 Do you remember what you were doing on September 27th, 2011? I do. I was on my way to the hospital after I injured myself during my physical education class. I was a 14-year-old girl with a lot of dreams and a great future waiting for me. All of a sudden I have this storm cloud all over my dreams. On my way to the hospital, all I can think is, oh, wow, my life is not going to be the same. I am not going to finish high school. I am not going to graduate. I am not going to college, and I'm not going to become an engineer. I know. Pretty dramatic for my age. My mom always said I was going to be a great actress. Sorry, mom, but at least I made it to be live that day. My definition of disability, as well as my life, changed forever. Because of malpractice, I started to develop a chronic pain condition in which high levels of nerve impulses are sent to an affected side, establishing a cycle of swelling that never, but never goes away. This storm cloud got bigger and bigger. And after a year of feeling I was walking on fire, I ended up being in a wheelchair. Advents in medical technology give me the privilege of walking again, still in pain. In November 2012, a medical device which relieves some of the pain I'm suffering as part of my complex regional pain syndrome was implanted inside of my body. And 23 days after my surgery, I am walking. And this, this is how I became part of the population affected by an invisible, sometimes visible disability. In the United States, 61 million of adults live with a disability. This means that one in four adults have some type of disability. Of the entire population, 10% have what is considered an invisible disability. Because disability can look like this. But it can also look like this. Living with an invisible disability in this perfect world is pretty, pretty tough. You need to be resilient. Sometimes that cloud that is covering all your dreams, take the forms of a person. And that does not happen to me so many times. During my high school years, when my physics teacher told me that out of 26 days, I have been absent 21. And stated that I wouldn't probably fulfill my graduation requirements. Pretty compassionate, my teacher. Little did she know about how studying was the only thing pushing me forward. My graduation was the first thing that came to my mind every time I wanted to be involved. That same day, when I started my undergraduate education as a mechanical engineer, when my chemistry lab instructor pointed out many times I have been late because it takes me more than 10 minutes to walk from my previous class to the lab. And Patty, I'm not sure if he knew what that means. I was just trying to do my best. In fact, just being one or two minutes late has never, never affected my performance. I ended up being one of the top students of my class. And my favorite one. The time I pull up at a handicapped parking spot, and someone pointed out this sign and told me, hey, young lady, those bus are reserved for people that need them. Oh, cloud. Pretty funny. It has been almost 10 years. And there is only one thing I haven't figured out yet. How? How can I justify my behavior or actions without having to disclose my condition? Aren't we allowed to have bad days? Aren't we just human with some kind of flaws? Aren't we all imperfects? During all this year, I did look for help. It required a lot of documentation going back up to my specialist just to make sure he wrote down what the Department of Transportation and Publix were needed so I could get my permanent handicap because I have a permanent chronic condition. But guess what? I finally got it. During my undergraduate education, I also took advantage of all the laws that the government has implanted for people like me. With disabilities and a strong desire of being educated and successful. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Section 504 of the Prehabilitation Act, just to mention some of them. I had a time during tests that I didn't use. And they sent a justify excuse every time I wasn't feeling like getting out of bed because my feet hurt. My physical. Just my physicals ability were not the same. Back in 2017, I had the worst of my relapse. I was doing an internship at a pharmaceutical industry where I spent most of my working hours in front of a stream. It was a Monday. I woke up at 6 a.m. and guess what? I can't walk. I cannot move. Oh, no. Big cloud again. I called my supervisor and she told me to stay home and get some rest. It took me one month to recover. One month to move my legs again. One month that I spent calling my supervisor every day. Hear me out. Every day to see if I could return to work or at least pick up my computer and work from home. And the answer? The answer was always. Oh, God. Flexibility. We all want some kind of flexibility. In fact, 76% of employees will be willing to stay with their current employer in exchange for more flexible working hours. And 25% of employees will take out 10% pay cut just to be able to work remotely. They have admitted to experience this work related stress, more productivity, satisfaction, and happiness. I don't know, but all of that sounds great to me. I graduated in 2019 from the University of Puerto Rico at my OS with a bachelor degree in mechanical engineering. And I started my PhD right away at the University of Michigan. During my second semester, COVID-19 happened and suddenly, no more storm cloud. The cloud disappeared. I have all the accommodations I have needed for the last 10 years. They were finally granted without even asking for them. I have the accessibility of being connected remotely to my office. No more absence day. I can now go from one class to the other without having to spend 10 minutes walking. And if I have bad days where I cannot get out of bed, I just work around my schedule and work remotely from home. Wow. Wow. Do we really need a pandemic to have more flexibility with our students, employees, or peers? Data has shown that people are being more productive. And they're even working more hours. No wonder why. It's been almost a year since the fight against this virus started. We finally got the vaccine. This is pretty good news for most of you. I still have mixed feelings. I don't want COVID to go away. Some days, I'm done with it. Of course, I want to see people. I want to see my family. But if someone asks me right now, in this exact moment, if I want COVID-19 to go away, my answer, my answer is going to be no. I don't want COVID behind us. We're finally granted to be taken away. No. I don't want to go to where we were before COVID-19 happened. Where do you want to go from here? What about seeing COVID-19 as an opportunity to learn to be more flexible with everyone and provide the same opportunities to people like me with some disabilities? I am an example. And I know there's a lot of people like me out there, of someone with disabilities, and the same capacities of working hard, accomplishing their goals, and having an impact in our society. We can do it. We can do it as you do it. But there are a lot of obstacles we shouldn't have to overcome. It shouldn't be this hard. Even when you cannot see it, it's real. It is not in our mind. Fancologists, communities, industries give us an opportunity and think twice before saying no. Do not stop us, but instead support us. Join us in our fight for equity and inclusion. Be your voice. I'm pretty sure that we all deserve better. Thank you.