Seaver College Professor Jaz Gray Empowers Individuals with Disabilities to Narrate Their Stories Through Innovative LifePlot Tool

Storytelling is a powerful tool. It can cultivate essential communication skills and spark creativity. It can also nurture empathy and self-awareness—crucial qualities that help individuals navigate their personal journeys. For Seaver College communication studies assistant professor and narrative researcher Jasmine “Jaz” Gray, this belief inspired her to explore storytelling not just as a creative outlet, but as a transformative tool for healing and self-discovery. Rooted in her own lived experiences with disability and her background in the entertainment industry, Gray developed LifePlot—an innovative tool to help individuals, particularly those with disabilities, process and narrate their experiences using storytelling techniques typically taught in screenwriting courses. 

“It’s a beautiful opportunity for me now to combine those two elements—storytelling and real life—and say, ‘let’s use this structure to help us make sense of our lives,’” shares Gray.

Jaz Gray

Drawing from her personal experiences with disability and chronic illness, as well as her background in journalism, film, and professional roles at BET and Paramount Pictures, Gray began formalizing LifePlot during her time as a doctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Since completing her PhD in 2021, she has continued to refine the concept as both a process and a practical tool for personal and collective reflection. She notes that mainstream narratives typically follow a structured format and believes that equipping everyday people—especially those navigating complex life experiences—with these storytelling tools can be both empowering and therapeutic.

“What happens when a real person is able to tell their story as if they were the main character in a fictional piece of content about their lives?” Gray asks. “It's this question that guides LifePlot’s unique methodology—merging screenwriting structure with soul work.”

Featured for the first time during Pepperdine University’s Disability Awareness Week this March, Gray’s LifePlot workshop invited participants to view their lives not as a collection of disconnected events, but as an important and cohesive story worth telling. For Gray, presenting her concept at this event and engaging with Pepperdine students was a valuable opportunity to put her teachings into practice.   

“Disability Awareness Week is, for some people, the most visible acknowledgment that they matter,” explains Gray. “Students with disabilities face a double transition—becoming adults and navigating a world not always designed for them.” 

Thalia Markowski, a Seaver College student and Gray’s research assistant, participated in Gray’s workshop and described LifePlot as an insightful tool that helps students and young professionals make sense of their fast-paced and often overwhelming lives.

“I really appreciated how the workshop began by explaining the difference between narratives and stories and emphasizing the value of everyone’s story, no matter their background,” said Markowski. “The outer-inner journey part of the LifePlot framework was especially meaningful to me. It’s not easy to connect our inner growth with our outward experiences, but seeing it visually helped me understand my story in a new way.”

LifePlot Workshop

Aside from presenting it at this year’s Disability Awareness Week, Gray has workshopped LifePlot in various communities and scenarios, including with parents of children with disabilities, graduate and PhD students, and nurses. These sessions enabled the participants to pause, process their experiences, and connect with others in a deeper and more meaningful way. Gray believes LifePlot is adaptable across different contexts and is now moving toward formal academic validation through qualitative and experimental research. Ultimately, she hopes to secure funding to expand its reach and demonstrate its broader impact.

"God brought together all the people, ideas, and opportunities I’ve needed for this work. The LifePlot workshop is another example of that,” says Gray. “Being at Pepperdine, in this space, is a beautiful chance to shape our stories and share them with each other. I’m really excited about it."

For students at Pepperdine, particularly those navigating disability in an academic setting, the workshop offered a unique and safe space to be seen, to reflect, and to begin authoring their own stories with intentionality and hope.

“We are all yearning to be heard,” says Gray, “and I think learning these tools can help us to do that.”