Here is my latest Stranger Advice featuring, Bri, and one of my favorites yet due to how well the ambient audio being (in this case) the professor of the class I met her in, lecturing on things like discrimination and master status – and how it all seemed to line up perfectly with what I’d written for the voiceover time wise. It is worth paying attention to what he is saying at both the beginning and end of this video due to how it fits the sentiment of the video overall. And for those of you that can’t listen to it right now – here is a transcription of my dialog or voiceover for it:

Hey Y’all. This is Bri, and I met her due to us both having been in the same sociology class this past semester. 

It was an extremely interesting class to me due to the subject matter we were being taught, yet, at the same time, learning of how various groups of people had been systematically discriminated against.

Sometimes in ways, I’d never previously realized. Made me feel horrible.

Which brings me back to Bri here. We both sat on the front row, on the same side of the lecture hall it was held in.

Her on one end, and me the other. 

Aside from occasionally helping her get situated – and her laptop out at the begin of class for her – or packed up – once it was over, she was a complete stranger to me when I asked if she’d like to take part in this project. 

She didn’t know it at the time, but, my heart would ache for her at times – while we were in there learning about how women, black people, and handicap people had been – and still are – discriminated against. And on top of that – realizing that everything – had been more of a struggle for her in life simply due to her having cerebral palsy.

So. Just down from me, there she was, somebody that had had the cards of life stacked against her – due to all of those things – from the moment she was born.

She was not just a she – or a black she – but a handicapped black she.

Just look at her though.

It doesn’t appear that any of that has destroyed her spirit and the light she seemed to have radiating off her as I shot this. Does it? 

Her attitude and perspective about it all – that’s what is so admirable to me about her. 

When I approached to ask her to take part in this project I told her that I wanted to share that…

Well.  

I believe people often look at somebody like her – that’s in an electronic wheelchair and can hardly talk -and think they’re as mentally disabled as they are physically. Sometimes they may be – and sometimes that couldn’t be further from the truth…

…and Bri is a perfect example of that.

She’s only 22 and has already earned an associates degree in accounting – but her dream is to be a writer. 

And in her free time, she enjoys poetry, music, playing piano, and being an active member of her church.

My point is that there is so much you may miss out on – with all types of people – when you just assume one thing about them due to whatever preconceived notions you may have. I believe we’re all guilty of doing this at times to some degree – however minute it may be.

Myself included. 

So her advice for all of you – which I believe was prompted by why I told her I had approached her – was:

You look at me, and think that my life has been hard. I’m black. I’m a female. I’m disabled. 

But hey, we’ve all had hard times.

Bumps in the road. 

When I was born, the doctors predicted that I would be mentally and physically disabled, blind, and nonverbal.

God shows me every day that He has a plan for me that no one can disrupt!

Don’t look at people like me and feel pity or sorrow. Approach us. Talk to us. Get to know us. 

I’m so glad I did that very thing, Bri. Me doing so, and the brief time I spent with you for this project, was the highlight of the semester to me. 

Those watching this can clearly see that it lifted your spirits.

But I can only hope that, through my words here, that you, and anybody else that’s listening, realize that my heart was smiling just as much as you are here in this photo. 

And that could have never happened had I not approached you as I did to begin with. 

So, the moral of this whole story isn’t so much about what I want for you, or those like you, Bri. It’s what I want for those out there listening to this that may miss out on having somebody – somebody just like you – put a smile on their face and in their heart too – just by following your advice. 

“Approach us. Talk to us. Get to know us.”

Please don’t cheat yourself out of any opportunity – to get to know anybody out there that you don’t understand, y’all.

Because you making the effort to – might not only make their day – but yours too.