Latest / Shawna and LaLa: Life Beyond The Mic / Life Is Too Short… So Why Are We Living Like This?

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Life Is Too Short… So Why Are We Living Like This? · Shawna and LaLa: Life Beyond The Mic

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Speaker 1: From the heart of the city, where the beat meets
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Speaker 1: the rhythm of your day.
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Speaker 2: It's shawna m.
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Speaker 3: What's up? You're listening to Shauna and Lalla. Check us
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Speaker 3: out at Shorna and Lala dot com on all social
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Speaker 3: media platforms at Shauna and La La. You could follow
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Speaker 3: me on Instagram at the real Shauna may.
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Speaker 4: And check me out and check me out at Bella
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Speaker 4: Underscore La La one two five.
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Speaker 3: We were off for the Easter break and it was
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Speaker 3: I think also spring break for Geo.
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Speaker 5: Yeah.
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Speaker 4: I love when the kids are off from school. It's
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Speaker 4: just so much nicer. It's no hustle and rush and
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Speaker 4: wake up early, so it was really nice to have that.
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Speaker 4: I took off a few days from work, so that
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Speaker 4: was also nice, and I got to, you know, just
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Speaker 4: relax and clean and get to things I never get
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Speaker 4: to do, you know, as a mom. I have so
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Speaker 4: much going on as a working mom. And my husband
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Speaker 4: was in Kentucky that week, so it was a break
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Speaker 4: from everything.
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Speaker 2: You know.
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Speaker 3: Did you get to sleep in?
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Speaker 5: For me?
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Speaker 4: Sleeping in is like eight o'clock in the morning. I
1:17
Speaker 4: wish I could sleep till ten. That would be amazing.
1:19
Speaker 4: But I remember when I was a young teenager or
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Speaker 4: young adult, I could sleep till one in the afternoon,
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Speaker 4: no problem. Yeah, God, I don't think that'll ever ever
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Speaker 4: happen again, which is fine, but some days, some days
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Speaker 4: I'd be like, I wish I could sleep till at least.
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Speaker 6: Ten in the morning, a full, deep sleep. But that
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Speaker 6: you know, we're old. Now we're old. I always remember
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Speaker 6: when you're a kid.
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Speaker 4: I mean, your mom still is, but when you're a
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Speaker 4: kid and your parents would be awake at like six
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Speaker 4: in the morning every day, and you're like, what the hell?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think every morning is what is her problem?
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Speaker 6: Why are you awake?
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Speaker 3: Yeah? And then she always says like, oh, I'm so tired.
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Speaker 3: Well maybe if you didn't get up to ask crack
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Speaker 3: of dawn, you wouldn't be die.
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Speaker 6: Yeah, it's I and I never understood it. As a kid.
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Speaker 4: At six in the morning, I would hear my dad
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Speaker 4: would make a cappuccino every morning, or an espresso, and you'd.
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Speaker 6: Hear the machine.
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Speaker 4: You hear him banging the beans into the It was
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Speaker 4: just a loud thing. And I would get so frustrated.
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Speaker 6: Like go to bed, why are you awake?
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Speaker 4: But yeah, now that I'm old or older, I am
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Speaker 4: up and I can't help it.
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Speaker 6: So they can't help it, Shanna. They just our bodies
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Speaker 6: wake us up when we're older, and we're up with
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Speaker 6: the freaking sun. And I hate it. I hate it, not.
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Speaker 3: Me, I think, But I also think that it's because
2:37
Speaker 3: I don't sleep at night.
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Speaker 6: Yeah, so your body's constantly trying to catch up.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 6: Yeah, And for me, you know, if you had kids,
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Speaker 6: you probably would have to be because for.
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Speaker 4: Me, it's like, even if I don't sleep at night,
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Speaker 4: because I don't sleep all the time, you have no choice,
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Speaker 4: you know what I mean.
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Speaker 6: When you have no choice, you have to get up
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Speaker 6: no matter what.
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Speaker 3: It's like.
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Speaker 4: Oh, Geo goes to school at seven, so I have
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Speaker 4: to be up at least by six thirty to make
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Speaker 4: sure he has food and make sure this, this and that.
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Speaker 4: It's just, you know, I have no choice at that point.
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Speaker 4: But yeah, it was. It was a great little break.
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Speaker 4: And like I said, my husband was away. I love
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Speaker 4: my husband, but it is a little mini vacation when
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Speaker 4: I could just do.
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Speaker 6: What I wanted in the house.
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Speaker 4: I didn't worry about Oh, I left dishes in the sink.
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Speaker 4: You know, we all know my husband's OCD. So that's
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Speaker 4: what I'm talking about.
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Speaker 3: Did he come home and says anything, or did you
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Speaker 3: have the house cleaned up?
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Speaker 6: Oh, the house is clean.
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Speaker 4: But you know, because if you're new here to the show,
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Speaker 4: My husband has OCD and I have ADD and I
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Speaker 4: don't know how those two things work together. They really don't,
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Speaker 4: but we make it work. I stress him the hell
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Speaker 4: out and he stresses me out because we're both total
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Speaker 4: opposites with that stuff.
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Speaker 6: So it was a.
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Speaker 4: Week of my add just running rampant and just not
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Speaker 4: stressing about Oh, let me put that away, let me
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Speaker 4: do this with that. But I had everything spotless when
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Speaker 4: he came home, and he was and he went to
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Speaker 4: a training in Kentucky.
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Speaker 6: It was for police.
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Speaker 4: He's you know, police chief training, and it's about it
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Speaker 4: was teaching them about mental health. And at first he
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Speaker 4: didn't think it was gonna be He heard it was
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Speaker 4: a good program, but he's like, I don't know why
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Speaker 4: they're sending us to Kentucky for this. But he came
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Speaker 4: back and he's like a new man. I'm telling you,
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Speaker 4: I have to find we need to interview that the
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Speaker 4: psychologist that they talked to.
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Speaker 3: You didn't tell me this. You just said he was
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Speaker 3: going to Kentucky.
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Speaker 6: Yeah, apparently it was Kentucky.
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Speaker 4: They had It was police training for running the police department.
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Speaker 4: So he's a chief so he sergeants, lieutenants and chiefs
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Speaker 4: could go to it. Just had to run and had
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Speaker 4: to work with people who are under them and all
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Speaker 4: that and deal with the public.
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Speaker 6: But it was a lot of.
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Speaker 4: Mental health, he said, and teaching them how to de
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Speaker 4: stress and regulate their their emotions and all that. So
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Speaker 4: he has been I keep saying, where's my husband, because
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Speaker 4: you know he's very high strong and stressed out all
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Speaker 4: the time.
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Speaker 6: And he's just like, ah, I can't believe it. I
5:01
Speaker 6: really want this lady on the show.
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Speaker 4: We got to get her information because that it's amazing
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Speaker 4: the transformation.
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Speaker 6: Now could it? Could he snap out of this in
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Speaker 6: a week or two? It's only been a week he's
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Speaker 6: been home. Yes, even he.
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Speaker 4: Said, he's like, you know, maybe it's not gonna stick,
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Speaker 4: but she taught them different coping mechanisms and it's amazing.
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Speaker 3: So it's basically what he needed.
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Speaker 4: Yes, one hundred percent. And he even says and he's like,
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Speaker 4: I'm gonna try and not sweat the small things and
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Speaker 4: not get so upset even about his OCD stuff, you know.
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Speaker 6: And he's like, but he I know the blames on
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Speaker 6: me too.
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Speaker 4: I said no, and I want to try better too,
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Speaker 4: to be on top of things and not let my
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Speaker 4: add get in the way of me taking care of
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Speaker 4: things that need to be taken care of.
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Speaker 6: So we could meet in the middle, you know.
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Speaker 4: And I love that because it used to be his
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Speaker 4: way or the highway type thing, like no, this is
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Speaker 4: the right way.
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Speaker 6: It has to be and it has to be that
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Speaker 6: no matter what.
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Speaker 4: And I'm like, I know that, but I can't do
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Speaker 4: that all the time because it's hard for me.
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Speaker 6: So we had to meet in the middle, you know.
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Speaker 4: But now he's like, yeah, we needed to talk this through,
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Speaker 4: meet in the middle on things, you know, life short
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Speaker 4: And I'm just standing there looking at him like I would.
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Speaker 3: Have been like, ah, how long have I been saying
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Speaker 3: that for.
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Speaker 6: Yeah, it's amazing.
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Speaker 4: He's just it's it's a really it was a really
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Speaker 4: good training. So I do want to find this lady's information.
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Speaker 4: I was like, does she do zoom meetings? Maybe we
6:17
Speaker 4: can keep this up, you know, we can both talk
6:20
Speaker 4: to her.
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Speaker 6: That's fine.
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Speaker 3: Well, we got to get her on the show. What's
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Speaker 3: her name?
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Speaker 6: You don't know, I don't know.
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Speaker 4: I'm gonna get I'll get the information from him. But
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Speaker 4: she he said, she was amazing, absolutely amazing, and she
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Speaker 4: does do zoom conferences and she meets with a lot
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Speaker 4: of people in law enforcement in the military that they're
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Speaker 4: the people who are under a lot of stress, like
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Speaker 4: in that field of work. So I will get her
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Speaker 4: information and we will get her on the show. And
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Speaker 4: I cannot wait to tell her how I love her.
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Speaker 3: And she has changed her life that hole so far.
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Speaker 4: I mean, I'm trying not to jump the gun here,
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Speaker 4: and not that my husband's bad. He's an amazing person,
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Speaker 4: but you know, everyone has quirks and flaws in their marriage.
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Speaker 4: And I'm just the more easy going person and he's
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Speaker 4: more high strung, so that that can clash at times
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Speaker 4: and be very stressful. So he's on cloud nine right now.
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Speaker 6: I'm very Ladi da and I love it.
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Speaker 3: My mother needs this, lady.
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Speaker 6: Yes, yes, your mom's very high strung, so this.
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Speaker 4: Would be great for her to not sweat the small
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Speaker 4: stuff and focus on the good, focus on the good
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Speaker 4: and the positives.
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Speaker 3: It is my mom's birthday in June and she's turning seventy.
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Speaker 3: And I asked her, I said, do you wanna go
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Speaker 3: on vacation or do you want to party? And I
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Speaker 3: figured she'd say a vacation. No, she says a party,
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Speaker 3: because that's one day. A vacation is a week, and
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Speaker 3: I don't have time for a week off from work.
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Speaker 6: Tell them how old she is.
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Speaker 3: She's seventy, she's gonna be seventy seventy.
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Speaker 4: And this woman is still working, and which is great,
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Speaker 4: but when are you gonna enjoy life?
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Speaker 3: Well, somebody she was talking to did a client, actually
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Speaker 3: a new client. She was talking to her, and the
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Speaker 3: lady was saying, how you know, she's worked at the
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Speaker 3: same job for like twenty something years and all she
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Speaker 3: has done is work. She saves money, and she just
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Speaker 3: she's tired of working and she wants to retire and
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Speaker 3: have a small little house that she owns and not
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Speaker 3: have to ye simplify it, and be able to travel
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Speaker 3: and experience things. And I just looked at the lady
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Speaker 3: was on speakerphone, and I just looked at my mom,
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Speaker 3: and we know the lady and I said to her,
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Speaker 3: I said, yep, we know what that's about. I said, uh,
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Speaker 3: and I said, but you actually really got to go
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Speaker 3: on vacation. And my mom's like, that is such a
8:53
Speaker 3: great idea, so, you know, and she's going on and
8:56
Speaker 3: on on and so when my mom hung up with her,
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Speaker 3: I looked at my mom and I said, oh, that's
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Speaker 3: a great idea. Uh huh. I said, so you want
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Speaker 3: me to book that vacation for your birthday? And she's like, no,
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Speaker 3: I told you I don't have time.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know. I want to shake her. Sometimes
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Speaker 4: life is short.
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Speaker 6: Go and enjoy your life. We always say this on
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Speaker 6: the show. Enjoy it. You don't know what tomorrow is
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Speaker 6: going to bring. It's so true.
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Speaker 3: And she said to me a few months ago, one
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Speaker 3: of her really good friends passed away and she was
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Speaker 3: going to call her. My mom was going to call
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Speaker 3: the lady two days before she died, and my mom
9:36
Speaker 3: didn't get a chance because she was busy working. And
9:40
Speaker 3: she's like, oh, man, I was going to call her
9:42
Speaker 3: to see how she was doing. And I said, well
9:44
Speaker 3: now I can't mm hm. And so the other day
9:48
Speaker 3: another friend of hers has cancer and I said, you know,
9:51
Speaker 3: we should really go and visit them. She's like, yeah, yeah,
9:55
Speaker 3: we will when I get a chance when I get
9:57
Speaker 3: a chance, And I said, you always say that, I said,
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Speaker 3: and then something happens, catastrophe happens, and not saying that
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Speaker 3: the person's gonna die, but something always happens, and you say,
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Speaker 3: oh my god, I wish I saw that person, or
10:10
Speaker 3: you know, another friend of hers died and she's like, oh,
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Speaker 3: I wish I called them, you know, and talk to them,
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Speaker 3: and you just never know.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, even where her you know, you or her she's
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Speaker 4: having issues walking right now? Does she think at seventy
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Speaker 4: that's gonna get better or is it gonna get worse.
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Speaker 4: Let's be real here, it's gonna get worse. And one
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Speaker 4: day she's not gonna be able to move and she's
10:31
Speaker 4: gonna say, wow, I wasted so many years working instead
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Speaker 4: of experiencing life and just relaxing and going.
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Speaker 6: Walking down the beach or you know what I mean.
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Speaker 4: Like, that's gonna be at the point where she's gonna
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Speaker 4: regret and trying to shake her to get it in
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Speaker 4: her head.
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Speaker 2: Now.
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Speaker 3: I know she wants to drive to South Carolina. I said,
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Speaker 3: you can't even drive to Connecticut, which is like a
10:53
Speaker 3: three hour drive. Yeah, you you you were suffering. You
10:58
Speaker 3: did it, but you were suffering and you're gonna drive
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Speaker 3: to South Carolina. I don't think so, I said, we're flying,
11:05
Speaker 3: we're not driving.
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Speaker 6: Well hopefully.
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Speaker 4: I don't know what wake up call she needs, but
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Speaker 4: she's not getting any younger, and I think that she
11:13
Speaker 4: needs to take that break. Even if she doesn't retire,
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Speaker 4: she needs to take the time and go on a.
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Speaker 6: Nice vacation, or even if she's just doing something she loves.
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Speaker 4: But that's our message all the time is life is short,
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Speaker 4: experience it to the fullest, and don't put off. I'll
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Speaker 4: do it later, or later, I'll do that another day
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Speaker 4: or someday. There was a cool I used to like
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Speaker 4: it says someday is another word for never, And it's true.
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Speaker 2: They go.
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Speaker 4: How many things we say every day, like, oh, someday
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Speaker 4: I'll do that, Oh someday I'll experience that, or someday.
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Speaker 6: I'll go there, And really, nine out of ten times
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Speaker 6: you're not going to you know.
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Speaker 3: Yep, it's so so true. Well, on the show today
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Speaker 3: we have speaking of life lessons, we have life coach
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Speaker 3: Patrick Mitchell on the show today, and we actually met
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Speaker 3: him at the Modern Day Wife event in New Jersey and.
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Speaker 6: He was great, absolutely amazing.
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Speaker 3: He was my favorite to interview.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, because he had like this charisma about him, very
12:15
Speaker 4: very intelligent, and I loved hearing about his family. He
12:19
Speaker 4: had his beautiful wife with him, and they came from Texas,
12:23
Speaker 4: right Texas, and he had the cowboy hat and he
12:26
Speaker 4: was a Texan like Texan.
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Speaker 6: Through and through. Right there, we had a real life
12:30
Speaker 6: cowboy in our presence.
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Speaker 3: He was so nice.
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Speaker 4: I know, we loved We just loved hearing history and
12:37
Speaker 4: how his story began. And he served our country. He
12:41
Speaker 4: was in the Air Force. He serves God and his family,
12:47
Speaker 4: and those are three important things in my life and
12:49
Speaker 4: in your life, you know, That's that's what matters. And
12:54
Speaker 4: he has a book it's called This is My Moment.
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Speaker 4: And besides the book, it is a movement. It is
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Speaker 4: a movement for him. He does a lot of speaking
13:01
Speaker 4: engagements because she said, like life coaching, he is a
13:04
Speaker 4: sports coach and so he's with the youth all the time,
13:07
Speaker 4: which is great because that's what we want as a
13:09
Speaker 4: role model these days, is someone like him, because they
13:12
Speaker 4: don't make men like that anymore.
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Speaker 6: That we're losing that in this country and around the world.
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Speaker 4: So I love that he is with our youth, teaching
13:20
Speaker 4: them in different ways, you know.
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Speaker 6: But anyway, back to the book. So the book is
13:24
Speaker 6: called This Is My.
13:25
Speaker 4: Moment, and it basically is it's a guide to how
13:31
Speaker 4: to get and push yourself towards success, how to overcome obstacles,
13:37
Speaker 4: how to motivate yourself and show the journey of that.
13:41
Speaker 4: I absolutely love like the meaning behind it and what
13:43
Speaker 4: he is trying to gain by writing this book. So
13:47
Speaker 4: it was funny when just based off what we were
13:50
Speaker 4: talking about before with him, on the back of his book,
13:52
Speaker 4: he has a quote and it ties into this episode.
13:56
Speaker 4: It says, don't wait for tomorrow. The time is now.
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Speaker 4: Your moment is here. And if that doesn't encapsulate everything
14:05
Speaker 4: we were just talking about, right, what would. So anyway,
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Speaker 4: we'll hop into the interview now.
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Speaker 5: So we are here today with Patrick Mitchell.
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Speaker 4: He is an Air Force veteran, best selling author, a coach,
14:19
Speaker 4: what else, a founder of This is My Moment and
14:22
Speaker 4: that's a movement. It's a force and it's focused on
14:25
Speaker 4: helping people believe in themselves and step into their purpose.
14:30
Speaker 4: So you had an incredible journey. We were reading about
14:33
Speaker 4: it and I was just amazed amazed at it. So
14:35
Speaker 4: from a twenty year army I mean Air Force veteran. Sorry,
14:39
Speaker 4: I know that's a big.
14:42
Speaker 5: Yeah. I know, to coaching.
14:46
Speaker 4: What what experience has shaped your mindset and you know
14:49
Speaker 4: the way you carry yourself today.
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Speaker 7: I think it's everything for.
14:54
Speaker 8: Thanks me who I am so really can so I
15:01
Speaker 8: tried everything to make sure that I wasn't that when
15:04
Speaker 8: I and there.
15:06
Speaker 7: From there, I wanted to grad to help you the
15:08
Speaker 7: way we didn't have help. So that was the thing.
15:11
Speaker 7: Then once I go on the military and actually a
15:14
Speaker 7: comment version, I was injuring Afghanistan.
15:17
Speaker 1: So for me having that and being able to come
15:21
Speaker 1: home about other how ugly didn't come home that shiitt
15:25
Speaker 1: And once I retired, I started coaching. So I'm dealing
15:28
Speaker 1: with kids and just seeing how they are, what they
15:32
Speaker 1: need to. All of those aims together help me create
15:35
Speaker 1: this is my moment because I get it from all
15:38
Speaker 1: the points and I can understand it. I created holistic
15:42
Speaker 1: in it, so we're not talking about a cookie cutter conversation.
15:47
Speaker 1: It was like when I talk, it's like with friends
15:50
Speaker 1: we've known each other, but it's with the mindset that
15:52
Speaker 1: I'm trying to understand.
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Speaker 7: So Thou's gonna help the work. So that's how that's how.
15:57
Speaker 5: We lose, and we need that.
15:59
Speaker 4: And I like that whole cookie cutter thing because a
16:01
Speaker 4: lot of times people, especially someone who's who has a
16:04
Speaker 4: spotlight on them, they treat everyone the same. It's the
16:06
Speaker 4: same fake conversation and you could tell and it's not authentic.
16:11
Speaker 4: So I love that about you that you focus on
16:14
Speaker 4: gearing it towards the individual.
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Speaker 7: Right, this is what I think I have keep and
16:22
Speaker 7: I can't hear it.
16:23
Speaker 1: I love my kids, I love them equally, but I
16:26
Speaker 1: have to treat them differently because they're different.
16:28
Speaker 7: That's how I take coaching. But when I speak to people,
16:31
Speaker 7: I treat you seven billion people in the world.
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Speaker 1: Everybody has their own story, and that's how I how
16:40
Speaker 1: you should be.
16:41
Speaker 5: Treating I love that I'm a mom.
16:46
Speaker 4: I know I knew exactly what you mean by that,
16:48
Speaker 4: because every kid is different, different personality, different behaviors, someone something.
16:54
Speaker 5: My son needs a little more disciplined than my daughter,
16:56
Speaker 5: but you know my daughter is sassy, so I get
17:00
Speaker 5: it right. The girls, some of the girls. So what
17:07
Speaker 5: was the defining moment when you realize.
17:10
Speaker 4: Your mission has shifted from personal success to helping others
17:14
Speaker 4: recognize their own greatness.
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Speaker 7: I think he's never been about personal success, and that's
17:20
Speaker 7: probably difference.
17:22
Speaker 1: And I've always put other people because because for me,
17:27
Speaker 1: when I see other people growing he had, it makes
17:29
Speaker 1: me smile. So if I this is a horrible miss practice,
17:34
Speaker 1: this is horrible, but it makes me feel good. So
17:38
Speaker 1: if I can help you, and even if I don't
17:40
Speaker 1: get anything financially, I'm going to do it because.
17:45
Speaker 7: That's what life is.
17:46
Speaker 1: Everything that we accumulated, we can't take any of that biness.
17:50
Speaker 7: So I can meet my legacy by the people that
17:52
Speaker 7: I touch, the people that I beyond measure. So that's
17:57
Speaker 7: how we've been brought up, that's how it continued. It's
18:02
Speaker 7: a plus business practice.
18:03
Speaker 3: With me.
18:06
Speaker 7: Is I can keep going and helping people be the
18:08
Speaker 7: best version of themselves and.
18:10
Speaker 4: I'm winning, and we need more of that in the world.
18:14
Speaker 4: And it's really hard. We were just speaking to another
18:17
Speaker 4: lady and she was kind of similar to that, saying
18:19
Speaker 4: she doesn't care about her business, she cares about helping people.
18:22
Speaker 5: And it's it's true, and you might at the end
18:24
Speaker 5: of the day.
18:24
Speaker 4: You might not end up being a billionaire a millionaire,
18:27
Speaker 4: but your heart is of gold, and you're a good person,
18:29
Speaker 4: and you the the what you've changed in the world
18:33
Speaker 4: and in people makes it's better than money. You know,
18:37
Speaker 4: better than money, and that's what we need for our
18:39
Speaker 4: future generations.
18:40
Speaker 5: And we need to guide them, and that's important. Work
18:44
Speaker 5: with children or you work with adults as well.
18:48
Speaker 7: That black is leminous. So it's infinite, and I made
18:51
Speaker 7: it that way specifically.
18:53
Speaker 1: So I work with veterans, I work with cengs, I
18:56
Speaker 1: work with young kids, high schoolers, teenage kid, I work
19:00
Speaker 1: with athletes.
19:01
Speaker 7: Pretty much. The way that I do business is anyone
19:04
Speaker 7: that needs that, it's who I work with.
19:08
Speaker 1: Right now, I'm working with a lot of veterans, and
19:10
Speaker 1: I'm working with a lot of college high school kids
19:13
Speaker 1: because that's my really my specialty, that's my niche.
19:16
Speaker 7: I'm not turning anywhere, put anybody away.
19:18
Speaker 1: If you need a conversation, if you need help the guidance,
19:21
Speaker 1: then but I'm not gonna turn you.
19:22
Speaker 7: What we'll we'll do business and we'll talk about it.
19:25
Speaker 1: You'll see if we can get you to shift the
19:27
Speaker 1: mindset to what we need for you to be successful.
19:32
Speaker 3: I think a lot of people could benefit from that.
19:34
Speaker 3: And so if our listeners wanted to get in contact
19:38
Speaker 3: with you, how would they reach out to you?
19:41
Speaker 9: So we have a couple of different platforms. This is
19:44
Speaker 9: my moment, underscore tim him on Instagram. I have this
19:48
Speaker 9: is my moment dot com on the way up. I'm
19:51
Speaker 9: on Facebook, this is my moment founder.
19:53
Speaker 1: So it's I'm on all the platforms and a lot
19:56
Speaker 1: of my people. I work with my people that had
20:00
Speaker 1: been with me to tell somebody so they That's that's
20:04
Speaker 1: how it is.
20:04
Speaker 7: So social media there, the website said. And the thing
20:08
Speaker 7: about me is I'm going to answer every phone call.
20:10
Speaker 7: So if you text me or the type your message,
20:14
Speaker 7: I'm overply. I love to talk.
20:18
Speaker 1: Second, I want people to understand that this is your time,
20:23
Speaker 1: this is your moment, So that interaction with I am
20:27
Speaker 1: is going to be junior before me.
20:29
Speaker 2: You.
20:29
Speaker 7: That way I can remember, you can remember.
20:30
Speaker 1: You know, these guys actually trying for me, so I
20:36
Speaker 1: give them a chance.
20:37
Speaker 7: That's how you do it.
20:38
Speaker 5: Yeah, the name this is my moment? Where did that
20:41
Speaker 5: come from? Like you know, I get what it means,
20:44
Speaker 5: but like what what you know? Grasp that you So
20:48
Speaker 5: it really.
20:48
Speaker 1: Came as a second option, which makes no sense, but
20:53
Speaker 1: it does. So I had trib to pattern own my
20:58
Speaker 1: money and I put it in my paperwork and they denied,
21:02
Speaker 1: you know, they denied my pad and all my mother
21:05
Speaker 1: and me and my son was sitting in the living
21:07
Speaker 1: room and I was telling I say, man, you have exactly,
21:11
Speaker 1: say exactly. They're not gonna They're not gonna give it
21:13
Speaker 1: to me. He said, Dad, that's all right. He said,
21:16
Speaker 1: this is this is still a good moment. I said,
21:18
Speaker 1: what He so, this is the moment now is So
21:25
Speaker 1: this is just a conversation that me and my son
21:27
Speaker 1: had And it was my kid helping his dad up right,
21:32
Speaker 1: that made the whole name just stick with the pyramids
21:37
Speaker 1: of This is my moment has always been with me.
21:39
Speaker 7: What the name came from my conversation with my son.
21:41
Speaker 4: So that's what I think that that makes it even
21:45
Speaker 4: more special, Like that's your your child came up, Dad,
21:50
Speaker 4: And I love it.
21:51
Speaker 5: I love that. I got chills when you said that,
21:53
Speaker 5: Like I gotta start cheering on.
21:55
Speaker 4: I know, I know, but something you know, sometimes our
21:58
Speaker 4: biggest supporters are like you, wife, your children, like and
22:02
Speaker 4: they will guide you the right way, and they believe
22:04
Speaker 4: in you, and and you'll never fail if you have
22:07
Speaker 4: that that that family and the strong bomb.
22:12
Speaker 1: Yes, I'm not gonna because I failed me, because I'm
22:18
Speaker 1: damn and they love me and they're gonna push me
22:21
Speaker 1: to try again. Hey Dad, it's all right, Hey baby,
22:24
Speaker 1: it's all right. They don't know what they're missing.
22:26
Speaker 5: Yeah, you're right, Yep, this is my moment.
22:31
Speaker 7: That's my moment.
22:33
Speaker 5: Well, thank you so much, Pasture. We love you.
22:34
Speaker 4: Will be sharing your information with our listeners and our followers,
22:37
Speaker 4: and I wish you all the success and happiness and
22:40
Speaker 4: keep spreading that message.
22:42
Speaker 3: A few weeks ago, I caught up with doctor Conchita
22:46
Speaker 3: Fernandez and she works for the Maryland Blind and Low
22:51
Speaker 3: Vision School. She was an amazing person to talk with.
22:56
Speaker 3: We talked about me growing up and getting a special
22:59
Speaker 3: ed services and then through college. You know how that
23:03
Speaker 3: kind of just dropped the ball, and you know the
23:08
Speaker 3: importance of advocating for yourself and learning how to advocate
23:12
Speaker 3: for yourself in school so that when you're an adult
23:17
Speaker 3: you know what you're doing. And she was just she
23:20
Speaker 3: was great to talk to. So we're gonna hop into
23:22
Speaker 3: an interview with her on the show. Today. We have
23:26
Speaker 3: doctor Conchita Hernandez from the Maryland School of the Blind.
23:30
Speaker 3: She is the special projects coordinator.
23:33
Speaker 2: Hi, Helen, thank you for having me.
23:36
Speaker 3: Oh you're welcome. So from listeners who may not be familiar,
23:41
Speaker 3: what makes Maryland School for the Blind unique compared to
23:45
Speaker 3: other traditional school systems.
23:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we actually are really unique because we are
23:54
Speaker 2: an option for families in the state of Maryland. However,
23:59
Speaker 2: we really have a big emphasis on we want blindelet
24:03
Speaker 2: vision students to go to their local public school. We're
24:07
Speaker 2: kind of the last resort per se when everything has
24:12
Speaker 2: been done and as soon it just needs a little
24:13
Speaker 2: extra support. Either they went blind recently and they need
24:16
Speaker 2: more instruction in something, or you know, maybe they need
24:21
Speaker 2: a little more support in whatever area. So we're really
24:25
Speaker 2: there as a resource for a broad range of students
24:29
Speaker 2: that may be blinder low vision.
24:32
Speaker 3: So how does a student prepare? Like, how does the
24:36
Speaker 3: school prepare students not just academically, but for independence and
24:42
Speaker 3: to be leaders in this world? Because it's your school
24:45
Speaker 3: obviously focuses on the blind. It's very different from a
24:49
Speaker 3: traditional public school. I don't know if if your school
24:53
Speaker 3: is like a public school for the blind, like how
24:55
Speaker 3: I don't know how that works.
24:57
Speaker 2: So we're we're we're kind of unique mix where we're
25:01
Speaker 2: not fully public and we're not private. So in order
25:05
Speaker 2: for a child to attend our school, they do have
25:07
Speaker 2: to be a public school student, and then they have
25:10
Speaker 2: to be referred by the IP team in the public school.
25:15
Speaker 2: And so, for example, if a parent is if a
25:18
Speaker 2: student is in a private school or homeschool, they can't
25:20
Speaker 2: come to us directly. They have to first go to
25:22
Speaker 2: their public school. And then kind of how do we
25:25
Speaker 2: prepare students is we really look at the whole student.
25:28
Speaker 2: And there's something called the Expanded Core Curriculum and that
25:32
Speaker 2: is what the education for blind and low vision students
25:36
Speaker 2: focuses on. In addition to like learning reading and math
25:39
Speaker 2: and everything, blind students need nine skills to really prepare
25:44
Speaker 2: them for life. So some of that is a SISI
25:46
Speaker 2: of technology, social skills, orientation, mobility. So there's a bunch
25:50
Speaker 2: of different areas and we really focus on kind of
25:52
Speaker 2: how do we prepare the whole child academically but also
25:58
Speaker 2: for every aspect of life.
26:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, now, what kind of a system of technology is
26:04
Speaker 3: out there? Because when I was in school, this was
26:06
Speaker 3: going twenty years ago, almost I had a vision teacher
26:11
Speaker 3: because I had I guess low vision and I don't
26:18
Speaker 3: know what it's called, but like maybe depth perception shoes.
26:24
Speaker 3: So they made me do like a whole bunch of tests,
26:26
Speaker 3: and I had a vision teacher and she would like
26:30
Speaker 3: enlarge these like tests for me, and they were ginormous.
26:34
Speaker 3: I was so embarrassed. And then they gave me an
26:38
Speaker 3: Alpha smart to help me like take notes and stuff quicker.
26:42
Speaker 3: So twenty years later, there's got to be a better system.
26:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, there, we are really lucky. I always say like
26:50
Speaker 2: now is the best time to be blind due to technology.
26:54
Speaker 2: So there's so many things available, including a lot of
26:58
Speaker 2: screen readers on laptop, so students can independently use any
27:02
Speaker 2: type of laptop device, whether it be a Mac, a Windows,
27:05
Speaker 2: a Chrome book. And then there's also kind of magnification
27:11
Speaker 2: programs that are either on the laptops or that are
27:15
Speaker 2: separate that we call like CCTVs that are before they
27:20
Speaker 2: used to be like huge TVs that were just ridiculous,
27:23
Speaker 2: and now they're really lightweight, really small, and they can
27:27
Speaker 2: do a lot like read the text and they can
27:30
Speaker 2: change the colors. We also have something called brail displays
27:35
Speaker 2: where a student curmacy of all the information through electronic brail,
27:39
Speaker 2: so it refreshes as you're reading. There's a there's a
27:43
Speaker 2: really great device out that just came out very recently
27:47
Speaker 2: that's called the Monarch. So it's like ten line brail display,
27:51
Speaker 2: where before you could only read one line at a
27:53
Speaker 2: time in electronic brail, and now you.
27:55
Speaker 3: Can do images and games and read.
27:58
Speaker 2: A lot more and be able to look at formatting
28:02
Speaker 2: and with AI as well. There's a lot more things
28:04
Speaker 2: of like reminders and things that support. So there's a
28:09
Speaker 2: lot of technology out there and it's come a long way.
28:12
Speaker 2: Everything's smaller, easier. I also had like the ridiculous blown
28:16
Speaker 2: up you know, large print stuff, and it was ridiculous
28:20
Speaker 2: and we really are like, please don't do that anymore.
28:22
Speaker 2: There's so much out there that like that should there's
28:24
Speaker 2: no reason why that should be happening. But yeah, technology
28:28
Speaker 2: has really really come a long way. Yeah.
28:30
Speaker 3: I remember it would like take up my whole desk,
28:32
Speaker 3: and I'm like, yeah, this is a little much like yes,
28:36
Speaker 3: a little overboard. Yeah, And is there any i uh
28:44
Speaker 3: devices out there or technology out there that could be
28:50
Speaker 3: for a seeing person but also a blind person could
28:53
Speaker 3: benefit from it.
28:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, So there's a lot of technology now that is
29:00
Speaker 2: like from the beginning made accessible right, So before you
29:05
Speaker 2: you paid so much money for devices because they were
29:08
Speaker 2: specifically for blind people and they're in the larger realm
29:11
Speaker 2: of the world, there isn't a lot of blind people,
29:14
Speaker 2: and so things would be really expensive. So now it's
29:18
Speaker 2: like mainstream technology that goes both ways. So some things
29:22
Speaker 2: were created for blind people that now everybody uses, and
29:26
Speaker 2: then there's mainstream products that benefit blind people that everybody uses.
29:30
Speaker 2: So an example of that is, for example, the ray
29:34
Speaker 2: band metaglasses. They were created for cited people, but just
29:38
Speaker 2: in the way that they work because it's hands free,
29:42
Speaker 2: audio based, it's a huge tool that blind television people use,
29:49
Speaker 2: and so it's you can like set reminders, you can
29:51
Speaker 2: look in it because it has a camera, you can
29:53
Speaker 2: ask it to describe an image for you. You can
29:55
Speaker 2: have it read text, so kind of the idea of
30:00
Speaker 2: reading text and making it electronics, so you can now,
30:03
Speaker 2: for example, take your iPhone and take a picture of
30:06
Speaker 2: text and you can highlight that text read it. That's
30:08
Speaker 2: all because of blind people. So the scanner, the original
30:12
Speaker 2: scanner was created so that blind people could read, and
30:17
Speaker 2: scanner is now a mainstream piece of technology. And it's
30:22
Speaker 2: the reason why OCR or character recognition is so easily
30:29
Speaker 2: available on everything, Like the reason you can take a
30:31
Speaker 2: picture of your check and it'll deposit into your bank
30:34
Speaker 2: is because this technology was actually made for blind people
30:39
Speaker 2: so that they could read, and now it's something that
30:41
Speaker 2: kind of everybody uses. So the more we can kind
30:44
Speaker 2: of have everything be accessible from the beginning and be used,
30:49
Speaker 2: the more it's better for everyone.
30:51
Speaker 3: Now, are these things? Would insurance pay for it or
30:55
Speaker 3: would the school pay for it? Because I know when
30:58
Speaker 3: I was in school, the school paid for a alpha
31:02
Speaker 3: smart little computer thing for me, but they owned it,
31:05
Speaker 3: but I was able to use it. It was mine
31:09
Speaker 3: for like the whole time I was in school. So
31:11
Speaker 3: do they still have that type of accommodations for kids
31:17
Speaker 3: in the school because this stuff could be really really expensive.
31:21
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, So anything that has to do with education,
31:26
Speaker 2: so something that's going to help education wise, schools do
31:29
Speaker 2: pay for whether you're at the Males of the Blind
31:31
Speaker 2: or you're in your public school, the school does own it,
31:35
Speaker 2: like you said, so you may not be able to
31:38
Speaker 2: keep it, but absolutely that's part of like providing a
31:41
Speaker 2: good special education program is that the school provides, you know,
31:45
Speaker 2: if you need a computer with a screen reader, if
31:47
Speaker 2: you need you know, magnification technology, that's all provided by
31:52
Speaker 2: the by the school.
31:54
Speaker 3: Okay, So what is one design shift that you wish
31:59
Speaker 3: could just happen tomorrow.
32:02
Speaker 2: I wish that every single person that is designing anything
32:07
Speaker 2: from a building to a website to a poster would
32:13
Speaker 2: in their coursework take coursework on the law and accessibility.
32:19
Speaker 2: The amount of people that are like, oh, I'm a
32:21
Speaker 2: coder and I never knew there was standards that I
32:24
Speaker 2: had to follow for websites or you know, I you know,
32:29
Speaker 2: I work for this construction company and we were not
32:32
Speaker 2: connected with you know, knowing that these are right of
32:35
Speaker 2: way laws that we have to follow. So in my
32:38
Speaker 2: ideal world, every single person that's we on anything designed,
32:42
Speaker 2: whether it's physical, electronic, to websites to anything, they in
32:49
Speaker 2: their coursework would receive It's not just the right thing
32:52
Speaker 2: to do, it's literally the law. And a lot of
32:55
Speaker 2: people are graduating from these programs without the proper knowledge
32:59
Speaker 2: of like what accessibility is, and it is very defined
33:02
Speaker 2: in the United States of like this is what you're
33:05
Speaker 2: supposed to do specifically, this is specifically, So I think
33:08
Speaker 2: people have this idea that like accessibility is vague and
33:11
Speaker 2: it's it's really not like their standards that you should
33:13
Speaker 2: be following. And so that would be my ask of
33:17
Speaker 2: any program that like you actually include that in your
33:19
Speaker 2: course work, because if you're not, then you're not teaching
33:21
Speaker 2: your students correctly how to design.
33:24
Speaker 3: It's so true though, and you know, we have a
33:28
Speaker 3: website obviously, and I saw on TikTok that websites are
33:35
Speaker 3: not automatically accessible for like blind people or maybe hearing impaired,
33:44
Speaker 3: and I was like freaking out because you could be sued.
33:49
Speaker 3: I'm like, how I said, I'm like, you know, we
33:52
Speaker 3: have a website for specifically for disabled podcasts, and you know,
33:59
Speaker 3: I didn't know this, but there's different things that you know,
34:03
Speaker 3: our web designer had to go back and do. I
34:07
Speaker 3: just thought, like, you know, somebody would just pull up
34:10
Speaker 3: a website and whatever computer they had, if they have
34:14
Speaker 3: the accessibility turned on, that it would be accessible for them,
34:19
Speaker 3: and it's not. And I think that is just it's
34:23
Speaker 3: insane to me that you know, every person has a disability,
34:28
Speaker 3: whether you could see it or not, and you know,
34:32
Speaker 3: things need to be accessible for everyone. And it was
34:37
Speaker 3: just shocking to me like that our website was not accessible,
34:41
Speaker 3: and it's shocking to me that, you know, our web
34:45
Speaker 3: designer had to go through and read how to make
34:48
Speaker 3: it accessible for others, and that it's it doesn't just
34:54
Speaker 3: happen like automatically when you open up your browser.
34:58
Speaker 2: There's no exactly no, they're yeah, well, and it should
35:02
Speaker 2: And it goes back to that web designer right should
35:05
Speaker 2: have taken coursework in their web design on accessibility because
35:09
Speaker 2: it's the law and it's required, and they're not. Like
35:13
Speaker 2: the amount of web designers I run into that never
35:15
Speaker 2: had training on accessibility is wild when you think about
35:20
Speaker 2: it's literally the law and you should be doing it.
35:23
Speaker 2: And there was a study recently that was like ninety
35:25
Speaker 2: percent of websites that are not accessible. And it's easy
35:28
Speaker 2: things to fix, like labeling something as a button or
35:31
Speaker 2: hyperlinking a certain way or checking your colors. So it's
35:37
Speaker 2: just this lack of that being part of the coursework
35:39
Speaker 2: that is the like every single web developer should know
35:43
Speaker 2: of it as they build any website for anyone, and
35:47
Speaker 2: it's just unfortunately not happening. So it creates a lot
35:49
Speaker 2: of barriers when it comes to applying for jobs. Doing anything,
35:54
Speaker 2: purchasing stuff, trying to you know, be involved in your community.
35:58
Speaker 2: And so you have to find work around and spend
36:00
Speaker 2: more time trying to find that information.
36:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, now what is the next step after the kids
36:07
Speaker 3: graduate from your school? Where do they go? Like do
36:11
Speaker 3: they have a like is there a special college they
36:14
Speaker 3: can attend or is there a school program.
36:19
Speaker 2: So we have a broad range of students. So we
36:23
Speaker 2: have students that are like academic that are going to
36:26
Speaker 2: leave here and go to college, and there are no
36:29
Speaker 2: colleges for blind kids, and I think that's good, Like
36:31
Speaker 2: they should go wherever it is that they want to
36:33
Speaker 2: go and then receive accommodations and the colleges they go to.
36:37
Speaker 2: And then we have students with more significant needs that
36:41
Speaker 2: maybe are going to be part of a group home,
36:45
Speaker 2: or maybe we'll be receiving more services to be a
36:49
Speaker 2: part of their community, or we have some students that
36:51
Speaker 2: are going to enter the workforce. So it's really a
36:54
Speaker 2: broad spectrum of kind of where students go based on
37:00
Speaker 2: kind of their needs their hopes. And so for students
37:04
Speaker 2: that are academic, we definitely encourage them to you know,
37:08
Speaker 2: seek higher education and also make sure that they have
37:11
Speaker 2: all the requirements necessary to go to college, if that
37:15
Speaker 2: is their plan.
37:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I know I tried college and it was
37:21
Speaker 3: not accessible for me. It was a very negative experience.
37:27
Speaker 3: And everyone keeps saying, oh, you should try it again,
37:29
Speaker 3: you should try it again, and it just it put
37:31
Speaker 3: a bad taste in my mouth. And now I'm like,
37:34
Speaker 3: absolutely not, you know. So I think the schools also
37:38
Speaker 3: need to learn how to handle and make schools accessible
37:44
Speaker 3: and make the curriculum, you know, so everyone can learn it.
37:51
Speaker 3: I learn a different way. I'm a hands on learner.
37:55
Speaker 3: Don't put me, you know, in front of a chalkboard,
37:57
Speaker 3: and they don't even have chalkboards anymore, but don't put
38:00
Speaker 3: me in front of, you know, a board and tell
38:02
Speaker 3: me to read something and expect me to understand what
38:06
Speaker 3: I'm reading, you know. So it's it's so different and college, yeah,
38:13
Speaker 3: just it's totally It's just different from high school. And
38:18
Speaker 3: I wish that the high school that I attended would
38:23
Speaker 3: have prepared me for real life and for college.
38:29
Speaker 9: Yeah.
38:29
Speaker 2: And actually, what's interesting about what's interesting about what you're
38:32
Speaker 2: saying is is very much reflective of the reality. So
38:36
Speaker 2: the blind population is really small comparatively, but if we
38:39
Speaker 2: look at it as a percentage. So blind ande low
38:41
Speaker 2: vision students are some of the highest acceptances into higher education,
38:45
Speaker 2: but within the first year, a big, a big group
38:48
Speaker 2: drop out because of the barriers to accessibility and the
38:51
Speaker 2: issues that you are mentioning are definitely seen across the board,
38:55
Speaker 2: where like they didn't learn how to self advocate or
38:58
Speaker 2: they don't like they're every it's so inaccessible. I always say, like,
39:01
Speaker 2: if you're a blind orelevision college student, you are going
39:04
Speaker 2: to school and you have a full time job just
39:07
Speaker 2: trying to get everything accessible, and so it's hard to
39:10
Speaker 2: do anything else other than go to school because there
39:13
Speaker 2: are so many barriers to to make your content accessible.
39:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is. And then when you I have always
39:24
Speaker 3: you know, my mom has always pushed me to advocate
39:27
Speaker 3: for myself and you know, don't give up, and she
39:30
Speaker 3: made me stay through the semester of college and I
39:35
Speaker 3: just remember it was it was absolutely horrible. A lot
39:40
Speaker 3: of things happened, and that's for like a whole other show,
39:44
Speaker 3: but yeah, it was just it was a horrible experience
39:47
Speaker 3: and they did not know how to handle a person
39:51
Speaker 3: with a learning disability, let alone a physical disability, you know,
39:57
Speaker 3: And I think that they should be held accountable.
40:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, and they absolutely should should be held accountable. And
40:05
Speaker 2: there's been lots of lawsuits in higher ed around this
40:09
Speaker 2: issue because unfortunately, unless you're you have to also be
40:13
Speaker 2: a full time lawyer to kind of understand how to
40:17
Speaker 2: advocate for yourself in higher education, and you have to
40:19
Speaker 2: be able to say, hey, this is not okay, and
40:21
Speaker 2: if I don't get what I need, then these are
40:22
Speaker 2: the next steps I'm going to follow. I definitely sent
40:26
Speaker 2: harassing emails like that to different stuff when I was
40:29
Speaker 2: in school and I figured like, oh, I did a
40:32
Speaker 2: disabilities I did a disability studies course for my doctoral degree,
40:36
Speaker 2: and I'm like, oh, these people are going to be
40:37
Speaker 2: great at accessibility because it's a disability studies.
40:40
Speaker 5: No.
40:40
Speaker 2: No, no, it was not the case. And I definitely, yeah,
40:45
Speaker 2: had to had to advocate for myself and it's very disheartening.
40:48
Speaker 2: It's very very disheartening when everything is completely inaccessible. And
40:53
Speaker 2: so the goal is that as more students kind of
40:57
Speaker 2: want to seek that path, like, how can we support
40:59
Speaker 2: them to be able to advocate for themselves to know
41:02
Speaker 2: what the law is, because it really does help to say,
41:05
Speaker 2: so I realize you're not doing this, let me send
41:06
Speaker 2: you an email and tell you what my next sex
41:08
Speaker 2: are going to be, and then also connect them with
41:11
Speaker 2: their vocational rehabilitation system in the state so that they
41:16
Speaker 2: can help them as well with technology and our intentional
41:19
Speaker 2: mobility and stuff. So it's definitely an uphill battle and
41:25
Speaker 2: one that you know, we try to continue to support
41:28
Speaker 2: our students through because it is very difficult.
41:31
Speaker 3: It is. Now, if somebody from New York wanted to
41:34
Speaker 3: go and attend your School for the Blind in Maryland,
41:39
Speaker 3: what is the transfer process like? Is it hard? Like
41:42
Speaker 3: do you have to like how is it easy to
41:46
Speaker 3: get into?
41:48
Speaker 2: So it's different for students in state and out of state,
41:51
Speaker 2: So that's a great question. So we have a slightly
41:54
Speaker 2: different process. It depends on where they're coming from, how
42:00
Speaker 2: the process is in their state for referring students. So,
42:03
Speaker 2: for example, we do have students from out of state
42:05
Speaker 2: in surrounding states like DC, Virginia, Pennsylvania that attend here,
42:12
Speaker 2: and so it's a different system based on the state
42:14
Speaker 2: they're coming from, as opposed to a Maryland student, like
42:17
Speaker 2: they have to go through their local school system. It's
42:19
Speaker 2: a little different and it really depends on the state
42:21
Speaker 2: they're coming from. How that looks like. But we welcome
42:24
Speaker 2: people to reach out to us if they're interested, and
42:27
Speaker 2: we'll let them know kind of like, this is what
42:29
Speaker 2: you need to figure out based on where you're at.
42:31
Speaker 3: Okay, and what is your website for our listeners to
42:36
Speaker 3: maybe you know they have a loved one that would
42:38
Speaker 3: like to attend.
42:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, I should know. It's off the top of my head.
42:43
Speaker 2: I feel like we've changed our website so many times,
42:46
Speaker 2: so let me look at it real quick. I want
42:49
Speaker 2: to say it's hold on.
42:53
Speaker 3: It's Maryland School for the Blind dot word.
42:55
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you, thanks, thanks. I'm like, wait, I should
42:58
Speaker 2: really know this.
43:00
Speaker 1: Yeah.
43:00
Speaker 2: And we also offer so we offer a bunch of
43:03
Speaker 2: services as well for students that don't come here. So
43:05
Speaker 2: we offer summer programs courses during the year for anyone
43:10
Speaker 2: they do not have to come here as a student. So,
43:12
Speaker 2: for example, we're offering a videography podcasting course this spring.
43:17
Speaker 2: We offer a ton of amazing summer programs where kids
43:22
Speaker 2: can go camping, they can do sports, they can do
43:24
Speaker 2: tech immersion. We have boot camps for families so they
43:29
Speaker 2: can learn how to advocate for their students and what
43:31
Speaker 2: their IP rights are, so you do not have to
43:35
Speaker 2: be a student and come here in order to kind
43:38
Speaker 2: of receive full support from us at the School for
43:40
Speaker 2: the Blind.
43:41
Speaker 3: That's great, especially the advocating part because that every person
43:48
Speaker 3: should know how it should be a class.
43:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's exactly what we realize. Like you, it's
43:54
Speaker 2: that idea right that you have to be. You have
43:55
Speaker 2: to be so knowledgeable of all of these things in
43:57
Speaker 2: order to really do it right. So we offer a
44:00
Speaker 2: weekend boot camp for families where they can come learn
44:03
Speaker 2: about their rights, the IP, how to support their childhood home,
44:06
Speaker 2: and really empower them to be the best advocate they
44:10
Speaker 2: can be wherever it is that they go to school,
44:14
Speaker 2: because we really saw that need. It's really hard to
44:17
Speaker 2: learn everything you have to learn or to be the
44:18
Speaker 2: best parent advocate you can be. So we offer that
44:21
Speaker 2: over the summer as a weekend course for families to
44:24
Speaker 2: come and do that.
44:25
Speaker 3: That's great, and that all that information can be found
44:28
Speaker 3: on your website.
44:30
Speaker 2: Correct, Yeah, awesome.
44:32
Speaker 3: Well, thank you so much, Conchetah for coming on the
44:34
Speaker 3: show today. Everyone check out the Maryland School for the
44:39
Speaker 3: Blind and I think it's great what you guys are doing.
44:43
Speaker 2: Thank you so much and thank you so much for
44:44
Speaker 2: sharing your experience. You know, I think you have a
44:47
Speaker 2: lot to offer and for you know, people to see
44:50
Speaker 2: your experience is like, yes, there are real barriers that
44:53
Speaker 2: keep our students from doing stuff, and so appreciate you
44:57
Speaker 2: sharing your personal experience.
44:58
Speaker 3: Oh, thank you so much. And uh, I'm actually we're
45:01
Speaker 3: writing a book, me and La La. We're writing a
45:04
Speaker 3: book on you know, what we've gone through, and a
45:07
Speaker 3: lot of my chapters have to do with the educational
45:12
Speaker 3: system and how it's not made for you're a unique
45:18
Speaker 3: person like me or like Lalla. She couldn't be here today.
45:22
Speaker 3: But you know, we both struggled in school, and you know,
45:27
Speaker 3: we still say it was due to the teacher's lack
45:30
Speaker 3: of knowledge and the school system's lack of they didn't
45:34
Speaker 3: want to be bothered.
45:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent agree. I had a similar experience,
45:40
Speaker 2: and so part of that experience is like I don't
45:42
Speaker 2: want that for other students, and so that kind of
45:45
Speaker 2: that's what drives me, and like I had a bad
45:47
Speaker 2: experience because I didn't have good educators that knew anything
45:50
Speaker 2: about you know, blindness or low vision, and so trying
45:54
Speaker 2: to change that so we can empower parents, so we
45:56
Speaker 2: can educate students so they can be successful because we
46:00
Speaker 2: lived what it's like when they don't have the information
46:02
Speaker 2: and resources that they should.
46:04
Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely, And you know, it should be a class
46:08
Speaker 3: that should be mandatory, and you know, they should have
46:13
Speaker 3: disabled people like me, you lalla go into the school
46:17
Speaker 3: and say Okay, this is not working, this is not working,
46:20
Speaker 3: and to do this instead, you know, And they don't
46:24
Speaker 3: do that. They don't want to spend the money on that,
46:28
Speaker 3: you know, and it's just sad that, you know, we're
46:32
Speaker 3: the ones that get held back from it.
46:35
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely. We actually have a monthly webinar series here
46:39
Speaker 2: at the School for the Blind where we invite blind
46:41
Speaker 2: television people to come speak to our students. We do
46:44
Speaker 2: it virtually until we have different people share their experience
46:47
Speaker 2: and it's a Q and A so our students and
46:49
Speaker 2: staff ask questions. It's not like a big speech thing.
46:52
Speaker 2: It's more like, share your experience with this. What advice
46:54
Speaker 2: do you have for staff? What advice do you have
46:55
Speaker 2: for students? What do you wish was different? How is
46:58
Speaker 2: your experience? So we'd love to have you on for
47:01
Speaker 2: twenty six twenty seven iteration of our webinars.
47:04
Speaker 3: Oh that'd be great. Yeah, we'd definitely be interested.
47:08
Speaker 2: Perfect, I will, I'll send you an email.
47:11
Speaker 3: Okay, great. Thank you so much, Conchita for coming on
47:14
Speaker 3: the show today.
47:15
Speaker 2: Absolutely, thanks so much for having me.
47:19
Speaker 3: And that's our show. Thank you so much for tuning in.
47:23
Speaker 3: Be sure to follow us at Shaunaandlala dot com. Follow
47:28
Speaker 3: us on all social media platforms at Shauna and Laala.
47:33
Speaker 3: You could follow me on Instagram at the real Shawna Mae.
47:36
Speaker 6: And check me out at Bella Underscore Laala one two five.
47:40
Speaker 3: We will see you next week.