with disabilities are still being killed
at Birth cocche a mother in Kenya had 20
healthy babies but her 21st was born
with his feet turned backwards and with
a cleft palate and surrounded by her
friends they looked at each other with
an understanding went out behind the
house dug a hole put the baby inside and
cocche told them to fill it with water
if babies with disabilities do survive
they are often mistreated neglected or
abandoned Khadija is 10 now but at age
five was found living in a home with no
walls and no floor just left there all
day every day alone in the dirt with no
food and no clothing Kenyans also
underestimate what people with
disabilities are capable of when Cindy
goes for a run in Kenya she is stared at
gawked at now Cindy was born without her
left hand but people are amazed by the
fact that she can run now I know Cindy
pretty well Cindy and caches son-in-law
started the organization coop Enda that
helps kids like hadisha had deejays out
of school now where she has friends she
has access to an education and medical
attention she’s got food and clothing
coop Enda is serving Kenya’s largest
minority in fact the world’s largest
minority about one in eight people have
some sort of disability that’s 950
million of us
most in Kenya are getting mistreated
they have very few opportunities for
anything at all
but Koo panda had a new idea to change
that take some kids with disabilities
and climb Kilimanjaro the highest
freestanding mountain in the world now
I’ve been volunteering off and on with
Koo Penda for the past 10 years but this
idea I couldn’t resist
you see I’ve seen firsthand the power
that big challenges can have on people
in their communities
the nonprofit I work for Waypoint
adventure runs adventures for youth and
adults with disabilities to show them
what they’re capable of
I see it every day people walking away
with this new sense of themselves having
discovered new strengths abilities
self-confidence you see we learn when we
step outside of our comfort zone right
maybe it’s rock climbing or kayaking or
backpacking or maybe it’s standing on
stage in front of a live audience
wearing a Britney Spears microphone but
I’ve also seen how big challenges can
break down the divides within our
community there was a young man named
Andrew who came on a recent indoor rock
climbing program and as the guy in the
group on the more severe end of the
autism spectrum and also totally blind
others in the group didn’t really give
Andrew much attention he was considered
an outsider but after this rock climbing
program where he was shooting to the top
of every wall while his friends were
sitting on the ground fearful and
unwilling to try there was a newfound
respect for Andrew the community’s
expectations of Andrew changed once they
realized what he could do so take on the
highest peak in Africa to prove to a
community that GOx at a woman who can
run with one hand I couldn’t pass it up
and neither could three teens who were
offered the opportunity fumo
Poisson and Marceline and I’ll tell you
about the way I met these three the day
before the climb fumo is 19 and he has
an intellectual disability he talks with
a bit of a stutter
unfortunately fumo has been called
stupid his whole life his father is out
of the picture but fumo is insanely fast
and athletic and also extremely stylish
when I met fumo he was wearing this
white tracksuit and his hat spun
backwards and he we sat together on the
bus on the way to the base of the
mountain and he showed me on his flip
phone picture after picture after
picture of his model poses Hasan is 16
and he’s deaf and I had actually met
Hasan about four years earlier so when I
saw him I asked him hey do you remember
me and he nodded and said that he did
and then he signed my name I couldn’t
believe it but I saw in Cara’s like that
he’s got this quiet calm thoughtful
sensitive soul doesn’t like to be the
center of attention if you were to tease
him or help him with his bag or
something he gets all bashful and shy
but smiles and allows it to happen and
then mursaleen is 16 and she has
cerebral palsy her CP affects her right
side so she can’t really hold anything
while in her right hand and she walks
with a bit of a wide swinging gait but
if you met Marceline you would be
meeting a teenage girl giggling blushing
kind of scheming the whole time picture
as much emotion as you can pack into a
human being
right
this is Marceline love’s the center of
attention but if something doesn’t quite
go her way she gives you the the glare
the teenage girl pouch but now think of
someone as feisty as a teenage girl but
who’s been born with a disability pretty
self-conscious about it among her peers
and now has been given the opportunity
to climb Africa’s tallest mountain
alongside two teenage boys and ten
Americans Marceline was in her element
desperate to prove herself
now even with months of preparation and
communication back and forth having the
kids try on all this donated clothing
and everything they still really had no
idea what they were getting themselves
into when Marceline was asked what do
you think you’ll see up there
she said trees and houses lots of houses
but an accurate prediction that they all
had was that it was going to be cold and
they had no idea what cold felt like
they had never experienced anything
below 70 degrees so to be out for eight
days in this new environment where in
several places it’s going to be below
zero was a big challenge so we started
hiking and for six and a half days we
climbed to the summit at 19,000 341 feet
like this putting one foot in front of
the other for our on our and the higher
we got the harder it was to breathe the
first few days were fun and exciting but
by about day four we were all breaking
down we all burn nauseous had headaches
sunburns chapped lips at one point fumo
all of a sudden just fall
to the ground grabs his ankle starts
wincing in pain we all run up to him
fearing the worst and he he has rolled
his ankle and we were all worried but he
eventually just shakes it off he wants
to get up and and continue come to find
out this had actually happened to fumo
many times before and he had actually
forgotten his ankle brace at home
leave it to a teenage boy right to
neglect to mention something important
that he might need and then Hassan
Hassan hadn’t been eating very much over
the the first few days and he wasn’t
looking very well and at one point we’re
hiking along and he just finally leans
forward clutching his stomach and he get
up to him and he just starts crying I
mean he was in a lot of pain we get him
to calm down give him a tums tell him
we’re gonna get you to lunch when we get
to lunch we’ll sit down we’ll figure out
what’s going on well we finally get to
lunch were fearing maybe altitude
sickness or something but hard-boiled
eggs happened to come out for lunch
among other things and Hassan just
starts eating all the hard-boiled eggs
and we realized that he’s enjoying this
and we start giving him hard-boiled eggs
off of our plates come to find out there
was no serious stomach issue all along
Hassan was just a picky eater so we were
all struggling but kilimanjaro was not
meant to be easy we chose it because it
was hard because it was not known
outcome actually about 50% of people who
attempt Kilimanjaro don’t reach the top
but if our goal was to just raise
awareness about what people with
disabilities can do we could have just
taken fumo Hassan and marceline and
showcased what they were already good at
we could have had a race to show how
fast
or a soccer tournament to show how good
at soccer
Hasaan is or a mass competition to show
how good at math Marcellinus but we
chose a challenge because when we are
tested we feel empowered and people
notice well some at night tested us all
to hike from the base camp up to the
frozen summit and then half way back
down the mountain again was going to
take about 19 hours so we’re about seven
hours in it’s middle of the night 4 a.m.
below zero
and we finally get to the top of this
crater rim and we have a minute to rest
and we look over and hassan is just
frozen expressionless shaking he’s got
boogers and tears frozen to his face we
rushed into action we get him to sit
down and we just start rubbing his arms
and his legs trying to get blood back in
them try to get him to sip some hot
water take out our hand warmers we’re
shoving hand warmers in his coat one guy
gives him his coat at this point
Hassan’s crying I’m crying it was a mess
but after too long Hassan finally starts
to make eye contact not his head and we
asked him do you want to continue these
last 45 minutes and he nods and gets up
and starts trudging along well lucky for
him an ice storm rolls in at this point
and for the last 45 minutes we’re just
getting blasted with sleet I mean eyes
squinting barely able to see in front of
us just lean forward until we finally
reach the summit we touch the sign we
take a few pictures we’re up there for a
grand total of about nine minutes
and then we head down and I do mean head
down literally head first I was told
later that flu Moe and the Sun were
somersaulting down the mountain just as
giddy as can be
now what would have happened if fumo
Poisson and Marceline weren’t given this
opportunity what happens to any of us if
we’re not challenged or tested if we go
untested we stop feeling valuable and if
people in our community don’t feel
valuable everyone suffers so how do we
create a community where people feel
valued our tendency is to let our
expectations of people change once
they’ve proven themselves to us once
they’ve accomplished something but what
if we started with having high
expectations for one another just
believing they could do something if you
don’t all have to go climb Kilimanjaro
or go rock climbing or kayaking or
public speaking but if you’re unsure if
someone can do something start with the
assumption that they can and then
together figure out what supports he or
she might need in order to get there I
would steer clear of let me do that for
you and instead ask how can I help you
do that when it comes to people’s
abilities we can’t put up divides we
can’t let people’s perceived utility
define their worth unfortunately I’ve
seen in Kenya how deadly that attitude
can be now there is risk in having high
expectations sure because people fail we
all fail all the time but in my
experience the reward for having high
expectations for someone far outweighs
the disappointment in getting let down
you may be wondering about Marceline she
didn’t reach the top
after a conversation with with the
guides we decided that it was going to
be too difficult for her to continue and
through tears she went down the mountain
to meet us later
well when we got down to the bottom and
met mursaleen she gave us that that
glare she had not wanted to give up but
another young woman on our team named
Liz also got sent back down on some at
night she hadn’t reached the top and
when Liz told Marceline that she didn’t
make it either
Marceline’s face lit up we got a chance
to tell her it’s not about succeeding
it’s about trying well sumo Hasan and
Marceline are local celebrities now
hundreds of people from their villages
nearby came to their school for this big
disability awareness parade and ceremony
for the three climbers according to
available records fumo and Hasan are the
first local kids with disabilities to
summit the mountain Marceline is seen
differently now by her peers Hasan loves
telling everyone how cold it was and
fumo loves showing pictures of himself
to everybody the community’s perspective
is changing even one of the mountain
guides is viewing his two daughters who
have autism differently now he’s sending
them to school instead of hiding them
away and it started with high
expectations I believe the greatest
support we can give people in our
community with or without disabilities
is believing that they can do great
things because they can thank you
[Music] you