thank you so I have a question for you
all how do we build bond we have another
question why do we build bonds well
generally it’s because we have something
in common right maybe we like the same
movie maybe we hate the same band but
what if we could build bonds of love and
trust with people who were more
marginalized than us and what if we
could use those bonds to build a better
world so I’m here today to talk about
the ways in which I built those bonds in
my documentary access denied
food deserts and disability in
Mississippi so let’s start with who I am
my name is Ashika Torres I’m from
Melrose houses in the South Bronx and
I’ve never had an issue with food
insecurity there was always food on my
table alright and also don’t consider
myself a person with a disability so I
think the next question you’re asking is
how does someone like me who in some
ways and bodies in northern carpetbagger
go all the way to Mississippi and not
only get people to speak to me but let
me shove a camera in their face well one
of the keys is to listen and so as I
said I’m from the Bronx the Bronx is
very interesting about 50% of
neighborhoods in the Bronx are either
experiencing high poverty or extreme
poverty so just because I had food on my
table didn’t mean that there weren’t
things just outside my door that I
couldn’t ignore older people would talk
about leaner times in their homes and
they’re not talking because they want
your opinion or because they want your
judgment they just want you to listen so
when I first started to get people
interested in my work I decided it’d be
a great idea to mail letters not email I
mailed
physical letters to the organization
I wanted to work with I thought that in
this age that they would appreciate
getting physical letters in the mail I
don’t think they did because no one ever
responded back to them I know so I
decided to call each and every
organization I sent a letter to about
three or four of those people picked up
the phone and one person was willing to
talk to me for more than a few moments
we had an amazing conversation I told
her about my documentary and she told me
about a conference in Jackson that I
should attend but before she ended the
call she said this be careful these
people have been taking advantage of
before they may not want to talk to you
so I could have been offended and talked
about my track record as an activist but
I didn’t when she was done speaking I
simply said I understand and understand
I did so as I said I’m also not a person
with a disability but I’ve been a
disability rights activist for about ten
years now and this was no accident
it started out listening to my friends
in college talk about issues that they
were having with accommodations or
socialization professors other students
and I realized something that if I paid
attention to what they needed to say
rather than what I needed to hear I
could find my place and all of this so I
said the listening is key but it’s not
just listening it’s what to listen for
oftentimes we hear or we see problems
and we think to ourselves well I have
the answer to that I have the solution
that’s kind of where we go wrong but
don’t worry a lot of people in
organizations they do the same thing and
that’s where they fail to they think
their solutions are unique or innovative
but the problem is that they’re not
really listening for solutions they’re
just listening so they can
inject their own right there waiting for
their turn to be saviors but the world
doesn’t need more saviors needs more
helpers more on that later don’t worry
so you know you’re wondering why
Mississippi well I will tell you about
the Magnolia state Mississippi is full
of very interesting and powerful
intersections so when we’re looking at
national data in terms of population for
people with disabilities know 20 percent
so one in five people in the United
States has a disability and in
Mississippi it’s about 15 percent and
when we look at the unemployment rate
when I was doing the research for this
film it was about five percent
nationwide and in Mississippi was about
5.4 percent but we look at the
unemployment rates for people with
disabilities that number generally
doubles so at the time it was ten
percent but in Mississippi its 29
percent so there’s also this interesting
relationship with food of the three
trillion dollar agribusiness that the US
has Mississippi brings in about 7.5
billion or more of that every year but
Mississippi it’s full of food deserts so
it simply put a food desert is a
geographical area about half a mile a
mile wide that doesn’t have access to
fresh food meats produce vegetables
things like that so barring restaurants
or bodegas which you know corner stores
bodegas same thing to me I’m from the
Bronx they represent a lack of access so
my question was this how does having a
disability hinder someone from accessing
food whether they live two miles away
from a store or two blocks away there
was no way I could come up with this
answer on my own but I could sit and
listen to those who did so when I first
got to Mississippi I got the
a few days before the conference I
wanted to get my bearings and I wanted
to film some action shots I wanted
people to get a feel for what Jackson
looked like but here’s the thing I
wanted to film shots that I knew
wouldn’t be invasive or intrusive things
that I wouldn’t have to worry about with
consent so for instance I wasn’t filming
anyone’s faces I wasn’t filming anyone’s
personal addresses I wasn’t filming any
license plates because those kinds of
things are not helpful they’re invasive
and intrusive so like I said consent
here is key so no shots of things I
couldn’t get consent for and when I
landed at the conference a few days
after I got to Mississippi I met with
the woman who I spoke with on the phone
she was amazing
even better in person than she was on
the phone it was great so she smiled and
I smiled she talked and I listened and
so I asked if I could film the banner of
the conference for my documentary and
right before that something very
interesting happened a local news
station came in to film parts of the
conference and they just came in with
their cameras on and recording and quite
a few people there for uncomfortable
because they didn’t give any consent for
this the only people who wound up
speaking to this camera crew were the
vendors and some of the organizers and
to me that was a big red flag of what
not to do so a few days into the
conference at their luncheon they
announced me and they talked about my
documentary and I stand up and I raised
my hand and interestingly enough the
people who wound up sitting for these
interviews with me why they’re people
I’d been sitting with at the conference
the whole time or friends of those
people because when I had no credibility
they gave me theirs and each time i sat
with someone I remembered all of my bye
ss I was a woman from a different region
and a different culture and I also
remembered something else that people
are experts of their own experiences and
we have much more to learn by listening
to them and remembering these things as
we talk to them and so as I sat for all
of them I thought about who I was
each time who are you
the caterpillar asked Alice in
Wonderland who are you indeed so I my
helper I don’t always share a lot in
common with the people that I advocate
with maybe we share a language maybe we
share a culture maybe a race maybe a
gender but here’s the thing we always
share their hopes their goals and their
dreams in actualizing equity for their
communities recognizing that they know
what’s best for them
and I come to these conclusions you know
like I said as a girl from the South
Bronx because I know what it’s like to
be silenced I know what it’s like to be
overlooked and I know what it’s like to
be uplifted and so speaking with all
these participants and remembering my
biases and remembering that they are the
experts one thing that came back again
and again it’s to always recognize that
people in these situations no matter who
they are or where they are are not
destitute or without hope it’s quite the
opposite because they know the solutions
because they are living with the
problems and so I want to share
something that dr. Scott Crawford one of
the people I interviewed early on and
that I sat at the conference with her a
few days said to me when we talked about
issues of accessing foods one of the
things he came back to again and again
was transportation and he said that you
know people with disabilities want to
live an independent life in order to be
able to get fresh healthy foods and live
that independent
we need accessible transportation by way
of trains buses what have you he said
without that people with disabilities
are going to be more dependent on others
and he said it’s not necessary it’s not
fiscally responsible and it’s not
justice it’s not justice so I want to
ask you one more question maybe you’ve
noticed maybe you haven’t but I’ve only
been sharing three personal stories
about myself told you where I was from I
told you my biases and I told you the
thoughts going through my head what I
didn’t share were personal stories about
my participants the things that happened
off camera and there’s a reason for that
they told me when to film what to film
when to stop they looked over all of my
footage before I sent it to editing they
looked over all my footage after I sent
it to editing so sharing things that
they did not want me to share will be
outside of the bounds of consent and
even though filming has ended filming is
over now I still keep those promises I
made to them and I would like to end
this by saying my name is Ashika Torres
and I’m one of many tools in a toolbox
and I’m helping a community not saving
it thank you [Applause]
all how do we build bond we have another
question why do we build bonds well
generally it’s because we have something
in common right maybe we like the same
movie maybe we hate the same band but
what if we could build bonds of love and
trust with people who were more
marginalized than us and what if we
could use those bonds to build a better
world so I’m here today to talk about
the ways in which I built those bonds in
my documentary access denied
food deserts and disability in
Mississippi so let’s start with who I am
my name is Ashika Torres I’m from
Melrose houses in the South Bronx and
I’ve never had an issue with food
insecurity there was always food on my
table alright and also don’t consider
myself a person with a disability so I
think the next question you’re asking is
how does someone like me who in some
ways and bodies in northern carpetbagger
go all the way to Mississippi and not
only get people to speak to me but let
me shove a camera in their face well one
of the keys is to listen and so as I
said I’m from the Bronx the Bronx is
very interesting about 50% of
neighborhoods in the Bronx are either
experiencing high poverty or extreme
poverty so just because I had food on my
table didn’t mean that there weren’t
things just outside my door that I
couldn’t ignore older people would talk
about leaner times in their homes and
they’re not talking because they want
your opinion or because they want your
judgment they just want you to listen so
when I first started to get people
interested in my work I decided it’d be
a great idea to mail letters not email I
mailed
physical letters to the organization
I wanted to work with I thought that in
this age that they would appreciate
getting physical letters in the mail I
don’t think they did because no one ever
responded back to them I know so I
decided to call each and every
organization I sent a letter to about
three or four of those people picked up
the phone and one person was willing to
talk to me for more than a few moments
we had an amazing conversation I told
her about my documentary and she told me
about a conference in Jackson that I
should attend but before she ended the
call she said this be careful these
people have been taking advantage of
before they may not want to talk to you
so I could have been offended and talked
about my track record as an activist but
I didn’t when she was done speaking I
simply said I understand and understand
I did so as I said I’m also not a person
with a disability but I’ve been a
disability rights activist for about ten
years now and this was no accident
it started out listening to my friends
in college talk about issues that they
were having with accommodations or
socialization professors other students
and I realized something that if I paid
attention to what they needed to say
rather than what I needed to hear I
could find my place and all of this so I
said the listening is key but it’s not
just listening it’s what to listen for
oftentimes we hear or we see problems
and we think to ourselves well I have
the answer to that I have the solution
that’s kind of where we go wrong but
don’t worry a lot of people in
organizations they do the same thing and
that’s where they fail to they think
their solutions are unique or innovative
but the problem is that they’re not
really listening for solutions they’re
just listening so they can
inject their own right there waiting for
their turn to be saviors but the world
doesn’t need more saviors needs more
helpers more on that later don’t worry
so you know you’re wondering why
Mississippi well I will tell you about
the Magnolia state Mississippi is full
of very interesting and powerful
intersections so when we’re looking at
national data in terms of population for
people with disabilities know 20 percent
so one in five people in the United
States has a disability and in
Mississippi it’s about 15 percent and
when we look at the unemployment rate
when I was doing the research for this
film it was about five percent
nationwide and in Mississippi was about
5.4 percent but we look at the
unemployment rates for people with
disabilities that number generally
doubles so at the time it was ten
percent but in Mississippi its 29
percent so there’s also this interesting
relationship with food of the three
trillion dollar agribusiness that the US
has Mississippi brings in about 7.5
billion or more of that every year but
Mississippi it’s full of food deserts so
it simply put a food desert is a
geographical area about half a mile a
mile wide that doesn’t have access to
fresh food meats produce vegetables
things like that so barring restaurants
or bodegas which you know corner stores
bodegas same thing to me I’m from the
Bronx they represent a lack of access so
my question was this how does having a
disability hinder someone from accessing
food whether they live two miles away
from a store or two blocks away there
was no way I could come up with this
answer on my own but I could sit and
listen to those who did so when I first
got to Mississippi I got the
a few days before the conference I
wanted to get my bearings and I wanted
to film some action shots I wanted
people to get a feel for what Jackson
looked like but here’s the thing I
wanted to film shots that I knew
wouldn’t be invasive or intrusive things
that I wouldn’t have to worry about with
consent so for instance I wasn’t filming
anyone’s faces I wasn’t filming anyone’s
personal addresses I wasn’t filming any
license plates because those kinds of
things are not helpful they’re invasive
and intrusive so like I said consent
here is key so no shots of things I
couldn’t get consent for and when I
landed at the conference a few days
after I got to Mississippi I met with
the woman who I spoke with on the phone
she was amazing
even better in person than she was on
the phone it was great so she smiled and
I smiled she talked and I listened and
so I asked if I could film the banner of
the conference for my documentary and
right before that something very
interesting happened a local news
station came in to film parts of the
conference and they just came in with
their cameras on and recording and quite
a few people there for uncomfortable
because they didn’t give any consent for
this the only people who wound up
speaking to this camera crew were the
vendors and some of the organizers and
to me that was a big red flag of what
not to do so a few days into the
conference at their luncheon they
announced me and they talked about my
documentary and I stand up and I raised
my hand and interestingly enough the
people who wound up sitting for these
interviews with me why they’re people
I’d been sitting with at the conference
the whole time or friends of those
people because when I had no credibility
they gave me theirs and each time i sat
with someone I remembered all of my bye
ss I was a woman from a different region
and a different culture and I also
remembered something else that people
are experts of their own experiences and
we have much more to learn by listening
to them and remembering these things as
we talk to them and so as I sat for all
of them I thought about who I was
each time who are you
the caterpillar asked Alice in
Wonderland who are you indeed so I my
helper I don’t always share a lot in
common with the people that I advocate
with maybe we share a language maybe we
share a culture maybe a race maybe a
gender but here’s the thing we always
share their hopes their goals and their
dreams in actualizing equity for their
communities recognizing that they know
what’s best for them
and I come to these conclusions you know
like I said as a girl from the South
Bronx because I know what it’s like to
be silenced I know what it’s like to be
overlooked and I know what it’s like to
be uplifted and so speaking with all
these participants and remembering my
biases and remembering that they are the
experts one thing that came back again
and again it’s to always recognize that
people in these situations no matter who
they are or where they are are not
destitute or without hope it’s quite the
opposite because they know the solutions
because they are living with the
problems and so I want to share
something that dr. Scott Crawford one of
the people I interviewed early on and
that I sat at the conference with her a
few days said to me when we talked about
issues of accessing foods one of the
things he came back to again and again
was transportation and he said that you
know people with disabilities want to
live an independent life in order to be
able to get fresh healthy foods and live
that independent
we need accessible transportation by way
of trains buses what have you he said
without that people with disabilities
are going to be more dependent on others
and he said it’s not necessary it’s not
fiscally responsible and it’s not
justice it’s not justice so I want to
ask you one more question maybe you’ve
noticed maybe you haven’t but I’ve only
been sharing three personal stories
about myself told you where I was from I
told you my biases and I told you the
thoughts going through my head what I
didn’t share were personal stories about
my participants the things that happened
off camera and there’s a reason for that
they told me when to film what to film
when to stop they looked over all of my
footage before I sent it to editing they
looked over all my footage after I sent
it to editing so sharing things that
they did not want me to share will be
outside of the bounds of consent and
even though filming has ended filming is
over now I still keep those promises I
made to them and I would like to end
this by saying my name is Ashika Torres
and I’m one of many tools in a toolbox
and I’m helping a community not saving
it thank you [Applause]
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