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A Special Reflection on Our Podcast’s Journey: Celebrating 500 Downloads! · Accessible Community

• 0:00
  Lindsay: My name is Rachel Prophet.
• 0:01
  Lindsay: Leo.
• 0:02
  Esther: Sam Bush.
• 0:02
  Esther: Kat Schneider.
• 0:03
  Esther: Lindsay Shelton.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_08: Lodium.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_08: Diogo.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_08: Bobby Small.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_08: Jennifer Cowan.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_08: Matt Max.
• 0:09
  Esther: Sarah Leadis.
• 0:10
  Esther: I'm Esther Clang.
• 0:12
  Esther: Toby.
• 0:12
  Esther: Melanie McDunn.
• 0:13
  Esther: Hallie.
• 0:14
  Esther: Avery Roberts.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_06: MS looks so different for so many people.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_09: There's not just one way to be blind.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_09: There are so many ways to overcome obstacles.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_08: You say you have ADHD or you have visually impaired, like all of those things mean a hundred different things to each person.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_08: You know, you and I are both blind, but both of us have different aptitudes and different limitations.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: I have a C5 spinal cord injury.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: The next person with a C5 spinal cord injury has a totally different one.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_06: Having some language to wrap around what was going on with myself.
• 0:50
  Lindsay: Um it was very, very freeing.
• 0:55
  Lindsay: My differences weren't something that I needed to hide anymore.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_09: This is just who I am.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_09: Um, it's a part of me, it doesn't define me.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_09: I didn't want it to define me.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_09: I wanted to be open and transparent, but I also didn't want it to be like the leading story every time I walked into a room.
• 1:10
  Sarah: Still Sarah.
• 1:11
  Sarah: Still who I was.
• 1:13
  Sarah: Just Sarah that happened to move a little bit slower.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: In terms of myself, I'm a person first than uh a person that happens to be blind.
• 1:23
  Esther: One of the most persistent and painful misconceptions is that a brain injury automatically means cognitive or intellectual impairment.
• 1:33
  Esther: What I need people to understand is that my injury affected my motor function and my respiratory system.
• 1:40
  Esther: It did not affect my mind.
• 1:43
  Esther: Don't assume the worst.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_08: Lead with curiosity.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_08: Curiosity, it sparks um opportunity.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_08: And I feel like assumptions, they just squash it.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_09: So it's really kind of opened my mind to not assuming I understand things just because of what I'm looking at.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_09: And now if I see someone who appears to be completely able parking in a handicapped spot, I think nothing of it.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_09: I think they have a reason for doing that.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_07: The world is created for able-bodied people.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_07: The world needs to be created when you're building something or you're putting something together.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_07: It needs to be created for everyone.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_07: Not just one single type of individual.
• 2:34
  Sarah: People hear the word accessibility and they uh and they they're immediately thinking um something huge and expensive when when so often it really is something that's that's not so big, something that's something that can be really quite small.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, back when I said about the first year, I was hoping I would die.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't think that way anymore.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_07: We have to find a new way to get the same thing done.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: Don't let other people tell you what you can and cannot do.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: Find that out yourself.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: Even if you think you can't do it, try it.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: See if see if you're right.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_09: I think asking for help is bravery.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_09: Because sometimes we're lots of it's okay to ask for guidance.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_09: Disability can be awfully isolated.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: There is community to be found.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_06: Once you find those people, it's yeah, it's everything.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_06: Knowing that we're we're not alone just makes such a huge difference when navigating life living with a disability.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_06: What we all just really want is to be treated like equal human beings, that we're really complex individuals and we live very rich and fruitful and fulfilling lives.
• 3:49
  Lindsay: It's become okay, well, I need to just find the right people, and I need to love myself for who I am, disabilities and all, because they make me interesting and they uh help me look at the world in a different way.