- Hey, I'm Molly Burke and I might not look like it,
but I'm pretty much completely blind.
[soft music]
In a room of blind people,
I'm usually the second most blind.
Blindness is a very wide spectrum,
it starts at the legally blind mark
which is 20 over 200, meaning what you could see
from 200 feet away from, that person would have
to be 20 feet away from.
If the room has large windows and if somebody
happened to be standing against that large window,
I could see somewhat of a shape.
Somebody like me has photophobia.
So photophobia is severe light sensitivity.
So it's kind of a catch 22,
light helps me see a little bit more,
but I'm also extremely sensitive to lights.
A lot of sighted people would experience photophobia
when they go from a movie theater during the day
and they go outside after spending two hours in the darkness
and they're like, "Oh my God!"
And it really hurts their eyes
and it takes a while to adjust,
that's what I experience pretty much
every time I'm in sunlight.
[soft music]
It's really hard when you have vision loss as a child
because that's all you know,
you don't know how to tell people I don't see that,
because you think that that's
what everybody else is looking at.
In my case, I've been fully night blind from birth,
so in dim and dark lighting,
I've always been completely blind
but then during the day I could see
so I was just like this normal kid, running around.
Soccer was a really great sport for me
because the ball was black and white against a green field
and so I could really track the ball very well.
They called me a bit of a ball hog in soccer.
If I lost the ball, I probably wouldn't be able
to find it again, so once I got that ball, I stuck with it.
I think I was around 11 years old
when I really noticed myself, sitting in grade six,
that I wasn't seeing as much as I had the previous year.
Everybody with my disease is completely different
and so in my case, I ended up losing the majority of it
when I was in grade eight at 14.
So I began pre braille training,
which then led to learning braille.
Pre braille training is finger strengthening
and sensitization.
So braille is, you know, it's a very delicate language,
you're feeling these very tiny dots with tips of fingers.
The things that they would do to help train
my fingers to be sensitive would be things like
having a book of fabrics and they would have me
identify which two of the six fabrics were the same fabric.
And increasingly as they would flip the page,
the materials would get closer and closer
to the point where it would all be velvet
but I would have to find the two that were
the most similar texture of velvet.
I started taking O&M.
O&M, or Orientation and Mobility,
is basically helping blind people learn to navigate space.
So for every blind person this is going to be different.
For somebody like me it was learning to use a cane.
So different styles and techniques.
But also on top of physically navigating
it would be navigating through
your auditory listening skills.
So when I was young, my O&M instructor
would do things like blindfold me
and have me walk down the street and count trees
based on listening to what we call sound shadows.
Blind people a lot of times will use
either active of passive echolocation.
Active echolocation is where you click,
you snap with your tongue,
you can use a metal clicker to create sound waves
bouncing off of objects around you in space.
I was trained in passive echolocation
which is where I do not create a click,
I just use the natural sound waves created by
the universe to determine what's around me.
So, if you take your hand right now
and you close your eyes and you run your hand
by your ear, you can hear that it blocks sound.
So that's really what I'm looking for
with my passive echolocation.
I'm walking down that hall and it's blank,
I'm hearing that blank noise of the wall
and then all of a sudden, that noise opens up
for a new hallway or a doorway.
You're gonna wanna put on your headphones right now,
because you are goin to explore space through sound.
[passing traffic]
- [Traffic Light] Wait.
[traffic light beeps]
- Really I think everybody has the ability
to hear as precisely as I do, to feel,
to smell, to taste as intensely as I do,
they just don't focus on it.
[light music]
A lot of people assume, you know,
you go blind and you get a guide dog,
but that's not what it's like at all.
You have to go through those years of O&M training
to even be considered for a dog.
I went to the Mira Foundation in Quebec.
They looked at everything from my cane skills
to my auditory skills, my spacial awareness,
how comfortable I was around dogs,
what type of dog would fit my lifestyle.
And then when it comes to teaming you up
they look at everything from your walking speed
to your personality, how much do the dog and you connect.
So you spend, depending on the school,
anywhere from two weeks to a month living there,
day on day, waking up early, doing six to eight hours
of training together as a new working team.
My current guide dog, Gallop,
I have had for five and a half years,
and he went through two years of training
prior to me even receiving him.
Good whenever?
- [Female] Yep.
- Gallop.
Put your harness on.
Oui, bon chien.
Every single guide dog is trained to be
on the left side of the handler.
In my case I happen to be left handed
so it kinda worked out well.
And it's basically for flow of traffic.
All of Gallop's commands happen to be in French
because he is from Quebec, Canada.
So I'm gonna be speaking French.
Gallop.
[speaking in foreign language]
So basically I hold the leash,
kinda hooked under for easy access if I need it.
I stand like this so he's a little bit in front of my body,
and then he's able to guide me
and I just feel it all through here so we can go...
[speaking in foreign language]
Just where I've turned around.
[speaking in foreign language]
So a lot of it is a combination between words,
body language and sounds.
Other things I can ask Gallop to do is find stairs,
find a chair.
- [Female] That one has a person in it Molly, careful.
- I've taught him to find Starbucks.
I've taught him a couple English words,
so I've taught him front door.
So when we're in my neighborhood, walking around,
I can say front door and he'll take me to my apartment.
He's memorized the mall with me,
so him and I wander around the mall
and we just know where every store is.
It's weird, sometimes he'll go to stores
that I like don't even know where are located.
I'm like oh, let's go to ALDO,
and then he likes walks me to ALDO.
I'm like can this dog read?
It's actually terrifying sometimes.
But you're very sweet, hmm.
He's an animal and he's gonna make mistakes,
it's not always gonna be perfect.
For example, one time at JFK Airport
Gallop had explosive diarrhea in the hallway.
What can you do?
He's a dog.
Sometimes they get sick.
Stuff like that you definitely can run into
with a pupper like him, and he was so embarrassed,
bless his soul.
He's like, "Mom, don't tell that story!"
I'm sorry, I'm sorry baby.
It happens to the best of us.
It happens to the best of us, I know.
[gentle music]
I do my own hair and makeup, and I do it through touch.
A lot of people think if I'm blind
I shouldn't care about tattoos or makeup
or fashion or room decor but I love those things.
When I went blind I just had to find ways to make it work.
And that's really when I found YouTube as a viewer.
So for fashion, it's about quality, it's about fit,
it's about fabric, it's about construction.
All of those things matter so much more to me
than it's trendy, it's fast fashion.
My mom always gets irritated because believe me,
I will find a flaw in anything with my hands.
You won't even be able to see it with your eye
but I'm like, "Do you feel this right here?
"There's a little pull in the thread."
And my mom is like, "Oh my God, I can't even see that."
When it comes to beauty, for me it's really about self care.
Being with myself, it's art, it's expression,
it's showing the world who I am on the inside, outwardly.
A bold lip makes me feel powerful.
A soft lip makes me feel feminine.
My space buns make me feel funky and fabulous and quirky.
And I love being able to show everybody
who I am on the outside.
When I decided I wanted to start wearing makeup
my mom took me to a makeup counter,
and she had the makeup artist do my makeup,
pick all the right colors for my skin tone,
create a look that was really age appropriate.
That was my big Christmas gift that year,
she bought all the makeup that the artist used on me,
and the brushes.
And I remember I would just in my room on the weekends
and I would just play with it
and I would practice and I would go downstairs
and my mom and dad would in a loving way burst out laughing
because I would have mascara trailed down my face.
That was always the hardest part to get used to.
And then when I was working in high school
I would go on the weekends and I would
meet up with the girls at the Mac counters,
buying all the latest collections,
and that's how my, I would say,
potentially hoarding, makeup tendencies began.
For me there's two things that I look for
when I'm trying a new product out.
How it feels.
When I touch my face, does it feel like skin
or am I feeling a little too oily?
When I touch my lashes, do they feel crispy?
Do they feel like they're, you know,
getting clunky, chunky together,
or do they feel really soft and plush still?
So that's what I'm looking for number one.
Number two, I'm looking for feedback.
If I notice, wow, everybody's complimenting my eye look
whenever I wear cool toned eyeshadows.
I start to think maybe cool toned eyeshadows
are the look for me.
- [Niamh] Ooh, it's gorgeous.
It goes really well, the eyeshadow, with the overall look.
- That was my hope.
Thank you Niamh.
I have a lipstick holder and all of my lipsticks
are in that holder and it goes in categories.
So the first row is the nude pinks,
lightest nude pink to boldest nude pink.
Coral, lightest coral to boldest coral.
And it just goes in categories.
[gentle music]
People are still shocked when they see me
like on my cellphone.
Of course we all love things like Siri and Hey Google.
I use a program called Voiceover,
which speaks out everything that's under my finger
or under my keys.
So I'm able to navigate and just through
my finger scrolling around the screen
I'm able to text, check email.
The only thing that isn't accessible
is if an app has not chosen to be accessible.
I used Siri and I asked her to turn Voiceover on for me.
I basically just move my finger over the touchscreen
and it says whatever's underneath it,
and then say I wanna open the messages,
I double tap to open it.
So I can change the speaker, right.
So now it's at 100% so it's as fast as it can go.
Google Maps, Fitbit.
So I can still hear that at 100% speaking rate.
I can also turn it really slow.
- [Phone] 35%.
- Which is usually how sighties have to listen to it.
- [Phone] Safari.
- Safari.
Oh it sounds so slow.
I can't do it.
[gentle music]
When I'm meeting somebody I'm paying attention
to their handshake.
And that doesn't just include is it
a good strong firm handshake?
That includes how big is their hand?
How soft is their hand?
If it's a large hand and it's calloused
I'm going to start to paint the picture
of okay this is maybe a kind of burly man
who does a lot of work with his hands.
And when I shake it do I hear bracelets
clinking on the woman's wrist?
Okay she's probably into fashion.
And then on top of that I'm listening to
the sound of their voice.
How tall do I think they are based on
where I'm hearing the sound come from.
I can usually determine the age based on their voice.
When people become friends with me there's,
I'd say, a couple things that change
over the course of our relationship.
Number one, they start to feel more comfortable
laughing at my blind jokes because they realize
it's okay to laugh.
Also, they become instinctively
more descriptive with their language.
- It's a tree.
Let me see, I can turn it off round here.
- It's cute.
Sighted people, they connect through a smile,
through eye contact, and although a sighted person
can still feel that connection with me through those things,
I don't feel it back.
And so for me, I like to do things like touch their arm
or put my hand on their knee, that kind of thing,
because it makes me feel that true
physical connection to that person.
Now the touchy thing can definitely be
problematic on a date,
because that's just my way of connecting with a person,
it is not a sexual or romantic gesture for me personally.
So for me I'm like, "Don't take this the wrong way,
"this is just how I'm choosing to connect with you."
Going on a first date there's a lot of things
I have to think about.
Number one is safety.
There are some staggering and terrifying statistics
about the amount of disabled women who are raped
and sexually assaulted and abused by men.
That is something that, you know,
I think we all need to be aware of and think of,
but when you are disabled it's tenfold.
So I'll suggest a location,
and on top of kind of destination
I think of how loud is it?
Because I can't see, so if it's very loud
with lots of people and music,
now I can't see or hear,
so this is gonna be a really uncomfortable experience.
So I try to think of somewhere that's gonna be
kind of calm.
I really prefer daytime dates
because it does give me a bit more light,
which potentially will allow me to see a little bit more
and make me feel more comfortable in that way.
So there's a lot of things that I take into consideration
when going on a first date.
That the guy will never even know.
[gentle music]
When you are interacting with a blind person
the number one thing is don't grab them.
And that's very jarring and scary.
I don't know you, therefore I don't have a lot of trust,
and if you're pushing me across a city street,
that doesn't feel very safe for me.
Sighted guide is the appropriate way
to assist a blind person,
whether it's crossing the street,
navigating through a restaurant, whatever.
And so the way to do that is to offer an elbow.
Put your hand on their shoulder and say
hi, just wondering, I noticed you're at this sidewalk
for a while, would you like some help crossing the street?
If they say no, believe them.
If they say yes you can say I'd like to offer you my elbow.
And then you put your arm out, we will grab your elbow,
and we will follow you that way.
When talking, if you're in a work environment
and somebody who's blind has started working there,
every time you talk to that person in the staff room,
in the kitchen, wherever you are,
say hey Molly, it's Sarah from HR.
Hey Molly, it's Sarah from HR.
And after time of that happening enough,
I'll just know your voice and I'll know who you are
so you won't have to do that.
A definite don't is touching the guide dog
and talking to the guide dog.
A lot of people do things like I know I can't pet you
but you're really cute and I really want to.
And I'm like the reason you can't pet him
is because it distracts him,
and that is just as distracting.
I know it's tough, especially because it seems
everybody is a dog lover.
But, the best thing you can do is ignore the dog
and speak to the human.
[gentle music]
Horseback riding and downhill skiing
are my biggest passions hobby-wise.
Growing up I was very athletic.
I played pretty much every sport and activity imaginable.
Rep soccer was truly, like it felt like
a part of my identity as a kid,
but as I slowly was losing my vision
I was becoming a danger to myself and my teammates.
That was really tough on me and so my parents
knew that every time they took away an activity
they needed to fill that gap in my schedule
with an accessible activity.
And that's when they replaced it
with accessible downhill skiing.
I ski with a guide behind me.
If the hill's busy he'll yell my turns.
He'll say left, right, stop.
But if not they'll be like you ski,
and I will ski and I will feel free
and I go really fast 'cause I love going really fast
down like a black diamond, just barrelling down.
Honestly, most sports you can find a way to accommodate.
Cycling, tandem bicycles.
Baseball, beep ball.
And then there's things like goalball,
which are a specific sport for the blind.
Goalball is cray cray, highly recommend looking it up.
It's nuts.
There's this really hard, heavy rubber ball
and there's bells inside.
And you whip the ball at the opponents
on the other side of the court,
and you dive for the ball with your entire body,
which means you could get smashed in the nose,
in the crotch, or anywhere else.
Dangerous sport my friends, play at your own risk.
[gentle music]
Ride sharing apps have made a world of a difference
in terms of my ability as a blind person who cannot drive.
However, every single time I have to be scared,
worried about, consider the fact that they might
deny me access into their vehicle because of my service dog.
By law they're not allowed to do that
but it doesn't stop them from doing it.
They would just see me, realize that I was gonna
be the one getting in their car,
and they wouldn't even stop.
It's really hard because my service dog isn't a choice,
my service dog is a need.
So if I'm with a friend or a family member
and we order a ride sharing car,
I will hide.
I will literally hide.
Then once the car arrives, whoever I'm with will
open the door so the car can no longer drive away,
and I will begin to approach.
At that point whoever I'm with begins
to explain to them this person is blind,
she navigates the world with a guide dog,
the guide dog will lay on the floor.
We cover all the bases.
Usually if they're gonna argue it or try to deny me,
that's when they just go, "No dog, I don't accept dogs,
"I can't have a dog, he's gonna pee in my car,
"he's gonna bite me, what if he's dirty?
"I can't have hair on the seats for future riders."
The amount of things that people have tried to tell me
as reasons why they won't let my dog in their car
is absolutely absurd.
It's so frustrating.
And the thing is, by law, as a guide dog user
I have to keep my guide dog clean and well behaved.
And I do those things.
My guide dog gets groomed every six weeks, professionally,
which is as much as I'm allowed to because he has dry skin.
He smells delightful, 'cause trust me,
I don't wanna be the blind girl with the smelly dog either.
Some things that I utilize on a daily basis
that are built into our environment around us
are things like I call it sidewalk braille.
It's the bumps at sidewalk crossings.
So that is designed as a tactile marker for blind people.
Vibrating sidewalk crossings.
I push the button, I hold my hand on it,
and when it's time to cross it'll begin
to vibrate under my hand and I know it's time to go.
I also use braille signage a lot,
braille buttons on elevator doors,
washroom doors to say men's or women's,
things like that.
[gentle music]
Currently I'm lucky enough that I can afford to
do a food delivery service.
So every single night my meals are delivered to my door,
that I just put in the fridge, get out,
and I can either heat it up or just toss it into a bowl,
which makes life so easy with my busy schedule.
But in terms of grocery shopping,
currently I also live in a full service building.
They will do grocery shopping for you
and put the groceries in your fridge once a week.
Alternatives to things like that would be Instacart.
A lot of cities now have Instacart
which is great for blind people.
But also, if you're just somebody who loves
going into the grocery store yourself,
you can always go up to the help desk in a grocery store.
I used to do this when I lived alone downtown Toronto.
I would come in with my shopping list
and one of their staff would walk
around the grocery store with me
and say, "I see you have olives.
"We have these kinds of olives,
"this is the price of these different ones,
"which one would you want?"
And they'll put it in the cart
and they'll help me until I'm ready to head home.
[gentle music]
Netflix is definitely where I do most of my
media consumption outside of YouTube.
Netflix is really dedicated to audio description
for the blind.
All Netflix originals have audio description,
and quite a number of their licensed programs as well.
And that's basically a secondary audio track
that plays alongside the show or the movie,
that describes things that you might miss as a blind viewer.
They kind of fill in some of the gaps for you
- [Male] What was the beginning?
- [Audio Description] In archival video
men swim, drive and ice skate with cheetahs,
lions and tigers.
- [Male] Animal people are nuts, man.
- I love that now Netlix offers so much described video
because that wasn't something that was
available to me growing up,
and I realize how much as a child I really was missing out.
[gentle music]
Now, it continues to get trickier and trickier
because of the use of fake service dogs,
the misuse of emotional support animals,
and honestly the misconceptions around disability.
I don't look blind.
I don't like disabled.
They just assume that I'm another one of those
fake service dog users or misusers
of emotional support animals.
I have pretty much always gotten asked
oh are you training that dog?
And I'm like, "No, he's my guide dog, I'm blind."
And then it inevitably ends up being like
a 25 minute conversation where they ask me
all the things they've ever wanted to know
about blind people and I have to educate them
on why all of these stereotypes
and misconceptions they hold due to the way
media has historically painted blind people
is in fact not true.
But honestly, even though it takes time out of my day
and it can be frustrating sometimes,
that's my passion, it's the reason I make YouTube videos,
it's the reason I post everyday on Instagram,
it's the reason I am a public speaker,
it's the reason I wrote my audiobook,
because I'm passionate about education,
because I believe education is the key
to breaking down so many barriers
and the discrimination that disabled people
still face on a daily basis.
[gentle music]
I prefer for people to just call me blind
because it's what I am.
People seem very afraid of the B word.
They wanna call me like she's visually impaired,
she doesn't see as well.
Blind is my reality, you're not the first one telling me,
I am aware of my situation.
You can just say blind.
I always try to make it clear that
I'm not speaking for blind people,
I am speaking for Molly and Molly is blind.
I am sharing my personal experiences,
and what I can share about my community
from what I know living in and growing up in the community.
There's so many blessings that my blindness has given me
that I wouldn't trade for anything.
And I think I have a better sense of self
and a better direction in life
and more passion than any other 26 year old I know.
And I wouldn't have that without this.
And honestly I don't know who I'd be
if I got my sight back, and I don't wanna know,
because this is who I believe I was meant to be
and the life that I was meant to have
and I'm able to actually create change through that
and that's a beautiful thing.