[Music]
you know how the old saying goes that
you never really forget something that
it’s just like riding a bike
well I can’t ride a bike and not because
I don’t understand how or because I
haven’t tried or because I’m lazy well
maybe I’m a little bit lazy but it’s
because of something that’s completely
out of my control
you see I was born ten weeks premature
weighing only three pounds in four
ounces roughly the weight of a bag of
onions you would buy from your local
grocery store and four years later I was
diagnosed with ataxic cerebral palsy
which is a neurological condition which
means that the messages that my brain
sent to my nerves and to my muscles
don’t always come across in the way that
they should the same reason that while
I’m giving this talk I’m gonna be
talking a lot with my hands and I’m
gonna be shifting around and I always
thought that my cerebral palsy made me
less than made me weaker made me
different and that was a bad thing and
growing up all I ever wanted to do was
to fit in to be like every other person
but it was something completely out of
my control and something despite how
much help I’ve gotten from doctors and
therapists something it won’t go away
and while my friends growing up were
playing sports after schools and playing
on the playground I was being shuttled
back and forth from doctors to
therapists who try to help me live with
this condition something that I always
felt like I just shove into a back
corner and hope that no one noticed
because in my head if I was different
than that made me less then and this
belief was so central to the way that I
thought about my cerebral palsy that was
until two summers ago I was in Israel on
a five-week volunteer program and it was
a third week of the program and as every
day the program directors as we got on
the bus told us what we would be doing
for the day and they said that we were
gonna be working at a home for young
adults with severe mental or physical
disabilities and I thought because of my
own personal experiences with my
disabilities that I would have been
prepared going in but nothing could have
prepared me for what was about
happen so as we walked in the home I saw
this boy sitting out of the corner of my
eye and he had an aide with him and he
was watching Sesame Street in Hebrew and
I approached him and I asked the aide a
little bit about him and he said that
his name was worried that he was
nineteen years old so you love cars and
Sesame Street and that he had cerebral
palsy and I was dumbfounded how is it
that this boy who lived halfway across
the world from me shared one of the most
intimate and private things with me
something that I had always been so
ashamed of and something that and our
interactions together it didn’t matter
that I had messy handwriting or that I
moved a lot or that he couldn’t talk we
were just two people sitting there
despite our disabilities and it didn’t
matter all of those things that we had
always been so ashamed of because we
were just two people at the end of the
day and with that experience that I
gained that day with worry I got back on
the bus and as every day the director
invited us to share our experiences to
say what we had learned that day and I
got up in front of these girls I’d known
for three weeks but had felt so afraid
to share about my experiences something
about that interaction with Orie
provided me with the courage to get up
there and say I have cerebral palsy
these are my challenges this is who I am
and even though it felt like the whole
world had been flipped upside down I
knew that it actually was just the
beginning of a new start for me and I
think that every single person in this
room every single person in the world
has something that they will struggle
with in their lifetime whether that has
to do with race or gender or sexual
identity or disability whatever it is
every single person struggles and faces
challenges but instead of feeling like
you need to shove those away in a corner
and hoping that no one recognizes them
recognize that they make you who you are
and even if it’s uncomfortable you don’t
have to go around shouting your
weaknesses from a rooftop but recognize
that they make you who you are the whole
person that they that you are not weaker
not
and the next time you see someone who
looks different than you or acts
different than you or seems different
than you in any other way you don’t have
to understand all of the difficulties
that they face on a daily basis but
recognize them for the whole person that
they are not just the parts that you’re
comfortable with and seek out those
opportunities to learn new things from
different people because you never know
what understanding someone for the whole
self that they are the whole authentic
person that they are can help you with
and do the same for yourself because
every single person will face a
challenge and that’s okay so maybe it
isn’t all just like riding a bike
maybe it isn’t that easy and maybe you
have something that you can’t do but
that doesn’t mean that you are limited
in any way the possibilities for what
you are able to achieve our endless so
recognize to yourself whatever it is
that you face that you’re challenged by
on a daily basis it does not make you
weaker it does not make you less than
rather it makes you the person that they
are and it that you are and it makes you
stronger every single day and I learned
that with Marie and I hope all of you
learn that today as well thank you
you
you know how the old saying goes that
you never really forget something that
it’s just like riding a bike
well I can’t ride a bike and not because
I don’t understand how or because I
haven’t tried or because I’m lazy well
maybe I’m a little bit lazy but it’s
because of something that’s completely
out of my control
you see I was born ten weeks premature
weighing only three pounds in four
ounces roughly the weight of a bag of
onions you would buy from your local
grocery store and four years later I was
diagnosed with ataxic cerebral palsy
which is a neurological condition which
means that the messages that my brain
sent to my nerves and to my muscles
don’t always come across in the way that
they should the same reason that while
I’m giving this talk I’m gonna be
talking a lot with my hands and I’m
gonna be shifting around and I always
thought that my cerebral palsy made me
less than made me weaker made me
different and that was a bad thing and
growing up all I ever wanted to do was
to fit in to be like every other person
but it was something completely out of
my control and something despite how
much help I’ve gotten from doctors and
therapists something it won’t go away
and while my friends growing up were
playing sports after schools and playing
on the playground I was being shuttled
back and forth from doctors to
therapists who try to help me live with
this condition something that I always
felt like I just shove into a back
corner and hope that no one noticed
because in my head if I was different
than that made me less then and this
belief was so central to the way that I
thought about my cerebral palsy that was
until two summers ago I was in Israel on
a five-week volunteer program and it was
a third week of the program and as every
day the program directors as we got on
the bus told us what we would be doing
for the day and they said that we were
gonna be working at a home for young
adults with severe mental or physical
disabilities and I thought because of my
own personal experiences with my
disabilities that I would have been
prepared going in but nothing could have
prepared me for what was about
happen so as we walked in the home I saw
this boy sitting out of the corner of my
eye and he had an aide with him and he
was watching Sesame Street in Hebrew and
I approached him and I asked the aide a
little bit about him and he said that
his name was worried that he was
nineteen years old so you love cars and
Sesame Street and that he had cerebral
palsy and I was dumbfounded how is it
that this boy who lived halfway across
the world from me shared one of the most
intimate and private things with me
something that I had always been so
ashamed of and something that and our
interactions together it didn’t matter
that I had messy handwriting or that I
moved a lot or that he couldn’t talk we
were just two people sitting there
despite our disabilities and it didn’t
matter all of those things that we had
always been so ashamed of because we
were just two people at the end of the
day and with that experience that I
gained that day with worry I got back on
the bus and as every day the director
invited us to share our experiences to
say what we had learned that day and I
got up in front of these girls I’d known
for three weeks but had felt so afraid
to share about my experiences something
about that interaction with Orie
provided me with the courage to get up
there and say I have cerebral palsy
these are my challenges this is who I am
and even though it felt like the whole
world had been flipped upside down I
knew that it actually was just the
beginning of a new start for me and I
think that every single person in this
room every single person in the world
has something that they will struggle
with in their lifetime whether that has
to do with race or gender or sexual
identity or disability whatever it is
every single person struggles and faces
challenges but instead of feeling like
you need to shove those away in a corner
and hoping that no one recognizes them
recognize that they make you who you are
and even if it’s uncomfortable you don’t
have to go around shouting your
weaknesses from a rooftop but recognize
that they make you who you are the whole
person that they that you are not weaker
not
and the next time you see someone who
looks different than you or acts
different than you or seems different
than you in any other way you don’t have
to understand all of the difficulties
that they face on a daily basis but
recognize them for the whole person that
they are not just the parts that you’re
comfortable with and seek out those
opportunities to learn new things from
different people because you never know
what understanding someone for the whole
self that they are the whole authentic
person that they are can help you with
and do the same for yourself because
every single person will face a
challenge and that’s okay so maybe it
isn’t all just like riding a bike
maybe it isn’t that easy and maybe you
have something that you can’t do but
that doesn’t mean that you are limited
in any way the possibilities for what
you are able to achieve our endless so
recognize to yourself whatever it is
that you face that you’re challenged by
on a daily basis it does not make you
weaker it does not make you less than
rather it makes you the person that they
are and it that you are and it makes you
stronger every single day and I learned
that with Marie and I hope all of you
learn that today as well thank you
you
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