00:00We're sisters born without arms
00:02But arms are overrated anyways
00:04we use our feet to do anything that people would use their hands for and
00:09Anything is possible as long as you have the will to try. Bye. We love you
00:13People replying to my social media has been a challenge at times
00:18Oh my gosh, someone said I would die if I looked like that. Wow. Gosh, whenever we go anywhere
00:24We are like a walking zoo exhibit. I
00:28Use my feet for literally everything
00:34Like brushing my hair brushing my teeth, those are just very automatic things that I can do now
00:40But I do think growing up. I had to learn how to best do this myself
00:44So even my sister and I do things very differently
00:48I'm Teresa and I was born with a congenital limb difference
00:51I use this hook and it has this huge black suction on my waistband and my pants is always a little wonky
00:58So I'm gonna fix that really quick. So I use the hook to get my pants up and down
01:02Anything I do is definitely centered around my limb difference because the world is not built for
01:09Someone missing both their arms. So I'm constantly having to adapt
01:12I'm gonna text my sister really quickly to see how far away she is. I
01:17Am so excited. My sister is flying in to see me even though we just saw each other recently
01:23I wish I could spend all my time with her. I'm really looking forward to her visit. Oh
01:29My gosh, hi, I'm so glad you're here
01:34Missed you
01:36We both have the same limb difference and it is congenital and lost meaning we were both born this way
01:41We're not exactly sure why this happened to us. There's not a lot of information about that
01:47And we were both adopted at pretty young ages. We were raised by a single parent. My mom adopted Anna first. I
01:56Was adopted at 18 months when we adopted Teresa, I actually went to Vietnam with my mom to get her
02:01I was about seven years old
02:03I was a little bit unsure at first, you know being so young and not really coming to full terms with my own disability
02:09My mom raised us to be very strong and independent and to be our own advocate
02:14She really saw us as individual and capable people
02:17Being seven years apart definitely came with its challenges. We weren't always super close, but we knew that we could count on each other
02:23I didn't realize until very later in life that that is very valuable to have
02:27Someone that I'm close with that shares the same experience that I do
02:30We are truly the only ones who understand each other and having that support has been very instrumental to our development in adulthood
02:38So, how was your flight that's good it was kind of long
02:42Yeah, not too bad. There was a shuttle bus that went from the gate to the terminal and I had to stand basically
02:48I always just kind of assumed that people would give up their seat for disabled individuals, but that's not always the case
02:54It is the lens that I walk through life in everything
02:57I do is affected by the disability one of my earliest memories of that stigma was being at a public play structure and a kid
03:05Saw me and he just started screaming so loudly because he was so afraid of me
03:09And that was my first time knowing that I was different
03:12My limb difference affects my life every day in the sense that the world is not built for disabled people
03:17For example, if I take public transportation, I like can't pull out my card and like to have myself in I can't open doors
03:24Very easily, but I've just learned to like overcome and adapt and have that be my lifestyle
03:30So, how do you handle any kind of judgment or staring?
03:34I'll just say hi there or like is there something I could help you with and I don't ever yell at anyone or make
03:39Raise my voice whenever we go anywhere. We are like a walking zoo exhibit. That is the best way that I describe it to anyone
03:46It's frustrating because we don't want to be the center of attention
03:50I think there's a lot of reasons why people judge us and why people assume so poorly of us one
03:56I think it's a lack of education and I think it's also just the fact that people don't
04:01understand or people don't accept differences as
04:04Something that everyone has some people's are just more obvious than others with the staring
04:08It really is a curiosity thing and that is totally understandable
04:12But the way that our society sees people with disabilities has a long way to go
04:16It feels very frustrating to be different and I just have to remind myself that there's power in difference
04:23So, let me set up my phone really quick
04:25back when I was in high school is when I first got exposed and began to do advocacy work and then in January of
04:322023 I decided to make a video a day in the life
04:36Which ended up going viral and that was really my starting point with my advocacy work and social media
04:45Hi everyone, I am so excited my sister is here and I know lately we've been talking about body positivity
04:52Yeah, and I would say one piece of advice I have is surrounding yourself with people who will uplift you. Bye. We love you
04:58Thank you
05:05Can I see some of the comments that you're getting on there? Oh, yeah. Sure. So here's some of the positive ones. They're so sweet
05:11What beautiful sisters?
05:13But some of the negative ones. Oh my gosh. Someone said we look ugly
05:18That's rude. Oh my gosh. Someone said I would die if I looked like that. Wow. My gosh people are cruel
05:28It hurts, you know, like that is very hurtful people replying to my social media has
05:35Been a challenge at times people are just awful when they can hide behind a screen
05:41But there's also been an outpouring amount of love and support
05:45I think when people are awful on social media
05:48My best strategy is to just ignore because if I'm giving them the time of day to ruin my day
05:54They're gonna get something out of that
05:55I want to be changing the stigma and educating and spreading awareness and showing that disabled people can be integrated into society
06:02This is what I picked out for my outfit for the pizza party. What do you think? That's so cute. Oh my god. Hey
06:08Do you prefer like lip balm or lip oil? I've never tried lip oil before lip oil is like a new thing
06:14I guess there's one thing that I haven't mastered doing with my feet, which is braiding my hair
06:20The one thing that I haven't mastered is eating while standing up or walking
06:24We can't just walk around like everyone else and like eat an ice cream or your bagel
06:28You know, it's just hard for us and that is a challenge finding, you know seating in different restaurants and stuff
06:35It's so annoying
06:45Arms are overrated because you just simply don't need that to live a full and happy life
06:49You know, we're thriving and we don't have arms. I think that arms are overrated because
06:55they assume that you're incapable and
06:57Here I am. I'm capable. I'm in grad school living my dreams
07:10What was your first impression of me I actually just thought you were a really nice person you accepted me and I was
07:17Nervous. Yeah, overall. They're like to my best friends from grad school
07:21They never like define me by what I'm able to do what I'm not able to do and they also
07:25Recognize like I have differences too and I have challenges and like we just kind of all support each other and embracing those
07:31Yeah, whenever Teresa gets like judgmental stares, I definitely follow her lead
07:35And yeah, it's always ignore like who cares knowing that Teresa has friends like Danny and Sonia
07:41It just makes me feel very assured. It's very comforting to me knowing that she has amazing friends like you guys
07:46It just makes me happy. You guys are great people
07:48three two one cheese
07:51What
07:53I want people to know about living with a limb difference is that anything is possible as long as you have the will to try
07:58We're just like everyone else, you know, we may adapt and find different ways to do things
08:02But in the end, we're all human and we have so much in common
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