WEBVTT

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Fatou: I would like to be a mentor
because there are many DeafBlind

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people out there living in isolation,

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tucked away from society,

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and it's not easy
to come out of your shell.

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I want to be the person
who helps them out of the oblivion

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and get their ass
moving on with their life.

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[music plays]

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Rebecca: We think of disability as sad,

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as gloom and doom,
as depression, as incapability,

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and we don't think about people

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with disabilities as being dynamic.

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Alice: We're much more flexible
than people think.

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It's not that complicated.

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It doesn't matter how my
mechanics work, it's how I live.

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I don't fake it.

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I don't whitewash it.

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I don't, you know, Jerry-rig it.

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I just work around it
to make anything possible

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because I believe that everything is.

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Rebecca: We encourage people to try
to see the dimensions of disability

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either within themselves
or in other people.

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The most malleable people,
the people who are most creative,

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the people who are most able
to sort of roll with things and go with

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and go with the flow are
my friends with disabilities.

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And so instead of looking at someone
with a disability or seeing yourself

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with someone as a disability
for the things that you can't do,

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I want you to see all of
the things that you are and try to,

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if you can, let that part of
yourself shine without having

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to feel like you have to
make excuses or that you have to

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somehow feel like
your disability is what defines you.

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[music plays]

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Alice: If you don't have blindness skills,
there are blindness centers.

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There are commissions
of the blind in most states,

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There are divisions
of the deaf in most states.

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Latch on, track them down
and grab whatever you can.

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Fatou: What's important is that you
get to know people who are open minded,

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who want to understand
you and support you.

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Alice: An ally it is not just your friend.

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They go through what you go through.

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They help you traverse
whatever we're trying to traverse.

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Korrine: That felt empowering to be able
to just have a community

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and have a group of people that really
understood where I was coming from

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and to be able to go into a space
and feel safe and feel comfortable,

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and feel welcomed.

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I'm not alone in this, you know.

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Fatou: And, you know, feel free to share your
experiences with other DeafBlind people.

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If you share them with others,
you'll gain an even deeper understanding

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and be better prepared for the future.

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Alice: Learn how to cook, please
parents, teach them!

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You know, do your laundry,
all those kinds of things.

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Somebody needs to teach you
or you need to acquire those skills.

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So you need to know what you need to know,

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or find a mentor that
will help you know that.

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Rebecca: I do think that there is this part of me
that wants to fight for disability rights

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and that also feels very angry
and frustrated just like everybody else.

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But I can either sit back and be angry
about it and complain about it.

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I can post online about it. It's futile.

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It does absolutely nothing.

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It doesn't improve anything.

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It only adds fuel to the fire.

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The only thing I can do is
try to make some tangible step

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towards showing other people what I think

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would be a better
way of handling disability

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or interacting with people with disabilities
or living with a disability.

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Korrine: This is who I am.

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Try to understand where I'm coming from.

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You know, you might experience
things differently and that's okay.

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But this is where I'm at.

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This is what I have to offer.

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If you don't like that,
I'm sorry. Too bad.

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But you know, like I said,
I'm proud of who I am.

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I'm proud of where I come from,
I've come a long way.

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[music ends]