My name is Shari Parker. I do a lot of different things.
I'm a mother and a wife.
I'm a doctor, a rehabilitation physician. A teacher.
And I'm also involved a lot with advocacy around Albinism both in Australia and around the world.
I think I always knew that I had albinism from when I was very young.
Growing up in a family with another person with albinism.
It was normal for who we were.
It was normal to wear glasses. It was normal to use a monocular.
It was normal to put sunscreen on and wear a hat.
That was just what you did. So I think it's always been a part of who I was.
Year 9 or 10 when I was 15 or 16 years of age.
I clearly remember high school science class with Mrs Whiteman.
And that the biology section that we were doing at the time involved dissecting bulls' eyes.
And I developed a real fascination with everything biological,
and particularly related to human physiology and how the body worked.
And it was at that point that I thought: "You know what? I really want to become a doctor."
It was a challenge to get through all of the reading that was required to study medicine,
especially with very small font that was there.
So I studied differently. I would record my lecture notes.
I would read from the textbook onto an old Walkman,
and then listen for my study rather than cramming in the books,
as I'd get a lot of headaches trying to read for hours.
So, I'd study smarter not harder.
And eventually, graduated from medicine in 1999.
And funnily enough I graduated near the top of my class with honors.
But from my perspective, I think it was really coming to the acceptance of who I am.
And incorporating and embracing my albinism as part of who I am.
Rather than trying to do things despite my albinism.
So I think my greatest defining moment has been that I've been able to
incorporate albinism into who I am and what I do.
The kids have got a wonderful acceptance of difference
from a health perspective or from an albinism perspective.
My three year old will often say: "Mommy's got white hair,
Ada's got blonde hair, and daddy's got Brown hair," and they just accepted it.
The older two will sometimes be a bit cheeky,
taking advantage of Mom's vision, they'll try and get away with things out my eyeshot.
But what they don't realise is that what I lack in vision,
I make up for in spades in my other senses,
and I can hear what they're getting up to you from many many meters away.
When I think of the future for people around the world with albinism,
this United Nations campaign is a wonderful step
in raising awareness amongst everyone
throughout the globe about what albinism is and what albinism isn't.
My hopes and dreams for people with albinism around the world
is that they will be accepted by people around them for who they are
not because they've got a condition or out of pity,
but that they're accepted for who they are by people around them.
And hand in hand with that is that self-acceptance.