How I help people understand vitiligo
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0:02 - 0:03When I was young,
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0:03 - 0:04I wanted to be on TV:
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0:06 - 0:08the lights, the cameras,
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0:08 - 0:10the makeup,
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0:10 - 0:11the glamorous life.
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0:12 - 0:14And from my vantage point,
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0:14 - 0:18just outside of a military base
in Lawton, Oklahoma, -
0:18 - 0:22I didn't make the distinction
between TV reporter or actor. -
0:22 - 0:23It was all the same to me.
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0:23 - 0:25It was either,
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0:25 - 0:26"Reporting live from Berlin"
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0:26 - 0:31or "I shall attend her here and woo her
with such spirit when she comes." -
0:31 - 0:32(Laughter)
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0:32 - 0:33It was all special,
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0:33 - 0:35it was all the spotlight,
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0:35 - 0:38and I just knew that it was for me.
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0:39 - 0:41But somewhere along my journey,
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0:43 - 0:44life happened.
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2:18 - 2:20Ah, much better.
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2:20 - 2:24(Applause)
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2:24 - 2:26I have a disease called vitiligo.
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2:26 - 2:29It started early in my career.
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2:31 - 2:33It's an autoimmune disorder.
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2:34 - 2:37It's where it looks like your skin
is getting white patches, -
2:37 - 2:39but it's actually void of color.
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2:40 - 2:42It affects all ethnicities,
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2:42 - 2:44it affects all ages,
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2:45 - 2:46all genders,
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2:46 - 2:48it's not contagious,
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2:48 - 2:50it's not life-threatening,
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2:50 - 2:52but it is mental warfare.
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2:53 - 2:55It's tough.
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2:55 - 2:57Now, I was diagnosed with this disease
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2:57 - 3:00when I was working on
"Eyewitness News" in New York City. -
3:01 - 3:04I was in the biggest city in the country,
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3:04 - 3:06I was on their flagship station
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3:07 - 3:11and I was on their top-rated 5pm newscast.
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3:11 - 3:14And the doctor looked me
right in the eye and said, -
3:14 - 3:15"You have a disease called vitiligo.
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3:15 - 3:19It's a skin disorder
where you lose your pigment. -
3:20 - 3:23There is no cure,
but there a-la-la-la-la". -
3:23 - 3:24Charlie Brown's teacher.
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3:24 - 3:25(Laughter)
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3:25 - 3:31He said there is no cure.
All I heard was, "My career is over." -
3:32 - 3:34But I just couldn't give up.
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3:35 - 3:36I couldn't quit,
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3:37 - 3:41because we put too much into this.
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3:41 - 3:43And by "we" I mean Mr. Moss,
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3:44 - 3:48who sent me to speech and drama club
instead of to detention, -
3:48 - 3:52or my sister who paid
part of my college expenses, -
3:52 - 3:53or my mom,
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3:55 - 3:59who simply gave me everything.
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4:04 - 4:05I would not quit.
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4:07 - 4:11So I decided to just put on makeup
and keep it moving. -
4:12 - 4:16I had to wear makeup anyway.
It's TV, baby, right? -
4:16 - 4:20I just put on a little more makeup,
and everything's cool. -
4:21 - 4:24And that actually
went very well for years. -
4:24 - 4:28I went from being a reporter
in New York City -
4:28 - 4:31to being a morning show anchor in Detroit,
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4:31 - 4:33the Motor City.
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4:33 - 4:36And as the disease got worse,
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4:36 - 4:38I just put on more makeup.
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4:38 - 4:40It was easy.
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4:40 - 4:42Except for my hands.
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4:43 - 4:47See, this disease is progressive
and ever-changing. -
4:47 - 4:49That means it comes and goes.
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4:49 - 4:52At one point, for about a year and a half,
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4:52 - 4:55my face was completely white.
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4:58 - 5:00Yeah, it trips me out too.
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5:00 - 5:01(Laughter)
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5:01 - 5:02Yeah.
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5:03 - 5:07And then, with a little help,
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5:07 - 5:10some of the pigment came back,
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5:10 - 5:13but living through this process
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5:13 - 5:14was like two sides of a coin.
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5:16 - 5:18When I'm at work
and I'm wearing the makeup -
5:18 - 5:21or wearing the makeup outside,
I'm the TV guy. -
5:21 - 5:23"Hey, how you doing everybody? Great."
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5:23 - 5:24At home without the makeup,
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5:24 - 5:28I'd take it off
and it was like being a leper. -
5:29 - 5:32The stares, constantly staring at me,
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5:32 - 5:35the comments under their breath.
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5:35 - 5:37Some people refused to shake my hand.
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5:37 - 5:40Some people moved
to the other side of the sidewalk, -
5:40 - 5:42moved to the other side of the elevator.
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5:42 - 5:45I felt like they were moving
to the other side of life. -
5:47 - 5:50It was tough,
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5:50 - 5:52and those were some tough years.
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5:54 - 5:56And honestly,
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5:56 - 5:59sometimes I just had to shelter in place.
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5:59 - 6:00You know what I mean?
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6:00 - 6:03Kind of just stay at home
till I get my mind right. -
6:05 - 6:07But then I'd put my blinders back on,
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6:08 - 6:10I'd get back out there,
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6:11 - 6:12do my thing,
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6:12 - 6:14but in the process of doing that,
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6:14 - 6:16I developed this --
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6:18 - 6:21angry, grumpy demeanor.
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6:22 - 6:24Anger is an easy go-to,
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6:24 - 6:26and people would leave me alone,
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6:26 - 6:28but it just wasn't me.
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6:29 - 6:31It wasn't me.
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6:31 - 6:36I was allowing this disease to turn me
into this angry, grumpy, spotted guy. -
6:37 - 6:39It just wasn't me.
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6:40 - 6:41So I had to change.
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6:43 - 6:46I knew I could not change other people.
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6:47 - 6:49People are going to react
and do what they gonna do. -
6:51 - 6:53But there was a cold hard reality as well.
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6:56 - 6:58I was the one
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6:58 - 7:02that was showing anger, sadness
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7:02 - 7:04and isolating myself.
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7:04 - 7:05It was actually a choice.
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7:07 - 7:10I was walking out the door every day
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7:10 - 7:14expecting the world
to react with negativity, -
7:14 - 7:17so I just gave them that mean face first.
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7:19 - 7:24If I wanted change,
the change had to start with me. -
7:25 - 7:28So I came up with a plan.
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7:30 - 7:32Two-parter, not that deep.
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7:33 - 7:37Number one: I would just let people stare,
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7:37 - 7:39drink it in, stare all you want,
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7:39 - 7:41and not react.
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7:41 - 7:44Because the truth is
when I got this disease, -
7:44 - 7:48I was all up in the mirror
staring at every new spot -
7:48 - 7:50trying to figure out what is going on.
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7:50 - 7:54So I needed to let other people
have that same opportunity -
7:55 - 7:57to get that visual understanding.
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7:59 - 8:00Number two:
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8:03 - 8:04I would react with positivity,
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8:06 - 8:08and that was simply a smile,
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8:08 - 8:10or, at the very least,
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8:10 - 8:14a nonjudgmental, kind face.
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8:15 - 8:16Simple plan.
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8:17 - 8:20But it turned out to be
more difficult than I thought. -
8:21 - 8:23But over time,
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8:23 - 8:25things started to go OK.
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8:27 - 8:31Like this one time, I'm at the store
and this dude is like staring at me, -
8:31 - 8:33like burning a hole
in the side of my head. -
8:33 - 8:35I'm shopping, he's staring at me,
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8:35 - 8:37I'm going to the checkout,
he's staring at me, -
8:37 - 8:41I'm checking out, he's on the other line
checking out, he's staring at me, -
8:41 - 8:43we go to the exit,
he's still staring at me, -
8:43 - 8:45so I see he's staring
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8:45 - 8:48and finally I turn to him
and I go, "Hey buddy, what's up!" -
8:48 - 8:49And he goes ...
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8:49 - 8:51(Mumbles nervously) "Hi!"
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8:51 - 8:52(Laughter)
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8:52 - 8:54Awkward.
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8:54 - 8:57So to relieve the tension, I say,
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8:57 - 8:58"It's just a skin disorder.
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8:58 - 9:01It's not contagious,
it's not life-threatening, -
9:01 - 9:03it just makes me look a little different."
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9:03 - 9:05I end up talking to that guy
for like five minutes. -
9:05 - 9:08It was kind of cool, right?
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9:08 - 9:10And at the end
of our conversation, he says, -
9:12 - 9:15"You know, if you
didn't have 'vitilargo'" -- -
9:15 - 9:18it's actually vitiligo,
but he was trying, so -- -
9:18 - 9:19(Laughter)
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9:19 - 9:23"if you didn't have vitilargo,
you'd look just like that guy on TV." -
9:23 - 9:24(Laughter)
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9:24 - 9:28And I was like, "Haha,
yeah, I get that, I get that, yeah." -
9:28 - 9:30(Laughter)
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9:30 - 9:32So things were going OK.
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9:33 - 9:36I was having more good exchanges than bad,
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9:38 - 9:41until that day.
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9:43 - 9:44I had a little time before work
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9:44 - 9:47so I like to stop by the park
to watch the kids play. -
9:47 - 9:48They're funny.
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9:48 - 9:51So I got a little too close,
this little girl wasn't paying attention, -
9:52 - 9:53she's about two or three years old,
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9:53 - 9:57she's running, she runs directly
into my leg and falls down, pretty hard. -
9:57 - 9:58I thought she hurt herself,
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9:58 - 10:00so I reach out to try
and help the little girl -
10:00 - 10:02and she looks at my vitiligo
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10:02 - 10:06and she screams!
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10:13 - 10:16Now kids are pure honesty.
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10:16 - 10:18She's like two or three.
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10:18 - 10:22This little girl,
she wasn't trying to be mean. -
10:22 - 10:25She didn't have any malice in her heart.
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10:25 - 10:26This little girl was afraid.
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10:28 - 10:29She was just afraid.
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10:33 - 10:34I didn't know what to do.
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10:34 - 10:37I just took a step back
and put my hands by my side. -
10:41 - 10:45I stayed in the house for two weeks
and three days on that one. -
10:47 - 10:51It took me a second
to get my mind around the fact -
10:51 - 10:53that I scare small children.
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10:55 - 10:58And that was something
that I could not smile away. -
11:03 - 11:05But I jumped back on my plan
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11:08 - 11:11and just put on my blinders,
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11:12 - 11:13started going back out.
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11:14 - 11:18Two months later, I'm in a grocery store
reaching on the bottom shelf, -
11:18 - 11:20and I hear a little voice go,
"You've got a boo-boo?" -
11:22 - 11:25It's like a two-year-old, three-year-old,
same age, little girl, -
11:25 - 11:27but she's not crying,
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11:28 - 11:31so I kneel down in front of her
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11:31 - 11:33and I don't speak two-year-old
so I look up at the mom, -
11:33 - 11:35and I say, "What did she say?"
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11:35 - 11:38And she says, "She thinks
you have a boo-boo." -
11:38 - 11:41So I go, "No, I don't have
a boo-boo, no, not at all." -
11:41 - 11:43And the little girl says,
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11:43 - 11:44"Duh-duh-hoy?"
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11:45 - 11:48And so I look to mom for the translation,
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11:48 - 11:49and she says,
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11:49 - 11:50"She thinks you're hurt."
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11:52 - 11:56And I say, "No, sweetie,
I'm not hurt at all, I'm fine." -
11:56 - 11:59And the little girl
reaches out with that little hand -
11:59 - 12:02and touches my face.
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12:02 - 12:04She's trying to rub
the chocolate into the vanilla -
12:04 - 12:05or whatever she was doing.
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12:05 - 12:07It was amazing!
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12:08 - 12:09It was awesome.
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12:10 - 12:12Because she thought she knew what it was,
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12:12 - 12:14she was giving me everything I wanted:
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12:14 - 12:17kindness, compassion.
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12:17 - 12:19And with the touch of that little hand,
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12:20 - 12:23she healed a grown man's pain.
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12:23 - 12:26Yee-ha.
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12:26 - 12:27Healed.
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12:30 - 12:33I smiled for a long time on that one.
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12:36 - 12:40Positivity is something
worth fighting for, -
12:41 - 12:44and the fight is not with others,
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12:44 - 12:45it's internal.
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12:46 - 12:50If you want to make
positive changes in your life, -
12:52 - 12:56you have to consistently be positive.
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13:01 - 13:03My blood type is actually B positive.
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13:04 - 13:07(Laughter)
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13:07 - 13:09I know, corny TV guy dad joke,
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13:09 - 13:11my daughter hates it, but I don't care!
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13:11 - 13:13Be positive!
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13:13 - 13:16(Laughs)
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13:21 - 13:23A 14-year-old boy years ago --
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13:23 - 13:25this kid had vitiligo --
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13:25 - 13:29he asked me to show my face on television.
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13:29 - 13:31I wasn't going to do it,
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13:31 - 13:34we've been over this,
I thought I was going to lose my job, -
13:34 - 13:36but the kid convinced me by saying,
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13:37 - 13:41"If you show people what you look like
and explain this to them, -
13:41 - 13:43maybe they will treat me differently."
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13:44 - 13:47Boom! Blinders off.
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13:48 - 13:50I did a TV report,
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13:50 - 13:52got an overwhelming response.
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13:53 - 13:55So I didn't know what to do.
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13:55 - 13:58I took the attention
and focused it back on the kid -
13:58 - 13:59and other people that have vitiligo.
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14:00 - 14:02I started a support group.
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14:03 - 14:06Pretty soon, we noticed "VITFriends"
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14:06 - 14:11and "V-Strong" support groups
all over the country. -
14:12 - 14:18In 2016, we all came together
and celebrated World Vitiligo Day. -
14:21 - 14:23This past June 25,
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14:23 - 14:26we had over 300 people,
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14:26 - 14:31all in celebration of our annual event.
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14:31 - 14:32It was amazing.
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14:33 - 14:34(Applause)
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14:34 - 14:36Thanks.
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14:40 - 14:43Now, I'm not going to lie to you
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14:43 - 14:46and say it was quick or easy
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14:46 - 14:50for me to find a positive place
living with this disease, -
14:51 - 14:53but I found it.
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14:55 - 14:56But I also got much more.
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14:58 - 15:01I became a better man,
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15:01 - 15:03the man I always wanted to be,
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15:03 - 15:09the kind of guy who can stand up
in front of a room full of strangers -
15:09 - 15:12and tell some of
the toughest stories in his life -
15:14 - 15:15and end it all with a smile,
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15:17 - 15:22and find happiness in the fact
that you all just smiled back. -
15:23 - 15:25Thank you.
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15:25 - 15:27(Applause)
- Title:
- How I help people understand vitiligo
- Speaker:
- Lee Thomas
- Description:
-
TV news anchor Lee Thomas thought his career was over after he was diagnosed with vitiligo, an autoimmune disorder that left large patches of his skin without pigment and led to derision and stares. In a captivating talk, he shares how he discovered a way to counter misunderstanding and fear around his appearance with engagement, dialogue -- and a smile. "Positivity is something worth fighting for, and the fight is not with others -- it's internal," Thomas says. "If you want to make positive changes in your life, you have to consistently be positive."
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 15:44
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for How I help people understand vitiligo | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for How I help people understand vitiligo | ||
Brian Greene approved English subtitles for How I help people understand vitiligo | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for How I help people understand vitiligo | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz accepted English subtitles for How I help people understand vitiligo | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for How I help people understand vitiligo | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for How I help people understand vitiligo | ||
Joseph Geni edited English subtitles for How I help people understand vitiligo |