WEBVTT 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 - Hi, My name is Tim and I am from 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Orange County. I have cerebral palsy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I was born with cerebral palsy and not too 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 sure how to answer this question. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because unlike an accident or being 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 born abled and then becoming disabled 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 my cerebral palsy is just normal to me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 outside of my family, while I 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 was growing up, I knew that I was 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 different from the rest. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but even now my family does not 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 point out that they have a 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 disabled son, brother, cousin, uncle 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or friend. my C.P is invisible to them. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I first noticed that I was disabled 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when I went outside and played with 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 my bothers and their friends. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 For example, I always played with my 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 brothers but when we played outside 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with the neighborhood kids, I started 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 noticing most of the adults started 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 looking at me moreso then their children. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There is when I knew there was something 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 wrong with me and it wasn't because 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I couldn't use my hands or run with 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 my friends. Getting teased and being 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 bullied by other kids was easy for me 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to deal because I quickly learned how 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to fight back. But, being not invited 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to a classmates birthday party or being 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 told that I should go home by an adult 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 while my brothers are playing with their 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 kids has always impacted my life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in some ways, I've learned that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 discrimination comes in all shapes 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and sizes and/or the color of your 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 skin. I was in high school when the ADA 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 was signed. I really didn't see that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 much of a difference. I was being 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a teenager going through crazy 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 adolescence stuff. ADA started effecting 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 me when I started collage and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 traveling a lot more. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for example, the ADA got signed 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and when I started my first 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 semester in college, I saw a rapid 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 progression with inclusion. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 More and more of my professors 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 were willing to work with me and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 disable student services on how 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to adapt to my disability by giving 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 me more time for term papers 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 making sure that I have good 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 notetakers and etcetera. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 My first semester in college was 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 very hard. I think that I had 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to retake all of my classes because 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I got no help. After that, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I went to the DSS and they worked 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with me at taking the right classes 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and the right professors would 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 make select accommodations for me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 By the time I needed to take my 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 core classes for my major 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the department head knew me and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 worked with me with my final thesis. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 By then, I needed a lot less services 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 from DSS because my professors 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 kept track of how I was doing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I was one of the first nonverbal student 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at the university who graduated with 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a speech communication degree. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 At a very young age I traveled a lot 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with my family. My parents always had 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a running checklist going be for we'd 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 travel. For example, making sure there 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 was an accessible bathroom and so on. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Even now when I travel with my friends 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we always check the restroom situation. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (subtle laughter) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When people think about ADA 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the very first thing that they think 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 are curb, cuts and sidewalks but there 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 are more to it. Just because is not 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 diagnosed with a disability doesn't mean 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that they don't use the services either. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 For example, I know regular people that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 turn on subtitles when they are 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 watching TV. They don't have hard of 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 hearing but they agree that they get 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 more content when they are reading 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and listening at the same time. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This will not happen if there was no ADA. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Without the American Disability Act, I 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 strongly believe that we would have 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 gone backwards with education, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 employment, healthcare and so on. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Communication is very important to me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Since I have to use Augmentative 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and Alternative Communication Device 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 i've always prioritized technology and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 communication together in 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 my daily routine. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I've seen access to the much better 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as I've gotten older. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Such as when I'm at an airport 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and need to use a TTY machine 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to make a phone call I can always 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 find one that is easily accessible. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There is more awareness for being 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 nonverbal now. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 As the population gets more used to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the disabled community, people are 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 more aware that there are other forms 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of communication such as ASL, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 AEC and so on. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 One of the main barriers that I 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 always see is economic and equality 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 between people with disability and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 able bodied. Our society tends to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 assume that if you are disabled 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you are invalid in the workforce. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is not true. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There are many people with disabilities 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that are highly educated and more than 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 willing to earn a fair wage of living. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Also, our government digs people who 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 are getting SSI or other types of services 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 For example, I've worked for an 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 educational publisher for 16 years and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 due to the pandemic, I needed to take 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a leave of absence for however long 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because of my disability, I can only work 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 part-time. I also get SSDI based of my 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 work credits that I accumulated over 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the years. When I was working, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I needed to make sure not to accede too 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 much or else I would lose my benefits. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 How is this fair? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There should be a baselined living 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 wage from the government under the 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 ADA act so that people with diabilities 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 are encouraged to work and more 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 importantly, employers are willing to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 hire more from our community. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Right now because of COVID-19 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 more and more people with disabilities 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 are getting sick because of large 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 institutions. The White House Corona 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Virus task force hasn't really mentioned 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 anything on how to be safe within our 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 community. Seems like that our 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 community is being left behind. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There is no awareness at all or any 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 outreach from the White House. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It feels like that no one from the top 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 has any understanding of our 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 community. In California we are required 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to wear some kind of facial covering 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when we are in public. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Many people in our community are 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 not able to wear any kind of mask. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 One idea would be to form a committee 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with all the national organizations such 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as United Cerebral Palsy, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Muscular Dystrophy Association, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a society and many others to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 form one union on the main purpose 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of protecting the most vulnerable 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 from the virus. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 More importantly we can come up 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with some kind of procedures, guidelines, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and distributing of information 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 nationally and locally since these 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 organizations have offices around 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the country it wouldn't be too difficult 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to outreach and create a database on how 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we are doing and for those areas 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who are seeing a spike of infections in 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 group homes and such. We can 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 do more outreach and offer more 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 support.