An Active Lifestyle - Two Experiences George Stern & Andrew Cohen Transcript Start David Wiley: We have George Stern, who will tell you more about himself. But I'll tell you now he's a student at Texas Tech university and a Florida native or originally from Jamaica, but recently from Florida and now Texas Tech. Andrew drew, a recent transplant to Texas, who has organized a lot of activities for people with DeafBlindness. Before we go any further, I'm going to introduce George Stern. [Applause] George Stern: So as ‑‑ as David said, my name is George Stern. And before I get any deeper into this discussion topic this morning, let's go ahead and play this video. It was taken oh, I don't even know, so many years ago. I'm old now. [ Laughter ]. But yeah I'm really ancient. I had trouble waking up this morning. [ Laughter ]. So ‑‑ so this is a video of myself being introduced, interviewed by Ron [indiscernible] of the inside MMA show. I don't know if any of you guys here are MMA fans. But they were interviewing me because I had recently been to a competition for Jiu Jitsu and what was interesting about it, it wasn't individual or anything, just old style competition. And I was with one of the top tight teams in the U.S.A., actually, they train out of Coconut creek in Florida. He was interviewing me to see what that was like. I'm going to let you watch this video for a minute. Go ahead. How long have you been training? It feels like forever, but I think ‑‑ it's somewhere around seven or eight months. I would say eight. What got you interested in training in martial arts? Well, to begin with, my father in Jamaica, he and his brothers were all black bets in karate, so when he came ‑‑ even though he was blind, he was very insistent that I learn self‑defense. In fact, he said because I was blind I might have somewhat of an advantage in that area. So he started teaching me some karate moves and from there I went to a ‑‑ to a summer camp that did some tae kwon do, I didn't like that too much because the focus was on striking and hitting and punting. I was more interested in [indiscernible] so I started asking all of my instructors and advisors and they ‑‑ they looked around and saw Jiu Jitsu and that's where Ricardo Liborio came into the picture. His particular need to find out whether I could follow in his footsteps, that's where I was introduced to Ricardo Liborio, he let me ‑‑ he let me train here in American. What do you get out of practicing mixed martial arts? Well, I have no trouble with weight loss. For one thing. It is a kind of friendship. I don't know if you know anything about the sport, but if you are new to someone you don't want to go out and kill them. [ Laughter ]. You know, you can learn something from that person. And ‑‑ I don't know. It's just ‑‑ the kind of people who gravitate to mixed martial arts seem to be generally decent people. George, now, I've ‑‑ people are talking around here, tell us about some of the ‑‑ of the awards that you have personally won. Whew. Well, let's start with the karate stuff. For that I won a couple of ‑‑ fitness awards and whatnot. Those were mainly for, you know, regular stuff, passing the form, are you familiar with the form? Yes. Passing the form. And then in MMA specifically, I think that I placed what was it, fourth, at ‑‑ in my division, I didn't exactly get to third place, bronze, second place silver. But, you know, for someone doing it the first time, really impressive thing to get fourth. Very impressive. What's been the most difficult part of learning mixed martial arts without having your sight? The most difficult part? Honestly, there was no most difficult part. [ Laughter ]. [Applause]. I mean, maybe I could say a sighted person has more ability to go home and maybe look up an interesting move on the internet. So when they go and watch the video, they will come back to class with this new move that I've never heard of. But they can try it and as long as I know what the instructor taught me, it might not work. Yeah. So ‑‑ [ Laughter ]. So but even that, obstacle, as it would be called, it's really not much of an obstacle because I, too, have the internet and I can go and look up moves, too. So ‑‑ [ Laughter ]. Great answer as we wrap up here. What has been the most satisfying part to you personally to not only train with one of, if not the top fight team in all of mixed martial arts, the American team and to have a training partner and coach as you do in Ricardo Liborio personally, how satisfying has this been? Very. That's just the one word answer that I can give. It's just inexpressibly satisfying. Because for me, also, this has been a great boon in that I took off a year before going to college. So I'm using this as a placeholder, you know. You can't just stay at the house all day long while you sort stuff out so you can go to college. So I needed something to divert my energies. Divert my focus from that. And this is just ‑‑ this has just been wonderful. [Applause] Stern: So the question is how did we get to that point? And I have obviously continued with ‑‑ to learn Jiu Jitsu, continue even now with judo, wrestling, swimming, and all kinds of martial arts. The question is how do we get to this point? For me as a DeafBlind individual. Well, I have to give most credit to my parents, of course. When we came here from Jamaica, they came here on the basic assumption that a blind person, as I was then, DeafBlind, my hearing impairment didn't begin until I was about four years old. A blind person they said any disabled person has more opportunities in America. That was their basic assumption. And so they came here and, you know, they hadn't been introduced to the school for the visually impaired yet, but they basically tried to live their lives and clue me in their lives on that assumption that I had more opportunities in the United States. So although I was blind, I still went to the park. And then when ‑‑ once we got introduced to teachers of the visually impaired and I gotten rolled in public school at the age of three years old, started that awesome thing, the teachers around me still worked on that basic assumption, that I have more opportunities here in the United States. And so I was included in almost ‑‑ not almost ‑‑ all activities that the other students would be included in. So that included going outside, throwing sand and getting sand in my eyes. This is where I want to stop for a minute and highlight something. Being active is never risk‑free. It's never risk‑free. [ Laughter ]. [Applause] that's something as we get older, both on the professional side and from the perspective of someone who is DeafBlind, certainly becomes like ‑‑ it's a god that we worship to the exclusion of all else. Not realizing that to be truly active and involved is never going to be risk‑free. I remember being four or five years old and knowing like three different words for bumps sustain on head from colliding with objects that didn't move. [ Laughter ]. You know? There was one time when I went to the hospital because I was running and I ran eye first, you know, I ran eye first into a fence. You know. And I spent half of that afternoon in the hospital. I also remember one time TBI was indulging me in one much my favorite pastimes running as fast as possible with my sighted guide. I was running, running, on my tippy toes like this. Sorry, we're not going anywhere. We were running, I tripped and slid along my face, yeah, it hurt. [ Laughter ]. But you know what else? It was fun! And so let's just remember that as we go further into the discussion. I have a feeling [indiscernible] physical activity is never going to be risk‑free. It's not something that we should strive for. If that's something we strive for, I think we end up cheating ourselves as either people with disabilities or professionals who work with people with disabilities. So as I got older, you know, I started losing my ‑‑ I started losing my hearing more specifically and I think that I discussed this in other venues, there's a mentality that adults have that starts as you get older, that stops looking at inclusion as something that has to or should happen and starts worrying about I don't know ‑‑ worrying too much about the ‑‑ the why. Instead of the how. I called the positive way to do this, I call it the mentality of a child. Because children, they haven't set their boundaries about what reality should be. So they are willing to include any and everything once they figure it out. In fact they don't even insist on figuring it out before they include you, right? [ Laughter ]. They are not like oh, mommy went away, mommy came back, mommy used to be ‑‑ she's not mommy anymore. No. They just accept reality. And then they incorporate what has changed into their reality. So this was always the case for me when I was blind ‑‑ when I was blind?!! What. Okay. [ Laughter ]. When I was younger. I forget sometimes. [ Laughter ]. So ... this was the case when I was younger because, you know, neither I nor my peers have these preconceptions of what reality ought to be. We don't say oh, he can't do back flips over the bar at the top of the slide because he can't see to do it. No! If I ask them, hey, how are you doing that back flip? They say come, feel me. I would feel them. I would emulate them based on that. There's no preconception that says oh, he can't see so he can't imitate, this can't work, can't conceivably work. All of the literature in education show that children learn by sight. That's what doctor ‑‑ I don't know any doctor's name. Dr. Phil [indiscernible] says. Yeah, now that you are an adult, you start worrying too much about literature, too much about how things ought to be. And you know ‑‑ you lose the creativity, the innovation that makes you include automatically. So I began to lose it, quite frankly, it was a stressful time. Middle school, high school was a stressful time because I was losing that ‑‑ I was losing what physical activity gives you. What ‑‑ what ‑‑ all right. Let me see how to phrase this. What I discovered about physical activity once I gained it, is it animates so many different things. It animates the willingness to reach out. Now because I'm in Jujitsu I can reach out to anyone and everyone to find out more about Jujitsu, to find out are there any training places for Jiu Jitsu. It animates me to reach out socially. It also animates me to be more proactive in terms of, you know, independent O&M, orientation and mobility, and Criss Cole understands this very well because it's why they do a lot of interspace O&M. They find out what consumers are interested in and say all right, we're going to use your interest and drive you even when you're scared to death of using the cane, you will use that interest to drive you out of your shell so that you are more proactive in your orientation mobility. So it animates that. Also, physical activity also animates political engagement because once you realize, oh, my town does not have the public transportation that I need or does not have the resources that I need to maintain my physical activity, oh, I need to make a change. I need to advocate. I need to call my Governor to make sure he does something. And so I didn't have all of this in middle school and high school. The one thing I did have that kept me sane basically was band practice. That was all I woke up for basically in middle school and in high school, band practice and certain academic pursuits. Once I got into college, now, that's when I really started ‑‑ especially through the benefit of moving to someone ‑‑ staying somewhere like Austin where they did have good public transportation, I found I really picked up my physical activity again. I started getting more involved in Jiu Jitsu and judo and wrestling. I started just randomly going out, going to restaurants, going to bike shops. I also started to do improv comedy. [ Laughter ]. And again, you don't realize how much physical activity animates. Oh, they say oh, it's indoors, and it is, awesome, but we find out what are the it animates that makes you want to reach out to people. It gives you the a confidence to reach out to people. Again, it gives you the willingness or the need to politically advocate for yourself in order to better your access. So I think that's basically what I wanted to leave you guys with this morning, an expanded view of what physical activity allows for persons who are DeafBlind. There's just so many different opportunities that I've been exposed to through being in Jiu Jitsu for one. Like I have been able to stay at people's houses when I drop into a city because I did Jiu Jitsu. I've been able to ‑‑ the president of the Texas Tech Jiu Jitsu club, there's just so many opportunities, so many connection. And that's another important thing. We lose track of how important connections are for human beings, but we are automatically social creatures. So the idea that we can do it alone or simply exist as I was existing in middle school really by just reading books doesn't work. It doesn't work. And so I hope I have said enough, and I'm sure Andrew will definitely say enough [ Laughter ]. I know Andrew, we had lunch together. [ Laughter ]. Very physically active guy. But I hope that all of us will continue working together to encourage physical activity, return to that mindset that children have and don't worry about what we think should be, but basically assume no limits to our world until some adult steps in and changes our mind. [Applause]. But that's it. [Applause]. **Andrew Cohen signs and an interpreter speaks. A "pro-tactile" communicator stands behind Andrew, providing him with information about audience reactions.** Andrew Cohen: Hello, everyone. Hello, hello. How are y'all doing today? You know, this year the symposium theme is what? Is making connections. Connections. Wow. That word connections, I don't know about you all, but really I love to meet different people, interact with different people, and connect with different people and new people from all over. Recently I made a connection with a friend of mine, last week, and I went over to his house and we were joking around with each other and catching up on old times, and he let me know, you know, I was really ready to make a connection, you know, with my children. And my son got home one day, my friend was telling me, and his father asked him, he said, come here. I heard that today is grade, report card day. [ Laughter ] And I said okay ‑‑ he said come here, son, give me your report card. The son looked at him and said, uh, I don't have it. [ Laughter ]. And then my friend, his dad says why don't you have it? Where is the report card? And the son looked back at him and he said I gave it to my friend because he wanted to scare his parents. [ Laughter ]. So David Wiley from the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, TSBVI is the acronym, I connected with him, and he asked me to come up and give a presentation about the camp for the ‑‑ the DeafBlind camp and having a camp established for people that are DeafBlind for 18 years and older. I said I know, I know exactly what you're envisioning. Well, let me back up just a second. We have the category of people that can't see and they can't hear in the middle of the woods, the forest. [ Laughter ] Without supervision. [ Laughter ]. So what's the worst that could happen, right? [ Laughter ]. They are feeling around through the forest and say why are you so hairy? You smell like honey. [ Laughter ]. So I could stand today and give a presentation about the DeafBlind camp, but the research has already proven again and again that it's much better to show than to tell. And that's exactly what I'm going to do right now. So I'm very, very excited that we have a debut of our video. It's our first video that we've made for the DeafBlind camp of Texas. Yay. [Applause]. But one thing before we go ahead and start the video, I'd like to explain a little bit of information about what the video is going to be ‑‑ what's going to be included in the video. We have DeafBlind and we have the audience so that you can all envision what we're getting ready to see. It's about a two‑minute video and that's all. And there's no talking throughout the video. There's only music that's playing, inspirational music. Really will send chills throughout your body. [ Laughter ]. And then when the video starts you will see the next slides that will come up and they will have captioning that explains what is going on as the video progresses. And let me see... it's a place where deaf and blind people from Texas and all over can get together and take advantage of the opportunity to embark on a your of unforgettable experiences ‑‑ on a journey of unforgettable experiences. You will see different clips that we'll show, different activities that we do at the camp. First of all, we'd like the people, you know ‑‑ having people sitting around a bonfire, people that actually do some ziplining. They crawl up a big pole, they zipline down. And then they have a really high swing that they climb up this big pole and swing on. And then you will have people that are doing slip and slide where they have water coming through and they can run and jump and slide down the slide with the water. And then the other thing that you will see is some dancing, of course. We must have some dancing. [ Laughter ]. It's not a camp without dancing. You might see some twerking like this. [ Laughter ]. Dr. Gibson, welcome to America. [ Laughter ]. Let me think of what else... People, you know, will watch and enjoy the show and then at the end people ‑‑ all of the DeafBlind group gets together and they do like a wave thing as a group. So are we ready to watch the video? Okay. Let's proceed. [Video playing]. [ Music playing]. [Applause] Cohen: Well, what did you guys think of that? What did you think of the video? [Applause] Very well done, really excited. We knocked it out of the park. So I guess that's it for me. Who is hungry? Anybody hungry? Dr. Gibson is buying, I hear. [ Laughter ]. No, let's see. What else do we have? So, the video that we made really exemplifies the ‑‑ what the DeafBlind camp is all about. It really is about making connections. And that is exactly what the co‑founders had in mind when envisioning this camp. For DeafBlind people to make connections with each other. To build and form these connections forever. And that's ‑‑ that's really it. Again, we just are a little nervous, maybe a little, because, you know, how do you make sure that ‑‑ that nobody gets, you know, no DeafBlind participants get lost or their safety or, worse, maybe play with fire. Smokey the Bear, playing fire with Smokey the Bear. I don't think a white cane will help in that situation, fighting Smokey. Or is it maybe retractible? A retractible cane. Well, we set this up for the local communities and I want to get really a pulse for what you guys think. Is that something that you would go to? We've heard, you know, such an overwhelming response that people really would want to come. And so ‑‑ so we are in the works now. It's built. That's all that's needed. We just need volunteers, staff, DeafBlind, to come together to make the camp really work in one cohesive way. It's really a beautiful thing to see. The success of the camp is just tremendous. Beautiful. And in my humble opinion, the reason why it works out so well, is because of the people involved. Because they accept each other for who they are, and that's it's. That's all that's necessary. We are hoping to continue to grow this organization. Last year, we had a pilot weekend, and this year it's not going to be a pilot weekend, it will be the full program for the week. From August 13th, Sunday, to Friday, August the 18th. It will be for ‑‑ it will be open for everyone. In fact, we just received an application from halfway across the world in Germany. Attendee: Wow! [Applause] Cohen: Imagine, they want to come to the DeafBlind camp from across the world. That's right, that is applause worthy. [Applause] Yes, I will let you do it. It's not an easy job, mind you, running a camp of this size. And it requires a lot of help a lot of support from a lot of people, a lot of volunteers, a lot of money and donations and support and the like. But ... the rewards of the experience are countless. And priceless. They really are. We are going to have some fundraising activities coming up. We have the iFly event, the wind tunnel place where you can experience sky diving in a wind tunnel. Which is really fun. And I believe another event coming up is a luncheon that we will be having. As a DeafBlind individual who works for ‑‑ a DeafBlind individual who works for Sprint is going to be coming and saying a few words about IP relay, a director of DeafBlind communication for Sprint, so that is a very cool guy. We will also be having a golf fundraiser. Maybe, we'll have to see, we may have a wrestling competition with Smokey the Bear, I don't know. [ Laughter ]. We are still negotiating all of the terms, we will see how that goes. The different fundraising activities will be listed on the website. As well as our social media outlets, Facebook, Twitter, instagram and a few others that we will be posting on. And now with that aside, I would like to take this opportunity and really get another idea as to how you guys feel about this. Are you ready? So, let me see by a show of hands, who of you here would like to see the idea of setting up a DeafBlind camp of Texas, a junior camp? [Applause] For children, teenagers, and adolescents. Show of hands. Any interest in that? I see ‑‑ I see some hands coming up. So, yes. Absolutely. Wonderful idea. So again, it's not going to be an easy task. An easy endeavor. But it requires a lot of help from you guys. We will need your help to come forth and get this done. So if you are excited about helping us, enthusiastic, please come see us. Look at the website. We'll have tables set up in the front, and be happy to mingle with you any time during the conference. And so, again, I wanted to thank you for your time and hopefully you enjoy the rest of your time here. And now, who's hungry for lunch? By a show of hands, I hear Dr. Gibson is paying for the appetizers, right? So ... thank you, everyone. [Applause] thanks for coming.