 So thank you for those who are tuning in via webcam and those who are here physically present. I'm Deli, nice to see you. New faces and some familiar faces. This is our fifth annual community needs after our dinner for people with disabilities. In the beginning it started out with special needs family where the Muneer needed some people to help with this project. And I had to educate him that me and brother Ahmad are actually not technically special needs classification. We're technically people with physical disabilities, special needs disabilities, actually a different criterion. For those who do not know, like to know, it's more cognitive issues that they, oh, sorry for giving, cognitive blessings that they experience in this Dunya life. So for example, we do have anybody here who would like to share anything, that way we can include the audience. Anybody wants to share their, yes, that's right in the back. Yeah, okay. Urshman is their name brother, right? Urshman was, Assalamu alaikum, my name is Noor. And Urshman is the old Sunday school student at MCC. He was like a normal child, like no one, like you are seeing. But we are old, he got hit by encephalitis, inflammation of the brain. So prior to that, he already learned how to praise Allah, how to read Quran and fasting and everything. So Alhamdulillah, he continued to do that, despite, you know, his players of encephalitis and his own struggle, like, you know, getting the acceptance from the world because it's very hard to see. Like you don't see people who ask for disability, but he's not disabled. He has a special need and a blast child. And I am very thankful to God. He gave me such a good child and such a spiritual child that he's able to do what he wants to do. And inshallah, he will get what he wants to do. But it is just like, you know, when he's cream, my struggle is that because he has different kinds of ticks and it keeps spreading his body. Sometimes he move his neck. Sometimes he has a screen involuntarily, like you were seeing when he was doing Quran. But you know, worldly, we don't understand that that's not in his control because it's vocal ticks. I am physician myself and I work in Sutter system. So basically when he does that emotionally, it is hard to say when he tries to put khushu in salah and khushu when he's reading Quran. That's the time he has more vocal ticks than the rest of the education at school or doing anything else at home. So sometimes it's very hard for us when I bring him, he is coming here at MCC and doing this 20 rakat of tarawi here. And but it is hard because you know, people don't understand his illness and I won't blame them because it just need awareness and acceptance when we are aware, then we will be accepting the people like him or anyone else. And I think maybe if I don't have the child like him, even as a physician, we just tell, oh, you have this disease, you have this problem. Oh, do this, do that, it seems to be small. When you are facing this 24-7 in front of you, then it's entirely different experience. Hello, okay, there we go. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Audio test. Thank you so much for sharing that. I do like to take this advantage to have the audience also speak. Is there anything else we'd like to share of a particular, especially need disability that they have? Your mom spoke for you, but what would you like to say? Thank you for sharing, brother. May Allah make it easy for you. Thank you. So the system which you said is a beautiful segue to what I would like to also say too. There are a lot of secondary conditions that come along with our special needs community and also with us with physical disabilities. We may have spinal cord injuries, we may have these issues or sorry, blessings in our brain, but the secondary ones are much more complicated as well. Me and brother Ahmad will dive into more of it, but to give you a little sample, not controlling your bladder, bowel issues, pressure sores, as you heard in his introduction, these are all examples of secondary conditions that we will experience. And so today, I mean, I'd like to go back and forth with green brother Ahmad, so I'd like to share the mic with him and then we're gonna continue on with the subjects. Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. It's honor to be here with you guys and discussed some of our life experience and issue that we facing daily basis. And then I really appreciate sister Noor, what she shared about her son. It is amazing and I think it's a blessing he have you as well as a mother because unfortunately a lot of parents don't know how to take care of their child, their special need childs. And they both end up with a lot of depression because they don't know how to handle it. And but Masha'Allah, you are very well educated and you know what to do and may Allah give you patience and strength, guiding him to the right way. So my name is Ahmad Al-Kubaisi. Gonna share a little bit about my story if I'm sure most of you heard me speaking before but I would like to share a little bit again and discuss some challenges that we go through in our daily basis life, me and brother Abdullah. And I believe, you know, special needs and people with disability, we all have some common issues in our life, probably is different, but it's the same face, the same challenge. So I had my injury in 2007 by American Sniper that I got shot back in my country in Iraq and it's, you know, injured my spinal cord and kept me on the wheelchair, which I'm very thankful. I'm trying my best to keep my positivity in life and I move along a lot of difficulties over the time in my life and Alhamdulillah, it wasn't easy but the faith that we have as a Muslims, like sometime I hear some people online going through a very severe depression, which we all do sometime go through a down moment and feel depressed and feel lonely and, you know, we have our own weird feelings, but when we remember that we are Muslim, we have our faith in Allah, that's increase our patient and patient is something extremely important in life. That's also Rabbal-alameen Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, he put the patient first than the pray. So he said, So what I learned over time, you know, and I did research why did Rabbal-alameen Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala put the patient first than the before the prayer because Subhanallah, I find out that if you don't have the patient, you're not even gonna continue our, you're not gonna even be able to continue your praying, your Ibadat because patient is something extremely important and I feel that Allah bless us with it as a Muslim that we have this connection with him. So sometime when we feel down, we remember our gratitude, our good things, like we do have so many things to be thankful for. So we pass, we pass over the difficulty, sometime take more time than what we think, but we go through it, which is it's blessing itself. So I started, you know, after my injury, I had a lot of dramas right after my injury. So I had, I started having the bad sores, as sister Ajman was mentioning, and that was something extremely difficult and severe for me after my injury, beside being on a wheelchair, but being in a wheelchair and you cannot use your wheelchair, that's also a different story. Like it's not, you cannot imagine it. So SubhanAllah, I started my journey with it for like five or six years with bad sores and it was severe. So I had the bones on my back was showing because there's no meat there and dealing with infection and it was extremely difficult, but I was very fortunate that Allah blessed me with special families. So my dad, he's a physician assistant and he do have some, he don't have a lot of background about people with disability because that's kind of like in you after the war, you know, physicians and medicals people start facing those kind of things. So, and then blessed me with my mom who would take care of me since day one. She was with me in the hospital all day, all night, 24 seven. Literally there is no word can describe how thankful I am to her. And I think I forgot to mention that before in our presentation, but I'm glad that I got the opportunity to mention that. And she held me so much and they made the life much easier on me and they were with me, supporting me, guiding me to go over the difficulty that I'm facing until I decided to leave my country and move to Jordan and it was shocked for them like because I wasn't independent. I wasn't, my mom was helping me with everything even the bathroom, even the shower, even whatever you name it. I wasn't independent at all, but I made my decision that I feel and I believe that my life will be better if I leave because I start facing a lot of health issue and there is no enough treatment for me back in my country. So that's number one reason was for me to take this decision and move forward with it. And Subhanallah, Allah was with me always and with everyone, but it was a special moment when I decided to leave my country by myself. I wasn't independent at all. I don't know what I'm gonna do in Jordan, but I just need to leave my country. I'm looking for a safer place. That was my number one target at that time and in 2010 I left my country. I went to Jordan, I stayed there for three years and also going through a lot of hospitals and surgeries and stuff like that. So Subhanallah, it was a big step for me to learn how to be independent, how to use the bathroom by myself, how to take care of my wounds because I do have, at that time, I remember I had three wounds, one big one in my bag and two on my side. So I have to do dressing for my wounds, three times a day. And that was something like, I was thinking it's impossible for me. But Subhanallah, over time, like from, so the first day I remember at the hotel, I did not look at my wound on the mirror because I was afraid of seeing my own wound. And the second day, the third day, I'm doing dressing three times a day, but I'm also nervous. I don't need to see my wound because it's, I don't feel it, but I am scared. So Subhanallah, after like a couple of days, I took the mirror and look at my wound and it was like really scary and it was severe. And I start also going to the hospitals back and forth. And then I spend most of my time in the hospitals in Jordan as well until I arrived to the U.S. Masha'Allah and I also end up in the hospital, not the first day of the second day. The second day I went to the hospital and I spent 14 months over there. So I spent 14 months in the hospital. It was extremely difficult, new culture for me, a new environment and such and such. So I like, I don't know what to do, but I always look at the bright side. There is something good will come out of it. I wasn't speaking any English during that time. And I spent 14 months in the hospital until I decided I sign up my chart to leave the hospital on my own responsibility because I didn't see any improvement. I mean, I saw a little improvement, but it's not huge improvement for my wound that I had in my bag. So all my friend was calling me like crazy and they were against me and they wasn't happy for me doing that decision. But I decided to do that because I don't see an improvement. And I know my buddy more than anyone else, more than a doctor, more than anyone. And then I was always asking my physician to let me meet a surgeon to talk to him. And they always, oh, you don't need that, you don't need that, you just have to be patient over time, over time, until they pushed me to that curve when I sign out my paper and I left the hospital. And Subhanallah, I start a new journey looking for a surgeon. I find the surgeon and he was a general surgeon. It's a friend of friend who recommended that person to me, this doctor. And he was like, you're absolutely right. Your wound won't heal without surgery. So Subhanallah, in 2015, I start seeing the light. I start moving into the right direction when I did my skin graft surgery in Alameda and my wound starts healing. That's when I start my hope again. So I'm gonna stop until here and give the mic to brother Abdullah. He can share more with you and inshallah you will learn more about me. JazakAllah, brother Ahmad. There are a few things I'd like to highlight on what he said. First, the sister who spoke earlier is that the community of the disabled are kinda invisible. This is something that is nothing new that's been going on since the time when the Prophet peace be upon him. So I like to highlight, there are many events that I've been in the past few weeks so I'm only giving them credit of the stories that they had taught me. I forgive my lack of knowledge but there is a Sahaba out there that was physically blind and he had the responsibility to give the event. Who gave him this role, the community did. He was perfectly enabled to give the event and however, since he's visually impaired, it's very fascinating that they didn't give him the one event that's simple, the Fajr. He was responsible for all four of the ones that are after and so he relied on the community members to assist them to see whether it fits time or not and so putting people in position into being a function in society is something that's very huge for the mothers and fathers of people with disability needs. Like everyone said, who is there in the beginning to supply support? The family members. But we are also an umma. Let us not forget that. Most of them is an event that I went recently and they had a board in the back to say what is this organization all about? When I was reading it, a lot of it was inclusivity, belongingness but what I didn't see that I had to write and put up there was to complete the umma. We are part of this and we need to be members in the muzzins. We need to be members of the workforce. This country of America, there's this thing called ADA. It gives rights to people with disabilities to have the needs that they need to be more independent. For example, ramps, elevators, parking spots. These are just as an example and so for me in the Islamic world, it's not there, forgive me. I went to Turkey recently and the musjids there are not accessible. When I went to the Majid Sophia, I was blessed to be assisted by the people. However, if I had an electric chair that weighs more than our manual chair, it would be impossible for me to visit the sites. So I had to put myself in their shoes and be like what about my other brothers and sisters who are in different situations? Hamdula, the special needs family. Some people are able to walk, able to use all their motor, their limbs. But for people like us in this constipation, we are paralyzing chest down and there are very limits but Hamdula, we can be carried, those are options. But for another example that I like to talk about that the secondary injuries that we're talking about, they're life threatening. Those who get sores, who get UTIs and all this, we could potentially die if we don't take care of it. And so we are blessed to be more in tune with our bodies. And so for those who think that this is a trial and tribulation, which it is, just remember that Kholawan or Allah swt is giving us a test to be more connected. That's how I see it. So just I like to just explain that a little more earlier but then for what I like to also talk about is that how is the masjid providing for us the ability to come. Now, I'll, this is the second time this happened to me. The two masjids that are setting the criteria of what a masjid should be is MCC and MCA. MCA is located in Santa Clara. It's one of the biggest masjid that I've been to and it's Hamdula a blessing. Now they're only, now this masjid has more than one handicap stall and over the years they had listened to us, mashallah, and so they have created a bathroom where it's much bigger for those with family that needs to enter with their child. Things happen, bladder move, bladder accidents may happen. And so people in our situation need assistance Hamdula and so our mothers or brothers and sisters can come in and help us. But if the facility is not able for us to get clean then the family members are not gonna show up. I mean, there are many times where it happened to me and where the facility wasn't accommodating, we have to go in our vehicles smelling bad, driving home and it leaves an impact on you because you're like, wait, do I really wanna put myself in this situation again? Do I wanna have the masjid also be burdened with my burden? So Hamdula, they have more handicap stalls here but I don't wanna sound like I'm complaining but Hamdula, these handicap stalls do have these baby, what's the word, the family can help me, these baby stations. And so a lot of these baby station doors don't close, they actually come back and swing back down. And so open the door, you can't really open the door fully so you can't really fit in. So my request is that for those who are listening who have these facilities, just take a look around and test the water facilities to see whether if it is accessible, Hamdula, things do break down. So sometimes we have to just service them. And in other regards of course, it's parking lots, Hamdula. MCA is doing a remarkable job. Again, I cannot stress this enough, disability, it is invisible but us showing up to the masjid is a chance for us to bring changes. And so I've been going to MCA due to the fact because my wheelchair is broken, I don't have to go to work. So for those who are wondering why I'm here at work, my chair is still broken. But essentially what I've learned with MCA is that those who are managing the parking lot, you can actually give them your number. You can exchange contacts to see that, hey brother or sister, I'll be coming late, is there a spot that you can reserve for me in the front? Now if you guys go to MCA, you can see how, ma shala, many cars are out there. And there are very few parking lots that are accommodating. So they do set up cones, you do see the reserve signs here at this masjid too for the imams. And so, alhamdulillah, we are, you know, amongst that status where we need that special accommodation. So don't be shy, ask your local masjids whether they can accommodate you to reserve a spot. I'll give the mic to brother Ahmad because I'm running out of ideas. So one thing I want to mention that his wheel, his current wheelchair is a broken and I offered him to fix his chair right after this presentation and he refused. He said, how, I said, I'm gonna fix it for you. And he said, it's impossible. I said, nothing, it's impossible. So hopefully he have the time so he allow me to fix his wheelchair because it's literally in safe. So the situation that he is in right now, it's in safe. So we'll see. Okay, back to the topic. So we'll talk about the accessibility and how masjid, masha'Allah, especially MCC, it's doing a great job. And as brother Abdullah was saying, there's a lot of places here in the US. We don't need to talk about overseas because I lived, I'm from Iraq and I lived in Jordan. And I travel here and there and I know what accessibility mean when I leave the US. I don't feel it sometime because everything is, it's available, almost everything available for us. Like I can be very independent. I don't need assistance from anyone to put me in and out of the building. But that's impossible to find it somewhere else in the world. It's literally impossible. So I'm going to Jordan on the 15th of April, insha'Allah. And on my way here to the masjid, I was talking to my friend who's also in disability. So he's using a walker. He don't use a wheelchair in Jordan. And I was like, can you please check for me an accessible apartment over there? Because I need to rent an apartment because all my family gonna visit me in Jordan, insha'Allah. So it's really, really, really hard to just walk into a hotel or to apartment building to find accessibility. If it's not impossible, it is extremely hard. So that's one thing we most be very thankful for. And as brother Abdullah was mentioning, if you walk into a masjid, for example, and you do need some special accommodation, you just welcome to go and talk to the masjid representative and ask for your need. And let's try because we are in Oma. Let's try to make our environment more accessible for people with a special needs, people with disability. And I feel, I do really feel so happy, especially when I come to the MCC, which I don't think I've been an MCA a couple of time, but I find myself mostly here at the MCC. I feel like family, I feel like home. And masha'Allah, it's extremely accessible. I don't think there is any thing need to be adjusted. One thing we discuss about me and brother Abdullah before, you know, we're running our wheelchair anywhere and our wheelchair is like shoes and it's not clean, it's dirty. So when we enter the masjid, how can we prepare? So we were thinking about like having a special spot in the masjid and the prayer hall to use for our wheelchair. And I think last year in Ramadan, I discussed that with brother Manir and he is like, Abed, do you mind if you just wipe your wheels? And I said, absolutely not. I would, that's absolutely make me more comfortable. So Claudic swipes, baby wipes, just swipe your wheels and enjoy running around the masjid. And unfortunately brother Manir is not here today because I would need to ask him about also having like a small table by the bathroom that we use upfront and have some Claudic swipes for us. So when we use the restroom, we come out, we wipe our tires and be more comfortable and keep the masjid purifier and clean as much as we can. Yeah. That actually reminds me of what brother Ahmad said earlier about his sabr, I like to focus on that more. You may ask for sabr, but remember that Allah want to give you more child's and tribulations to test your patience. So if you may please ask for mercy because sometimes one cannot handle the test of sabr. So just be mindful of that. So just be careful what you pray for. Number two, I like to share what happened yesterday because I don't mind exposing our disabilities is the place where we can start making changes. When I was at MCA yesterday, there was a brother Shohet Webb and you know, the Guillaume night and they're giving lectures. I'm somebody who sits all day for Ahmad as well too. So I can't imagine for those who sit for hours on end. So I had the luxury mean brother Ahmad, we do have the strength to go down on the wheelchair. So I went on the floor, I used my seat cushion for support and then someone was so kind to bring me some chai. And so I don't know if you guys know, it is diuretic meaning that it helps produce more gear. And so when I was sitting there stretching for the next two hours, I noticed that I leaked. And so I looked down, I saw a puddle of urine and I got very embarrassed. I was like, what do I do? Oh my God. But right now there's an event happening. I'm sitting next to the sisters, aisle two. This is humiliating, but I was like, you know what? Just let me look around and see what I can do. I had my cafe on, so I use that to wipe up everything. I had my baby wipes. I had everything in my backpack. So I was still prepared. So for those who want to tend the masjid, make sure you bring everything you need, spare clothes, chucks, baby wipes. Hamdulillah, the masjids here do have the bidet. Some of them had to have showers. Unfortunately, the one in MCA, the shower does not have a bench for me to use. So I knew that was one toilet that I had the bidet. So luckily it wasn't number two because if it was number two it would have been impossible because just imagine the mess. Now forgive me for sharing this event, but life happens, things happen. And so I was so ashamed, I didn't even tell my mother. She's looking at me right now, she's in front of me. But bless her soul. So I secretly just was able to clean up the brother that brought me chai. I was like, listen, this is a situation. I'm just gonna do this. He was like, no problem, brother. I'm gonna push you to the bathroom all as well. There was a slight of shame, but I'm in Allah's house. Why am I being ashamed? I was like, this is a blessing that I'm part of the ummah again. And I took care of it, alhamdulillah. I put everything in my clothes, my backpack, all the dirty clothes. I was able to stay for Qiyam and then I let it go. I didn't let it fester. I didn't let it bother me. Parents, I understand that you guys have to deal with this every single day. When I got first paralyzed, my mother, bless her soul, she didn't want me to do anything. A mother's love is, it is an example of Allah's mercy and I cannot stress that it's enough to see that miracle in itself. A father's love is different. We all know this, but a mother's love is unique in that she will do anything for you. Just like brother Ahmad said, a mother will go into the shower and scrub your own back. And here I am, a grown man, but it's my mom. Again, it's a little shameful, but that's the situation. I'm giving her the blessing to do that. And so why rob the community of this opportunity to give blessing? Another thing that I wanna talk about is, now while brother Ahmad did share his story of how he got wounded, for this example, I will not. Maybe next year, you can look up the YouTube video, you can see what happened to me. But the point of the story is that, me and brother Ahmad talked about this, sometimes we may be having a bad day and we're out on the community and someone be like, oh, what happened to you? Why are you in a wheelchair? You're so, look at you, you're a young person, you're very blessed, how could this happen? And so we have to deal with this every single day. We wake up reminded that we are in this situation and to have a community member to come up to us and be like, oh, ignorantly just coming up to us politely or, you know, upsetly. It's just something that be mindful of because who are you? You know, hi, my name's Abdullah. What's your name? There's usually there's an etiquette involved into, you know, introducing yourself to a fellow brethren. The word salamu alaykum is something so powerful. If you actually look up the meaning, you're actually trying to give peace to the other person. And if you give salam to somebody and you ask them this direct question, are you really giving their salams? So just be really mindful. Sometimes, you know, we could give the opportunity to share the story. For children, I will always tell them my story because they're innocent and it's an opportunity to teach them something. While every individual is a potential believer, maybe we don't have the patience to educate them. And so I just want to share that with you because there are days where I do have my, I'm on a spiritual highness and I'm able to answer in a way where I can show that this is Allah's test for me. Who am I to think twice on his condition that he's given me? And so there are moments where I can do that, but just remember, we are human beings, you know? And so there are times where we may be a little spicy. That's really beautiful, brother Abdullah. We do always have to remind ourselves that, you know, we have the ability to do the change, but we have to be patient. And you know, we are here in one community and thanks to MCC for give us the opportunity to be more close to each other as a community, as a people with disability or special needs. And, you know, we can talk and invest more time on how can we help our community? How can we be better in our community? We can start that from ourself. And also one thing I wanna mention for people with disability there as an event been going for a long time. And I believe there is not a lot of people now about it. It's called Ability Expo. So the Ability Expo, it's basically made for everyone with disability, but mostly for physical disability, mostly. So what does that, what is the Ability Expo is? So unfortunately, they used to make it here in San Mateo, but since the pandemic, I heard they increase the leasing amount of the building and they no longer make it in Bay Area at all, fortunately. So the Ability Expo, it's giving you and giving the parents and giving the person who's in disability the opportunity to explore the world in a wide angle from so many different devices, a new way for accessibility, accommodation, device, vehicles, if you have like a sport like this event, I attend like three weeks ago, it was in LA. So I have to fly all the way to LA for two days to attend this event because it's remarkable. It's like I really can't miss it anymore, which I haven't attended for a couple years. So this year, and I promise myself, as much as I can, I will never miss this event again because it does have so many things, like something you thought of or a device that you're looking to or, you know, it's just unbelievable. And the most beautiful things for me that I was with my community. So it's a huge place full of people with disability, different kind. And also the most important things for me, I was thinking about it on my way to the airport that I was very thankful. Why? Because I can move my hand, I can do a lot of activities. But what I saw at the expo, people moving their power chair with their tongue, with their tongue, that's the only part of their body is moving. It is unbelievable. So we have to be extremely thankful. Like I move my head, I can't eat, I can't speak. I move my head, you know? So I was like, oh my God, that's unbelievable. So I'd be more thankful and I have to, you know, look forward to be better, to do better. And then I also would like, why I'm sharing this with people because like sometime people like feel down like why did Allah test me with these things? So that you know it's tested from Allah but you're asking why? Don't say why, say alhamdulillah. There is some people worse in a situation worse than yours. So I really highly recommend for people especially with physical disability, if you know somebody, if, you know, you have one of your family, if you take him to that place, that person will be extremely thankful to you. So in the same flight, I met one family also, flying from Richmond, California to LA to attend this event. So people coming all around the world, especially in the US, there is no excuse, just go and explore and take your child, take your, you know, take the person that's in need for that to go and explore and try different things. It's extremely amazing. We do have 15 minutes left for Tarzal. You wanna finish that thought? Yeah, so I think we discover everything. I really wanna leave the mic to you guys. If you have any question, if you have any thoughts, anything, feel free to ask because I am no longer feeling shy of answering any question, especially about my disability. Life is beautiful. It is easy. Yes, it is easy when we make it easy because it's all mindset. If we said easy, it's gonna be easy. If we need it to be difficult, we're gonna have a huge excuse from here to your home, right? Before I do more Q and A, I just have two things I wanna say before, sister. Now, there is an agency called Muslim. This is an agency, oh, sorry, a nonprofit that helps Muslims in this community and also across America and how the musjid or mosque can be more accommodating to people with special needs. Now, there is nothing for physical disabilities because Hamdallah, we can participate, but this agency, what they do is that to provide programs such as learn how to, children can learn how to read the Quran, memorization, learn how to lead prayer. They also make sure that the mosque is, I mean, of course with any institution in America, it has to be ADA compliance, but they are doing their due diligence to make sure that things are still available. What they're also doing is that they are providing services for family to go make Umrah. And so this is something that I've learned through MCC and so this is very remarkable. Now, I don't know if they have any financial aid because of course with the disabled community and especially this community, everything's extremely expensive. We all know this. And so, Alhamdulillah, maybe now that they know this that everything is just more expensive for us, perhaps we can proceed if there's accommodations for the finances as well. Alhamdulillah, last couple years ago when I came here, I met a brother who's special needs and so he was interested in doing physical activities. Bay Error Outreach and Recreational Program is not a Muslim agency, but however, it's a community place where you can partake in wheelchair basketball, skiing, scuba diving, canoeing, wall climbing, cycling, Alhamdulillah, there's so many options. And just like how brother Ahmad said that when you amongst other people with your situation, it does bring a sense of belongingness and I cannot stress that out of how amazing one will feel because when you see others with different abilities, you're just in awe and it does tap into your spirit and then you're like, wow, you're not alone. And so, I just like to stress these two agencies. And so, if you need to know their names or contact information, please come to me or brother Ahmad, the League of Specialists, again, it's a remarkable place too but I just wanna share those three resources for you, not for the Q and A. How many, I don't know, I can't answer that. That's all the Allah knows. I had a couple of questions that I wrote down while you guys were speaking. You guys kind of touched upon, for example, how people with disabilities are way more than just their disability. And one of the questions that I wrote down was, in your experience, do you guys have any type of strategies that people who do not have these types of disabilities that can help these people feel more welcome in their community? Like that's one of the, I have a couple more questions but maybe we can go one by one. Beautiful. Excellent. Okay, so 18 years of being in this situation, I finally learned the ability to use the power of, now you know me, I am a very silent person. It had a hard time asking for help. And so a lot of people don't have the ability to ask for help. And so it's really, really humbling when someone comes up to you and be like, hey brother, or sister, is there anything I can do for you? It's that simple. Sister, what was your question that we skipped? Thank you both for being so generous with sharing experiences. My question is, from the perspective of a month who does care for a child who may have extra needs. And I know there are a few moms in the crowd. Something that you shared really stuck with me about needing to be independent and like you know that your mom would do everything for you. And so I'm curious like if you could, it's like a, it's a hard thing to know whether you know to feel in gaps or to just treat your kid like everybody else. Like knowing that he's already going to be perceived differently, you know, from the rest of the world. And so if there's any advice that either of you could give to, you know, ways to, yeah, make your kid feel like that sense of autonomy and also like just Tess, thank you. Subhanallah, this has been a lot of hard. Okay, so I'm glad that you said this. So one thing differently is that we were not born this way. So it's a bit different. I understand that we do have a taste of both worlds. So I know it'd be very different if you had someone who was born with this. But for me to, if I may, mother, forgive me if I'm putting on the spot, when I got hurt, I was a college student. And so I realized that my home was not accessible for me. And so that was the first thing that I've noticed that was disabling me even more. While my mother and siblings were there for me. Again, as my cousin said, I was not able to use my tongue and ask for help. There was a sense of shame and guilt because I feel like I did this to myself rather than this was a test from Allah Subhanallah. And so immediately I didn't, I feel like I was in the position to be independent in that household. While the hospital did provide everything for me. Accessible shower, accessible bathroom, getting on the bed, using the kitchen, they even had a modeled home for me to test to see how I can live independently. And that was beautiful, but when I came home and how my parents are not financially stable or well off where they were renting the place, it was very, I was very ashamed to ask the landlord to even do this. And so when I wanted to go back to school, I asked my beloved mother, I was like, please let me dorm there. Why can you take that time and hassle away from that formula? And so she said, no. I understand her anxiety. Hamdulillah, I was studying psychology. So I knew what she was saying. So likely I had one other parent. So I had to ask my father for his blessings and he gave me the blessings. So I went where? I left Fremont, California to go to Carson City. Sorry, yeah, in Los Angeles to see if I can dorm there. Hamdulillah, having an umma of Muslims, they're there. So mothers and fathers, don't be afraid. The community is strong. But this is again, a different type of disability. So I understand that it's different. Let me share something that because different environments, so we are here in the US and mom's heart, don't tell me about it. It's everywhere, same thing. So one thing I realized, sometimes for the parents, especially, they just like to give all the help, all the support and sometimes they don't think about it for the long term, down the road. So like, I need to help him with this. I need to help him with that. I need to do this for him. I believe that's not correct. It's not always, you know. You should give some responsibility to your child, I believe. So my situation was extremely different. I kind of like pull myself away and started my own self, start figuring out what do I need to do? Start figuring out what do I need to do. But by giving your child the responsibility and I know your heart with him, but you have to show him some responsibility. He have to learn something and instead keeping yourself the providers all the time. In your experience, what are some strategies that you've seen implemented that can create a more inclusive experience and environment for people with all types of disabilities? We talked about how the masjid can be accommodating, but it's very important to see that the parents see their child more financially stable and also in the love relationship, marriage opportunities, work opportunities. I understand finance is such a huge thing. So I don't know whether if the OMA can provide some sort of financial resources. Here in California and in America, there are certain states that will give you financial, like SSI, Social Security, to give you some little financial independence. However, through my experience is that once you lose low income status and become middle income status, there's a lot more trials and tribulations. As a part-time employee at Apple, my insurance has given me such a hard time to get a new wheelchair. Such accommodations that I need to go at the point like electric assist mobility devices are not accommodating. So unfortunately for those who are listening, low income is a good place to start and stay in that medium of income. That way you can learn a lot, what it means that will affect you if you make more money. Marriage, I understand that's something, I mean, that's the gift from Allah. So whoever plants that love, that seed in anybody's hearts, parents give them that opportunity. Don't be afraid of the divorce. Don't be afraid, just allow them to experience that because that gives you the opportunity of having a break. So I do think marriage will be a wonderful opportunity. So, thank you all for taking the test. I'm going to take a break.