Bethany Cook

bethany

Bethany Cook

Narcolepsy Advocate | Participant in the Documentary

The Home Smart Home Roundtable  

Have you ever stopped to consider how your living environment can enable or disable you? Now imagine having a chronic condition or physical disability that exaggerates those challenges. Alongside the essential mobility issues some homes present, lighting, acoustics, room and ceiling structure, ergonomics, and lack of modern technology can also play a massive role in how our environments support our well-being. In this short film, nine subjects with diverse diagnoses and symptoms explore how their homes and specific design scenarios have exacerbated their conditions. They also imaginer the perfect home for their disability, specifying how smart, livable design could facilitate more engaged, supported, and effortless lives.

Following the screening of Home Smart Home, director and founder of Unfixed Media, Kimberly Warner, Enabled Disabled founder and podcast host Gustavo Serafini, multiple sclerosis advocate Kyle Kranich, narcolepsy advocate Bethany Cook, and interior designer Shelly Rosenberg will join together to discuss the making of the film and their own experiences of how their homes enable and disable them.


BIO

Bethany Cook is a Master’s student studying Psychology and Counseling. I was diagnosed with Narcolepsy Type I 12 years ago at the age of 19. 
I love getting outdoors in the Pacific Northwest with my spouse and service dog, Bailey, and can often be found with a cup of earl grey tea in my hand. Living with Narcolepsy Type I has been life changing to say the least, and my home environment definitely impacts my disability especially when it comes to sound and lighting.