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Now sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode.
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Welcome to another episode of the Active Action
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Podcast. It's me, your host, Dr. Nazif, back
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again with another amazing guest. And today we
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have with us Molly Kennedy. Molly is a disability
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consultant and she defies stereotypes that are
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associated with people with disabilities with
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the way she lives her dynamic life. Molly continually
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strives to advocate for actions and activities
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that positively impact the lives of others. Through
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Molly's humor, wisdom, determination, and a little
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bit of stubbornness, She creates her own path
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to live her authentic and accomplished life and
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offers consulting services to help others do
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the same. Good evening, Molly. How are you doing
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this evening? Good evening, Dr. I'm doing great.
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Thank you. That's so wonderful. So do you want
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to introduce yourself a bit to our audiences
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apart from what I said? I'm Molly Kennedy. I
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live in the San Diego area in California. I grew
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up in California. I was part of a big Catholic
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Irish family. My parents, I had six siblings,
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so I had to learn early how to advocate for my
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family. with all my siblings. I moved to the
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Bay Area where I got my bachelor's degree, my
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master's degree, and worked up there for 18 years.
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The topic for today's podcast is being a leader
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through self -advocacy. So we'll learn about
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Molly, we'll learn about her journey, and we're
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going to discuss some aspects that you can definitely
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learn from Molly and from her wonderful journey
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that she has embarked upon. Molly, would you
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like to tell a little bit about your journey
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and how you actually help people? Well, I was
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born with cerebral palsy, and my parents were
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a doctor and a nurse, and I was their sixth child.
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So they knew how to parent. So when I came along
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and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, it was
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not that... involved as others could be. I could
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walk and talk. And so they basically let me live
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my life like my sisters and brothers. I went
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to private Catholic school from first grade till
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I graduated from college. And so it was... Like
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my high school and my grade school, they never
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had a person with a disability. But my parents
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were like, you just try your best and you will
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succeed. And that's what I did. That's so wonderful
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to learn, Molly. And I know you have a wide variety
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of accomplishments and activities in your life.
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Was there a moment when you realized that standing
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up for yourself changed the direction of your
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life? Yes. And I could give you one little story.
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Yes, please. When I was a senior in high school,
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at first, I thought I'd go to college. There
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was a university very close to my house. And
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my parents just thought I would go there or do
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a community college. But then the college counselor
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at my high school was like, oh, you should try
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and apply and go away to college. When I decided
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that that's what I wanted to do, it kind of shocked
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my parents. Because they were like, we know you
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can do college, but being far away, not being...
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I advocated that this is what I needed to do.
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I needed, A, to get a college degree, but B...
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More or just as important, I need to learn to
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be on my own and to be independent and not rely
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on my parents like I did growing up. And I thought
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this was a good way to do it. Yeah, that's so
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wonderful to learn, Molly. And I can understand
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like from your story of you getting into college,
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the determination you actually showed to get
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into that. And that definitely had impact in
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changing the direction of your life. What do
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you think, Molly, what role does confidence play
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in self -advocacy and how did you build your
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self -advocacy? So confidence is very important.
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Especially when you are a person with a disability.
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Because people look at me and I don't think it's
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meanness. Not understanding that the way I look,
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the way I talk, doesn't mean I don't have intelligence
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in a full life. So I had to build confidence
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by setting goals and achieving those goals, like
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graduating from college, getting a job at a college
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at the county of San Mateo, and getting my master's
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degree. All of this keeping confidence in myself.
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and help me to learn to be a great advocate,
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not just for myself, but for other people with
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disabilities and other populations that might
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not have their voices heard. I want to work with
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them to say, you have a limit. Thanks so much,
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Molly. And I do agree with you, you know, like
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there are stereotypes in our society where they
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look at people who have disability like in a
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different eye. But I myself, I have members in
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my family who have disability and they have outshined
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us in so many ways. I see they have a strive
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to achieve, which even, you know, people who
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don't have disability don't have that drive.
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But that drive those persons have, those are
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so strong, though they're so resilient, they're
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so self -confident that they strive to excellence,
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you know, bypassing everyone. So that actually
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amazes me, Molly, you know, and I really. I really
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appreciate that perspective that you just shared.
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I know you refer yourself as a leader. So in
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what ways do you lead people? So, first of all,
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for me to be a leader, I have to be a leader
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of my own life. And that means... You know, everyone
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likes to dream of what they can achieve. But
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once you have dreams, they don't work unless
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you put together a plan, like having goals, knowing
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how to problem solve, knowing how to make decisions.
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So to be a leader, you first have to have the...
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the ability to lead your life and be in control
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of your life and you know for people with disabilities
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it's harder because everyone wants to quote unquote
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take care of you but I had to show them that
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I did have leadership qualities and I could pursue
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things that anyone else would pursue like a professional
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career or being involved with, you know, a community
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project, all that stuff. That's wonderful to
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know, Molly. And also, you know, like, I know
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you are a self advocate. You help people with
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disability. So how do you use your self advocacy?
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and the leadership skills that you just mentioned
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to handle setbacks and obstacles? So, like everyone,
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I have setbacks and obstacles. Some are related
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to my disability. Some are not. I think the first
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thing is I'm not afraid to fail. I think failure
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and taking risks are a part of... the human spirit,
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and whether you achieve your goals or you have
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a setback, it builds on who you are, your resiliency,
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your determination. And so that, when I have
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a setback, like, for instance, it's been 10 years
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that I lost my ability to walk. At first, it
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was really hard because I was living on my own
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independently. And now I have to live at a senior
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community for help when I need it. And that was
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hard to accept. But I learned that, you know,
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you just got to reframe who you are and still
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keep... what deeply matters to you. Just because
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I couldn't walk doesn't mean I can't be involved
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in my community. I started a non -profit. So
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when you have setbacks, you need to take a break
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and take a deep breath and look at the situation
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and then you just start building. a way to get
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out of that situation and build more leadership
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in yourself and more confidence in yourself.
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That's so wonderful to hear, Molly. And I apprised
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like how you mentioned that even when you had
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a setback yourself, you didn't let that setback
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take over your life. You actually looked into
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ways and opportunities you can overcome those.
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And that is what actually makes you more resilient.
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It makes you strong because we do learn, you
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know, from our own incidents. We can actually
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use that setback and create it as opportunity
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for building strength, how we can use that setback
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and how we can leverage that. to achieve the
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things that we want to do in your life. And that
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is what wonderfully you are doing. You used to
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live alone independently with some of your abilities,
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not able to bring work, but that didn't actually
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stop you. That actually strived you to help others
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who might be going through the same things. I
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have a saying that I say, it's not what I overcome,
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it's what I've become. What would you say to
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someone who feels their disability limits their
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ability to dream big? I think everyone has the
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right to dream and imagine how they like their
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life to be. And that's no different than people
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with disabilities. They have a right to dream.
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I have a right to dream and pursue those. I think
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we live in a society that doesn't look at people
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with disabilities as being able to accomplish
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their dreams. I think it's a lot better than
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a hundred years ago when we're more integrated
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and respected. But we got a long way to go. And
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it's about, you know, realizing we're not different.
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We just have a disability. But that shouldn't
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stop us from dreaming and having an impactful
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life. I know you are the owner of Molly Kennedy
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Consulting. So how do you actually help? people
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through your consulting? Well, right now I do
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a lot around self -determination. I'm starting
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to go, I'm creating a curriculum to go work with
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youth with disabilities to see that they can
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have a life that is their determine what their
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dream, their goal. So I go and speak at conferences
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and then I work with people to help understand
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self -determination and how it can benefit their
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lives. And even though you need support because
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of your disability. does not mean you can achieve
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things and have an impact on society. That's
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so true, Molly. And dear listeners, I do encourage
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you to check out Molly Kennedy's consulting firm.
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So if you go to the website, M -O -L -L -Y -T
00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:04.600
-K -E -N -N -E -D -Y dot com. i'll give that
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link in the description of the chat um and also
00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:11.240
in the description of our website and video so
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feel free to visit that and see how molly is
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wonderfully empowering people with disability
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and you know and helping them again from her
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own lived experiences i really like how molly
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you shared that it's not what you have overcome
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it's not what you have become that's such a strong
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and powerful message. So dear listeners, please
00:16:33.360 --> 00:16:36.480
feel free to check out Molly Kennedy's consulting
00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:40.019
page as well. It was very wonderful to have you,
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Molly Kennedy, today in our podcast. I appreciate
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it. I have learned something very valuable from
00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:51.440
you is that even though we might have personal
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setbacks, even though we might face situations
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that might be difficult, But with enough courage
00:16:57.830 --> 00:17:02.070
and enough resilience, we can turn those setbacks
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into strengths that actually enables us to lead
00:17:05.609 --> 00:17:09.470
ourselves as well as others from our lived experiences.
00:17:09.710 --> 00:17:13.130
And that is something I think our listeners will
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definitely take away from this podcast. Again,
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Molly, I thank you so much for joining the podcast
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and I wish you all the best with your future
00:17:22.549 --> 00:17:26.349
all endeavors. Have a good day. Have a good day.
00:17:41.660 --> 00:17:43.880
Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an
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