Amy Wright, Owner of “Bitty & Beau’s Coffee” Wins 2017 CNN’s Hero of the Year

I received a notification on my phone this evening notifying me that CNN’s 2017 Hero of the Year is Amy Write, the owner of Bitty & Beau’s Coffee Shop. I don’t specifically remember hearing of Amy Wright, or Bitty & Beau’s before tonight, but I’m glad I (and millions of other people) have heard of her and her coffee shop now…and I’m glad that she received CNN’s 2017 Hero of the Year!

It’s well deserved!

Diversity is not Just Appreciated, It’s Celebrated at Bitty & Beau’s Coffee Shop

Amy’s two youngest children were born with Down syndrome and like many parents of children with Down syndrome (like myself) wanted to be an advocate for their children (and people like their children.) Amy and her husband learned that 70% of people with disabilities are unemployed and she wanted to change that..So she started a coffee shop (Bitty & Beau’s Coffee) to help make the world a better place for people with disabilities, and as of today Bitty & Beau’s coffee employees 40 people with disabilities and…”diversity is not just appreciated, it’s celebrated.”

That’s awesome!!

Amy said this about her employees as she accepted her award tonight

My employees are not broken; 200 million people across the world living with an intellectual or developmental disability are not broken…What is broken is the lens through which we view people with disabilities.

So awesome!

You can watch Amy’s entire acceptance speech in the video below.

I have never met Amy or visited Bitty & Beau’s Coffee Shop, but after looking at their website, and reading their story, I want to make a trip to Wilmington, NC just to visit! (For real!)

People like Amy Wright are huge inspirations to me as I, too, want to use my life to make an impact for those like my son, who have “disabilities”! Congratulations, Amy for winning the award tonight, and as a parent of a child with thank you for all that you do. You are a hero to me! I’ll be adding Bitty & Beau’s Coffee Shop to this list of companies that hire people with disabilities!