{"id":10368,"date":"2022-12-20T20:46:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T20:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/?p=10368"},"modified":"2024-08-29T16:01:58","modified_gmt":"2024-08-29T20:01:58","slug":"lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/posts\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\/","title":{"rendered":"Lila Empowers Others to Embrace Who They Are"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"core-block core-paragraph\">Lila is a disability activist and performer living with Duchenne. Through their dynamic theatre performances and powerful advocacy speeches encouraging self-pride and self-expression, Lila is empowering others to accept and embrace who they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"core-block core-paragraph\">Lila\u2019s childhood began in Kosovo, but they moved to Switzerland as a child, where they were diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy at 6-years-old. Lila remembers not knowing much about their condition, apart from that fact that they couldn\u2019t walk and therefore had to use a wheelchair \u2013 which led to many hours spent on their Gameboy, much to the annoyance of the teachers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"core-block core-paragraph\">Knowing Lila had a passion for computers and art, a teacher encouraged them to learn Photoshop and graphic design, resulting in the opportunity to design the covers for their school magazine. This set Lila up for a career in graphic design. Lila worked for a time at \u2018cr\u00e9ation handicap,\u2019 a design studio set up by Mathilde Escher, a housing facility in Zurich for those with muscle diseases. Lila is currently a permanent resident at Mathilda Escher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/admin.ptcbio.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/12\/signal-2022-09-15-163132_006-235x300.jpeg\" alt=\"Lila Plakolli\" class=\"wp-image-8854\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"core-block core-paragraph\">Lila\u2019s curiosity for all things creative soon drew them to join a theatre group for people with disabilities. The group has since produced three pieces, two of which explored the themes of disability and Duchenne mothers. The group\u2019s third piece was inspired by the film \u2018Shutter Island\u2019 and focused on experiments performed on mental health patients in the 1960s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"core-block core-paragraph\">Lila\u2019s diverse personality is charged with positive energy, and they want to use it to give a voice to underrepresented topics, such as exploring romantic relationships and disability. Having a first-hand experience themselves, Lila feels many disabled people want to experience romantic relationships, but people are afraid to approach them. To further educate others on this topic, Lila has plans of developing a project where these important topics can be discussed. The next performance will be based around parallel identities and universes. And if that wasn\u2019t enough to keep Lila busy, they have noticed a gap in the availability of colorful and expressive clothes for people with disabilities, and they hope to produce their own clothing line providing other members of the community more choice!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"core-block core-paragraph\">Lila\u2019s motto is, <strong>\u201cBe yourself, love who you are, if you love yourself, you can be loved and love others.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Disability activist and performer living with Duchenne, Lila, encourages people to be themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,60],"tags":[],"media-type":[5],"therapeutic-area":[21],"class_list":["post-10368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rare-disease-community","category-rare-journeys"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.5 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lila Empowers Others to Embrace Who They Are - PTC Therapeutics (United States)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/posts\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lila Empowers Others to Embrace Who They Are\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Disability activist and performer living with Duchenne, Lila, encourages people to be themselves.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/posts\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PTC Therapeutics (United States)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PTCTherapeutics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-20T20:46:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-29T20:01:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/08\/Lila-DMD-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"466\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"262\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"dhargest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PTCBio\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@PTCBio\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"dhargest\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/posts\\\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/posts\\\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"dhargest\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2191e2a3fda3096efba8be804e4c41c0\"},\"headline\":\"Lila Empowers Others to Embrace Who They Are\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-20T20:46:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-08-29T20:01:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/posts\\\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":392,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/posts\\\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/Lila-DMD-1.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Rare Disease Community\",\"Rare Journeys\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/posts\\\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/posts\\\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\\\/\",\"name\":\"Lila Empowers Others to Embrace Who They Are - PTC Therapeutics (United States)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/posts\\\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/posts\\\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/Lila-DMD-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-20T20:46:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-08-29T20:01:58+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/posts\\\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/posts\\\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/posts\\\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/Lila-DMD-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/Lila-DMD-1.png\",\"width\":466,\"height\":262,\"caption\":\"Lila Empowers Others to Embrace Who They Are\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/posts\\\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lila Empowers Others to Embrace Who They Are\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"PTC Therapeutics, Inc.\",\"description\":\"Translating Science. Transforming Lives.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"PTC Therapeutics, Inc.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/ptcLogo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/ptcLogo.png\",\"width\":542,\"height\":542,\"caption\":\"PTC Therapeutics, Inc.\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/PTCTherapeutics\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/PTCBio\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2191e2a3fda3096efba8be804e4c41c0\",\"name\":\"dhargest\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ptcbio.com\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lila Empowers Others to Embrace Who They Are - PTC Therapeutics (United States)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/posts\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lila Empowers Others to Embrace Who They Are","og_description":"Disability activist and performer living with Duchenne, Lila, encourages people to be themselves.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/posts\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\/","og_site_name":"PTC Therapeutics (United States)","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PTCTherapeutics","article_published_time":"2022-12-20T20:46:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-08-29T20:01:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":466,"height":262,"url":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/08\/Lila-DMD-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"dhargest","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@PTCBio","twitter_site":"@PTCBio","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"dhargest","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/posts\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/posts\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\/"},"author":{"name":"dhargest","@id":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2191e2a3fda3096efba8be804e4c41c0"},"headline":"Lila Empowers Others to Embrace Who They Are","datePublished":"2022-12-20T20:46:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-29T20:01:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/posts\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\/"},"wordCount":392,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/posts\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/08\/Lila-DMD-1.png","articleSection":["Rare Disease Community","Rare Journeys"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/posts\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/posts\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\/","name":"Lila Empowers Others to Embrace Who They Are - PTC Therapeutics (United States)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/posts\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/posts\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/08\/Lila-DMD-1.png","datePublished":"2022-12-20T20:46:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-29T20:01:58+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/posts\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/posts\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/posts\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/08\/Lila-DMD-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/08\/Lila-DMD-1.png","width":466,"height":262,"caption":"Lila Empowers Others to Embrace Who They Are"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/posts\/lila-plakolli-empowering-others-to-embrace-who-they-are\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lila Empowers Others to Embrace Who They Are"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/","name":"PTC Therapeutics, Inc.","description":"Translating Science. Transforming Lives.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/#organization","name":"PTC Therapeutics, Inc.","url":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/01\/ptcLogo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/01\/ptcLogo.png","width":542,"height":542,"caption":"PTC Therapeutics, Inc."},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PTCTherapeutics","https:\/\/x.com\/PTCBio"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2191e2a3fda3096efba8be804e4c41c0","name":"dhargest","url":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10368"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16206,"href":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10368\/revisions\/16206"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10368"},{"taxonomy":"media-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-type?post=10368"},{"taxonomy":"therapeutic-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ptcbio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/therapeutic-area?post=10368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}