Show Notes
In this episode of ListenABLE, Angus sits down with Spencer Connelly for a conversation that is confronting, inspiring and incredibly human. Spencer shares his lived experience after surviving a traumatic fire as a child, spending months in hospital, and learning to navigate the world with visible scars and amputations. He reflects on memory, trauma, recovery, self-image, the complexity of forgiveness, and why he now sees his scars as signs of strength rather than weakness. The conversation also explores disability identity, facial difference, confidence in public, representation in film, and Spencer’s growing dream of building a career in acting. That dream has already taken shape, with Spencer landing a speaking role in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, and he has publicly credited the KIDS Foundation with helping build his confidence after his injuries. If this episode resonates, share it with someone who needs to hear a story of resilience, perspective and hope.
Key Topics: surviving severe childhood burns
trauma and memory
hospital recovery and rehabilitation
living with facial difference
disability identity
scars and self-acceptance
therapy and healing
public perception and staring
confidence and resilience
acting, representation and Furiosa
The Story: 00:00 Childhood trauma and the memory that stayed 01:00 Spencer’s story and entering the disability community 05:45 Living with disability and visible difference 07:20 Recovery, surgeries and life after hospital 11:10 Returning to school after trauma 14:50 The truth about what happened 17:40 Differently abled, disability and identity 19:00 Staring, confidence and moving through the world 20:40 Looking in the mirror after trauma 23:15 Forgiveness, healing and moving forward 27:20 Acting dreams and losing one career path 28:20 Meeting Sean Millis and working on Furiosa 35:30 Facial difference and representation in film 37:50 Halloween, scars and public perception 40:10 The bowl of uncomfortable 44:25 Life from here and what’s next
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