>> DOUG ROLAND: Welcome to the India Inclusion Summit live stream of The Feeling Through Experience. We're truly honored to be a part of this amazing Summit for a more inclusive India.
A big thank you to our partner, Helen Keller Services, and to all of you for joining us. We're going to get started really shortly, but in the meantime feel free to use the chat box to introduce yourself, connect with other people who are watching, and let us know where you're tuning in from.
Now let's roll the trailer for The Feeling Through Experience.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Right from the start, I knew that I wanted to cast a DeafBlind actor.
>> I felt like this is my dream coming true that I'm sitting here in this room auditioning for a movie. It's about bringing the DeafBlind community and other communities together in a physical space for us to all dialogue together and learn together. Some of the changes we hope to enact in rolling this film out and being able to show it in a lot of places is also bringing greater awareness around accessibility.
>> To this wonderful day, Helen Keller's birthday and this special event.
>> Something that we've wanted is to really bring accessibility to the next level so that everyone can experience this. It's not only important to provide experiences that are accessible to everyone, but it's also, there are a lot of people that want to go and attend if you create that level of accessibility for them.
>> I am DeafBlind. The film was wonderful and I foresee great success with this amazing film.
>> As I was watching the film, I felt like it validated my experience. I'm honored to be here, but it's actually not a film about DeafBlindness. It's actually all about human connection. Does it matter? Not only is it a great model for other under‑represented people, I thought the movie was great.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Robert, can you tell everyone how your life has changed now that you are a huge movie star?
>> ROBERT TARANGO: I'm humbled. And I look at it and I'm like, wow. I feel really, really good.
>> Robert, congratulations for being the first DeafBlind person to play a leading role in a short film, your inspirational performance is a testament to the diversity of talent among people who are DeafBlind.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Let’s get started. We're going to begin with the short film, Feeling Through, which is 18 minutes, then go right into the making of the documentary, Connecting the Dots, which is 24 minutes. And make sure you stick around after that, we're going to do a live discussion and Q&A with some amazing panelists.
FEELING THROUGH
Tereek, a black male teenager wearing a hoodie, winter parka, and backpack, stands in front of a fast food joint on a busy NYC street with cars and people rushing by.
He checks his phone, taking it in and out of his jacket pocket a couple of times, as he shifts from foot to foot and glances around.
Tereek receives a text. He had previously typed: Can I crash at your spot tonight? A response from Corey reads: Again? Lemme hit u back later Tereek waits outside the turnstile in a busy subway station. He asks a woman who is exiting for a swipe. She ignores him.
Tereek jogs down a dimly lit street with shop signs in Chinese and graffiti covering the walls. He pulls his hood up, catching his breath and collecting himself. He rounds the corner where his friends stand waiting. J.R. is Asian and the other, Clay, Hispanic, is smoking.
The three friends slap hands goodbye. Arcade excitedly playing a game together.
Back on the street, the boys stand in a circle. Clay freestyles.
The boys eat noodles from Styrofoam takeout containers. Tereek shovels them into his mouth.
Tereek watches as J.R. and Clay playfully fight. Tereek jumps in, taking J.R.'s place. J.R. pulls him off of Clay.
The boys are sitting quietly on a stoop surrounded by graffiti. Clay offers Tereek a cigarette, Tereek declines. J.R.'s phone buzzes.
Tereek gets a text from Corey that reads: Tonight don't work Tereek has a worried look. The three friends slap hands goodbye. Tereek glances back, watching his friends leave. He turns back around, looking sad and alone.
Tereek is perched on a metal post next to a brick building. He composes a text. To Rhoda: How have you been? Cool if I roll thru? He pauses, changes the 'you' to a letter 'u' and the 'c' in 'cool' to a 'k,' and hits send.
A weathered homeless man approaches, holding a worn paper change cup. The homeless man asks Tereek for change. Tereek says he doesn't have any. The homeless man, looking dejected, slowly turns and limps away.
Tereek watches as the homeless man walks down the block and approaches a man holding a white cane and sign that is too far away to read. The homeless man shakes his cup near this man, who does not respond. The homeless man leaves.
Tereek is intrigued and slowly approaches the man with the cane. Tereek takes off his hood and looks at the man's sign which reads: I am deaf and blind Tap me if you can help me to cross the street Tereek looks closely at the man. This is Artie, 40s, short gray hair, and a friendly demeanor.
Tereek, confused, looks around. Tereek tries speaking to Artie. Then, realizing the futility, taps him to get his attention. Artie reaches for Tereek, startling him. Artie puts down his backpack and takes out a pad and blue Sharpie. He writes: I need M15
Tereek says, 'it's close.' Tereek helps Artie get his backpack on. Tereek turns Artie toward the street and taps him on the back. A large white truck whizzes by in front of them. Tereek is unsure what to do. He looks around.
Artie holds out his right arm. Tereek deliberates. He tentatively takes Artie's hand, placing it on his left shoulder, and leads him down the street.
Tereek guides Artie to a seat in a bus shelter. The street is dirty, deserted, and dark, except for the light of the shelter and a string of lights behind. Artie takes off his backpack and places it on the bench next to him.
Tereek gets a text from Rhoda which reads: How soon? It's late. Tereek draws a breath, appearing relieved, and replies: On my way
Artie taps on his pad to get Tereek's attention. He has written, How long until the next bus? Tereek walks over to check the posted bus schedule. Tereek rubs his hands together as he walks back toward Artie, hesitating momentarily as if figuring out how to communicate. Finally, he takes Artie's hand and slowly taps it with his index finger, counting out loud with each tap. Artie follows along, nodding with each tap. Tereek taps to 10. Artie nods, showing he understands. Tereek turns to leave.
At the bus shelter across the street, Tereek sees a bus whizz by a sleeping man. Tereek looks back at Artie, whose eyes are closed and has a peaceful expression on his face.
With a look a frustrated obligation, Tereek walks back to Artie. He takes Artie's hand and places it on the empty bench seat next to Artie. Tereek takes off his backpack and sits next to Artie. Tereek pats Artie's knee several times to reassure him that he is there.
After a moment, Artie reaches over and pats Tereek's knee several times. Artie sits back and smiles. Tereek smiles in response. They sit calmly next to one another.
Artie takes out his Sharpie and writes on his pad. He shows it to Tereek. It reads: Bodega nearby? Tereek shifts back and forth, frustrated, hesitating briefly, then takes Artie's hand. Tereek uses his index finger to write one letter at a time on Artie's palm. CAN IT WAIT? Artie clicks his pen a couple of times to make sure it's open and writes on his pad. It reads: I'm very thirsty
Tereek glances up, looking tired. Artie walks with his hand on Tereek's shoulder. Tereek looks away for a moment. Artie's cane hits a construction barrier. Tereek, startled, yells, 'sorry.' Tereek helps steady Artie. Artie shakes his head. He extends his arm to Tereek. Tereek puts Artie's arm through his and says, 'I got you.' They resume walking, Tereek now with more care.
Now in the Bodega, Tereek scans the refrigerated drink section and opens the door to make a choice. Artie stands patiently by the register in front of a 30‑something, Hispanic cashier who stares awkwardly at him.
Tereek approaches, places a tall can of iced tea on the counter. Artie takes out his wallet, holding it open for Tereek to take. Tereek thumbs through and takes out a 20. Then asks for a Snickers bar, who tells him it's $3. Tereek hands the money to the cashier. The cashier hands Tereek the change. Tereek places the money back into the Artie's wallet. He hesitates, then pulls out a ten dollar bill and places it in his own pocket before returning the wallet to Artie. The cashier notices and stares at Tereek. Tereek stares back and says, 'what, you've never seen a blind and deaf guy before?' The cashier lowers his gaze and busies himself behind the counter. Tereek glances back at him with a hostile look before opening the door and leaving arm in arm with Artie.
We follow behind Tereek and Artie as they head down a dark street. A bus speeds by. Tereek lets go of Artie's arm and races after it, yelling for it to stop to no avail. Tereek mutters to himself, 'Why I gotta get stuck with this?' Behind him, Artie pulls out the can of iced tea on the counter. And takes a big sip. His face lights up with satisfaction. Tereek can't help but smile.
Tereek and Artie are back at the bus shelter, Artie drinking his iced tea and Tereek eating his Snickers bar. Artie places the can on the ground and reaches into his backpack for a wool cap that he puts on his head. Artie reaches for his pad. He writes: Tell the bus driver to tap me at 129th? Tereek takes Artie's hand and writes back: Yes
Artie takes Tereek's hand in his and feels it. Artie voices, 'young man.' Tereek is surprised to hear Artie's voice. Artie writes: Your name? Tereek spells T‑E‑R‑E‑E‑K
Artie tilts his head with curiosity. Artie writes: Pleasure to meet you! Tereek can't help but enjoy this. Tereek writes: Name? Artie writes: Artie
Tereek writes: Why out late? Artie clicks his pen a couple times, then writes: Date
Tereek smiles and looks a bit surprised and amused. Artie writes: You? Tereek takes Artie's hand, finger poised to spell, but hesitates briefly this time, furrowing his brow. Finally, with a pained expression on his face, he slowly writes...Same
Artie pauses as if understanding there is something significant in Tereek's hesitation. The two sit, Tereek fidgeting slightly with his hands as Artie turns to put his pad away.
He reaches down into his backpack and finds a bottle of water he pulls out. He shakes his head from side to side in disbelief, then shows it to Tereek and begins to laugh. Tereek looks at the bottle, also with a look of disbelief, and the two share a good laugh about this inside joke.
Tereek and Artie are now both asleep, Artie's head on Tereek's shoulder. Tereek is awakened by the buzz of a text from his phone.
He slowly removes his hands from his jacket, and gently adjusts Artie, until Artie is sitting upright on his own. And pulls out his phone to read a text from Rhoda. It reads: It's late. I'm going to bed.
Tereek glances to his left at Artie, still sleeping. He looks back at the text. Deliberating, then clicks off his phone.
Tereek looks back at Artie. He makes a move, then stops himself. Then he carefully reaches across Artie, pulling the pad out of Artie's backpack. It's a small spiral notebook with messages scribbled everywhere, at different angles and in different colors of ink.
One message says: Which way is 96th Street? Tereek flips the page. Another reads: Please leave the room and close the door. On another page he reads: Can I kiss you?
Tereek, moved by what he just read, glances back at Artie still sleeping peacefully.
Tereek vulnerably looks up and directly into the camera. We get closer to his face as he puts his hands over his ears and closes his eyes.
The screen goes black.
A rumbling sound.
With picture back up, Tereek notices the sound, takes his hands off his ears and opens his eyes. He runs out of frame and chases down a bus, tapping the side until it stops. The doors open and Tereek addresses the driver, 'you mind waiting just a quick second?'
Now on the bus, Artie is seated near the front. He hands Tereek his MetroCard. Tereek approaches the driver, swipes his MetroCard. The driver rubs his eyes, appearing bored and tired.
Tereek: 'This guy's blind and deaf. You gotta tap him and let him know when he gets to 129th street. His name's Artie.'
The driver looks away, uninterested.
Tereek: 'Excuse me, sir. Could you tap him and let him know when he gets to 129th street?'
Driver: 'Sure.'
Tereek: 'No, not sure.'
The driver now looks at Tereek.
Tereek: 'He just wants to get home.'
Driver: 'I'm going to take care of the man.'
Tereek: 'Artie.'
Tereek is impassioned, moisture in his eyes.
Driver: 'I'm gonna take care of Artie. Get him off the bus at 129th street.'
Tereek looks down, as if embarrassed to show his emotion to the driver.
Tereek: 'Thank you.'
Now back with Artie, Tereek takes his hand and writes: You Ok? Artie is smiling, eyes closed. He nods. Artie rises, takes Tereek's hand and spells: You'll be OK
Tereek appears stunned and moved by this. Artie pulls him in for a warm embrace. Tereek hugs back with feeling. They release. Artie places his hands on Tereek's shoulders, then sits down again. Still moved, Tereek exchanges glances with a middle‑aged black woman farther back in the bus. She smiles approvingly at him. Tereek turns and walks off the front of the bus. Artie sits peacefully smiling.
Now off the bus, Tereek walks to the sidewalk and watches the bus as it pulls away. He stares longingly. He waves bye in its direction, tears visible in his eyes.
Then, something occurs to Tereek.
Now back on the same block where he met Artie, Tereek walks briskly and comes to a stop. He looks down with concern. We see he's looking at the same homeless man from before, asleep on the ground covered in a musty, green blanket. Tereek reaches down and drops the same 10 dollar bill he had taken from Artie in the homeless man's change cup. Tereek takes one last caring look at the homeless man. Then turns and walks away.
He heads back down a dirty, deserted street with old‑fashioned lampposts and store signs in Chinese. He puts up his hood and places both hands in pockets as he slowly fades into the distance.
Braille appears on the screen, then morphs into the title, Feeling Through. More braille appears, then morphs into, a film by Doug Roland
Black.
Credits roll.
CONNECTING THE DOTS
>> CHRIS WOODFILL: Chris Woodfill speaking. And I would like to introduce you to Doug Roland. And he is a filmmaker for the project that we're going to be working on called Feeling Through.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Back in August of 2011, I was coming home late one night. I was out in the East village in New York City and I saw this man standing on a street corner by himself.
And as I got closer, I saw that he was holding a sign that said that he needed help crossing the street and that he was deaf and blind.
This is the first time I'd ever encountered a DeafBlind person. So initially I tried to talk to him and quickly realized that wasn't going to work. But when I tapped him, he had a note pad that he wrote to me that he needed a certain bus stop. So I walked him over to the bus stop.
I didn't want him to sit and wait by himself. So I wanted to find a way to let them know that I would wait with him. And I kind of intuitively just took his hand and started writing one letter at a time on his palm.
The man who had written his name as A‑R‑T‑Z, Artz, is how I knew him at that in that conversation. He was just a really charismatic, open‑hearted, warm person. I was inspired to write a short film about it. I reached out to the Helen Keller National Center, but they are pretty busy over there.
>> SUE RUZENSKI: I was a bit skeptical about it, um, because I had never received any call like that in the past.
>> CHRIS WOODFILL: I remember in the beginning, I remember.
>> DOUG ROLAND: I was politely persistent in reaching out a number of times through emails and calls.
>> SUE RUZENSKI: I believe it was a lengthy voice message from Doug that I learned about the idea of the film.
>> DOUG ROLAND: There are not DeafBlind actors portraying DeafBlind characters in the media. That's the whole reason that we're standing here today and why we've come up here and why we've been connecting with everyone in the community, because we really want to tell this story accurately and authentically.
>> SUE RUZENSKI: I remember sitting in the lobby of this hotel and meeting with Doug and the team. So I was able to talk to Doug in detail about what inspired the story.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Right from the start. I knew that I wanted to cast it up.
>> SUE RUZENSKI: It's not common that we're going to see the face of, of these people in media. It's a sort of breakthrough. It's a first it's never happened before.
>> CHRIS WOODFILL: I can't think of anybody who is DeafBlind who has ever been cast in any type of movie.
>> SUE RUZENSKI: It was very obvious to myself and, and two of my colleagues and we were very excited.
>> CATHY KIRSCHER: Doug told us his story about meeting this guy seven years ago in New York. And I said, I bet we can find him within three hours.
>> DOUG ROLAND: I got an email from Cathy Kirscher, who was a part of that initial meeting, telling me that ‑‑ they're like, we found him!
>> SUE RUZENSKI: It came pretty clear who it was, Hispanic guy, New York, tactile sign ‑ this is Artie. Like, at least we know who it is. It's this man named Artemio. We would love to, um, reunite with Artemio who's inspired this story. And then it became a quest. Where is Artemio living at this time? The sad part is we couldn't find Artie after that. He has no known contact with email and all of that, but that's how small and tight this community is.
>> DOUG ROLAND: For months and months and months, they couldn't find Artemio.
>> SUE RUZENSKI: People basically were saying, gee, I don't think we're going to be able to find him.
>> DOUG ROLAND: I knew that there was so much for me to learn about the community, but, also, that I was gonna ‑‑ I really need help finding potential actors to fill this role.
>> CHRIS WOODFILL: I remember starting to think in my mind of who could be potential candidates for Doug to interview.
>> You can come sit here.
>> So how would I encounter this person? Would it be just walking on the street on the road?
>> DOUG ROLAND: And that's initially how the other character meets him. So I'd love to just jump right in and get to know you a little bit more.
>> In North Carolina, I went to the School for the Deaf and that's really where I learned how to sign and learn how to communicate.
>> DOUG ROLAND: We'd be using two cameras, um, to capture the scenes in a more nuanced and efficient way.
>> Trying to figure out their communication style and the communication methods so that I can interpret what's going on was challenging at times.
>> Interpreting and translation are very different, and interpretation is always going to be an interpretation. It's going to be me trying my best to get where you're at.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Right.
>> It's not a direct translation.
>> There may be one word in English that I might have eight different ways to sign it based on all of the other words around it and what your intent is. So my goal is to interpret the meaning and the essence in the manner in which you convey it so that the deaf or DeafBlind person will understand it and be able to respond accordingly.
>> DOUG ROLAND: At one point in the middle of the day, we had a little bit of a break between auditions.
>> CHRIS WOODFILL: So we have options that, um, that are not, um ‑‑ Ilissa. I don't know if this is good enough for you, but if you would like you talk with Robert, he works in our kitchen. We can pull him over here.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Yeah, I'd love to.
>> CHRIS WOODFILL: I think he might be a good candidate.
>> DOUG ROLAND: I know you just got pulled in here, so I'll explain a little bit why we're here. We are making a movie.
>> ROBERT TARANGO: Um, oh, wait, who is going to be the actor? You? I'm just joking, I'm just joking.
It made me feel so excited. I was like, wait, are you serious? I'm auditioning for something? I don't, you know ‑‑ you have to remember, I work from 10 to 6, Monday to Friday.
>> CHRIS WOODFILL: So don't worry about that. We would excuse you from work.
>> ROBERT TARANGO: Are you sure?
>> CHRIS WOODFILL: Yes. It's only for a few days.
>> ROBERT TARANGO: I just want to make sure you're not bothered because if I'm going to be a movie star, you know, I don't want to be in trouble with you, you know? And if I'm late, it's on you.
>> CHRIS WOODFILL: Don't worry about it. We will excuse you.
>> ROBERT TARANGO: But then I felt like this is my dream coming true that I'm sitting here in this room auditioning for a movie. I'm getting so excited about this! And I love being on camera.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Genuinely. The moment Robert walked in the room, I was like, this is our guy. So we were really, really excited to call up Robert shortly after and let him know that he'd gotten the role. And he was very excited.
>> ROBERT TARANGO: I just remember one day I was at work and my boss, Dan came over to me. He's like, I'm on the phone right now. And he's like, Doug picked you! I was like, oh, my God! Oh my, God! Me? Really? Wow! I just couldn't believe it! I was thinking, I did it! I made it!
>> SUE RUZENSKI: I felt great for him. I was really excited. It was great to learn that he was the person selected.
>> He's such a friendly, charismatic type of person. He's got a good soul.
>> ROBERT TARANGO: I was born deaf, but I had 20/20 vision. I thought about wanting to become an actor and meeting actors and wanting even to be an actor in a movie.
Then at the age of about 30‑31, I started to lose my vision. It became just so depressing to me. I thought there's no way that anyone would want to hire someone who was not only deaf, but deaf and blind to become an actor. I have no peripheral vision at all. I have like a tiny box of vision in front of me that I can see through.
>> So his vision on a great day, it'd be this on top of this.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Yeah.
>> ROBERT TARANGO: I mean, Artie is a completely DeafBlind person, whereas I am not, I'm deaf and legally blind. So it was a little bit different for me. We're the same, but we're not. So for me, I was trying to figure out how to play the part of Artie because he had no vision. I mean, who knows in the future, I might lose all my vision, just like Artie.
>> DOUG ROLAND: I don't know what it's going to be like getting you guys together yet. And, like, actually working through it together.
>> STEVEN: Do you have any tips to give me?
>> DOUG ROLAND: I have a plan, but like I also, like I have no idea. We'll have to figure it out. We'll just like, see what it's like when we get moving.
They have pretty unique elevators in here. There's, obviously, a lot more buttons than the others, most elevators. And you can keep your hand on the button so that, uh, when it gets to the floor, this will pop out and it lets you know that you're at your floor.
I want him to meet Steven.
>> Nice to meet you.
>> Nice to meet you as well.
>> DOUG ROLAND: This is just an opportunity for us to be able to get on our feet, for you and Steven to interact with each other, and for us to start to see where we're at with things.
>> STEVEN: You just got to go, just keep walking.
That rehearsal that we did was different from any other rehearsal that I've done before.
>> ROBERT TARANGO: I remember he came over to me, he tapped me and he was trying to communicate with me, Tereek, and it was the first time. And he was, like, trying to guide me, but here I am, this DeafBlind person, and we were trying to engage with one another.
>> STEVEN: It took a lot of just trusting each other, listening to each other.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Even if it's a little awkward for you to do it, even if you wish you didn't have as many things in your hands, that's one of the obstacles that you still need to get past in order to communicate to him.
And that first rehearsal was great to have Robert and Steven jump right into it, but it was also really scary as a Director because I was like, oh man, I wish we had 20 more rehearsals because there's so much more we need to get through.
>> ROBERT TARANGO: Woah!
>> STEVEN: Sorry!
>> DOUG ROLAND: So if I just leave you here, you're not going to be able to get where you're going.
>> That I learned about the idea of the film.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Yeah?
>> So why don't you be Robert and let Tereek be Tereek and let him watch you?
>> DOUG ROLAND: Perfect. I love that idea.
>> CHRIS WOODFILL: People I think are probably more familiar with what is called TASL, which is Tactile American Sign Language, which is really just using regular visual sign language adapted to the hand.
>> Haptics is, it's just a way of touch communication that we use here at Helen Keller. So we might just put our hand on Robert's shoulder, for example, to just mean hold or just to stop.
>> CHRIS WOODFILL: But then there are also some people who might learn the Print on Palm method, where you actually take letters, use your index finger and print them on the other person's palm of their hand.
>> ROBERT TARANGO: It was hard for me to actually use that type of communication because I'm not used to it, so it took me a while to understand what Tereek was trying to communicate to me on the palm of my hand.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Yeah. I definitely came away from that first rehearsal. Pretty nervous. I was pretty sweaty by the time we got out of there and looking around at other people going, like, is it hot in here or is it just me?
I know Dan's going to get mad at me. If I don't get you back to the cafeteria.
It was really great to be able to work with the two of them. And then, also, moreover though, it reaffirmed that I cast the right people.
So if you want to cross the street, say, you can see or hear this will get you recognized faster. And then when he's walking, he just needs to just move his cane. Like, that's all he needs to do.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Great. You know, basically we're going to be outside with like some natural light from streetlights, but also like most of the light that he's going to feel on him is light that we're introducing.
>> I actually have a lot of concerns with what he's going to be able to see exactly at night.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Exactly.
It was in March of 2018 that we had that first meeting with HKNC, but it wasn't until November of that year that I got an email the day before we started shooting the film that we found Artemio, or we know where he lives.
>> SUE RUZENSKI: One of our former staff members had the opportunity to be at a forum and at that forum was Artemio.
>> DOUG ROLAND: So now it's the day before we start shooting and we have this address for Artemio, and I was like, well, invite him to set. Let's have him come. Like, you know what better way to let him know what he's inspired than to have him come down to set.
Scene nine, take one, mark.
>> ROBERT TARANGO: I remember the first time I was standing there on the set, they had to do my makeup and I was like, oh, is that what movie stars do? Okay. I'm going to sit in the seat and get my makeup done.
I'm damn handsome! [Laughter]
Doug took me over to a storefront.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Action. We were shooting this film in November, in New York City, outside, at night so you have the obvious challenges that you might assume of it being quite cold a bunch of the days.
>> ROBERT TARANGO: I had to follow what Doug was telling me to do and it was cold. And I had to focus on keeping my eyes focused and not act as if I was looking. And it was tough with the weather.
>> DOUG ROLAND: You don't have to scan so much, but really ‑‑ yeah.
>> ROBERT TARANGO: So just like I'm scanning because I don't know where he is. So that's, that was the scan just ‑‑ right?
>> DOUG ROLAND: Sure. Of course.
>> I think it helped to just provide Robert with a lot of the touch techniques. So giving him signals to indicate, keep going or to indicate, like, the scene is going to be cut or to stop. I think really helped out in this situation.
>> STEVEN: He was sticking it out. I thought Robert was about to like tap out, but he was like, nah. He said, no, I got this, I just needed a quick breather. He just got right back up and was like, yeah, we're going to finish this. We're going to do this. And we needed that. That just tightened me up. And I was like, yo, I can get through this, too.
Oh, sorry!
>> ROBERT TARANGO: It doesn't matter if I'm deaf and legally blind, I still felt like I could do it.
>> DOUG ROLAND: We were shooting almost the whole film outside at night. And in those settings, Robert really has little to no vision. So something that we needed to figure out ahead of time, how do we break off and create little settings where the interpreters are well‑lit enough so that them and Robert can communicate.
>> So whoever was not actually interpreting at the moment would hold the light over Robert's shoulder so that the light wouldn't distract him. So it was coming from behind Robert so he wouldn't get any ambient glare and he could actually see the interpreter.
>> What is that?
>> It's called a silent call pager. It's a very simple system. It's just one‑way. It either chimes or it vibrates.
>> So when they're striking the lights, it will light up.
>> DOUG ROLAND: This is your part, so I'm just helping you find it, but it's your role to have, take more ownership over it.
>> ROBERT TARANGO: Okay.
>> STEVEN: There was a scene where, when I had to, like, when he touches me and I kinda like shift, I kind of flinch my reflexes. And he was saying that, you know, in real life, like it's ‑‑ it's a sad thought that people in this world are afraid of, like, you know, human connection.
>> ROBERT TARANGO: The point is just communicating. It doesn't matter how you communicate, whether it's through sign language or with pen and paper.
>> STEVEN: There was a kinship that was building between us and I believe that is showed on camera. It was something just magical just happening around everyone on set.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Cut! That's a wrap.
>> STEVEN: Woo! Had to let that out. Sorry.
>> DOUG ROLAND: So the shoot comes and goes and we're not able to get in touch with Artemio. A couple of days after Christmas of 2018, I was up at HKNC and I was like, I'm going to just go by his house and see what happens.
We are in front of our Artemio's house about to knock on his door. To our knowledge, he does not know anything about this yet, so we're going to go in there and do our best to explain why we're there so that we can finally be reunited with Artemio and let him know that he's inspired this film.
Might've been better to do this during the day time. Just realizing that. But it's dinner time. It's, like, an approachable hour.
>> Hurdle number one.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Definitely don't want to hop the fence. That would not be a good start to this operation.
By any chance have you ever seen anyone, um, if they have a son who's deaf and blind?
>> They do. They always lock their gates so you have to yell out.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Hello? Hello. I have a question. Is Artemio your son?
>> Artemio?
>> DOUG ROLAND: Yeah.
>> Si.
>> DOUG ROLAND: We're friends of the Helen Keller National Center.
>> One moment.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Yeah.
>> Come on.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Okay. Oh, great!
>> Sorry, I am hungry.
>> DOUG ROLAND: No, no, please, please.
>> My husband.
>> DOUG ROLAND: What did Artemio say when you explained who we are and why we're here?
>> I told him a seven year old friend that is his acquaintance is here and wants to see him.
>> DOUG ROLAND: This is very exciting for me because I've been trying to find him for the whole year.
>> But at last you found him.
>> DOUG ROLAND: My name is Doug Roland. I met you seven years ago on a street corner in the East Village when you needed help finding a bus stop.
>> ARTEMIO: I remember.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Very quickly we realized that the most efficient way for us to communicate was just like how we communicated when we first met each other.
>> ARTEMIO: Are you an artist?
>> DOUG ROLAND: Yes. Filmmaker.
>> ARTEMIO: Do you want fresh water?
>> DOUG ROLAND: Sure.
And a half I'd met him prior, but the instant, he walked down the stairs, like, his appearance and his energy, it was very familiar, surprisingly so.
Over the course of this year in searching for him, I started building this rounded understanding of who Artemio was through all these other encounters that I'd had with other people.
I will tell you more about the film soon.
It was great to be able to finally fill him in on this whole experience that he's inspired, but it was really just more than anything, just really great to see him again.
>> ARTEMIO: It was such a pleasure to meet you again.
>> DOUG ROLAND: So great to see you again.
>> ARTEMIO: Doug had never even met a DeafBlind person in his entire life. Meeting me was his first time encountering a DeafBlind individual. We ultimately became friends. Now I'm motivated to learn about becoming an actor and becoming an author, similar to Helen Keller.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Robert being a part of this experience wasn't a challenge. It made it what it is. It was such an integral part of creating the environment that pervaded every moment of the shoot. It's in the DNA of every moment of the story that we're telling.
>> SUE RUZENSKI: It gives other individuals who are DeafBlind an example of what's possible.
>> STEVEN: It was a learning and humbling experience all around.
>> ARTEMIO: I can do anything, just like your typical sighted person can do it.
>> CHRIS WOODFILL: It doesn't really matter who the people are, it's about that connection that two people can make.
>> ROBERT TARANGO: I hope to educate people through the film, so that's my hope for the future. And I hope that Doug maybe, who knows, he'll give me a shot at doing Part II of this movie.
>> DOUG ROLAND: The whole journey from the start of meeting Artemio years ago, to aligning with Helen Keller National Center, to casting Robert as our DeafBlind actor in the film has been such an amazing journey and it was, it was just so great to have it capped off by reuniting with Artie and getting a chance to share that with him.
>> SUE RUZENSKI: It really elevates people's, you know, just awareness about people who are DeafBlind, it's tremendous.
>> ROBERT TARANGO: I feel like at the end, when we embrace each other and have the hug, I feel like it was showing how people can help each other out. And I felt like that was really something that really left an impact on me because we are all not alone in this world. Everybody needs each other. Everybody needs help. Everybody can help each other out.
>> DOUG ROLAND: We hope you enjoyed the films. Now, let's get started with the live discussion and Q&A. Today I have the honor to be joined by Bapin Bhattacharya of the Helen Keller National Center, and none other than Ferose, the founder of the India Inclusion Summit. We encourage you to use that chat box to type any questions you have. Let's get started.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Hello, everyone! Thank you for joining us today. It's such an honor to be doing this Feeling Through Experience for the India Inclusion Summit and certainly thrilled to have both the Founder of the India Inclusion Summit, as well as Bapin, who is a very amazing guest to have as well.
Before we hop into things, just a reminder for anyone that is watching live, feel free to type any questions that you might have in the chat box throughout. We'll try to get to those.
And we're going to be talking plenty about the India Inclusion Summit throughout this conversation, but I want to say off the top that you can go do IndiaInclusionSummit.com to watch talks from amazing speakers throughout the summit.
Just to hop right into things, Ferose, maybe you could give everyone a little bit more of an understanding of what the India Inclusion Summit is.
>> ANINDYA BAPIN BHATTACHARYYA: Thank you, Doug. Firstly, what a delight to be in this platform and thank you for not just making such an uplifting movie. I've seen it now multiple times. First, when it was one of the entries at the Bengal International short Film Festival and I watched it again today and, you know, I think it's become even more relevant in COVID times when it shows how important human connection is, you know, something that each of us are probably missing in our day‑to‑day lives.
So congratulations for such a brilliant movie. Congratulations for all of the awards you have been winning. I'm sure it will go a long way in changing people's mindset about not just DeafBlind, but disabilities in general. Thank you for all that you, Doug.
And thank you for also agreeing to bring this our audience in India. This is Bolly Week, so I seek forgiveness that many people may be still celebrating right now, but this is available. I'm glad that you have allowed the movie to be open for the next one week. I'm sure a lot of people will come back and enjoy watching the movie, watching the experience, and hopefully take something out of this conversation as well.
For all the audience, the Inclusion Summit started as a very simple idea way back in 2012 where we said, how do we bring the topic of disability to the mainstream? Because disabilities were still seen as terrible, people don't speak about it, it's kind of still covered and kept under wraps, and we said, how do we actually change the narrative and flip it in a way that we celebrate people's differences?
So we started with very modest aims way back in 2012. We said let's put together a small event and I'm glad that in the last ‑‑ this is the ninth year, it's transformed itself into an inclusion movement across the country where the Summit is just one part of it, but we do various other activities, including something called Inclusion Fellowship, where we encourage entrepreneurs who are solving some of the big problems in the disability space. We do something for art for inclusion, where we amplify the voices or the artwork of many people with disabilities and so on and so forth.
I would say in a very simple, in a nutshell, the Inclusion Summit is nothing but a platform to celebrate people's differences.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Well, that's definitely a really great introduction there.
And you know, Bapin, I had the pleasure of speaking with you about your life’s journey some while ago and you really couldn't be a better guest for this discussion today. And I'm sure you have a lot to say on the topics of inclusion of the Disability Community as a whole, as well as specifically in India, but before we get to that, I think it's really important that people have a little bit of context of your life and kind of your story.
So maybe if you could give us the abbreviated version of kind of just take us back to being a small boy in India, you know, born deaf, later became DeafBlind, and maybe walk us through some of the key points there, as well as your early education experience to give everyone who is watching a little bit of a reference point.
>> ANINDYA BAPIN BHATTACHARYYA: Of course, sure. First I want to say hello and good afternoon, I would say in Indian time. Right now for me, it's morning, so good morning. Actually, for many of you it's morning as well, so good early morning for those of you who are here at this time.
I'm thrilled to join this presentation with all of you today. I know we have many different comments to get to, of course, but I want to try to keep it as short as possible.
I want to begin by saying, well, I know we'll have questions at the end, so to start off, I'll start with who I am. So my full name is Anindya Bapin Bhattacharyya and my nickname for a long time now has been Bapin. My name sign, I'll show it here. That's my name sign. I'm actually from west Bengal. And I was born in Kolkata. I want to first make clear I was born deaf to parents who have never experienced people with disabilities at all. They had no experience in that.
When I was with born, I guess it was a shock to my parents, they didn't know initially what to do. Luckily, I would say I did have in my corner that both of my parent were educators, they both taught in high school. So I know my parents fervently believed in education as a core value for them. And they weren't, you know, ashamed about me being a deaf individual. They were proud to look for a great opportunity for me and try to help me find the best services that were available for me at the time. That's, I think, what has led to most of my success.
For instance, what my mother would do is she would sit there and try to speak with me, but, of course, I was fully deaf, so I don't have any ability to hear what she was saying. And then she did bring me to a doctor at some point and they gave me hearing aids, but the hearing aids didn't help at all.
So my parents decided to go ahead, my mother specifically, thought of an idea of how exactly to, I guess, help me learn how to speak. So she would show me ‑‑ she would use different voices and she show me how vowels worked and how consonants worked and that would be for, you know, different letters of alphabet. We would work through these items over and over. And that was in Bengali. I do know Bengali, that was my language. I would say they have about 40 consonants and I would say 11 vowels in the Bengali language, so it's a lot to work on. A lot more than English, but that is needless to say.
So I did speak Bengali growing up. I would say I didn't speak it perfectly as a hearing person might, but as a deaf individual, I would say I did have a slight accent in that regard. My family could understand me just fine, so working through that process, that was one thing we always focused on.
I was schooled in a mainstream setting, so I was there with other students. It was actually in my home village. And that was in Telari, I is probably about 25 miles south from Kolkata and that's actually the area where my parents lived at the time.
I went to school there, the local school with hearing students and I would sit in the classroom and do my best to observe and to learn by reading their lips, reading the teacher's lips and if they would ask me a question, I would try to be able to answer that. I would answer in what spoken language I could, sometimes it was tough because there were a few misunderstandings here and there, but they try to work through that with me. My mother worked in the elementary school at the time that was next time, so she would take time to sit with my teacher and support her through the process. At that point, I would essentially get an abbreviated message from my mother at home. She would work with me on what I might have missed through the day. She would tell me what to do and what work to work on and there may have been many things I missed. That's how we got through it.
I would say for about two years that continued until I became blind at age nine. So the way this happened was I was actually, I was playing soccer and, well, so, I guess really, we called it rugby, it was rugby in India. We were playing outside and there was another boy who was hearing. He was pretty good, he was the team captain, but the coach picked me to be the new captain at the time. So this boy, of course, was enraged and he was upset and he ended throwing ash into my eyes and that's what caused my retina to detach.
About three months in, I was fully blind. So, of course, this was a shock for my parents, too. They had no idea at the time what to do or how to adjust this, so they brought me to a local hospital. The doctors tried to salvage my retina and they failed at it. We consulted a doctor for the second time.
We actually had ‑‑ there were two things going on at the same time with my eyes and because of that it was hard for me to read, I couldn't read any longer. For the three months going in, my vision started to tunnel until finally it was gone. There were no interpreters there at the time. There was no way for me to learn and to be able to communicate with others, I had no Sign Language at the time. I would speak and my parents would respond by writing into my palm with letters.
My parents spent so much time looking for the best school for me to go. They reached out to a deaf school who said, no, we don't know how to accept students that are DeafBlind. If they were deaf, yes, but for DeafBlind students, we have no actions for them.
So as a last resort, my dad reached out to a Principal of a blind school and that was ‑‑ well, he told the story about what I had gone through and he heard somebody mentioning that, well, you know, there's a school called Perkins for DeafBlind students and actually the person he spoke to about this offered a scholarship and my father asked the Government of India if they might be able to help support me. Of course, they didn't provide me assistance at the time. So my father went through looking for other scholarship sources and other places he might be able to get the money for us to go to Perkins. He reached out to some of the wealthier people he knew and long last, finally Perkins was able to get my father a scholarship for one year. And that was it, that was the time we were given, yes, we can both come, my father and I, but only for a year.
So my father did receive the money for us to buy the plane tickets and come over here to America. So we made our way over and that was 1983. At that time, I was about 13 years old. Of course, I had not gone to school for the last four years, I just sat home and wasn't able to do much. I had a lot to catch up on. I didn't have any English knowledge. I only knew just a few words I would say, maybe like I love you. I knew how to say I have to go to the bathroom, or I want to eat, and I'm ready to sleep. That was it.
I remember the first night I arrived in America, my father was, he was in Perkins with me, and it was a really shocking experience for us because it was a whole different world.
My dad met an interpreter who was actually from Bengali and he knew English as well so he was able to speak to that man and they spoke back and forth. My dad would tell me in ‑‑ by writing in my palm what they were talking about. He would go to class with me every morning to see what it was like for me. It was a slow process for me to learn English in the beginning, but I ended up learning it. And really, I would say the biggest thing that helped me was I was motivated to read. I was ready to finally learn Braille and I learned new words every day with that and it was just ‑‑ I took off from there.
I gained language exposure and within the years’ time, I was already pretty proficient in English, I would say. I was really pretty great at Sign Language. And, you know, I was proficient in Braille. And Perkins noticed ‑‑ well, they recognized my skill as having started where it was and exceeding the expectations, so we continued with ‑‑ they decided I should continue on there and continue my studies.
So Perkins had an agreement set up I would go ahead and stay and my father would go back to India and I would stay until I graduate from Perkins. And I was about 21 years old and then I looked for a college to go to because I know my dad always approached to me saying, you have to go to college, you need to go for a Higher Education, this is what you're going to do to get a good job for yourself and be able to support yourself. You don't want to stay home and depend on others, that's not how we're going to do this. My dad always said one line as his main go‑to, he said, I'm not going to live forever and I'm not going to be able to financially support you, you have to do be able to do so yourself.
I was motivated to find a job, and to get Higher Education and that's what started it off for me. I did go to the University of Arkansas and that was in Little Rock.
While I was there, I received my Bachelor's Degree and that was in Political Sciences, but before that time, I thought about what I wanted to do as a major track and I was very interested with, you know, law. That was one thing I wanted to get into. And after reading through it, I know there were a lot of disability cases every day that were popping up and there were discrimination claims. And that was something that, you know, I wanted to ‑‑ I knew people would look down on people with disabilities and that was one thing that inspired me to get involved with that. In this world, it seemed at the time there was a lot of differences between somebody who had a disability and somebody who didn't and I wanted to equal the playing field.
That's when I thought, you know what? I want to show them we can function the same as anybody else that doesn't have a disability. So I graduated from there. I got my degree, my Bachelor's Degree, and I thought about going to Law School at the time, but, again, I came to the conclusion that I didn't have, I guess, the patience, you could say, to have to read all day, every day as my line of work. You know? And I thought, well, I think that's really what it's going to entail for the most part.
I thought, well, maybe I'll change courses. Maybe I'll start working a little bit and decide what to do after that. And maybe I can even go back into law later. And I rose through the ranks and I would say really I just kept to my hobbies. One of my biggest hobbies was technology. I grew up loving it and going to Perkins for the first time, I saw my very first Apple device and that was a long time ago. That was one of the first Apple computers they had back then. I was excited to finally get to learn what this was and to become a computer whizz and I felt I was one. I would always challenge others and I would try to learn what I could. I wanted to learn how it functioned, how it worked, what the programs were, so I continued on with that through high school.
Down the road, I ended up setting my own, kind of like a short bulletin board with all of my items of my goals I wanted to do and I ended upsetting up a website. So I had this bulletin Board that was online and I was able to call through and check in to see, okay, using this technology, how do I as a person using this online check into things before I'm there?
So it was one of the things where I used the Internet as a way to connect with the world and that was long ago.
I also would build computers. I would go around looking at different computers and see what different components were and get a feel for each of them and then I would, you know, from the mother board to the RAM chips and the memory and the hardware itself, I would look around for the best items to be able to build a computer.
I would work alongside some of my friends who are sighted and we would pick the best color for it. Like maybe we want to put some red here and some black there.
And, also, when it came to wires, we wanted to make sure we had the red and black wires in the right place and then we could connect them all the board, so that's something I would do and that's how I would build computers. I worked on DOS at the time, which is a very old operating system. That was from way back in the day before Windows came out. It's been running ‑‑ I mean, that's how they used to run the computers back then.
I built about ten computers myself. I ended up ‑‑ I grew that as one of my hobbies and after college I thought about it and while looking for work, I just, I thought, you know, one of my goals would be to be able to work as a person like maybe a Policy Analysts and be able to help lawyers to work alongside them with their cases. I know sometimes it's hard to find work in these fields, but I could at least try.
So I interviewed with a few agencies. There was one that was an advocate agency. They had very limited funds, so they only had limited funds for the person working that position, so I didn't accept it.
And then I had another friend who worked at the Helen Keller National Center and they told me that there was a job available and it was in the technology department. They said I would have to apply there to become a technology teacher. And I thought, well, I don't exactly have a college degree in computers, computers as a specialty, so I thought, well, maybe my skills lies elsewhere, I'm not really sure.
I thought about it twice and thought, well, I do have a lot of experience with teaching technology, so what if my experience, my background as a DeafBlind individual, I know the first time I came to Perkins, my friends always told me, go ahead and try it, see what happens, it can't hurt to try.
I thought about that and I applied for the role at the Helen Keller National Center and I received an interview. And they told me they would be flying me out to New York. I said, okay, that sounds good to me, so we flew out to New York.
They brought me ‑‑ I brought a Braille display with a small laptop and they said, well, there was one student who we use one teacher with for a while, just one‑on‑one and see how that goes, and that was the idea for the position.
The boss at the time said that after we viewing my application, they were very impressed with me and how patient I was in teaching this one student, so one interview led to another and they choose me for hire.
And, you know, at the time, the students who were there, I was working with them under a student Visa. There's a lot of paperwork involved in filing for immigration and so it's one of those things that's another obstacle that we had to overcome. But working through that and also being a technology teacher, it was something that led me then to go into a supervising role in that department and there were two staff under me. I guess we slowly, together, we built that department to grow.
The department itself had only two computers at the time to its name and there was one type of screen‑reader, just one. And there was a Zoom program for the screen and there was a Braille display. I told them we will need more of these things. We added more to the program. They were very motivated to come alongside me and work through that.
We received scholarships, we were able to reach out to different funds sources. And we purchased those accessibility items and grew our program. Two years in, my Supervisor ended up leaving and there was a new position available for Supervisor, so I worked in that for about three years.
My new Supervisor said they would rather have me go out to train people and do that in the field essentially, and that new position in the school at the time and there was also some professional development and presentations that would be involved in that. And there was another educator role, I guess other students would be there as well. So that would be a great time to be able to educate those students who attended during the presentations.
As a DeafBlind person, it was just vital for me to have access to communication through technology because at the time then, when we first came out with SmartPhones, it was about $300 to buy one and they were interested in doing that for us. It was a SmartPhone that came ‑‑ we would use it with a Braille display. And the Braille display itself would cost about $1,000‑2000, which how would a DeafBlind individual be able to afford that on their own? And there are many DeafBlind individuals who don't have that access because they don't work and they receive benefits and it's just not going to be enough to be able to manage their finances and budget something like that in.
And communication is very important to us because as DeafBlind individuals, without communication loneliness starts to set in and you are not aware of anything going around you and if anything were to go awry, you have not privy to it.
That's why in 2007, I and many other, I would say advocates in the group, ended up coming together to travel to Washington, D.C. and we met the Senate and we met with some Commissioners and we explained the need for these things. We said, there's need for equipment out there and we like to go ahead and show you what we have. It's called a Braille displace. It's a Braille TTY and it's thousands of dollars. So when we showed them, they were shocked how expensive it was for accessibility technology.
Actually, the representative who we met with said that we would need, I guess, they said, well, maybe a person should just, you know, they should work and maybe try to save their money and that way they would be able to launch it towards that accessibility technology.
So we thought, well, what if the Government had set up some sort of program that would help with technology and service people with equipment? You know, we talked about the budgeting for how you have to budget it years before. Eventually the program can come out for maybe, I would say, what would it take? Four years. I said that's four years without technology. Four or 40, it's years without it. So we pushed it and we went back and forth until finally we signed the communication and video accessibility act which is the CVAS of 2010. And that was an accessibility law that came to be where under that law in 2012, a national program was formed. It was a National DeafBlind Equipment Distribution Program, NDEDP, so that was one of those programs that was run.
I actually run two different International programs. So here I am in the states, I run two programs, one of which is Florida and the other is Iowa. I'm responsible for all of the technology with all of the clients under that program, to see if they qualify and see if we can assist them, if they have a specific income threshold that is required, then we can go ahead and purchase accessibility equipment for them and we can provide training on how to use it and that can include iPads ‑‑ I'm sorry, laptops to tablets to iPhones to screen‑readers, Zoom software, really any sort of accessibility equipment that we would have to add to make communication accessible for them.
And all of the money that funds it comes from the FCC, the Federal Communication Commission, and they offer over 10 million dollars a year for this program for all 50 states around America.
It's a really impactful program and it's been really successful so far. Looking around the world, it's one of those things, we see there's still such a need for accessibility in every country, for those that are DeafBlind, let's say. And even in this year, in January, I went to the first national DeafBlind meeting and that was a conference and that was in ‑‑ I'm trying to think of the name. I'm trying to think of the name.
I'm sorry, did you have a comment?
>> DOUG ROLAND: Yeah, just one moment.
>> ANINDYA BAPIN BHATTACHARYYA: Go ahead.
>> DOUG ROLAND: I want to get more into that in a moment. You shared so many great things in there, I want to walk back a little bit and talk about some of the great topics that emerged from your personal story that you told so beautifully.
There's so many things I want to talk about there, but one of the things that sticks out right away for me was, Bapin, when you were talking about your relationship with your father and both of your parents, but when your father said, you know, I'm not going to be around forever to take care of you, I want you to make sure that you can be independent.
You know, immediately, Ferose, I thought about some of the stuff you and I have talked about and obviously, you being a parent of a child with special needs, and maybe if you could talk a little bit from the parents' perspective and really how that's led to kind of us being here today. If you can kind of connect the dots on that for us.
>> FEROSE: Yeah, no, it was so amazing to listen to Bapin's journey. As I said, I'm still, I would say pretty early in my journey with Virvan, who is just 11 years old, he's non‑verbal, so he can't speak, he has autism, and every day struggles is what Bapin explained. What do you do? What is his future like?
And the emphasis on education. One of the reasons I came to the U.S. is exactly the same thing as Bapin had, which was my son, because he was non‑verbal, he couldn't go to a school and autism at this point, I'm talking about 2010‑2011 when he was diagnosed with autism, it wasn't even seen as a disability in India. It was added to the list of disabled only in 2016.
So obviously, when it's not recognized as a disability, there are not enough funds from the Government, not enough special schools, most of them are private, there's no public schools and so on.
When I was listening to Bapin, it was like being on the other side as a parent and I can imagine all of the struggles Bapin's parents have gone through. The reason why he came to the U.S. was exactly the same thing, is to find education that would eventually lead to independence.
Again, for me personally, I'm still incredibly fortunate that I could move to the U.S., but I always go back to the whole idea, like, what happens to those people who can't move to the U.S.? It's just not easy for everyone. It's incredibly hard, it's incredibly expensive.
I sometimes, I must say there's some sense of guilt deep inside me that I'm fortunate to provide education to my son, but what about the thousands and millions who are not that fortunate?
So even the move to the U.S. six years back, I still have very deep connections with India and the Inclusion Movement. So even though I've been here now six years, we still have a volunteer base that still runs many of these activities around disability.
And, you know, when I look from a parent's point of view, I think education is the core of everything. And the way I and my wife handled it was very different. I never ‑‑ I always felt that, okay, he should go to a school, he should learn, you know, some basic stuff so he understands, he can read on his own. And I must say that I was not ambitious enough for him.
Whereas my wife was extremely ambitious. She was like, no, we want him to go to University, there's no reason why he cannot. I was limited by my own understanding. He's on the spectrum, he is non‑verbal, how will he ever communicate? And when I listen to Bapin's journey, it gives encouragement and hope that we should all be extremely ambitious for everyone.
And I think this is a great message that Bapin has shared. That irrespective of what your disabilities are, I think you should never think small. And you should try the best with all the accessibility feature that is are available to you to make the most of it. That's one aspect.
The other aspect, that I'll connect back to what Bapin was saying is the use of technology. His life changed because of computers, because of iPad, because of all of the Apple technology that is are available.
I think as technologist myself, I think technology has a huge role to play and make it a much more level playing ground for everybody. It doesn't matter if you have a form of disability or not, I think the ability to live your life to the fullest potential is possible because of technology.
And I think now technology is becoming cheaper and cheaper so more and more people have access to the technology to live a fulfilling life.
So those are some things that I have been reflecting on when I was listening to Bapin, more as a parent as to, what do I need to do to really maximize the potential of Virvan, but also maximize the potential of every child in this world, irrespective of what their abilities or disabilities are.
>> JASON SCHWARTZ: This is Jason, the interpreter speaking, it seems as though Doug is having some tech issues.
>> FEROSE: Okay.
>> ANINDYA BAPIN BHATTACHARYYA: This is Bapin. I wanted to make a comment. I wanted to say thank you for your comments. I have two short things I wanted to add in respect to that. So the first thing regarding technology, I would say it's great because it has not stayed stagnant. Over the years it's gotten so much better for accessibility and disability.
As far as technology goes, it's funny for me to meet people who have no idea how to use the Internet. For instance, I can just communicate straight back and forth with a person who has good English skills as a hearing person because we can type on the, let's say. There are actually a lot of Tech Support people I reach out to the phone and we'll just have conversations back and forth and then later I'll meet them in person and I might see that they might have had an attitude in person because they're like, oh, look at this person who is DeafBlind. It's very interesting to see how the perspective changes when they didn't know I was DeafBlind on the Internet and we are communicating on message and they see me in person and how things change.
I think it really demonstrates that I'm able to function in society just the same as anybody else and in an everyday way when I face challenges, and let's say, when they give me attitude, I try to calm them down and keep things positive, but I also try to I would say on a friendly tier with them, a good side with them, and kind of move on from there.
I remember I've had plenty of experiences with those and I think I will until the last day of my life, you know?
And the second thing I wanted to add about what you said was, I ‑‑ so as a father, it's interesting how my role has now reversed because I'm a DeafBlind individual myself and sore for my son, he is a hearing, sighting individual and he does not have a disability. I have the disability and still I treat my son as ‑‑
>> DOUG ROLAND: If I can get this back up, hold on a second.
Hello, everyone! Okay. Oh, shoot!
>> FEROSE: I think Doug probably had some Internet outage at his site, right?
>> JASON SCHWARTZ: This is Jason speaking. Yeah, Doug had a power outage, he just texted me, so I think he's just trying to figure out what to do.
>> FEROSE: Okay, no problem. No problem, no problem. I'm just trying to check out what's happening on the live website.
>> ANINDYA BAPIN BHATTACHARYYA: That sounds good, yep.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Hello! Sorry, everyone. I literally have the most stable Internet connection here, I've never had that happened, and, of course, of the 60 live shots that's the first time that has happened.
So we're going to finish our conversation a little while longer and I can stitch them and upload them. It won't be a problem at all.
>> FEROSE: Murphy's Law, right? [Laughter]
>> DOUG ROLAND: I literally have never had once even the slightest problem with the stream here and, of course, the one time.
>> FEROSE: That's life, no worries.
>> DOUG ROLAND: What we'll do, Ferose, if you can kind of remember roughly where you were at, where you dropped out.
>> FEROSE: Yeah.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Pick up there and I'll continue it for like another 20 minutes or so.
>> FEROSE: I think Bapin has a question.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Bapin, do you have a question?
>> ANINDYA BAPIN BHATTACHARYYA: Yeah, I would say that I think that maybe all the comments that are coming through, maybe that's just what broke our technology.
>> DOUG ROLAND: You know, I'd like to think so. We'll see.
>> [Laughter]
>> DOUG ROLAND: I'm going to just get back up, just give me one moment here because I'm going to get Bonnie's captions back up here and that's the last thing I need to do and then I'll hop right back into this. Just give me one moment here.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Sorry, everyone, we'll can back up in just a moment.
>> FEROSE: Sure, sure.
>> DOUG ROLAND: All right, everyone, just moments away here. Sorry for that delay. I think we're all up here, just give me one second.
Looks pretty good. Sorry, one moment. All right, almost there. Okay, we'll make that work.
Yeah, we're going to just get back into the conversation here. And, Ferose, if you want to do your best to pick it up.
>> FEROSE: Sure.
>> DOUG ROLAND: There's one more thing I need to do to my name here and then we're good.
Okay, I'm going to start recording again and, Ferose, take it away.
>> FEROSE: So, you know, what I was trying to tell is as a parent, we need to be ambitious for our children and being, you know, working towards maximizing the potential of every child irrespective of what their abilities are is so integral.
I consider myself as having learned through that journey, but initially I wasn't ambitious for Virvan, I was thinking in terms of limitations.
But when you listen to what Bapin has spoken about and what he has achieved, it gives us hope. As parents we live on hope for a better future.
The Inclusion Summit is nothing but a platform of hope for everybody. That what it does, it provides hope to parents, caregivers, families, and I think that's what the platform is. In many ways, that's what your movie is about, Feeling Through, and what Bapin is all about and I think that's the core to what we're trying to do.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Beautifully put.
You know, Bapin, I'm wondering, obviously, as you described, you had the great fortune to be able to end up in a situation where you had access to the education that you needed to thrive in the way that you have. You're obviously a very accomplished person who has done many things.
I'm wondering what connection you still have to India and how much things might have changed around education for the DeafBlind since you were a small boy there.
>> ANINDYA BAPIN BHATTACHARYYA: Sure. And thank you, Doug. Thanks for asking that.
I would say that when ‑‑ oh, the last thing I was mentioning actually in my comment, last January, I did go to Kolkata and that's where they set the first DeafBlind National Conference. And the thing to understand about that is there are two DeafBlind individuals who are two young men and they planned on setting it up and they asked me if I would be involved and if I would help them. And my response to them was, I would be happy to be an Advisor and to help you, but to be fully involved, I think this should really be your project and you should lead it and it should be under your discretion, so we should follow your lead with this meeting.
When I did get there, I was impressed to see what they had put together. It was over 60 DeafBlind individuals with their guides, their interpreters, and I noticed there were two DeafBlind leaders who were on the stage. They were the ones making the presentations. They were the ones with the comments. And they asked other DeafBlind individuals if they wouldn't mind sharing their life experiences, their frustrations, their goals. And everybody was quiet when they offered this and nobody answered.
So this moment is one of those moment where you want to go, okay, well, is somebody going to stand up? So one person did go ahead and stand up and it was a DeafBlind individual from Aldine, so they went ahead and they took the stage.
And the two presenters just gave them the opportunity to speak and it was incredible. It was very impressive for me. I loved seeing how active they were and how motivated they were to lead this.
And really, once they set this up, there were a politicians who were there sitting in the room. It was very inspiring to me to watch their story. It's a very long time coming and a very long road for the Government to change their stance on how they address people with disabilities and what they will do for them and to continue supporting things like this, you know, this is the goal.
And to have interpreters, let's say there, for the opportunity support them.
Recently in February, I went to Chili in India and ‑‑ well, actually, this is not my first time going, it was three times in a short span, but it was very interesting.
I was shocked to receive the CalvinKare Award and this award is for my leadership and for influencing those around the world for ‑‑ for people around the world with disabilities and to give my continued support and it's very inspiring to have received that award.
The goal for me is to continue reaching out to people, they still have frustrations, they still have their fights, to continue reaching their goals and break those barriers down. I would like all of us to live together in harmony and have every day experience and I would really like in a monthly basis to get involved in all sorts of events. I wouldn't want things like barriers to get in the way of that or discrimination to get in the way of that. I want to be able to help highlight those who have disabilities and help them receive the benefits of accessibility moving forward.
>> DOUG ROLAND: And Ferose, I'm wondering since you talked about your experience with your son and certainly when your son was very young and you first found out about his diagnoses and kind of what you did from there, what, if any, progress have you noticed in India? And where do you think the next evolution of things need to happen to really move to the next level with that?
>> FEROSE: What I have realized in the last ten years is that the entire space is incredibly complex. There are so many different layers that any system‑level change that needs to happen requires massive coordination.
So my big insight has been that there's a lot of great work happening at various nonprofits, for‑profits, organizations, Governments and so on, but unless there is a concerted effort for everybody to work together, I think progress will be very limited. True progress happens when everybody works together.
I think that has been the goal of the Inclusion Summit, we are disability agnostic, it doesn't matter what disabilities they are, it doesn't matter what nonprofits you come from, we just want to amplify and share the stories. That was the core idea, to get everybody together.
For having worked in the conference for more than two decades what I have seen is that corporates have the financial means and the intellectual capability to drive change. So corporates have a very important role of being a front runner in driving change.
The significant change I've seen in the last five‑six years is the entire topic of diversity and inclusion has now become an integral part of every corporate strategy. It was seen as good to have. But now there are chief diversity and inclusion Officers in every large corporate.
But it's become such a core, strategic piece of every large company, it has also meant there are funds associated with it, so there has been a larger spotlight on the topic of inclusion ‑‑ diversity and inclusion overall.
I have seen a lot of change happened. I must confess, I'm pretty amazed that the last ten years have seen, I would say an exponential increase in understanding and awareness.
The other thing which I think has played a huge role, and you as a filmmaker would realize, is films have the power to drive social change.
And what has happened thanks to OTT is that now good, quality, good content can reach the bedrooms, right? We lived in a culture where you need to make a big budget movie before you have a release on a theater, right?
But today, you can make an outstanding movie, release it on YouTube, release on OTT, and so I think the medium has massively expanded and I would say OTT and YouTube has just amplified great content at very low entry barriers. You don't need a lot of money to make a good movie. I mean, you know, if you just have a good idea and, you know, somebody who really knows how to put it together, someone like you, I think we can drive social change.
And I strongly believe that movies have a big role to drive social change. When I asked the Bengal International Short Film Festival to have a section for inclusion, that was the first time they ever did. And we thought maybe we would get ten applications, we got 400‑plus applications, Doug. I had a hard time judging the final 32 movies because they were so damn good. Right?
So I think movie have a very important role to drive social change and spread more awareness on the topic of diversity and inclusion.
So the good news is I think a lot of change has happened, but we still have a lot of change to ‑‑ we still have a long way to go.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Yeah, you know, I certainly personally love your recognition of the role that movies and stories play, you know? And just in listening to you talk about the corporate side of it, to me it's really kind of a merging of those two, you know, I think really goes a long way.
As a social impact filmmaker and spending a lot of time in that space, I know that a lot of things are starting to progress there are people trying to mobilize to create more connections between, you know, social impact filmmakers and story tellers and entities that have the resources to help tell those stories. So that's certainly something that ‑‑ a place, at least in my world, where those two worlds collide or trying to come together more. And a place that can help accelerate changing the narrative on a larger scale.
>> FEROSE: Absolutely. My thinking is the real power is at the intersection of multiple people coming together. And I think the Conference, as I said, has the financial ability, the intellect to drive large‑scale change. Nonprofit brings a huge element of compassion along with what they are trying to do. And Governments have the ability to do massive scaling because they have so much of reach, right?
And I think magic will happen at the intersection of all of them. Where the Governments, the core operations, the nonprofits, that sweet spot is where you will drive a lot of change.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Yeah.
Bapin, a question for you, you know, I'm wondering as we look forward here, and, obviously, the Summit is an opportunity to both reflect what's happening and what needs to change and also to discuss where to move toward, what progress looks like. I'm wondering, Bapin, in your words, what does progress look like in your estimation? And, you know, whether it be specifically for the DeafBlind community or for Disability Community as a whole.
>> ANINDYA BAPIN BHATTACHARYYA: Sure, I think that was a very good question.
I would say that there are really many, but the top one we can talk about is I would like people with disabilities to feel that they are welcome in communities. I want them to feel that they are able to independently traverse communities and have their own accessibility. They are able to go and be able to transport themselves. I want them to be able to do things as they see fit, you know, for themselves.
You know, I want them to be able to enter any business, any bank, and so forth, the list goes on. I would like them to live in a community of other people and not find themselves stuck in a situation where they can't seem to breakdown the barrier of communication. Or if there's an interpreter that didn't show up, what are they supposed to do then?
I would love to see that there is maybe a new communication system. I would say like a mechanical or robot communicator that would then be a reference for them so if they had a disability, they would still be able to still, you know, they could run for Government, they could do things in leadership roles.
I would like to see people with disabilities become mayors. I think really in the world it seems there have not been any people with disabilities like these that have run for Government. There are very few. But it's usually a situation of a hidden disability, like a learning disability, or it could be something that is physical, but not quite visible. You might see they speak clearly and perfectly, but maybe there's a disability you don't see.
So in New York, for instance, long ago, there was an individual with low vision and they were the first of their kind to be able to go into Government. I want to see in politics there are more DeafBlind individuals. I don't think there are any right now who are DeafBlind.
I think the world ‑‑ I want it to become a place for everybody to be part of one group, one community. I fly back and forth very often from one location to the next and I'm often frustrated in the process because there are so many barriers. I'm not able to get on to a plane by myself because I'm a DeafBlind individual and how am I to communicate with others? In my 35 years of flying on planes, as often as I do, still today it seems like an issue and there are many barriers even around that.
You know, there are many things, I would like to see these barriers eliminated across the world and in our communities.
>> DOUG ROLAND: As we enter the last several minutes here of our conversation, you know, Ferose, I'm wondering if maybe you can tell people about what they can see at this year's Summit. I know some of it has already happened. Some of it is upcoming. Can you talk about maybe some of the highlights and some of the different voices that you are featuring this year?
>> FEROSE: Yeah. So, you know, we broke the Inclusion Summit across four weekends. The first part of the event was done last week end, on the 7th of November. This being the Bolly Week, we took a break. The next event will be 21st November and I'm talking about Indian standard time right now because that's where most of our viewers are. We are doing something called Inclusion Summit for the Youth. This is the first time we have reached out to 500 schools across the country and we wanted to take the message of inclusion to the younger population in the country because we believe that true mindset change happens when you start early.
So we have reached out to a lot of schools. We said this two hours of the Inclusion Summit should be made mandated viewing for the students and afterwards ask them to write an essay about, what does inclusion mean for you?
So it's making it both fun and interactive. So that's on 21st November from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM.
And then in the evening on the same day from 5:00 to 7:00 PM we are doing a celebration aspect of the Summit where you would be featured, where we have Shakti Kapoor, who is an Academy Award Winner Director, really talking about art, movies and culture. That's on the 21st.
And then we end on the 28th November with focusing on corporates and entrepreneurship and nonprofits and that's also between 5:00 PM and 7:00 PM.
We are also in the discovery phase, Doug. This is the first time it's fully virtual, so we are learning as we are doing stuff, but we're having fun.
>> DOUG ROLAND: I love how you're sharing it in schools and that way. You know, something that we have started to do with the Feeling Through Experience is share it in schools as curriculum.
I think when we talk about what does progress look like from here, you know, we've already started to talk about changing the narrative, having, you know, people who are DeafBlind and people with disabilities be in all sorts of, you know, holding political offices in much more visible positions, I think something that will go a long way in helping that change is to bring these topics to the younger generations and have it be something that is super normalized at a very young age so that we can get to a more equitable world a lot quicker.
You know, I think since, Bapin, since you were a small boy, I think a lot of things have changed around the perceptions of people with disabilities, not to say there aren't still a long way to go, but I think there's been a lot of change around that and I think if we can continue to bring that message to younger people and have that really be something that's ‑‑ becomes commonplace to them, that's how we really start to really deeply change that narrative.
You know, with the last couple minutes we have here, I'd love to just get some closing thoughts, whatever you would like to share from both of you.
So, Bapin, starting with you, maybe for about a minute here, if you could share whatever closing thoughts you have for our conversation today.
>> ANINDYA BAPIN BHATTACHARYYA: Yes, of course.
I would say the most important thing would be to look into modifications so that individuals can live independently with whatever they would like to see. I would like to see included support for different circles of individuals, so parents to friends, maybe they can support one another because for an individual who is alone with these experiences, they will want peers alongside them.
And, also, I think it's important that they have that support from others around them so they can be successful in breaking their years down.
I, also, would be able to my experience, I could share mine with somebody, I can show them and teach them how I have done so and they can do the same for me.
And many parents, they are barriers to their children's development in many of those ways because they help, they always want to help. I see them as wanting to help instead of seeing us as equals and that has to change. It's very important that they allow the children to be independent.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Ferose, why don't you bring us home?
>> FEROSE: One thing I have learned is to accept people the way they are and be prepared to make some adjustments. I think that's incredibly important, whether it's at the workplace, whether it's at home, if you are able to make some adjustments, I think we will make the world a much more equitable place.
I'll end with one of my favorite quotes which says that, accept what I cannot change and change what you cannot accept.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Well, thank you for that. And thank you so much for having us be part of the India Inclusion Summit. I know in the time I have gotten to connect with you and your team and partake in the Summit, it's certainly gone a long way to my personal continual education. And it's really just an honor to be a part of it.
Bapin, thank you so much for joining us as well. It's really always a pleasure to speak with you.
And I appreciate everyone on this stream who is in very odd hours here to accommodate an audience overseas here for where we are. It's really been a pleasure.
I encourage all of you watching to go to IndiaInclusionSummit.com. You can view a lot of great events there.
Thank you very much, Ferose and Bapin. I hope to speak to both of you soon.
>> FEROSE: Thank you, Doug. Maybe you should mention that the movie is available so people can view it over the next few days, right, Doug?
>> DOUG ROLAND: That's correct. We'll leave it up for a good little while here.
>> FEROSE: Thank you.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Knowing people can't always get to the live streams, they will be able to still view it, so we'll have it up for quite a while for people to be able to see.
>> FEROSE: Thank you, thank you. Thank you, Doug for all that you do.
And Bapin, what a delight to meet you and see you and learn from your journey and thank you for all that you do.
And to my lovely translators, thank you so much. Thank you. I know this is odd hours, I really appreciate it.
>> JASON SCHWARTZ: It was very nice to hear you and your perspectives as well. Thank you.
>> DOUG ROLAND: Excellent. Have a good rest of your day or evening or where ever you are.
IndiaInclusionSummit.com, check it out and thank you for watching.
Bye, everyone.
>> FEROSE: Thank you. Take care.