Transcript

Who here is hoping for a good rainstorm? I don’t know about you but I am always hoping for a good rainstorm and here is why. Somewhere, somehow after a rainstorm there is always guaranteed to be a rainbow. This is a fact of science, but, it is also a fact in life. In fact, let me tell you about one of my earliest rainstorms and the beautiful rainbow that came out of it.

It all started in the fifth grade. Now, without going into too much detail, let’s just say the fifth grade was a big change that I was not ready for. Fifth grade was indeed my rainstorm, but I did get my rainbow. One day, my teacher assigned me a book report. I had to read a biography and then I had to go in front of the class and present as if I was the person I read about. Now, a week before this, my teacher assistant came up to me and said, “Rachel, you need to read this book”. The name of the book was “Who Was Helen Keller?” Now, for those of you who do not know, Helen Keller was an individual who was blind and deaf and she went on to advocate for people with disabilities.

Before this, I knew I had a disability, but I did not identify myself as part of the disabled community. After reading this book, after actually becoming Helen Keller, I, Rachel Ferreira, began to identify myself as part of the disabled community. Fifth grade was indeed my rainstorm, but that book, that book entitled “Who Was Helen Keller?” that was my rainbow.

Now, fast forward to my senior year of high school, yet another rainstorm, and, yet again, I did get my rainbow. There were certain teachers in my high school that did not think I would not be able to handle a four year college, but I had my heart set on University of Rhode Island and throughout my entire life, my mom and dad had been my constant rainbows. And they said, “Rachel, if you want to go to the University of Rhode Island, we will figure out a way for you to be successful there.” So with my mom and dad by my side, I began to apply. And you know, when you apply for any college, you need to write your college essay. And I wrote my essay on overcoming adversity and how I plan to do this at the university.

Now, from this paper came my personal values statement and it goes a little something like this. “My disability does not limit me, but rather inspires who I am and what I can offer the world.” So, who am I? My name is Rachel Ferreira and I am a senior at the University of Rhode Island. I am a health studies major with a minor in leadership. I also sit on the President’s Commission on People With Disabilities. In high school, my goal was to get into the University of Rhode Island. Now my goal is to graduate from the University of Rhode Island. And you know, one of the things that I love about being here is the diversity you can find on campus. You can tell that diversity is a core value right here at University of Rhode Island. We even have an entire week dedicated to diversity and this got me thinking one day: race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation. They are all part of this umbrella term called diversity. But where is disability? Disability is out in left field.

My friends, it is time to change it up. It is time to make disability a key part of diversity. So now I have a question for you: what do you think when you hear the word disability? I know I think of not being able, needing help, walkers, wheelchairs, medicine. Okay, stop! I don’t know about you, but that is way too much negativity to me.

My friends, I hope you like math because I have a little math equation for you. What do you get when you take the word disability, take away the “s”, and add an “f”? Difability! So what just happened? You went from disability, from not being able, to difability, to differently abled. Now, let me explain this concept with a personal example. As a college student with a disability, I am always trying to climb the ladder of independence. To do this, I decided to take a cooking class. Now, before you all freak out, I still have all 10 of my fingers and I did not kill anyone, yet. Anyway, so I am in cooking class one night and on this particular night we are making ravioli. The last thing you need to do when making raviolis is take the big pot of boiling water, carry it over to the sink, and you need to dump the raviolis out. Now as my teacher is saying this, I just look at her thinking how am I supposed to do that? Here’s how I did it. Instead of dumping the raviolis out, I scooped the raviolis. What happened in the end? I still made raviolis, I just did it a little differently, difability.

So how should I take this idea of difability and diversity and how am I going to change it up for my community. My friends, let’s go back to my role model for a minute, Helen Keller. Helen Keller was nothing without her teacher and mentor Anne Sullivan. Similarly, I would not be anywhere without my teacher and mentor Dr. Leslie Mahler. Dr. Mahler and I have been working together for a little under 6 years. And with this incredible woman by my side, I have gone on to create disability trainings and I have done trainings in the dining department and the leadership department. I am also in constant communication with other departments and organizations to set up disability trainings for them as well. But, my friends, I cannot do this alone. So my final question to do is this: how can we, as a community, come together and change the way disability is viewed in everyday society? My friends, take an example from my parents and my mentors. Be someone’s rainbow, you might just find your own rainbow and don’t forget to hashtag the word difability. It means different ability. My name is Rachel Ferreira and my difability does not limit me, but rather inspires who I am and what I have to offer the world. Thank you.