♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, vibing and thriving on tiktok. influencers celebrating their disabilities. shining a light on those often overlooked. >> people ask, where's this community been this whole time? like, right here, the whole time! >> getting real on what privilege and inclusivity look like. plus the street chaplain with the weak and watery. >> are you okay? >> training at-risk youth to beat back a stark reality. when opioid addiction, gun violence and covid collide in the streets of philadelphia. >> what you see on the streets is before the pandemic, this is ongoing. ♪ streets

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♪ thanks for joining us. tonight, we're taking another barriers for the disability kin- community. creating their own unique space on tiktok and challenging the way the world sees them. here's "nightline's" ashan singh.

>> reporter: it's here on her family farm in franklinville, new jersey, where mckenzie trush comes alive. >> growing up here has been such a really fun, unique way to grow up. >> reporter: it's one big, happy family. >> these are my pets. and like my family. >> reporter: mckenzie's upbringing has been unique in more ways than one. she was born with a rare form of dwarfism called semd, one of only 175 documented cases in history. she's had to find ways to adapt her whole life. competing in equestrian shows. and now the aspiring actress is making her own path on social media. actress is making her own path on social media. >> now i'm no yogi but i think that was pretty good. >> to go from growing up on a farm to this past year, you kind of turned into a pretty big tiktok star. >> yeah, it's been a bit of a really welcome, fun change. >> what's that like for you?

>> so, like, quarantine started. it was like, now is the time to do the thing i always say i'm going to do, which is make a tiktok, and like post like kind of educational but fun videos. so i just made one. ♪ ♪ >> i felt silly posting it. then i woke up the next day to a couple thousand views on my first video ever. and it's been like a roller coaster ever since. >> reporter: mckenzie isn't alone. for what seems like the first time, disabled content creators have a genuine audience like never before. >> my largest video has over 200 million views. we thought, oh, there's something to this, this is an audience that we haven't tapped into before. >> reporter: using the app tiktok, influencers ranging in all types of disabilities have tapped into a younger and more eager audience. >> it's really exciting to see like a second generation of

online disability advocates on tiktok. they are so passionate and so well versed. >> reporter: now disabled creators are using the app to tell their stories in their own words. they're dissecting privilege within a media landscape that's otherwise ignored them. >> having access to other disabled people, telling stories in a variety of platforms, is community building. >> oftentimes society tries to put us in a box. for me, it was see yourself as nondisabled, don't be gay. everything changed for me when i leaned into my disability, came out as gay, and started finding happiness in my own way. >> reporter: spencer west has been a star long before tiktok. >> i wanted to share words that help describe my journey and who i am. >> reporter: a youtuber and inspirational speaker, spencer gives audiences a sense of what it's like to live life with no legs.

>> but what does that mean? time for an anatomy lesson. this stuff here? didn't touch it. this stuff here? didn't touch it. i hope that clears up any confusion. thank you. >> reporter: he's built a following and even made a famous friend along the way. demi lovato. but it wasn't until spencer got on tiktok that things took off. >> i'm going to the bathroom, just like everyone else! >> reporter: now with 3 million followers, he's using his space to educate. but he also wants audiences to know that it's okay to be proud of your disability. >> i grew up in the '80s and early '90s. and, you know, at that time, to be seen as disabled was sort of taboo. you wanted to be seen just like everyone else, that your disability didn't define you or limit you in those ways. and now we're sort of learning, that's a terrible way to think. i'm proud to have a disability, and it is a part of me. >> reporter: amani couldn't agree more. >> i don't have a problem with being disabled, you have a problem with me being disabled.

one of the those things is a problem, and it sounds like it's yours. >> reporter: she's an activist and a writer who focuses on the intersection of race and disability. >> we represent so many different faiths, political backgrounds. be seen as a monolith. longer - >> if i pull up amani's tiktok, what can i expect? >> the truth. expect the truth. i think my videos are very much geared towards not sugarcoating disability. >> reporter: her videos offer an uncompromisingly honest take on the reality of life as a black woman with cerebral palsy. >> if we're talking about white supremacy within the disability community, we're calling you out. >> reporter: amani is ready for a change in the way society represents both black and disabled people. >> oh my god, i am so glad that you agree. we should have way more disabled people in media, in film, in tv, in all of it. no, not you. but i thought you just said -- excuse me, i have no time for

this, i'm about to profit off representation, great stereotypes that you will have to live by, without including you at all. >> in terms of media representations of disability, it's all about making nondisabled people feel better about themselves by compare on. our bodies are litmus tests for how much worse yours could be and how grateful you should be, because you could be us. i really hope black and brown disabled people see themselves reflected on social media, at least. we need to be seen by the public and by society. because we exist, and we are here. >> reporter: representation of disabled people in hollywood and arroblem when you look atf, is a the numbers. while 26% of the adult population in the united states study done on the top 100 grossing films of 2019 found that only 2.3% of speaking characters had a disability. >> if film is the only place that you can access or you have seen a disabled person, then

that story becomes the only narrative that you learn about. it carries so much more weight in shaping your understanding of what disability might be like. >> when disability appears in a story, it always serves a function. >> reporter: dr. alison petsavis coproduced the film "code of the freaks," an in-depth exploration of how movies treat disabilities on screen. >> stories are everywhere, and hollywood gets ahold of our stories, they want to shove it into set, stereotypical narratives. >> reporter: there are more nuanced roles for disabled actors. r.j. mitty, who has cerebral palsy, playing walt jr. on "breaking bad." >> are they too tight? >> they're -- they're pretty shrunk. >> you see my vibe. [ bleep ]. >> reporter: steve weight, who lives with muscular dystrophy on the hulu comedy show "rami." >> you don't really see people like me on television. or if you see someone who is

supposed to be me, they don't look like me. and their stories are not truly what we go through. >> reporter: back on the farm in jersey, there's still work to be done. and mckenzie's made a promise to herself that she won't take roles that make her disability a punchline. >> as i got older and was offered roles in like commercials, but like you're going to be playing an elf. it was just portraying that stereotype even further. it's not helping, that's hurting the community. i would not be able to sleep knowing that i contributed to that, and i know i'm privileged to be able to say that, i can say no to that. i'm proud of my content. i like to tell myself that maybe somewhere in the back of their mind the video will stick with them. >> reporter: it's just a 15-second video, but these creators are making sure that with each tiktok, they're forging a more inclusive future for not just the disabled

community, but for everyone. been this whole time?when like, right here the whole time. we've been here the whole time. i think it's our time, i really do. >> our thanks to ashan. coming up next, meet the spiritual first responers using words and their fists to fight a trio of epidemics. new from crest i've been telling everyone, the secret to great teeth... is having healthy gums. keep yours healthy with new crest advanced gum restore. it's clinically proven to detoxify below the gum line, and it restores by helping heal gums in as little as seven days. because you can't have a healthy smile, without healthy gums. advanced gum restore from crest. the #1 toothpaste brand in america.

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♪ ♪ long before the pandemic struck the neighborhood of kensington,

philadelphia, this was already struggling. hoping to spread faith and healing. here is abc's devin dwire. >> they call it the rock. why did you come here? >> i was born into the rock. >> how often do you come here? >> like everyday. >> it is like my second home. >> a safe haven in north philadelphia for 18 years teaching young people how to fight and how to pray. >> lord, we thank you for today and this opportunity. on kensington avenue, >> what do they say. >> it is an od. >> we saw drug use in broad daylight.

>> hey, hon, are you okay? >> honey, are you okay? >> she's lall right. >> homeless young people living among trash. >> this is now allowed to be going on. >> this is the worse you have seen it? >> i have never seen anything like this. >> you grew up here? >> retired cop kevin bernard says covid pulls resources from the fight of opioid addiction and gun violence. >> our shooting did not stop. we have 199 homicides. >> it is only through the grace of god that things changed. that's what the chaplins are doing here. we are spiritual first responders. >> at the heart of the mission is the 52-year-old buddy

osborne. he was convicted on racketeering charges. after he was released, he found god. >> the next generation of those kids should not have to experience what they experienced on the everyday basis in kensington. >> what's the answer? >> the answer is you doing your job and me doing my job and the mayor doing their job and everyone of us coming together to do our job. that's the solution. to me, when it is one person trying to make a change it don't work. >> reporter: volunteers approaching kids throughout the pandem pandemic, keeping the kids from a deadlier risk. several times a week, a group of chaplin walked the avenue ministering to a number of young adults in the neighborhood's

only park. >> the chaplin from the rock is reaching out and you can see people shooting up in the open and never seen anything like this before. the sadness and the pain on people's faces. >> for this 26-year-old woman, it began with an ankle surgery hooked on heroine. >> heroine when i went to jail and heroine. >> she says her mom she just want to come home. >> it is what it took away. >> what did it take away? >> thesadness. >> two years sobriety. she's given me a beautiful

grandson and i look at you and i think this could be my daughter. >> the chaplins tried to get her to detox but she refused. >> we are a mile and a half. you said it with your own words, you have never seen anything like this. is this america? we are here 18 years and i have never seen this neighborhood as dark as it is. the pandemic on low income communities and people of color is exacerbated of a vicious cycle. more americans die of drug overdoses of covid than any other years since the pandemic began. the highest death rates in the country. gun violence have also surged and homicides up 40% this year. >> kensington is one of their deadliest neighborhood. >> the pandemic is nothing here

and i don't mean to minimize it. this was before the pandemic. this is been ongoing. >> pastor body has turned the rock into an anchor of hope. >> you can't arrest your way out of this. it is a social issue. how do we as society attack it? how critical is the chaplin from the rock? >> very. >> kevin and his team, they're the steady force. you see the positive influence that they have around. without their support, it would just be ten times worse for us. >> everyone in the hood could fight until they realize that they can't and they need to learn the proper way to box. boxing is the great means to

teach kids discipline and keep them focused on the test at hands. >> the rock's success story are abunda abunda abundant. 22-year-old, tyler williams, started coming to the rock when he was 11 and now he's gone pro. >> it taught me most to be poise and to stay calm and relax no matter what the other guy is bringing. we have to stay calm and believe in ourselves. it comes from god and you can look at my face and you know what i am feeling already. he knows how to guide me and easy times. you just become numb to the

fact. so it is kind of like got blinders on. >> you won't come into the rock and be gangsters. it is not going to work. we won't hold it against you. you sewurely don't realize realize, -- there is a respect that you come into the rock. he's product of that. >> role model for countless of others now following in his footsteps. >> what does it mean to see tyler going pro? >> there are a lot of young people here that want to be like you and want to go pro. what do you tell them? what's the key to making it in kensington. i i would tell them stay grounded. there are a lot of things

outside those doors. takes work. >> courage to fight and to believe. >> our thanks to devin. we'll be right back. with types are waking up to what's possible with rybelsus®. ♪ you are my sunshine ♪ ♪ my only sunshine... ♪ rybelsus® works differently than any other diabetes pill to lower blood sugar in all 3 of these ways... increases insulin... decreases sugar... and slows food. the majority of people taking rybelsus® lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7. people taking rybelsus® lost up to 8 pounds. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2,

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♪ and that's "nightline" for tonight. you can watch all of our full episodes on hulu. and we'll see you next week. thanks for staying up with us. hope you have a safe and meaningful memorial day weekend. good night, america.