- Could you tell if a person is physically attractive?
- No. (laughs)
You don't go around being like, "Nice to meet you."
Just had to clear that up. (giggles)
- If you were in a room alone
with someone who was blind, what would you ask?
This video was sponsored by Google.
(upbeat music)
Hey good humans, Milky here.
As many of our Jubilee fans know,
we prioritize inclusion
and creating empathy-driven conversations.
That's why I'm excited to talk
about our new partnership with Google
in this special episode of Ask Me Anything.
In this collaboration,
Google and Jubilee are both committed
to creating a more accessible world.
One of Jubilee's goals is to be a space of belonging
for everyone through the power of deep
and meaningful dialogue.
But we wanna make having these discussions
truly accessible for all.
Accessibility has been a priority for Google.
It's a mindset and in every evolving journey,
especially in eliminating stereotypes
in the representation of people with disabilities.
And in this episode of Ask Me Anything,
look out for moments where our hero
uses the Google accessibility features.
For people in the disabled community
who need easy accessibility,
the voice access is there to help control your phone.
Simply by talking out loud.
Starting with... - Hey, Google. Voice access.
- Features like the voice guidance,
which empowers individuals who are blind or low vision,
to get around with detailed voice announcements
for walking trips with Google Maps.
And the talk-back feature, which speaks aloud the screen,
navigates through apps and facilitates communication
with braille voice and keyboard.
Google cares about what they make,
making sure it is for everyone.
Because in a world where everyone belongs,
anything is possible.
So to learn more about how Google is creating a world
where everyone can belong, check out the link,
Belonging.Google in the description below
and then let's get into the video.
- Hi.
- My name is Mason.
- My name's Precious. Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you. How old are you?
- I am 24.
- Do you mind me asking you
what's your profession and what you do for a living?
- So, I am a singer-songwriter
and I also am a music educator.
And I'm membership chair of a coalition called RAMPD,
which stands for Recording Artists
and Music Professionals with Disabilities.
And my personal goal is to be the first blind Latina
at the forefront of the Latin music industry.
- So have you always been blind?
- Yeah, so I was born blind.
I was actually born early.
They had to give me oxygen and as a result,
my retinas kind of detached
and my eyes weren't fully developed.
And as far as color, I can't see any colors,
but I kind of think of colors by association.
So the sky is blue, but then like turquoise is the ocean.
Pink is my favorite color.
- I was gonna ask you, even though you can't see colors,
what color would you use to describe yourself?
- Oh yeah, definitely pink.
- Definitely pink. - Definitely pink.
(Precious giggling) - Pink's a great color.
It's my favorite color too.
- Oh, cool.
- Do you experience any visual sensations
when you play or listen to music?
- I do not.
- You don't? - I don't have synesthesia,
unfortunately.
So synesthesia is when you hear music or play music,
music has a taste or a visual or a color.
Not something I have,
but there are people that do have it. (giggles)
- Are you still able to daydream or see images in your head?
- In my dreams, I don't see anything.
So, because I've never had sight,
everything that happens is made up by all of the images
that I've conjured in my head
based on soundscapes and what I've heard
and people's voices and all these different things.
- What's the most frustrating about being blind?
- How everybody else looks at me.
Like how people who don't understand or don't know
or are ignorant about it think of me as incapable
or they view me as a child.
Something called infantilization,
which views disabled people as children.
- How much harder would you say it is
to be in the music industry as a blind musician?
- We do have to work 10 times harder.
It's not just thinking about,
"Am I ready for this gig? Or am I prepared?"
It's, "Can I get access to this gig?
Is there gonna be somebody to help me around
if I don't know how to get around
'cause I'm not familiar with the gig?
Will I not get the gig just because I'm disabled,
but nobody's actually gonna tell me that's the reason?"
There's a lot of different things
and as far as accessibility within the industry,
it's not something that's universal yet.
- So my next question is how's the dating scene for you
as a blind individual?
- So for me, I'm actually about to get married.
So, I have a fiance. - Congrats, congrats.
- How did you meet your husband or your fiance?
- We met through a mutual friend like eight years ago.
- That's awesome. And he's also blind?
- He is, yeah.
It's really awesome
because you don't have to explain
all the intricacies of how something feels sometimes.
'Cause if you're not going through it,
some things people just can't really understand fully.
Sometimes people assume that you have a sighted partner
that's gonna take care of you.
I was getting my nails done the other day
and the lady was like,
"Your husband's gonna be happy to see your nails."
And I was like, (giggles) "You don't know." (giggles)
- Could you tell if a person is physically attractive?
- No. (giggles)
I don't know. I don't really think about that
to be real with you.
I look at people's personalities more.
I'd notice voices. That was a big thing.
Or height is something I can definitely notice.
Obviously, if you end up getting close to the person
and you start like feeling on their face, by the way,
blind people don't feel people's faces.
That's not a thing.
Unless you're super close to someone that you're dating.
You don't go around being like, "Nice to meet you."
We don't do that.
Nobody wants to feel somebody's oily skin.
- Is your disability, would you say,
accurately presented in the media?
- Definitely not.
I don't know.
People always think that blind person
has a cane and sunglasses.
A lot of the time, people aren't using the canes correctly
or rarely at all.
- I'm actually someone who's also considered disabled.
- Really? - Yeah, I was born
with a smaller left hand.
- Oh, wow. - So I thought this would be
a great conversation to have. - That's so cool.
Disabled buddies.
- (laughs) Yeah, exactly. - Here for it.
- Let's start a club.
We could do it. - Let's do it.
- How have you felt about the term disabled growing up?
- I identify as a blind person.
And so, people will say handicapped,
which honestly feels way more limiting
and I don't like the use of that word.
Disability is not a bad word.
Disabled is not a bad word.
And I think society's been taught that it is.
- Is there anything that people without a disability
could do to help make people with a disability lives easier?
- Ask questions.
There's this whole thing where if a child asks a question
about somebody they see that's different than them,
their parents are like,
"Sh, don't ask that. Don't say that."
We want you to ask
because how are they gonna know otherwise?
- Right.
- I work with small children.
A lot of the questions I got when they saw me in person was,
"Miss. Precious. What's wrong with your eyes?
What happened to your eyes? Do they hurt?"
- Yeah. I'm actually an elementary school teacher.
- Oh, no way. I'm elementary
music school teacher. - Wow.
A kid walked up to me and he's like,
"Your hand's smaller than mine."
(both laughing)
I was like, "Wow. Yeah, you're totally right."
I was like, "Let's high five right now."
They take it as like a sense of wonder
and a sense of coolness. - The solution is
adults need to be more like kids.
- What do you consider your superpower?
- I think my superpower is love.
I just try to spread love with everything I do.
- I can tell you have a lot of it.
I wanna hug you through even though I can't see you.
- With platforms like TikTok and Instagram
coming out with lots of new content creators
with disabilities,
would you say that's helped change
people's perspectives on people with disabilities?
- There's something called inspiration porn.
And what that means is that people have this story
about a disability, like,
"Oh, this poor person with a disability,
they got taken to prom by this fully functioning person.
And that's such a heartwarming thing."
What if they were just two friends
that wanted to go to prom?
Why is that newsworthy?
Tell me I'm inspirational for things
that I do that I've accomplished as a human.
- Yeah, for sure. - But don't tell me
I'm inspirational for getting up in the morning.
And it's stressful because the general public
is so unaware and ignorant
when it comes to people with disabilities,
it is the one diversity that is left out
of every diversity conversation.
It is the one thing that people are still weird about.
- What are some solutions you think would help that
in order to better educate people?
- Equal opportunity for disabled people,
unemployment rate for blind people is 70%
because people think that we can't do X, Y, Z in a job.
And therefore, discriminate.
- I had a question for you regarding
how you you view or perceive racism or discrimination
based on the way that people look,
since you've never been able to see them.
- Good question.
There's this misconception
that blind people can't be racist.
That's not true because there are blind people
that are racist. (laughs)
As a person of color myself,
being surrounded by so much diversity my entire life
and representing my community in the way that I do,
I'm sensitive to these things
and I've experienced these things.
I did experience bullying
throughout elementary a little bit,
but mostly middle school.
I had people just accuse me of getting special treatment
and take my tray out from in front of me at lunch
because I couldn't see them doing it.
And then I'd go to find my food and nothing was there.
- Oh my God.
- So what advice do you have for a disabled person
watching this right now who doesn't feel
like they have a lot of help in certain areas?
- I would say, start small.
Whatever is attainable right now toward the goal
that you wanna reach, figure out what you can do right now
and work towards it.
You're not alone in this community,
we are on your side, we are with you.
Keep going because you can do it.
If we can do it, you can do it.
- Absolutely. I agree.
(upbeat music)
- [Android] If given the opportunity to see one thing,
what would you want to see?
- I would like to see happy babies
because every time I'm nervous
when I'm performing or something,
I envision a bunch of happy babies clapping
and it makes me happy and I wonder if they look as cute
as I think they do.
- [Android] Do you enjoy going out to the movies?
What's your favorite movie?
- So, I do.
I like the novelty of going out.
They have these listening devices
where you can put on headphones
and you have a little square box with the volume button
and there's a audio description track
narrating what's happening in the movie
so I can enjoy the movie
while everybody is also enjoying the movie.
My favorite movie, definitely,
I would have to say probably "Finding Nemo"
or "Finding Dory".
Those two. They're so cute. And I love Nemo. (giggles)
- [Android] Do you do your own hair,
makeup and pick out your clothes?
- I learned how to do my own makeup
except lip stick, lip liner,
I haven't quite figured that one out yet,
but somehow I figured out everything else.
I do pick out my clothes.
Although sometimes, I definitely get opinions
from my mom and my sister
because I always need a face check and a clothes check.
And does this actually match these shoes?
Or what vibe do you think this gives off?
So, I was always curious as for other people
what my vibe and style seems like,
but I feel like my vibe and style is very simple,
but elegant.
- [Milky] Thanks to Google for sponsoring this video.
Would you like to meet Precious?
- Yeah, I would love to.
- Hello. Hi. - Hi, nice to meet you.
- You're wonderful. - You too. (giggles)
- [Woman] How do I find you on Spotify?
- Just precious Perez.
(light music)