Hey everyone, I'm Shakti
And today I've got Lizara and Emma with me
Lizara, the last time I saw you was on Who Cares Stare!
I was on that show as well, and that was almost ten years ago
I was like this little, I was so small. What's been happening in your life since then? What are you into now?
So I'm into more cooking, fashion
And you said you're doing sports a lot more now, right?
Yes, I do, I swim twice a week, I go to the gym twice a week, so I try and keep fit if I can
Yeah
I'm so glad you guys could join me today. I've got this fortune teller in front of me,
I don't know if you guys can remember this from primary school? Who'd like to go first?
- Blue. - B - L - U
- E - E!
Oooh. Can you believe I did that again? That's amazing.
It's okay don't worry I'm more embarrassed, that's fine
This might be an interesting question for you; Has your disability changed over time?
Oooh. Yes. It so has, like so much, and it still is.
One of my disabilities is Cerebral palsy. You know it's a huge spectrum of disability
and I think there's a lot of assumptions made about that so, when I was born I had a Grade 4 brain haemorrhage
which lead to Hydrocephalus and then I had two brain surgeries, then I was actually pretty normal
"Normal"
Ooh, yeah. I actually hate that word I can't believe I just said it
But there wasn't really anything noticeably different in terms of disability about me
until I was about seven when I started having seizures so I've been like in pain for the last six years
As well as having the Cerebral palsy, and I've actually only used a wheelchair for three years
People would just assume that, sometimes, "Oh yeah this is just how it is for you"
and you, you know, got this. But I'm just like, I don't got this, it's different to how it was yesterday
Yeah that's crazy. So it's like a dynamic thing that's always shifting around
How about you, Lizara, do you think your disability has changed over time or like the way people see you
has changed since you were a kid?
- I act like a norm... hmmm. - Yeah, right?
It's weird I say the word as well right it's weird say normal
Yeah I don't normally feel like I've got Down syndrome, but yeah
Do you feel like... everyone else, right? Yeah it's only the way people see you not how you see yourself
Yeah
Cause I think that's something we all share, right, we all see ourselves as people who are just doing life
and doing the things that they like
Even at school l get... I talk to norm... to
People at school and I don't get picked on or anything
- You don't get picked on - No
Alright, I'm gonna go for the green, cause I'm wearing some green
okay, alright alright. G - R - E - E - N
Then you gotta choose a number
- Number one - Okay, one
If you could give advice to your younger self, what would it be?
I mean it's so crazy because growing up my health issues and disabilities actually changed quite a lot
Looking back over the time I was at school for example,
I would just say, be who you are and let people get to know who you are
Because I just feel like I was too quiet and there was a whole me in there that never came out
never expressed themselves and never let people even know what their needs were
and I think that that could have been really useful for me and a lot of other people aswell
Let's go again. I'll do your one
- Orange - O - R - A - N - G - E
alright, choose a number
Two
What are your dreams, Emma? What would you like to do in the future
I kept changing my mind on this, and I think about it everyday. So currently with my bachelor of arts
I've got quite a passion for public health and how housing, health, education,
you know it all affects your wellbeing. So I would quite like to go into doing a post graduate
in development studies, and then possibly public policy
My future ambitions are to really go outside of my comfort zone and also go outside of
what other people - as in go outside of what really might be possible for me, as in make life as difficult
as possible, so that we can make as much difference as possible.
I like how you said that you don't expect to go into something disability related, but there's something
in your head that's kinda like, I wanna help though
That's awesome. Lizara? I see you over there.
So my dream is to definitely have, own or use a cafe, in my cooking industry
Mum likes to live near the beach and I would do the same thing, but living underneath them
I don't like being alone
- That's fair
Even though I'm 18 and I should, but...
- You should do what's best for you - Yeah - Yeah
I actually have... as soon as you said cafe, I had this big question, I'm like
- what is the number one food you would want to... - Eat?
...to have in your cafe?
Probably savoury, even though I'm not sweet tooth
but my sister's the opposite, not really the opposite but she's sweet and I'm savoury
Same, girl
Same, same!
What kinda things are you doing now that could help you get there?
So I work in the canteen at school, so I help cook up pasta, make pizza dough, and things like that
and I enjoy it. So I do that every... not every hour, but I do an hour session in the canteen
Everyone has different abilities, and the way that Iearn is gonna be different from the way you guys learn
Is there a way that works for you?
So i'm visual, so I have to look at it. So if i'm making something, like a coffee for instance
I have to look at it before I actually try and attempt it.
Otherwise it like... cause I came home with an assignment which was just writing, and I was reading it
and thinking I don't get it, cause I need to have a look at it. So I got photos from the internet
and then I kinda know how it works.
- How about you, Emma? - Yeah - How would you interpret that?
Yeah that's a great question cause when I started highschool
I suddenly fell behind, and so at the end of my first year of highschool I suddenly got diagnosed
with a specified learning disability, but that actually was a really positive thing because I got
some extra time to do my exams and things
You see it as like a positive experience, is that because like, you got the extra support that could
help you learn in a way that was better for you?
Yeah, totally. I mean why should we see anything as negative when we find a solution for it
Do you know what I mean? If you've got needs, you've got needs, do you let that have a negative impact
on you if you've got support around it
Yeah
And I think that's where it comes down to having a web of support, it's not just your family
or just your teachers it's a team effort around a person and then that helps you in turn to help others, you know?
It's feeling confident you've got the right support, which is something i've learnt a lot about
and it's enabled me to help out others when they've needed it
I love that
what is possible in our lives is always changing and it might not be apparent
but the thing is, you got to look at the small things, and look at the small things that are possible,
and then one day you'll see the big things that are possible and it's just holding out for those big things
that I think makes it all worth it
I've learned a lot today from both of you, and it's been amazing, so thank you so much for coming
- Till next time - Thanks for having us
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