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[Music]

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One out of five people in the United

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States has a disability. Most

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disabilities are hidden. What we find is

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that people that have not experienced

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disabilities in their own life

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feel that they need to

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um stay away as much as they can

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because of the uncomfortable, unfamiliar.

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What we're looking to do is make people

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more familiar with with the concept of

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disabilities. There's been a a big push

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nationally um to create some resources

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to to help organizations that use

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volunteers understand um and and be able

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to have some tools to um to be inclusive

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to let everybody be able to come and

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volunteer and use whatever talents he or

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she has.

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What people in need

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should understand is that if

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there's assistance,

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it's about helping, not about

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the person. It's about the process. It's

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about the hope that things will get

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better or easier for those in need,

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despite whatever they are that are the

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people who are helping out. Uh just as

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you have disabled individuals building

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houses for disabled individuals, how much

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better can that be? It's important about

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giving and taking both ways not about

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the person the disability. Whatever it is

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I'm doing uh to assist in terms of the

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time that I that I give, I know that I

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get back uh the gratitude, the thanks

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from those who are in need and those who

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are helped and that's enough for me, so

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each experience is important. One of the

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things we know about volunteering is

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that the the coming together with the

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community that it provides, that sense of

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social connection, and the opportunity to

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give back is so beneficial for everyone,

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not just psychologically and spiritually,

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but physically as well. People live

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longer when they join with their

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communities in activities like

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volunteering. They are healthier, they

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have less pain, they have less disability.

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We're here we made it alive, beautiful,

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sunny Hawaii, and I'm ready to pound, I'm

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ready to hammer, and I'm ready to work. I

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find that uh a lot of times people are

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apprehensive uh approaching me and

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talking to me because of my

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disability. Uh I think people don't mean

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to be. Sometimes people um will talk to

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if I'm out with my wife they'll talk to

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my wife instead of me and something just

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uh happened to me uh when I was at the

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airport uh getting getting ticketed. The

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guy would never hand me back my tickets

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he always handed them to my wife and

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would always ask my wife questions about

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me and I'm like "I'm right here I'm right

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here I can hear you I know what you're

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saying". You know I think we all get kind

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of caught up in doing our own thing and

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kind of step outside

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and volunteer our time and you know give

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back to the community. You know people

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think maybe if you have a disability you

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can't really contribute to the to the

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volunteer movement or whatever it is, you

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know? And I think it's important. I just

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think it's really important to to

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society that you know people with

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disabilities are out there making a

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difference in the world. I got pulled

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over and the policeman instead of coming

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up to my door like they usually do and

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saying oh how do you drive and do you

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have a license and wow Isn't that cool

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instead he got on his speaker and said I

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need to see your hands out the window

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right now and when I

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shouted I don't have any arms, he pulled

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his gun out and I could see him in my

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rearview mirror behind his door he was

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ready to shoot. The one thing in the

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world he was asking of me was the very

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one thing that I could not comply

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with as much as I wanted to. I think

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anytime a person with a disability goes

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out and lives their life unashamed and

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unafraid, then they are in a sense giving

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a message. I find that as people get

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older in terms of social stigmas,

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they're less uh willing

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to understand diversity and differences

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in people. Historically um there have

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been misconceptions as any Civil Rights

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Movement, people with disabilities

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have, in large, been one of the last

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frontiers that still exist. I think

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because of the fear that people have the

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that they're unfamiliar with certain

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situations. The more familiar we are with

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every aspect of life that seems to be

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uncomfortable, then we become more

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understanding and more

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compassionate. When I was first asked to

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help with Nancy, I kind of I was thinking

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of what a blind person could really do.

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If you ask them what they need to do a

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job once you describe what that job is,

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they will tell you what they need to do

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it or if that's not a good match. Uh so

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it's not it's not rocket science. You

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need to deal directly with the person

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you're trying to engage in a particular

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task and they will tell you uh if they

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need an accommodation. I was very nervous

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I didn't know what to expect, uh I

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had never hammered nails,

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especially building a house and I

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found that with with the guidance from

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people who knew what was going on, they

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could help line me up. Everybody was so

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wonderful. Being able to work with

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somebody with that disability has opened

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my mind on what people with disabilities

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can really do. Since I do a lot of work

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in Corporate America, if they have someone

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in their workforce that has a

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disability, how should they treat them? My

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response is: No differently than you

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treat anybody else. People are are are

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much more um alike than they are

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different. When you look at somebody who

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has a visible disability, you may have

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preconceived ideas of what they will be

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able to accomplish. What I would say is,

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try to take those preconceived notions

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away and look at the possibilities they

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may bring. We can take disability and

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turn it into possibility. Differences in

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life doesn't mean

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deficit, it just means different. If I

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volunteer to help or to do something

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it's because I want to be a part of the

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solution or a part of the team or and

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and I actually want to

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help. When somebody

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who doesn't know you very well,

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hasn't lived in your skin for your

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entire life sort of assumes that they

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have a better idea of what you're

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capable of than you do is a very common

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misconception. Some people have made

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assumptions when I do try to do do some

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type of of work and they assume that

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that maybe I'm not capable of doing that

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because of my disability. The

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straightforward questions are always the

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best way, then you can kind of take away

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as much awkwardness as possible.

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Accommodating volunteers with

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disabilities um you usually means just

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thinking a little bit more creatively

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about the tasks that need to be done.

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Approach the volunteers the way you

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would approach any volunteer saying this

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is what we need to be done um how do you

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think you could do that? If we can be

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open to um suggestions for other ways

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something can be done then people can

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come up with um amazingly creative and

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effective solutions. We hope um people

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will realize when they're outreaching to

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to people to volunteer in their programs

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is to remember

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maybe not even the word

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remember, but to think about outreaching

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to volunteers with disabilities in any

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of their programs. It is disappointing if

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somebody says "I don't think you should

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do that. I don't think you can do this or

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that". For example,

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to assume that a person who uses

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a wheelchair could only do

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a job on a computer is just false, and

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and to assume that I would be a

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professional soccer player instead of

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guitar player

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is is just it's just a false assumption.

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We we can't judge a book by its cover. We

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shouldn't pick our dreams based on what

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a perceived limitation is. We should

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decide what we want to do and then find

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a way to do it, and that goes I think

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across the board for all of us.

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We need to open

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up our perceptions a little bit more.

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[Music]

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You walk on by in high to rise. Sympathize

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but you don't know who I am. Who are

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you? Where do you come from and where do

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you go. And if I send an

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invitation to my world, would you come

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and stay? And if I had a chance to sing

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my song, this is what I'd say.

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We are more the

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same then you may think, yeah you and me

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we are the same. Does anybody really have

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to take the blame?

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We are the same. We are more the same

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than you may think, said you and me we

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are the same and it's a shame to be

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ashamed. You hide your head, don't hide

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your heart. You turn it off so you don't

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fall apart. When you see that man walk by,

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got his whole life in a shopping cart so

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you side, you don't

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cry. Then you wonder why you're so alone.

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We are more the same than you may think,

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yeah you and me we are the same.

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It doesn't anybody

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have to take the blame, no, we are

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the same. We are more the same you

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may think, said

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you me we are the same. It's a shame

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to be ashamed.

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I don't want you to look the other way,

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fumble around thinking of what to

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say. Wouldn't want to be anybody else and

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I'm okay with myself.

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Cuz we are more the same

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then you may think [Music]

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[scatting]