymore. If you are a parent, a sibling, a friend, or a neighbor of someone living with a disability — this episode is for you too. Because awareness without action is just a ribbon. And it's time to act. I need your help. I cannot do this alone. Listen, share, and reach out — because every voice added to this fight makes the sound harder to ignore. 📧 unfilteredresiliencepodcast@gmail.com [unfilteredresiliencepodcast@gmail.com]