Burton Blatt Institute

Transcription

>> Rev. W.C. Harris: I want to share just a little bit about my life, how I became disabled. Before I became disabled, I was an athlete. I played football, basketball, track, did a lot of different activities. I swam, did gymnastics, and one day I had a problem in my home with my father. We got into a verbal altercation and I ended up getting shot, in that situation. After I got shot I went through a lot of changes trying to rebuild my life. It took me several years to come back to a place where I was able to go back to school, finish school and move on into a career. >> Guillermo Cesario: La demostración simple que son knife hands, manos de navaja, knife hands. >> Amy Oliveras: That is called knife hands. Let's practice. Everybody go like that. Knife hands. >> Guillermo Cesario: Así. >> Amy Oliveras: Put it on your chest. >> Guillermo Cesario: Es bloqueo y golpe a la vez. >> Amy Oliveras: It to block and to hit at the same time. >> Guillermo Cesario: Podemos este golpe. >> Amy Oliveras: Like that. That's to hit somebody. >> Tameeka Hunter: Ever since I was a little girl I've had to use something to get around. Whether it is a wheelchair or crutches or a walker I've always needed a little bit of help getting around. Do any of you know - show me your hands - somebody who's used a wheelchair before, or crutches? Very good. Very very good. Ah, well, I've always used my crutches and all the way through school and all the way up until now, and, you know, as a little girl going to school with a disability when I was in middle school I had people who, you know, who would pick on me because I was different. I got around differently than they did and they didn't understand it, and that made me start thinking about what I wanted to do in the future. And I decided that what I wanted to do was to help other people who have disabilities. >>: Rec. Calvin Peterson: All that you decide to do, all you've got to do is stay focused. Stay focused. No matter how many things try to stop you from doing these things. All you've got to do is stay focused, alright? >>: Nancy Duncan: When I was your age I could see. I went to regular school and I read books and wrote and played on the playground, and rode my bike and all that. I like to play kickball. Y'all play kickball? >>: Children: Yes. >>: Nancy Duncan: Yes. I like to play kickball. So, but then when I grew up I got to where I could not see anymore, so I had to learn to read Braille as well as print and there's a lot of things in how people with disabilities do what everybody else does, and just be part of the group. One of the things I like to do is play games. And this is a game that people play a lot. What is that? Bingo! Yeah. It's Braille and print bingo, so see if I am reading the bingo card, it says B 6 -- >>: Boy: Wow. >>: Brenda Davenport: B11. B7. B4. So what I say to you is, don't ever let anybody tell you what you can't do. You decide I can do it I can make a difference in my life. You are the ones who say I am smart. Because let me tell you something else. Because you are missing certain things sometimes, people think you can't see. I graduated college on the honor roll. Every time someone says I can't, I said I will. Every time someone says you won't, I say I will. Because I believe that I control my destiny, because I believe I'm the best I can be. And I always work at being the best. >>: Mary Morder: What cerebral palsy is, is that it means that your brain doesn't send the signals to your muscles quite right. So when you tell yourself to run, I can't really run. My muscles just won't move that fast. I can walk fine. I can walk pretty much like you do. But my balance is not the good so I fall down every now and then but that's no big deal. But I can walk and stand and hold a job and, you know, drive a car and do all kinds of things. I like to travel, I like to read. I like to be with my friends and my family. I like to go shopping. I like to go to the movies. I like all kinds of fun things like that. >>: Ryan Mercer: Several people told me I - several people told me I could not do - do everything that I wanted to do. But I like proving them wrong. >>: Tim McCart: I was told I was handicapped. Who's heard the word "handicapped" before? Alright. Who's heard the word in a good sense, who's heard the word in a bad sense? Who's heard it? Alright. Akim's heard it, right? Akim? Alright. Well, I prefer to say -- because I heard it. I prefer to think as I'm not handicapped. I'm handicapable. And that means that I can do anything I want to do, okay. I was born three months early I weighed under three pounds. Wow. That's not a lot, right? Okay? I just think the most important thing for you, who likes to set goals? Who has goals? Do you have goals? I love to set them, I love to think of the positive. Alright? I think goals are very important. >>: Hilary Elliott: And as you know, somebody with a disability can do the same thing as everybody else. They just might need a little bit of help, and Marlin here helps me. He picks things up off the floor, yeah. >>: Child: Is he a golden retriever? >> Hilary Elliott: He is a golden retriever. >> Child: (indiscernible) >> Hilary Elliott: No one of the things you don't want to do is, you never want to distract a service dog. Because they are working. And there are all different types of service dogs. So Marlin picks things up off the floor for me. He opens and closes doors can turn light switches on and off, and then there are other service dogs.