[Doug]: Welcome to episode 10 of Feeling Through Live. This is a really awesome episode. That includes Robert Tarango. Who's the first DeafBlind actor in a film and Marilyn Trader, the Southeast regional representative of the Helen Keller National Center . So one thing that's really great. And I think a lot of you who are watching my already know about this, and if you don't go to feelingthrough.com, but this upcoming Thursday, we're going to be doing a free and accessible live stream of The Feeling Through Experience. Again a lot of you probably already know what that is. I know, I see a lot of familiar faces on here, but for those who don't, this is an opportunity today for us to talk a little bit more about The Feeling Through Experience with two people who played a huge part in it. And to talk about the importance of DeafBlind representation in film, and also accessibility in the exhibition of the film and something that Marilyn is going to be able to go a lot more into this, but we were, we've done some things as far as making our screenings accessible. That to our knowledge are more or less a film first. So without further ado, I'd like to first speak with Robert. Who's the first DeafBlind actor in a film to star in his film. And Robert I'm just, you know, going way back here, I'm looking at, from the moment we first met to now, um, what's this experience been like for you?
[Robert]: This is Robert speaking. No, it's been almost two years. I remember that day, that first day I was working in the kitchen and my supervisor, Dan came up to me and I had no idea what he was asking for. And he was on the phone and he was telling me I have to go to the other, building our training building. I had no idea why I was like, w four. He goes, I don't know, you have to go over there. So I remember I got my stuff. I got, my cane went all the way over to the training building. And I remember walking into that room and I seen everybody sitting around. I had no idea. I sat in a chair and that was the first time you and I had met. Um, and you told me about feeling through and that you wanted to make this movie and your whole vision. And I remember just being just speechless of really, you want me to be in a movie and just that whole feeling, those jitters, they excitement that just overpaying me. I just, I remember for three days, um, I was just so excited, so motivated and the fact that you've been pitch me and, you know, I remember that day, it was a screening, right? Most people's screen, you don't actually get picked, but I remember I couldn't stop thinking about it. And I, I was hoping and praying out at it. I never remember, again, I was at work, my boss Ann came over tonight and he's like, come over here, come over here. And then Dan was on the phone and just drink to me and be like, it's me, it's you you're getting like, Oh God, I couldn't believe it. I was so excited. It felt so good. I was real about being tested in this movie.
[Robert]: And I remember a meeting with, um, Steven, the other, uh, he played terrific in the movie. And I remember the first time I met him and going through a lot of the practices and rehearsals and really practicing the script and going through everything and just rehearsing everything. Doug, you giving your feedback and your critiques. And I remember that day that we actually started filming it. Oh, I remember that first day when we were on set, it was raining and cold and freezing. There were so many challenges with that. And Doug, you catch it, try and tell me, you know, you know, you have to like smile different or, you know, do this a little different and just how many takes we had to do it until we got it. Perfect. And I remember it was, it was really hard, those, those days of filming, but I remember the last time we did this, we finished, we're done. Wow. It was such an amazing experience. It was just, Oh, again, it was an amazing experience overall. However, it was cold. The weather was awful.
[Doug]: Yes, definitely. Uh, I definitely remember Robert, um, being not so great with the cold he's admittedly in his own words an Arizona boy. Uh, and even though he's been in, been in New York for quite a while, I think that he's still got the, uh, the Arizona skin when it comes to exposure to cold weather. So definitely that was, that was definitely a significant memory from that shoot. Um, for those who are watching, feel free to also treat this as like an AMA, if you don't know what an AMA it's an ask me anything. So we'll, we'll, we'll consider this an ask me anything as far as the feeling through experience is concerned. If you've been a part of it before and have followup questions about it, feel free to ask those. You don't know what it is and we're not explaining it well enough for you feel free to ask specific questions about that.
[Doug]: Um, so continuing here, um, so, so we'll definitely Robert, I definitely want to talk more about your experience in a little bit, but I just want to start to set up the accessibility side of this conversation, obviously when you're making a film that includes, um, any community, but in this case, the DeafBlind community, we certainly, it was really important for us to make it something that was accessible for that community. Um, so I guess before we talk about that, maybe, um, Marilyn, maybe you could just talk a little bit about what, what the variety of communication methods are in the DeafBlind community and, and start to paint the picture of how we, what the, the different accessibility needs that we needed to address when showing the film.
[Marilyn]: So, um, one of the things is, you know, when you came to us at Helen Keller and said that you want to do, you know, this movie and all this stuff you want to do, we're like, Oh, great, yay. But then we didn't realize you traveling all over the United States until, you know, we touched base and said, okay, you know what, let's do a kickoff in North Carolina. So we did. And what we did in North Carolina, because North Carolina, DeafBlind community, the division of services for deaf and hard of hearing and services for the blind and the DeafBlind project, they don't do anything small. They do everything big here and they usually have a whole month of deadline awareness. And so we plan for about six months for this to really figure out how we were going to do a kickoff in North Carolina. And there were a few things we know we have a very active community.
[Marilyn]: So that's one, secondly, is it's a very diverse community. So not everyone utilizes tactile communication hand under hand communication, not everyone uses, um, you know, the pro tactile method. Nope, not everyone uses haptics. And it's very difficult to, to kind of figure out who was going to show up, you know, because what we did is we made it open, or we asked for people to contact us, to let us know what their communication needs work. So there was the people who showed up. We didn't, we never met before. And so we might have to cover all bases. And I remember you and I were sweating about hours before the opening of the showing there in Cary theater and gorgeous theater, but we had not only the official visiting devices in place, we had to be sure all the interpreters, we couldn't have seats that were like traditional bolted in the ground seats. We had to make sure we could move them around. We had interpreters on the stage. We had interpreters on the floor, close visual interpreting going on. We had tactile, we had, um, people utilizing headphones. We had people that were talking in someone's ear or word for word we had before, before you had the, um, visual description embedded. We had one interpreter who had to give the visual description. We had another one who was playing the other character and visual description. Um, you know, we also had, um, laptops set up everywhere because not everyone was able to view the screen. So even though it was huge grade and we either manipulated the caption of there's so many times, remember we worked on that. Um, but we had iPads everywhere. I mean, whatever anybody needed, we were trying to pull it out. Um, my husband Jeff, you know, we were a married couple who are into this, it's our family deadline. Isn't just work for us. He was there, coordinated all the communication. And I remember your mouth dropped. You were like, wow, all those interpreters are here for this. I'm like, yep. And a lot of people volunteered. We had a lot of people there that were helping out and just constantly move in and the flexibility to do whatever anybody needed. And that's the key. Just be ready for anything, because anything can happen at a show.
[Doug]: Yeah, it was, you know, that first. So just to bring this back, that the first live screening of the feeling of their experience was almost exactly a year ago. Um, this, uh, the month of June is DeafBlind Awareness Month. Um, and we, it was always our goal to premiere it during DeafBlind Awareness Month, because what better way to celebrate than to, to do our screening during, during the month that's dedicated to the community. Um, so again, um, one of Marilyn's states, North Carolina, specifically, we were in Cary, North Carolina was where we held the first screening. Um, so it's just cool for first and foremost, to think that that was like just a little over a year ago. I mean, in many ways it seems like way longer than that, because it was like so much has happened since then. Um, obviously not just for the feeling of your experience, but for everyone in the entire world, it seems like a lifetime ago, but it's, it's, it's, it's a cool opportunity to look back at a year ago and just look at the beginning of the journey of exhibiting the film to see where we've come. But I think what was so cool about that screening in Marilyn, that you're, you know, you've really captured is that it was because it was the first one that we had done. It was the first opportunity to see the, the, the real team that it takes to put on the level of accessibility that we did. And again, just to reiterate some of the things that Marilyn was just sharing. So traditionally, you know, in, in like an AMC or any sort of like large chain, um, you will have something called audio description, which is, um, for people who are low vision or blind, it's the, everything that's visually happening on the screen is there is a voiceover of someone describing it. Um, so we had, we had that, um, then there's captions that, that, um, you know, you're familiar with, you know, whether it be on YouTube or Facebook or on your TV, if you've ever turned them on.
[Doug]: Um, in most movie theaters, they pass out these really like outdated, like tiny little monitors that have the captions on them that I've tested out before and like are really, really hard to use. Um, particularly for someone who might have, um, like low vision, um, or certain things that would inhibit them from seeing it clearly. So what we would do is we put open captions right on the screen. So the captions, um, were right there on the screen for everyone to see, um, and, and something that we had to figure out like last second, that was part of Marilyn. What you were talking about scrambling to figure this out was, you know, there's this kind of like traditionally to the traditional size of captions, we quickly realized like wasn't large enough for, for some of the attendees. So at the last second where like I'm doing a new export of the film that has like way larger open captions, so that it's more accessible and easier to read. But again, these are a lot of the things around accessibility that, you know, we kind of had to figure out on the fly initially. And then obviously we were able to implement it later screenings. But, um, but you know, but it's one of those things where, because there's such a lack of accessibility in, in a lot of screenings there wasn't really a great like playbook for us. That's why we kind of had to like, figure it out on the fly. You know, I'm just wondering, you know, from, from your vantage point, um, Marilyn, like how, how you have seen or interacted with accessibility or lack thereof in the media.
[Marilyn]: So this is Marilyn Um, what it, you know, that's one thing too is, you know, as I said, deadline, um, for me, uh, grown up in it, um, you know, I'm married into it as well. Uh, it's very disheartening to see, um, the lack of accessibility and, and media. And right now, especially with a lot of our news, even though people are like, well, we put an interpreter there. Yes. But you know, you don't have, the interpreter is not accessible or there you're not on the screen all the time. And, and during this time you really need to be sure you're covering all bases in accessibility. Um, you know, we have so many consumers out there who have no idea what's happening in the world, you know, and we can't get to them, you know, we can't, we can't let them know fully what was happening. Um, the great thing about in my region is a lot of my DeafBlind inner-agency teams, you know, we work together to ensure that our government officials are trying to make it accessible. Um, I know in Kentucky, our governor there, um, has been doing a fantastic job and making sure that, you know, the interpreters in an ice cream color background, everything is good. Um, you know, but he also is, you know, takes the effort and cares about all of his residents, you know, and that's one great thing about a lot of our communities and our government officials do, as you saw too, is a lot of our government officials came to your screening as well. And all of my States to say, thank you. And they learned a lot from that. I know that for sure. I remember, you know, um, we had there, um, Mr.
[Marilyn]: Benton that was there, who said, thank you so much. You know, I, I had no idea about the need and the diversity of accessibility and to have a government official there to say that directly, do you, it just, you know, almost any class because you know, when you live at your whole life and we get somebody who gets it, you're like, okay, so we did it, you know, um, but there's still a lot of people out there who have no idea when we have over 2.4 million DeafBlind in the United States, you know, think about how many people have no idea really what's happening. So for you and what you did and what you've been doing, you know, you gotta give yourself a really good Pat on the back because you've learned a lot throughout this process. Yourself
[Doug]: Definitely learned a lot throughout this process and continue to learn. You know, I think it's one of those things where one of the really, um, you know, one of the really interesting parts of this process is that it's a continual, um, learning experience and that there's each medium presents its own challenges and things to troubleshoot and figure out and figure out the best solution for so still to this day, still learning for sure. But, um, so I want to go back to the, to this a year ago, we're in Cary, North Carolina at this awesome theater on their main street, they're called the carriage theater. One of those like cool old theaters that they redid the inside of. So just like the lobby super cool. And it's got this really cool coffee shop on the side. And the theater is amazing. The people that run ran the theater were so nice.
[Doug]: So we're there, we've got a full house, a really amazing diverse audience of, you know, a lot of people from a local, deaf, blind community, um, and local disability community and, um, and every kind of everyone else. And there was amazing mix of people. Robert, you were, you were there with us at this first screening. And I remember making a point of watching Robert watch the film for the first time because he hadn't gotten to see any of it yet. So I'm wondering Robert, when we go back a year ago to that very first screening in Cary, North Carolina, and you got to watch the film for the very first time. What was that like for you the first time watching? Oh my
[Robert]: God, it's me on the screen now. And I just, I couldn't believe it. I'm like, wow, I'm the first DeafBlind actor to be in a movie. My feelings, there's so many emotions that were happening. And for me, I actually love the fact that now hearing people are able to actually watch somebody, who's definitely going to be able to do this and the impact that it's having on them. And I just remember getting chills from this and that same time thinking, what are they thinking? What is the hearing with thinking about this? And now for the first time I felt equal that I'm also a movie star, just like another hearing actor. Like now I'm just on the same level as that,
[Doug]: You know, that that's, I love how you, you put that. And, and also particularly how you started off by saying, wow, that's me up there, which is a perfect segue to, to a question from Allana for you. Robert, she asks yesterday, I learned that in film, 95% of characters with disabilities are played by quote able bodied actors. So the question for you, Robert, is what are your thoughts on that and how does it feel to have the opportunity to truly represent the DeafBlind community in film?
[Robert]: Sorry, give me one second. So it's inspiring that you know that now, yes, I am DeafBlind and I'm playing a deaf by character. So it's now allowing people to realize that that's what I can, you know, I wish this will actually inspire other films that you can actually cast that character with person with the same disability that they're playing, that we can do it. Somebody with in the disability, uh, somebody with a disability we can, we're not different. We can still play those parts.
[Marilyn]: It does. Can I add to that?
[Doug]: Yeah, please.
[Marilyn]: So this is Marilyn. One thing that, um, I really pushed and really was hoping when we started doing these movie premiers was that, um, we wanted to make sure that was going to be there because you know, him being in the movie and his smile again, is so contagious. Um, and, and just knowing him for so many years, his personality, everything about Robert. And so when he came to North Carolina to a very strong, beautiful community of deaf, blind, diverse, um, they had the opportunity to touch him, to communicate with him directly to ask him questions. And I don't know if you remember, but we, we had an autograph page on the back of our playbill and everybody wanted his autograph. Everybody asked him for his autograph. I mean, just seeing Robert smile and just how he felt at that movie and how the community felt. He really inspired so many people that were there. Um, and then we had a full house. We packed a whole theater, um, is definitely inspirational, not just for the people there, but really showing this all over the world for sure.
[Doug]: Yeah, really, really well put. And, and, you know, I think it's, I think the, um, what's so resonant, you know, for me during this time where, you know, there, there was, there has kind of been a push in Hollywood to, you know, to, to have more inclusion and representation, but a lot of times it's a reaction to, um, really kind of dropping the ball on that for so long. And it, it feels very much like a, a PR stunt or just something that's kind of said to, to just appease people. Um, but if you, if you come to a screening, like the feeling through experience and actually are part of accessibility and representation, and actually like, see what that's like, if it's something that's not, if you're, if you're from a community that if, um, like seeing a sighted in hearing community where maybe you've never been in the presence of accessibility, maybe you've never really had to think about it. If you come to a screening where it's so present and forward, like it is at the feeling through experience, and there's such a diverse representation in the audience experiencing it in different ways. You really viscerally understand why it's important. And even for, you know, for myself, that understanding wasn't really fully solidified until we did that first screening until I looked out in the audience and saw, you know, people having the entire experience, tactilely signed to them in their hands. Some people using audio devices to listen to it. And, um, you know, just seeing a stage interpreter interpreting everything that's happening, there was this amazing feeling, looking out in the audience and going like, wow, like I really, really understand what it is we're doing now. And it didn't really hit until that moment. And, you know, one of the amazing things about being able to take this around the country, and obviously now we're, we're going to be doing it online on Thursday.
[Doug]: If you haven't signed up yet, go to feelingthrough.com and register for your free ticket. But is that, you know, I've gotten to hear from a ton of other people, um, who have come to our screenings and seen, you know, this representation and this kind of accessibility, they always echo like, wow, that was, that was honestly, probably the biggest takeaway for me was the gift of being able to be in this screening setting that I've never been in and feel like I have a much greater understanding of other people and their needs and how and why it's important. Um, and, and, you know, again, Marilyn, like kudos to, to kicking it off, um, right at the, uh, at our premier a year ago. You know, I think again, just a really, you know, we're, we're talking about how this takes a team, but like we must, I think we had, I remember we counted at the time. I think we had upwards of 50 interpreters and service support providers at that screening to, to, uh, make sure that it was fully accessible for all our guests. Just to give you viewers a sense of like the kind of team that it takes, if you have a lot of the DeafBlind community present, but again, so well worth it. And one of the things that really stands out for me in Marilyn, I'm wondering if you remember this and Robert, if you remember this from the Q and a after the screening, which we always do, which is a part of the feeling through experience, I'm one of the very first, uh, audience members to stand up and speak, uh, was a DeafBlind man. Um, and I remember what he, what he said was still echoes in my head. Anytime we do a screening and is one of the things that really, um, underlines, how important accessibility is, he stood up and said, hi, he introduced himself.
[Doug]: And he said, hi, I'm DeafBlind . And then he started off by saying, he said, you know, a lot of people might assume that because I'm deaf and blind, that I wouldn't care to go to a movie screening. You know, you might just assume that, like, what would I enjoy there? What what's the what's in it for me, but then he says, but I love going to screenings. Like I love coming out to, to a live event and being able to participate in it. I just, it's just never accessible for me to be able to do so. So he's like, that's, that's why it's so important what you're doing right now, because it allows people like me who really wants to participate in events like this to be able to do so really for the first time. Um, so that was such an amazing, like first comment to have, because it really was a perfect encapsulation of like, um, why we're doing it this way. Um, you know, question for Robert, Robert, I'm wondering, um, actually real quick, I'm gonna, I'm gonna address some of the other questions that come up here. Uh, let's see what we have here. It looks like, um, Oh one. Okay. So Lucia's asking about a CQL. Um, so great question. Um, so yes, again, the feeling tour experience is a 90 minute event. That includes the short film feeling through of which Robert is the star, uh, supporting short documentary called connecting the dots, um, which follows casting and working with Robert, um, and also the search for the DeafBlind man who had, who I had met many years prior named our Teneo who inspired all this. And then the last part is this panel discussion in Q and a. So the, the sequel in this case is, or we're definitely developing a feature film version of the story feeling through. So that would be the next step here. So I guess the question off of that is Robert, how would you feel about having more opportunities to be an actor in other projects?
[Robert]: Of course, of course. I hope so. I, this is something that I'm hoping for. And again, listen, you never know, I may platform off of this. I might be, he has done other films, other larger feature pens. You never know, but, you know, again, it just comes back to, you know, some people may be scared of the DeafBlind community cause you don't know how to communicate with me. Um, but you know, it's nothing to be scared of, but listen, I love SQL a third, a fourth, a fifth movie, anything like, yes, but again, you know, it goes back to the fact that DeafBlind can anybody who's DeafBlind , you can do anything you set your mind to
[Doug]: Yeah. Beautifully put beautifully put. Um, so, okay. So, um, we had this amazing screening in Carey a year ago. Um, and you know, we had this amazing turnout, um, you know, local government, uh, representatives were there to read a declaration for, for DeafBlind awareness month and participate in introducing the film. Uh, we had a great discussion afterward and what that led to was this great opportunity to take the film across the country, you know, from everywhere from New York city, all the way over to Hawaii and many places in between, um, doing these fully accessible events. And again, time after time hearing a lot of the same things, um, as far as the importance of, um, providing that accessibility and having, you know, individuals who might not normally be able to participate, be able to fully participate. And then, um, so we were able to do, I think 12 or 13 fully accessible screens across the country, um, capped off by our, our LA premiere in February that had 300 attendees and a lot of the local DeafBlind population.
[Doug]: And then thing called Coronavirus happened. And all of a sudden it became not really great to be in a, in a crowded theater. So one of the things that we have been working on, obviously here I'm feeling through live, you can see that, um, we, we always have live captions available on our Facebook feed, as well as an interpreter. Um, but also for this upcoming event on Thursday, um, which will be our, our live stream of the feeling through experience to celebrate DeafBlind awareness month. And in this case step one awareness week, um, which is the final week of June because Helen Keller's birthday falls on June 27. So that whole week is step one awareness week, um, is that we're going to be doing a fully accessible live stream of the feeling of their experience and what that means. Again, there'll be, we'll have captions on the screen, we'll have an interpreter, um, uh, they're interpreting throughout, um, and, and still trying to make things as accessible as possible. Um, you know, what, we'll have a feed for people who are linking up their braille displays so that they're, that's accessible, friendly for braille displays, um, and also have a descriptive audio version for anyone who needs that. So again, if you are watching and you haven't signed up, you can go to feelingthrough.com and just sign up at the bottom of the homepage it's, um, and get your free ticket. It's free. Um, tell other people about it. We're trying to get as many people there as possible. Um, because like we were talking about, this is also something it's about bringing people together. And, you know, I, I think obviously with what's going on in the world and a lot of really amazing things, a lot of really amazing change, but there's also, um, I feel it need to come together, um, and have events that, that really, um, honor, um, connection and, uh, human connection, despite whatever differences we might have.
[Doug]: And that's certainly, you know, what the feeling through our experience is about. So, so again, if you haven't signed off, go to feelingthrough.com and do so tell a friend, um, and let's, let's spread this thing out as far and wide and as big as possible. So, um, so Robert, another question for you is, um, you know, obviously a lot of things are changing in the world right now and, you know, I think we're all kind of sitting back and waiting to see how things play out as far as, um, specifically coronavirus impeding our, um, you know, ability to kind of move around the world and in the ways we might normally. But looking ahead for you, you know, what, what are you, what are your like hopes and dreams for the future? Um, what, what are you thinking about as far as the, what does the future hold in your mind? My future really depends.
[Robert]: There's so much unknown right now. I know, you know, also with my vision, you know, I'm losing markers, a vision, my vision loss is progressive, but you know, again, I have to just be optimistic about this and just kind of keep that positive attitude going on, but right now I don't know what my future holds.
[Doug]: Yeah. That's, that's an honest response that I'm sure a lot of people out there can relate to. Um, you know, Marilyn, you were talking before about, you know, how you've transitioned during this time and, and maybe some of the things you might implement moving forward, but like your best guests sitting here right now, um, you know, looking forward a little bit, what does that look like for you?
[Marilyn]: So one of the things is, you know, again, I think I mentioned earlier is Aboriginal rep, you know, all the regional reps across the United States and our DeafBlind specialists and the community services programs we have, you know, we're, we're in the field. You know, we, we work with providers, we work with families, we work with consumers directly and, you know, we're just having to do this creatively and continue doing that and maintaining a positive attitude. Um, it's really, really hard, uh, to do so when deep down, you know, I think I mentioned when you started doing these connections, you asked for a video and I gave you my video, which was really hard for me to do one. I'm not one to really video or selfie or anything like that on myself. Um, but it was really difficult because I'm the mother of twins and, you know, I have a fantastic husband and, uh, you know, a great community here. Um, I have all my family's out of this state and I can't, I can't, we can't be there. We can't touch them. Um, you know, it's hard, uh, I'm a high risk person, as I mentioned before. So I am scared all the time and it's really hard because every day I have to be positive and, and, you know, keep a good, positive outlook on everything for my work, for my consumers and for people I work with. Um, I, if it wasn't for my job and loving what I do, I mean, we, you know, again, I, I breathed this community all the time. This is not a job for me. We don't do this for money at all. We did it because we love this work. And, um, you know, so I'm just going to continue doing what we're doing, build capacity, be creative, again, work with my awesome partners out there and, you know, see what we can do to continue to bring on, um, education knowledge and, um, work with our consumers virtually as much as possible.
[Marilyn]: I mean, you've seen some of the creative ways, you know, are definitely specialists have been doing that. Um, you know, Corinne Miller in Kentucky, she's done a great job in doing that. And we're going to continue doing stuff like that. You know, we're not stopping, we're still an operation or we're gonna continue doing what we can and shed as much positivity. That's I asked you to be on our show that one time, what, because this world really needed some positive connection. And that's, what's great about this film. And I'm really hoping we hit like a thousand people to see it because, you know, we all need a lot of positivity out there and the importance of human connection and will be what we can, if it's through the internet connecting, Hey, we'll do it.
[Doug]: Yeah. And like you said, it's sign up. Well, we're constantly figuring out as we go too. And, you know, for anyone watching right now, um, you know, we're always w what we do here, the feeling through experiences, you know, again, do our best job to bring accessible content that we feel is, um, serves, um, you know, the, the communities at the core of what we do, namely the DeafBlind community and related disability communities, but also, you know, make content that is, is, uh, something that is interesting to everyone. Um, and so if there's anyone watching right now that has any suggestions or thoughts on, you know, topics that they'd like to see us cover, or, you know, various things that they'd like to see us do, or we're always open to taking suggestions too. So, you know, feel free to chime in and let us know if there's anything, um, any topics or anything you'd like us to get into that we haven't necessarily gotten into yet.
[Doug]: Um, but yet some living and breathing thing. And, you know, I think, um, you know, one of the things that's been really great, at least through the feeling through lens, um, since everything's happened with, with first coronavirus and men with, you know, everything that's stemmed from, you know, the killing of George Floyd and, and a lot of the protests that are happening now, and then a lot of the, the awareness that's going out right now, as far as, Hey, everyone is equal, everyone is equal, right. And obviously with the focus on black lives matter, being the needed focus right now, but it's certainly formatically related, you know, to what we do with, you know, specifically the DeafBlind community, mainly in a community that is, you know, you know, marginalized, an unrepresented, virtually unrepresented in media, certainly, um, discriminated against in a lot of cases. And obviously, you know, Marilyn, a lot of the work that the Helen Keller National Center does is, is, is to, to, to really fight for those causes for the community. Um, but what, what, again, in the, in the kind of, um, uh, in, in the, in, in the wake of kind of the tearing down of things around Corona virus and, and, you know, some of the atrocities that have happened, there's this great opportunity to build up. And we've certainly used these opportunities again, to like move into the, um, virtual space, more, you know, connect with people around the globe. I know that there's a, I believe Donna, who's one of our, our regulars on our live streams. I believe she's tuning in from Ireland and being able to just connect with people from around the world, um, has been a great kind of unforeseen, um, a silver lining in some of the things that were initially really, really challenging to deal with. And certainly we prefer to be in the same space as people and really connect with people, um, in a physical space. But until that's possible, again, it's, it's really a gift to be able to do so virtually and build new relationships and, and, and, you know, spread this out to more of the globe. Um, in the meantime, um, Robert, I know that you, uh, you have definitely really enjoyed the traveling aspect, um, of, of the screenings when we were taking them all over the place. Was there, was there a favorite place that you went to, um, for one of our screenings or a favorite experience that you had?
[Robert]: It was still the very first screening, the one that we had in North Carolina the first time I have to say that was the best experience I've had, You know, the first time just looking at that now, essentially I'm a DeafBlind movie star going in to see the premiere of my movie. That was my favorite as well as going to Texas and Arizona. Um, LA was really cool to try to be where else to be on the river everywhere we traveled to. Oh, we went to Ohio as well. You know, I loved them all, but my favorite was North Carolina. And just being able to just sit there, watch the movie, just getting those Chels and then having the audience come up and asking for my autograph that it was just, it was an amazing experience.
[Doug]: And, you know, speaking to all the places we've screened, Marilyn, I know what we did like four screenings with you in three different, in three different States. Um, what, what are some of your fondest memories of the other ones, or did you, did you have a favorite?
[Marilyn]: You know, it's hard because, um, I mean, again, the whole South East region all pitched in to make these happen. Um, you know, I've got all my States that really put in the hard work and time to really make it successful. Um, you know, North Carolina was, I mean, I cried so hard and it, and it was just primarily because people were holding onto their chair and feeling the movie, you know, because, you know, when you're in a movie theater, sometimes it's like the star Wars. We know when it comes over, you you're like, Whoa, they were all just, you know, feeling the movie inside and out and passionately of the content and everything. And then looking at you, seeing you over there, cause you were tearing as well. Just, you were, you were blown away and I know how hard you've worked on this and, and having that big heart and, and working so hard, your work has paid off so much.
[Marilyn]: You have touched so many lives out there and that whole were all so excited and very thankful for it. And that was probably my ultimate favorite one, just because of the appreciation that was given back to you to do the hard work you did. And Aaron, because Aaron was there as one of our interpreters as well. Um, but we had Angela Paris who did a fantastic job voicing, and I know, you know, Jeff, all his hard work, but in all the interpreters everywhere, um, everybody just did such a great job and the teamwork and all the providers were so hard and the community did to the North Carolina deaf line associates came out, may help. It was great. It just was, it was fantastic. Um, they'll get me wrong. The Franklin theater in Tennessee was beautiful and Alabama Southeast regional Institute on deafness, you hit so many States there at that conference and they loved it. Um, but I got to give to North Carolina as a favor because of the, it was the first one first one for all of us.
[Doug]: Yeah. I would agree with that. I will say, like, it was fun to do that one that we did in the, in the brewery and in Alabama. Cause you know, they were very kind with, uh, there, the free drinks there with the, both the, uh, the, the really great beer that they made there. And also some of the, some of the spirits that they, they home batch there that were just so good. So that was a fun, like kind of different look for a feeling or experience freedom. That was, that was fun in its own. Right. But, um, as, as we kind of move in the last chapter of the conversation today, I'm wondering, you know, Robert, we were talking about the accessibility that we, that we provide in our screenings and the importance of that. I'm wondering in your personal life, you know, what your relationship is like to accessibility. And if there are certain, um, parts of your life where, where you wish it was better or hope in the near future, that there are, you know, better, better things to help, um, accessibility in certain ways
[Robert]: That's accessibility. It really depends. Again, you know, I just have to adapt, you know, be positive in the future and just be able to adapt to whatever comes my way. And, you know, when it comes to technology that it technology is making things more and more accessible. So, you know, I really need to look to Helen Keller to see the new technology that's out there. And, you know, I have to put that legwork in my, on my own to make accessibility happen and learn the skills that I need, but I'm hoping technology improves more, but you know, it's going to be an interesting road by future.
[Doug]: Do you feel that, um, um, more tactile, um, training is something that you'll, you'll take on more moving forward? Is that something one of the ways in which you'll you'll, uh, explore accessibility more?
[Robert]: Yes. Yup. Tactile sign language, braille, really anything, uh, you know, in the future. I think I'm going to take more classes from Helen Keller. You know, I am losing my vision and, you know, I believe that I may lose the rest of my vision, become fully blind, just like the character already that I played in the movie. So I really need to learn all, all areas. I need to improve my cane skills, mobility, technology, communication, and whatnot. So as my vision changes, yes, I'm going to have to learn more skills
[Doug]: And, you know, question from Marilyn around, uh, accessibility in the media. You know, I know one of the topics that's been, um, you know, really widespread lately is, you know, with all the presidential addresses and just, um, state, state government addresses, um, they're, you know, the having interpreters there or lack thereof is certainly a hot button issue, um, within any community that relies on sign language. Um, you know, what are your thoughts around that? And what if, what have you seen lately around that topic?
[Marilyn]: So, um, one of the things I've noticed too, especially through social media, which is, is, can be great sometimes, and sometimes can be really bad, but on a positive note, you know, the community as a whole, you know, we have those who are involved in the deaf, deaf, blind community. They really try to do whatever they can when it's not on the TV screen. Sometimes we've seen interpreters who will go ahead and set up on Facebook, an opportunity for, okay, today, president Trump did a, uh, a live stream of this here. It is now interpreted and, and that's great, you know, it shouldn't have to happen that way. Um, but at least there's people out there who really do care and are trying to do what they can do their part to help and, and allow for that full communication for everybody. So everybody knows what's happening. I mean, it's just, it's not fair whatsoever. I mean, you've been just imagined, can you imagine some of the government officials out there, if they sat down and we put them in simulation. And unfortunately, the thing is that has to be thought about is, you know, when, when it comes to vision and it comes to hearing, comes to vision, hearing loss, anything can happen to anybody at any time. So this isn't something that, you know, you know, just only a person who was born, I mean, you know, not everyone is like Helen Keller, you know, there's progressive vision loss. There is, you know, due to a accident. Um, this can happen to anybody. We have to be prepared to give accessibility to everyone out there. Cause there is a diverse community and it can happen anytime. Um, it's very tough, but especially now, but there are some good people out there trying to make it accessible.
[Doug]: No. Yeah. You know, w w I think something that I didn't know about, um, prior to embarking on this journey was that, you know, some people, sometimes people go, well, do, do you really need an interpreter? They're like, can't they just read captions? And what I didn't know. And maybe some coming to this broadcast might not know this, but, um, ASL is really the like native and primary language for some people. And like reading captions is not necessarily as user friendly for them because that's not their native language and the same way that, you know, you might be bilingual, but one of those languages is your native language. And one's one that you interact with sometimes, but aren't quite as sharpen and that, and correct me if I'm wrong, Marilyn, but I've been like, that's something that I've learned throughout this. And that's, um, I think I answered the question of like, well, do you really need that person there? It's like, yeah, there's a lot of people that really do.
[Marilyn]: Yeah. And, and, and the thing is too, you can't just put any interpreter up there. You have to put an interpreter who is skilled and knowing the terminology and knowing how to provide that communication access. I grew up signing exact English. I did not know about ASL until I went to Gallaudet. Really, when I went to Gallaudet, I was like, Oh, this is beautiful. I wish I knew this growing up, but I, you know, my family didn't find that they signed a different way. You know, it is a beautiful language and it's just, um, you know, you have not anybody, you know, every we teach, we have to tell you, it's mine that I've learned, and you have been trying, you're getting yourself immersed in the community, but, um, it does take time and, and you have to have some skilled interpreters out there to be able to do different jobs. For sure.
[Doug]: So with, um, just the closing moments here, today's broadcast. I'm. I just want to reiterate that, um, if you're not already aware, we are doing a huge celebration for deaf line awareness week, this upcoming Thursday, where we'll be doing a free and accessible live stream of a feeling through experience. Um, if you want more information to sign up for that for your free ticket and for more information, go to feelingthrough.com , um, and again, make sure you register sooner rather than later, because Thursday we'll be here before we know it, and you want to have all the information in your hands to be able to join in. Um, Robert will be there alongside myself for the, uh, discussion and Q and A afterward, um, and we'll have a chance to get into more of these topics and other things there. So, um, if you haven't already go to feelingthrough.com , sign up for your ticket, and also that with other people, like one of the great things about the community that we continue to build around this is that there, you know, so many of you who are watching this now, and we'll come to this later, have been so tremendously supportive of this. So thank you so much. And we've really relied on our community to help get the word out about certain things. You know, a lot of our posts that really kind of spread out into the world because so many of you are so kind to share it with other people. And that's really, that really goes a super long way. I know sometimes we're sitting at our computers and just clicking, like share on Facebook or sending something to someone Instagram doesn't like, really feel like that much. But when you multiply that over a lot of people, it's the difference between like, like a small, but like, you know, well, spirited group like us feeling through it really helps us get the word out in a way that, you know, not being some large company with all the resources in the world, like buy all these ads and we really wouldn't be able to do it otherwise.
[Doug]: So again, if you, you know, if you're able to share this information with your friends and family, your colleagues, it really helps a lot. Um, and also share this information about feeling through life, you know, thanks. It's so awesome to see a lot of familiar names pop up on the screen each week, and we want to continue to grow this community, um, address more timely and important topics. And the more people that participate in that the better. So, um, thank you so much to Robert and to Marilyn for joining us today. Um, thank you so much for, to our interpreter, Aaron, who, who is doing double duty today. Um, thank you for that. And, um, yeah, well, obviously you'll, you'll all see Robert again on Thursday and Marilyn. We'll certainly have to have you back on again. There's, there's plenty more to talk about. Um, so yeah. Thanks. Thank you to everyone. Have a great weekend and, uh, go to feelingthrough.com . Sign up for your free ticket and we'll see on Thursday. Bye everyone.