Full video on the White House YouTube channel
Descriptive Transcript
Haben: Haben Girma speaking. Hello, everyone. So I am going to start with a visual description. It’s an accessibility practice for our blind audience, and anyone who’s multitasking.
(Laughter)
Haben: I’m a Black woman in my 30s. I’m wearing a blue dress. In front of me is a guide dog on the floor.
She’s seated on stage between Eric Harris and Mychal Threets. On the far left is Gene Sperling.
Haben: You will notice a delay between when Gene asks a question and when I respond. And that’s because the Braille transcription is coming through. I’m Deafblind, not hearing Gene, but I’m reading the words in Braille. Transcription takes time. Many of us have felt pressure that if we don’t speak, move, walk, or even think at an arbitrarily chosen pace, we’ll be kicked out of the group. Mainstream culture often punishes people for those who are deemed too slow. I can’t tell me- I can’t tell you how many websites have kicked me out because I was completing a form at a speed they decided was too slow. Many deaf people have experiences calling with a relay service, and the person on the other line of the phone hangs up because they decide it’s too slow. The idea that faster is always better, is ableist.
(Applause from the audience. Haben laughs.)
Haben: I like applause, you can applaud as many times as you want throughout the presentation.
(Laughter)
Haben: Nondisabled people are starting to learn the value of savoring moments. There’s the slow food movement to savor flavors, and the slow travel movement to savor experiences. When we take time for disabled voices — voices with stutters, voices that sign, voices that type — then we allow ourselves to savor the wisdom of disabled friends and family members. I take pride in being disabled. If we can say, “She is a woman,” “She is Black,” without any shame or stigma, then we should be able to say, “She is disabled,” without any shame or stigma. “Disabled” connects me to a rich community. It connects me to the Americans with Disabilities Act. It’s not the Americans with Special Needs Act.
(Laughter and applause.)
The video zooms out to show the audience, a diverse group including people with wheelchairs.