TLC Talks FASD

Hi, everybody. My name is Sandy Boucher and welcome back to the Learning Curve. As always, I'm sending out a Chima glitch to everyone who takes the time to comment. I'm getting such amazing feedback on the episodes that we've aired already, and I thank you for taking the time to watch and for sending those comments. And. And of course, as always, if there's a topic you don't understand or something you would like us to discuss, please just send me an email. You can visit our Facebook page. It's the Learning Curve, Thunder Bay. Or you can send me an email directly at Sandy Boucher. Ca. Now, I gotta admit, I'm really excited about today's show. It's gonna blow your mind, because this guest, when I met her, she blew my mind. The reality is, we know there's challenges in the indigenous community, in any community, but especially in our indigenous communities, and addictions have had a serious toll. They've been challenging us for ages. And as anyone who has ever dealt with addictions knows, it doesn't just affect the person. The family is affected, the community, friends, anyone who cares about that person is affected. But today we're going to talk about another level of that effect. Today we're talking about fasd, and we're going to talk about what happens when the person who is choosing to drink and use alcohol is an expectant mom and what that means for her child and the challenges they're going to face a lifetime. Now, you may be thinking that you're going to know what my guest is like and what her challenges are going to be, but I guarantee you, Kathy Labrador is going to blow your mind. So, as always, go get your coffee, head for your favorite chair, and I'll see you back here in a few minutes. As together we go through the learning curve. Hi, everybody, and welcome back to the Learning Curve. Once again, I'm Sandy Boucher, and today I am introducing you to the amazing Kathy Labrador. So she is an AFSD activist and an amazing rap artist. So welcome to the show. Kathy, hello. I am so thrilled you agreed to come on.

Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.

I don't know which one of us is more excited, but I think it's me. So we have lots to talk about today. And even though we're joking around, because that's what we do when we get together, FASD is a serious, serious topic and it affects so many people. So before we launch into that, though, this. This show is all about people, not topics. So I always like to Ask my guests where you're from. So are you born and raised Thunder Bay? I don't think so.

No, I wasn't born and raised in Thunder Bay. I was born in Kermat. No, Geraldton actually, and lived in Caramac for a few years, moved to Manitowage and relocated to Thunder Bay.

Okay, so you're in Northern Ontario for sure, right?

Pretty much, definitely.

Okay, that's awesome. How long have you been in Thunder Bay?

About 30 years or more.

Oh, wow. Okay, you beat me. Okay. I'm close, but not quite that much. Okay, so as I mentioned, we're talking about FASD today, so I did look up some information just to give the audience some facts on fasd. So, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome disorder. It's considered an umbrella term describing the range of effects that can occur in an individual whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. These effects may include physical, mental health, behavioral and learning disabilities with lifelong implications. So currently there's no confirmed study on how many people in Canada have been affected. Although prenatal alcohol exposure is considered the most common known cause of developmental disability in the Western world. Now the most commonly cited estimate is 9.1 per 1,000 live births, or 1% of the population. And that's based on similar studies in the United states. Using that 1% number, that would mean the annual cost of FASD in Canada is estimated at $7.6 billion. FASD is present from birth, although individuals are not usually diagnosed in infancy, but rather later in life when symptoms start to become obvious. No two people with FASD are the same. They may have similar challenges, but the alcohol can have a wide range of effects. This includes they are at risk for mental health issues, school difficulty or early school failure, addictions, involvement with the law, difficulties maintaining employment, family disruption, and homelessness. Some of the most commonly seen challenges include what we call executive functions functioning. So things like difficulty with judging, planning, delaying, gratification, consequences, organization, impulsivity and memory. They are can also be challenges with communication. They can be highly verbal, but lack comprehension skills, both written and verbal. They can have neuromotor difficulties, which is impaired balance and coordination, or or sensory deficits, pain, touch, heat, or sensitivity to light. So that's the medical terms. So as someone who's been diagnosed and has symptoms of fasd. Fasd, Yes, I did it right. What challenges have you faced? When were you diagnosed?

I wasn't officially diagnosed till my adulthood, probably a few years back. As a child, I had a lot of difficulties that were misdiagnosed. I had a lot of labels placed upon Me and in my small community, I guess it wasn't really thought of as a problem. FASD wasn't brought out into the mainstream because no one really wanted to talk about the fact that they drank and they consumed alcohol and their child were affected by it and they like to sweep it under the carpet and say it doesn't exist. But then we grew up with all these problems, problems we face in school with learning issues, being teased and ridiculed for things, deformities that we may have had developed and like you say, our learning disabilities that develop from this, our mental issues that we have. It's a whole range of problems that different in each one of us that are affected by this. Thousands and thousands upon people are affected by the fact that their mother chose to drink and we had no choice in that matter. I couldn't say, hey, you might not want to drink. You know, I don't kind of like that stuff you're putting into my body. No, unfortunately, that's not our choice to make, but it's what we choose to do with our life afterwards that makes the difference. If we know that we have certain problems, we need to work around it or we need to find the resources that we can access to get the help that we need. And unfortunately, sometimes they're not available to us because misdiagnosis, you're looking up, you're kind of barking up the wrong tree, trying to get help for this and that, meanwhile, it's specifically something else that is wrong with you. I went through my whole childhood being labeled. Once in school, someone had labeled me the R word, mostly mentally challenged. But back then, the R word wasn't so polite as it is now. And my father was told that as a single parent, my father was told that, yeah, your child is mentally challenged and you should do something with her. And besides being held back in school and this coming from a health care professional using the R word, that's ridiculous. It makes you wonder what else society thinks if you can have a healthcare professional put a label upon somebody as.

Opposed to bring them up and say.

Well, your child needs help and we can help and this is a problem that we can deal with. No. Instead of just stamping somebody and say your child met the challenge and do something about it.

Yeah, unfortunately. Yeah, exactly. So what kind of challenges did you face?

Learning difficulties in school, definitely. Learning disabilities in school, concentration, adhd, trouble paying attention to exactly what was in front of me. Visual impairment problems. So I wasn't exactly the neatest writer and all that. Let's See, I have a hearing impairment in my right ear, and I was undiagnosed with that as a child, so that left me a lot of problems. Being hearing impaired, you're imbalanced, your coordination's off. You don't have the skills to know that. That's the problem. And being placed in front of the classroom because you're told, yeah, this is where you need to be because you can't see good. You go through school with those thick glasses that you wear because you're visually impaired, and then you get ridiculed for that. And I got faced a lot of ridicule for that. And then being put in front of the classroom, that didn't help because, oh, there she is in front of the classroom. There's something wrong with her there. And halfway through grade school, probably up to grade six, where they finally decided, she's really having problems with her learning and we don't know what's wrong with her, so we're going to. I walked into class one day and they said to me, I said to my classmates, oh, nice to see you. All my friends I went to school with, and this is so fantastic. Look forward to this next year. And they told me, kathy, you don't belong in this classroom. I said, pardon me? What? You want to try the classroom down the hall, across the street? Across the hall. So I went down to that classroom. When they opened the door, they said, oh, hello. I said, hi, my name is Kathy. Welcome to Special Ed. And I said, hmm, why am I here? I don't feel like I'm any different than anyone else. These are the kids I went to school with, I grew up with for eight years of my schoolhood life. And now you're telling me you're going to put me into a program called Special ed because you think I'm mentally challenged at some point, that I can't function or do the work that needs to be done. I wasn't given the opportunity. I wasn't given the opportunity to be put in the mainstream, to see how I would do it.

Exactly.

I was just basically shoved to the back of the closet and say, here, this is where you go and deal with it and learn with it. And I couldn't get the proper education because of it. I strongly believe that. Because when you're held back and you're not able to show your full potential, how's anyone gonna know if they're just gonna throw you into another room and say, here. There you go.

Wow. So when did you move to Thunder Bay? Were you still in school.

I was a teenager.

I was in my high school years when I moved to Thunder Bay.

Okay, so the junior years were all in these small schools. Did it get better or worse when you got to Thunder Bay?

It kind of got. The teasing and ridiculing was still there to some point, but that was part of being native in the community. But as far as the learning and stuff, no, that wasn't really an issue after that point.

Okay.

Okay. Awesome.

And I assume they diagnosed the eye impairment fairly quickly.

Yeah, they diagnosed that right away, almost right from birth. But they didn't relate that to correlate that to the alcohol.

Exactly. It was separate and an issue by itself. Or so they thought.

Yes.

Yeah, exactly. Wow. You know what? Hearing your story. And every time I hear your story or whatever version of it, one, it blows me away. Two, anyone who knows you would find that mind blowing because you're the most positive person I know. You're positive, you're happy, you're outgoing, you're encouraging everyone else. And then we hear your story, and it's just, you're an inspiration girl. And I hope you know that. When we come back from the break, we're going to talk to Kathy about. About that amazing attitude she has and some things that she's had going on that maybe you'd be surprised to hear about. So go refill your coffee, and we'll see you in a few moments. And we are back with the Learning Curve. And today we're talking to Kathy Labrador about fasd. I'm gonna get this acronym right. And you know what? I love the fact if I'm gonna screw up anything, I'd rather screw up some label than who you are as a person. So before the break, like, we heard your story and the challenges, which still blows my mind. But seriously, if you were to know Kathy, she's the cheerleader in front of the room talking about everyone else and encouraging them. So I met you through the New Directions Public Speaker School. Is that what it's called? Okay, so public speaking, which is, like right up there on the top of the list of the biggest fears that human beings have. And you chose to become a public speaker. Why? How. Where did that come from?

Well, I've always had that.

I was always told that I talked a lot when I was growing up as a kid, and I could never be quiet at the dinner table, which I suppose is a good thing because it made me speak up on things that no one wants to hear about. And I must try. Strong believer in silence doesn't get the message out there. Silence doesn't sell, and shyness is beyond me. And I took to the New Directions Public speaking school to kind of deliver my message in the right format as opposed to just going out there and blurbing out whatever I needed to blurb about, because I talk and I ramble on. But if I had that structured environment, which gave me the skills to communicate in the right direction and to get my message out there in the right format, and that's how that came about. And I've always wanted to be able to speak and put a message out there. And this was my perfect opportunity. When someone presented and said, hey, you like to talk, by all means, why don't you check this program out? So I checked it out, and I worked with the instructor at the time, Deanna Ford. Great, amazing lady. I love that lady's pieces. And in the end, they put me on the last of the roster for the graduation speech, and they said, we'll save the best for last. And I was kind of floored by them. Are you talking about me? Seriously? And, yeah. So I graduated, did my speech in regards to FASD at City Hall. And I knew you were in the audience at the time.

You knocked it out of the park, because if I remember correctly, you didn't use notes. You just. Just from the heart. And it was an amazing speech. It was structured, as you said. It wasn't just you standing up and talking for five minutes. It was. It was amazing. You. You blew me away. Right? And I do this for a living. I'm a public speaker for a living, so I've met a lot of public speakers across the country, and. And you're a natural. And. And I couldn't believe it. And again, I think that was the first time I was in. Really knew who you were, But I heard a little bit about your story and your confidence and your personality, like, bigger than life. And that's. That's not a negative in any way. And I love when you said, because you talk all the time. And I actually mentioned that in my seminars because every one of my report cards, the teacher would write, she talks too much. She talks too much. And now I always tell my audiences, and now I get paid to talk. So. So that teacher. You know what. That opinion there.

Right.

But that is not the only way you get the message across. So I was blown away to hear you're a public speaker. And then I'm not sure how I knew or if you had shared it with me, but you're into rap music. And you decided to use rapping to get your message out there. So where did that come from? Because that's unique.

When I was a teenager, 16, almost started a little brief history. When I was born, my dad was 60 and. No, 63, somewhere around there. So my father was older at the time and I was a teenager. So I'd watch videos and MTV and stuff. And one day MC Hammer came on and my dad said to me, you could do that? And I said, ah, I don't know if I could do that. And he sure you can. All they're doing is speaking and doing it in a lyrical format and putting some kind of beat to it, because why not? So my dad and I collaborated a little bit of lyrics and I came up with him liking tea. And we wrote a little rap song together about, you know, like, my dad said, if I don't make no tea, he's gonna lock me up and throw away the key. My daddy's tough, my daddy's mean. He really gets mad when he has no tea. Tea is cold, Tea is cold, stuff like that.

And.

And once I started doing that, the words just kept going and I started writing. And by the time I started writing things down, I'd lose the pages, but they'd be stuck in my head. So I thought, wow, I can do this. I have a gift of some sort of memory, I guess, to just rattle off what I had written down. And I thought that's how they get their message out. They get a message out, be it bad or good, somebody gets a message out by rapping. And if I can do it in a good format and get a positive.

Message out there to people, by all.

Means I'm going to do it. And if rapping is the way I can do it, and if I'm comfortable doing that style, obviously, then great. I'm a firm believer in being positive and being motivational to whoever needs it.

And as the daughter of an amazing dad who always encouraged me, it just warmed my heart to hear about your dad. And stereotypes affect so many people. And there's definitely a stereotype about older people and not getting into rap music and thinking all of these things. And here it was your dad that saw that you could do this and encouraged you. And I mean, I talk about success all the time and that's what it is, right? Finding your strengths and not focusing on what you can't do, what can you do and building on that. But what an amazing family legacy. Now, do you have siblings?

Yes, I have four others. I have three sisters. And a brother.

Okay, so your dad was doing this with all these kids in the house?

No.

Okay. Because I was gonna say like, holy moly's, how much patience did this man have? That is amazing. But. So when did you start rapping? You were playing with your dad and rapping about tea?

I played with my dad when I was a teenager and what, 16 years old. And I started doing some more writing and lyrical rhyming probably later in my 20s and stuff. And I just continued on with writing from that point on. And then when I got into the New Direction speaking school, I said, hey, I can deliver a message by public speaking. But wait, I do like doing things in a lyrical format. And, and so, yeah, maybe I'll deliver a more powerful message if I rap it out. Because my aspect, my view on that is a lot of young people get a message, a wrong message out of rap music, but they get a message, but they get something out of it. So I'm thinking if I could do it in a rap style format and deliver my message to people in the right format, they're going to get something out of it positive, because it's a rap. They're going to be, ah, this is cool, it's got a beat, it's something I can. But meanwhile, the message is in there. That song is going to resonate with them when they leave. Be it positive. They're going to be, wow, that's. I can't get that out of my head. That's the whole thing I want to do is to leave someone with a lasting memory that they won't forget.

Wow. So you're doing, you love it, but it's all about the effect you're having. And that's. That makes you such an awesome person. And I knew that. And I was sitting here thinking of all those youth I work with and I thought, I just want to lock them in a room with you for an hour and get them to listen to you because I hope you realize how inspirational you are and I hope you never stop using your voice, whether it's public speaking or whether it's rapping. So what's your hope for the future?

My hope for the future is to take this message on the road and spread it to communities to be at schools, adolescents, teens, young adults, whoever can get this mess, something out of this message. I plan to travel with this and go far with this silence. Like I say, silence doesn't sell. So if I can do it in a positive format and travel with it, I will do it.

Okay, so if People want to get a hold of you. If they. In a few minutes we're going to have. After the break, we're going to. Kathy's going to do some rep for you. So if people want to follow up with you or get in touch with you because they just fall in love with what you do or want to hear your message, how would they get hold of you?

Well, they can reach me on Facebook. I am on Facebook and I also am found on YouTube @mcathy labrador.

Oh, awesome.

I have a YouTube channel.

Do I follow you on. On YouTube? I hope so. If I don't, I'm going to because I'm happy to HEAR you're on YouTube because I would really love to be able to share those videos. And of course, this show, we're going to be sharing this. So that's going to be absolutely awesome. So if you have especially a youth out there that is struggling and. And is up to their neck in their challenges and can't see. See their guests, please get them to watch this episode or go to our Facebook page. The videos are going to be on there once I get a chance to upload them and show them this video because Kathy really is inspirational and I think if we can help anyone by having them hear her messages, then that's something we need to do. Awesome. So we're going to take a quick break and we're going to come back in a few minutes and. And you're going to be able to enjoy a sample of what Kathy does best. So go refill that coffee and then come back because you're going to enjoy this. See you in a few minutes.

I'm small and meek inside his home Hoping for a chance to grow, to see what this world has to offer but for some reason my vision is a little blurry and if I could talk, I imagine my speech would be a little slurry. I don't remember asking for this kind of drink it's pretty strong and it kind of stinks My head is spinning but I'm laying still I know I've got to find a will to survive this poison that is clouding my mind but now I'm thinking where will I find the time for more organ limbs they're trying hard to grow but the process is going very slow I want to grow to be big and strong Want to Would someone please tell me why is this taking so long My time inside this home it's almost over I hope that when I'm born my mom is sober to see this tiny girl Being brought into the world. My eyes are dim and cannot see? It seems your drink has taken a few things away from me? I have a cry that is strange and weak? But then again I am small and meek? I am ill in from the drink that you've been spilling inside your body? It's now become a big part of me? Shake it loose and trying to break free? But this drink, it's got a big hold on me? Learn to walk and talk? It's as easy as A, B, C and 1, 2, 3? But then again here's little me? I've decided to crawl, yeah? Cause you know if I walk I'll do nothing but fall? These lyrical rhymes that I've been spitting? I hope it's a message that's really been hidden deep inside your mind and in your soul. Cause this is a story that needs to be told. You know you have choices. I like those little voices that are trying to speak? But can't get the words out? Cause they are so meek? Why am I rapping with my jaws flapping? Because I am the voice that never got heard? And now I'm just trying to spread the word To a mother and any other. Think before you drink.

Hello, everyone. And that is another show. And I am so thrilled to have had Kathy here today. We don't usually have a musical guest on, so I really hope you enjoyed that. But even more so, I hope you heard her very emotional and important message. As I said earlier, if you know of someone that's struggling, please get them to watch this episode. Get them to read, reach out to me or to Kathy. I know there are so many people in our community that want to help those that are struggling. And if you don't know where to go, reach one of us. And. And we have contacts with the agencies in town. We can make sure that you get the support you need. And as always, I want you to use the information you learned today to bring down those walls and build bridges. It's through conversations and through greater understanding that we're bringing this city together. And I know we can do it for your sake, for my sake, for all of our sakes. So use the information, enjoy yourself, and I'll see you next time on the learning curve.