Kathy O'Connell

Kathy lives happily and successfully with Cerebral Palsy.

Kathy views her disability as a natural part of who she is and attributes much of the wonderful ride of life to the experience a disability brings. Even at a young age, Kathy knew there was a purpose in living with a disability.

Kathy O’Connell is Director of Radiant Abilities, which provides resources and training for areas of dating, relationships, sexuality, personal empowerment, and living the life you want. Kathy has a specialized focus in helping people with disabilities with dating and relationship success.

Kathy provides trainings, workshops and keynote presentations to individuals, families and professionals. Each is done with a combination of storytelling, lecture, discussion, interactive exercises and personal reflections. The core of the presentations stem from Kathy’s self-help book, Firewalk: Embracing Different Abilities.

Kathy’s trainings and presentations are geared toward helping people, as well as the professionals and families who support them, feel empowered and motivated to use their abilities to contribute to their community and the world. She is also available to provide general disability keynotes. Kathy is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Certified Rehabilitation Counselor.

Kathy lives by and trains others on the premise of “Life is just too short and sweet to not have the one you want and to have a disability get in the way of that.”