- 7 weeks ago
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00And I'm not certain how I'm going to use it because I need to find a clicker.
00:09There we go. Awesome. This is fancy.
00:12Uh-oh. I think we're just going to click next.
00:16Hi, everyone. How are you today? Everyone good?
00:20Great. So my name's Tiffany Adams.
00:23For some of you that may or may not know me,
00:26I have a pretty decent following from the show that I was originally on
00:32called Pish Girls on the Sundance channel.
00:35And we had an amazing run for two years, 24 episodes.
00:39And it was a beautiful blessing that I was able to show parts of my life
00:46with three, four other girls that actually are in wheelchairs also from a spinal cord injury.
00:52So let's get a little bit more into why I get a role on this set of 25s here.
01:03And yes, I do change my rims like I change my purses.
01:07It's just a fashion thing. It's just an accessory.
01:10So actually, I want to tell you, first of all,
01:13how I just had to do that with that little elevator thing.
01:16And we do really live in a world that's not fully accessible.
01:18But it's about removing limiting beliefs and statements and things of,
01:23I can't do this because A, B, or C.
01:26No, you can. You have to find a way.
01:29If you have a will, there is a way.
01:31And I actually thought I was just running super duper late getting out of my lift
01:35and trying to get down the elevator to come into this specific room
01:41with all of you lovely people.
01:42And we couldn't find this little fancy key-ma-jigger doodly thingy.
01:47And I'm like, okay, the lady's like, just wait here.
01:51Be patient. Just wait here.
01:52We're going to find the key. Don't worry.
01:53And I'm like, no, I'm supposed to be on stage in like one minute and 32 seconds.
01:57I cannot. I'm thinking that.
01:58But it's like, as soon as she leaves, I am going down those stairs.
02:02I'm just a rebel like that.
02:04And of course, as soon as she turned away, I told my friend Shosh.
02:06I'm like, Shosh, come on. We're going.
02:07She goes, what do you mean? What do you mean?
02:09I'm like, just follow my lead at the bottom.
02:11You're going to help me.
02:11She's like, what?
02:12Already I was down backwards.
02:14Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
02:17Because it was like, I think those red stairs, there's probably like 15 of them.
02:22That's how I get my adrenaline rush.
02:23And I made it.
02:25I made it on time.
02:25And then I had a nice little lovely 45-minute wait.
02:29Okay.
02:30So, let's see.
02:32Sorry, we'll get back on track.
02:33But, so yeah, like I told you, my name's Tiffany.
02:36And the topic here I'm going to discuss is past paralyzation, present inspiration.
02:40So, let's do a little clicky here.
02:42I come from, I come from the country.
02:44I grew up in the country.
02:45It's true.
02:46I did.
02:46I'm not ashamed of my roots.
02:48I grew up in Northern California.
02:50And I had lofty dreams, goals, and visions.
02:53I wanted to do something very huge and profound in the world.
02:56And most of my days I was spent locked outside because in the country there's plenty to do.
03:02So, you can make mud pies.
03:05You can go crawdad fishing.
03:06You can go bullfrog fishing.
03:08You can shoot birds.
03:09You can get your deer and hunting license, which I did.
03:12And, you know, I was literally locked outside every day.
03:15And I, but I always wanted to get out.
03:17How can I get out of this small town?
03:18What can I do?
03:20And let's see if this works.
03:22Click.
03:22Yeah.
03:22I told my dad I wanted to be in TV, film, and possibly modeling.
03:27And as you can see from these pictures, my father was not very supportive.
03:33You know, he was a single father of two girls raising us.
03:38And, but yeah, he wasn't super supportive.
03:40I could, I could see why.
03:42But I don't think he wanted to hurt my feelings.
03:46And so I started taking, well, let's, let's go a little bit more into these moments.
03:50So, I told my dad I really wanted to do something really big in the world.
03:54And I didn't know what it was being in a small town.
03:57And it was like, you just work the nine to five.
04:00You do the practical thing.
04:02Then we come here.
04:05There you go.
04:06That was my first, first modeling show ever right there.
04:10Miss Fabulous.
04:11I know.
04:12Yes, I did win that pageant in the front yard.
04:16And then I wanted to do, pursue speaking, hopefully.
04:21I just, I just knew I wanted to do something profound in the world and help.
04:26And coming from what society calls a broken home, having parents of divorced, or divorced parents.
04:34One was, my mother was an addict, a user, whatever.
04:39She had her own issues.
04:40Everyone has issues.
04:42Some, everybody's addicted to something.
04:44Hers just happened to be drugs and alcohol.
04:46My father, strong Italian man, rules, morals, goals, values.
04:49It's, this is how it's done.
04:51This is what you're going to do.
04:52And so I was caught between two dichotomies.
04:54It was very interesting, to say the least.
04:57But it's, it has made me the woman I am today.
05:01I had no clue at the age of 17 that I was going to be what they call a victim of a drunk driving accident.
05:08I didn't know that I was going to be hit head on from a drunk driver at 130 mile per hour impact, causing every single person to be pronounced dead on the scene, including myself.
05:21And that moment, everything went black in my world.
05:27And I remember asking and begging into this black abyss, which to me was God, to please let me live.
05:34Let me live through this.
05:36I promise I'm going to do something amazing with this.
05:38Let me live through this.
05:39And then the next, well, I need to say this.
05:42This is very important.
05:43In my belief, by the grace of God, universe, an off-dude fireman paramedic happened to be driving by at 3 a.m.
05:49and seen that I was still moving my pinky in the back of the wreckage.
05:54They were fortunate enough to get the emergency services out, come, cut me out, the jaws of life.
06:01They metaflighted me to the nearest hospital, where I then spent the next three weeks fighting for my life in a coma.
06:08And when I finally awoke, and mind you, they told my father and my entire family that we had a 5% chance if I were to live and make it.
06:17And if I did awake, I wouldn't be able to think, communicate, speak, as they call it normally.
06:25And when I did awake, finally, and my father brought a wheelchair to the side of the bed, I had no idea even what the word paralyzed meant.
06:37All I knew was that my legs were numb and tingly, and I couldn't feel them, and they felt like they were asleep.
06:42And I said, Daddy, what's happened to me?
06:44Daddy, why can't I feel my legs?
06:45And he just told me, Honey, God has blessed us with a miracle, and that is your life.
06:50And if he blesses us with another one, that is going to be you walking.
06:53But as of now, let's just be grateful that you're alive.
06:57So every single day, I wake up thinking those exact thoughts.
07:01I am grateful to be alive, because life is truly a gift.
07:06And so many people take that for granted.
07:09It's such a beautiful blessing to be able to be alive and be able to have the opportunity to enhance the life of another person just by one thing, by simply being a human being of love.
07:25And there's some things that I've, this has been nothing more than a gift into my life.
07:32People are like, I'm so sorry.
07:34Wow, that's so awful.
07:36I couldn't do what you do.
07:40You don't know what you would do until you're put into a certain situation or circumstance.
07:45It's not my place to judge anybody else based on their actions, because I don't know what that person's gone through.
07:51I don't know what traumas they've experienced.
07:54Just because you see my experiences on the outside with this wheelchair does not mean or lessen anybody else's traumatic events that have occurred in their lives.
08:05So the number one thing for me is, I mean, I have experienced so many events through this, diversity and inclusion, first and foremost.
08:18I know what it's like to be treated differently just because I'm differently abled now.
08:24And I am now a voice for those that I feel have been speaking for years and have not been fully heard.
08:35I know what it's like to go into a job interview and get turned away based on what they see on the exterior due to this wheelchair.
08:43I know what it's like going into, waiting for a taxi and getting declined because of this wheelchair.
08:53I've experienced so many things and all it has done is made me more compassionate to humanity as a whole.
09:00It hasn't made me angry because that serves nothing.
09:05Hate is fear.
09:08And it's always going to go back to the same thing, which is love, returning to love.
09:14So the next thing here is, that is the wreck right here.
09:19And those are my angels that have been supporting my journey.
09:23Jesse Yaw was the driver of the accident or the wreck, also known as the divine intervention.
09:28And Crystal Pepin, may their souls rest in peace.
09:33And my sister, that was my first day home from the hospital.
09:36Mind you, they said I was going to be in there later, nine months.
09:39And I was like, no, I have a mission to fulfill in my life and a purpose greater than I could have ever imagined or asked for.
09:46And I was released from the hospital.
09:49I got an October 15th.
09:51I was released December 21st after, you know, three weeks spending in a coma.
09:55And then I went back to my high school and I graduated with my class.
09:59I got my driver's license in the summer and I started college in the fall.
10:02And what I want to talk to you guys is about, I chose to beat the odds.
10:09One in five have some sort of disability.
10:13Americans, right?
10:143.6 million people 15 years or older are using a wheelchair.
10:18But there's also a really huge thing that hit me as I was doing some research.
10:22Why is it that the average earning for people with a disability is $20,000, basically, $20,184 is the average median income for those living with a disability.
10:36And the average median income for those without is 66, we're making 66% less than the average.
10:43Like, I don't know.
10:44That really speaks out to me loud.
10:46Not because of 3.6 million people that are 15 years old are using a wheelchair.
10:51That 74.6 million people have a physical disability, a physical challenge.
10:59So when you really look at those numbers, and I got that from dosomething.org.
11:03That's where I got that statistic.
11:04If you really think about that, it just kind of made me think, wow.
11:11And living with a physical condition, a cognitive condition, things are more expensive.
11:15These wheelchairs, they're not cheap.
11:17They're not.
11:18And we're making a difference slowly and surely.
11:23Like I told you, the show Push Girls, thank God, was able to get that show on the air for two years.
11:28But this is another thing, perspective.
11:305% of those in film and television actually have the disabilities and are portraying the roles that they have.
11:36That means 95% of those that are in film and television do not really have that condition.
11:43They're cast to play the role.
11:46They're thrown in the wheelchair.
11:48They're made to be the amputee or portray that they're blind.
11:52There is people that are out there on these auditions that can play these roles.
11:58I know.
11:59I live it.
12:00But I'm very blessed and grateful that as a society as a whole, we are making a difference.
12:04We are making changes.
12:05Thank God for shows like Switched at Birth with Ryan Line.
12:10Thank God for Breaking Bad, a friend of mine, RJ Mitty.
12:12Thank God for Marlee Matlin.
12:14Thank God for the Media Access Awards because that is where I got this information was from the Media Access Awards.
12:19So thankfully, we're making progress.
12:21So learn from the past so we don't continue to be paralyzed by it.
12:26How can you help change the course of history?
12:30I could sit up here and ask you to donate money.
12:33Donate money.
12:34No.
12:35Donate your compassion to somebody that is indifferent from you on the exterior.
12:42Erase the superficial.
12:44See the person.
12:45Not the disability.
12:47Not the indifference.
12:48I don't care what political party you are, what sexual orientation you are, what your religion is.
12:54None of that matters.
12:55When you all break it down, we're all human beings and it's always going to be a return to love.
13:01And there you go.
13:03One of my favorite inspirations here, Helen Keller.
13:05A character cannot be developed in ease and quiet.
13:07Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
13:14I thank you.
13:14Please follow me on my social media.
13:16This is Tiffany Adams.
13:17There we go.
13:25I thank you.
13:26I thank you.
13:29I thank you.
13:33You are my host, Helen Keller.
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