How People With Disabilities Live Independently 🇺🇸

- Good morning, guys. The point of this channel is to bring you into another world, another way of living that you might not be familiar with, that could be the Amish, the Hasidic Jews, the Chicanos, inner city America. We can all learn something from somebody else. So today, we have the great privilege to get in with a community living with disabilities. Not easy access to get a camera in there, we got the green light. The very unique thing about this community is that they're living their true

st, most independent lives, like many of us. So let's get in there. Let's try to understand their perspective, how they look at life, how they look at the world, and learn something along the way. Let's do this. (calm upbeat music) Here, we are. Promise in Brevard. How you doing? - Hey, hey. - [Peter] Peter. AJ. Nice to meet you. Your name? - Daniel. - Daniel, Peter. - Hi. - Nice to meet you. What did you say, you wanna be on TV? - Yeah. - I do. (laughs) - Okay, you're on. Do you live here? - Ye

s, yes, I do. - [Peter] Okay, how's it been? - It's been good. I've been busy, activities, work, but I love it. It's paradise here. Welcome to paradise. - Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you. Thank you. Who are these, the Melbourne Bulldogs? Is that football or baseball? - My school. - Oh, okay. - A big, huge Gene Simmons fan, Kiss. - You're a Gene Simmons fan, you love Kiss? - Yes. - Do you like Ace Frehley? - Yeah, you ever met him? - No, in a former life, they're old school. Are they still p

laying? - In the World Tour. (Peter laughs) - Is that your dream to see Kiss? - Well, I actually saw 'em one time, two times actually. - Oh, wow. - But I never met 'em. Want to, want to. - All right, Gene Simmons is your hero. - Here we go, so, yeah. (Peter laughs) - Raymond? - Yes. - Peter. Got my hand down here. - Hi, very nice to meet you. - Yeah, very nice to meet you. And so you're gonna show us around, right? (Peter laughs) - Yeah, are we doing the- - Or provide standup comedy, or sing, or

whatever you wanna do. You're working here typically at the front desk? - Yes, I work during the week, usually at the front desk. - Okay, so what do you do? - At the front desk, we do, anyone that comes through, we ask them to sign in usually. - Raymond, I didn't sign in, do I need to sign in? Or I'm with you so I'm okay? - Normally, I would ask you to sign in. - Okay, I don't wanna break rules, let me do it. How long you been doing this? - Two or three years, I think. (device chimes) This is m

y fiance, Amanda. - (laughs) Hi. - Oh, beautiful. How long have you two been together? - We're coming up our four year anniversary actually on the 26th. - Beginning of 2018. - [Peter] Where did you two meet? - Here actually. - Oh. - He actually literally ran into me. (Amanda laughs) - Yeah. Yeah. - I wanna hear the love story. I gotta hear the love story. - Okay, this is a story for the ages, I guess. (all laugh) It was pretty much right in front of the door almost. (Peter laughs) And I walked o

ut, I ran into her, and I don't know, I apologized to her. - He literally tripped over me. (laughs) - Yeah. So I like apologized to her or whatever. And then it was, you know? I think that was the night we made pizza and- - And danced to Taylor Swift, "I Knew You Were Trouble." (Amanda laughs) (Peter laughs) - The old pizza and Taylor Swift move, huh, Raymond? Wow. - Not something I've ever heard of, but, you know, yeah. - I think you invented it. - I think so. - We call each other trouble all t

he time, so. (laughs) - Okay. Trouble one, can I call you trouble one, Raymond? - (laughs) There you go. (Amanda laughs) - [Peter] And what's the secret to a very strong relationship, four years in? - Communication's a huge part of it. Like, if you don't have communication or trust, you know, I really feel like those are the two key ingredients to a good relationship. Trust and communication. - Trust, communication, but also understanding and being open to what your partner might be trying to te

ll you. You're not gonna always agree on things, - Sure. - but it's important to be open and hear that person's side of things. Because as in most situations, like, it's easy to get caught up in our own thoughts and emotions, and to not be open to what others are trying to tell us. I'm gonna bring you to the apartment if that's okay. - [Peter] Yeah, I would love to see it. Where you guys live here? - I live in the north building. We're gonna bring you to my apartment not Amanda's. - [Peter] Okay

. Hey. - Hey. - So you know, like, all the spaces between rooms and different areas, and you know where the gates are, you know- - I mean, so I can walk around this place without my cane, if I want to. Yes, I run into things. But at the end of the day, like, I made that choice, you know, I don't expect anyone to hold my hand to lead me around nor would I want them to. 'Cause I've got skills that can help me. (exhales sharply) Pardon me. - (laughs) He carries my band around with him and sometimes

he confuses the two. - Thanks, Amanda. (all laugh) - What? It happens. - So what makes it different here? What I was told by one of the parents that has their child here was that you guys live a very independent life, how do you explain that? - So, okay, I'm gonna define independence. For me, for example, I do my best to, you know, pay my own bills or, you know, cook and clean, but not everyone is at that point. Like, some people's level of independence might be working with their caregiver on

budgeting - Sorry. - or learning about change. Or it could be any small step or big step. - We could take the elevator. - We could take the elevator? - Or would the stairs be better for everyone? Ooh, what should we do? - Hey, are they dark? (Amanda laughs) Are they creepy? - Are the stairs dark? Are they dark and creepy, Amanda? - I don't think so. (laughs) - No. Let's do the stairs, let's make everyone get exercise. - Okay, okay. (Amanda laughs) Doing the stairs. Amanda, you got a great laugh.

You're pretty positive all the time, or is this just for the camera? - I do try to be. - Ooh! (laughs) Sometimes I have those days where I need Ray to lift me up. - [Peter] Oh, yeah. - Oh. (laughs) - Yeah. (Amanda laughs) - Yeah, Raymond likes the challenging way, huh? He's running up. - I do. - Doesn't want the elevator, wants the stairs. I'm the same way. - No, keep going. - Sometimes I forget, like, not that I forget, but I realize there's two different ways you can come up, like on differen

t ends of each hall. Occasionally I'll mix it up. - [Peter] Oh, so you have a lounge room here. - It's open if you wanna use it, I don't know how many people actually do. - How did I get so disoriented? I don't know. - It's okay. (laughs) - No, it's not. - [Peter] Well, you just ran up the stairs, Raymond. - I did. (Amanda laughs) - [Peter] Sprinted up, sprinted up the stairs. - So this is my apartment. I share it with three other people. - [Peter] Oh, you got posters, Brian, that's your roommat

e, Brian? - Yes, so that's Brian. He's been with me since the beginning, when I first moved in. He's the only one that's, I've been through two other roommates or a few other, but that's okay, that's change, and it's part of life. - [Peter] Brian, how's living with Raymond? Is he a good roommate? - Yeah. (all laugh) - [Peter] Okay, next topic. - So this is my room. - This is your room over here, okay. So who plays guitar? - [Raymond] Jakon does actually, he's another one of my roommates. - [Pete

r] Is he a pretty good guitarist? - He is, oh, I actually have no clue. (Amanda laughs) (Peter laughs) - Okay, so it looks good in the living room. - Yeah. - Okay, so here's your room. - Yep. - You got a nice place here. - So, when I moved in, this room was where I hung out until I met Amanda, and then pretty much hung out in her place. So this is Gabriel, he's my roommate, he just moved in, what, a few months ago? - Yeah. - But this is a change for him. - Yeah. - And like, I think- - [Gabriel]

This the first time I've lived out on my own. - Yeah, so. - [Peter] First time living on your own, okay, so it's a difficult change to live out on your own or? - Absolutely, it is. - Okay. - Mostly because I'm not very social. - [Peter] Okay. - I spend a lot of time in my room. I'm about as much of a roommate as Ray is, like, (Peter laughs) except the difference is that - Ray's not around much. - Ray's not here and I'm always in there. - [Peter] Well, it sounds like it's a peaceful setup then. -

It is though, yeah, we all get along. - I mean, we do try, and I've always told Gabriel if he ever needs anything and, you know, he has my number and as I said, - Yeah. - I hope you know you can let me know then. I probably need to do a better job at keeping in touch with you guys too, you know? But we all do our own things too, and that's okay too. - [Peter] You got a full kitchen going on. Are you cooking, Raymond? I know you have your cafeteria, but. - Actually I cook a lot. - Okay. - We do

cook. We cook together actually. Amanda has this really amazing shrimp fried rice. We can keep walking as I talk, right? - Yeah, let's do it. - All right, let's do it. - I don't know if I can ask you this now, and you tell me when you want me to shut up 'cause I'm okay with that, - No, ask. - but ask away. Do you feel energies of people, do you feel like when people are coming close to you, can you tell that I have a small camera? You must feel things I would think, or it's hard to even say? - I

f I am aware of it, it might be a subconscious thing, but now that you mention it, now it's gonna make me like curious and think about that more, which I love stuff like that. - Right. Okay. - The funny thing is though, sometimes he knows it's me walking to the front desk before I even get there. - It's because I know your footsteps. - But how do you know? See, Raymond, I was in front of you, and then I started walking and then without me talking, so there was no audio, but then you started walk

ing 'cause you knew I wasn't there. - Well, 'cause I know we're all gonna- - Well, he knew we were- - I thought- - Now I'm making you think about this stuff. - Yeah, no, it's good. - You're like, I just wanted to make a simple video and I'm like giving some - I never once said that. - metaphysical brain teaser. - Let's do it. - Let's do it. - Let's do it, I love it. We had our, Seth, I- - He used to ask me all kinds of questions and other people too, and I like when they do because it makes me t

hink, even if I don't have an answer in the moment. - Okay, we'll put that one on ice. - I will. - And then we'll put it in the marinade, and then Amanda's gonna cook it up with her shrimp. - There you go. (Amanda laughs) I will hold that. - Something like that. How about that? - That was great. - We take elevator down. - Yep. - 'Cause we walked up. - Raymond, you getting soft on me, why are we in the elevator? (Amanda laughs) - 'Cause it's the one, you haven't been there yet. - I missed the bei

ng beginning of that joke. What was it? - What do you call an ape with stripes? - What? - A chimpion zebra. (all laugh) - This is Miquela. - I'm gonna use that. Miquela, nice to meet you. - Hi. - This is Peter. He's doing a documentary on Promise and me. Is it okay if he puts your joke in his video? - Yes. - All right, awesome. - (laughs) She's famous for her jokes. - [Peter] Can you give us one more? - What hat do you get when you cross a hurricane with a tsunami? - Florida? - Wet. - Wet, okay.

(all laugh) All right, they're very useful jokes. Like very practical. - Yeah. - Good one. - Thank you, Miquela. - [Amanda] She is very funny. Mary lives in the west building over there. - Yep. - So do I. - [Peter] You ladies live in the west building? - West building. - Daniel does also, they both live in that building. - [Peter] So you have a lot of friends here, fair to say? - Yes. - A lot. - You know everybody? - Pretty much. - Pretty much. - How many people here in total? - 126. - 126. - Y

eah, what she said. - Yeah 100 and- - [Peter] So you know all 126? - Pretty much, except for, like, we get new ones in and we kinda have to root them into the stuff too now. - [Peter] Right. Kiss' number one fan? (Amanda laughs) - Yes, when you post [video] in California, might come here, Kiss come play. - Kiss might come play? - It's his desire to have Kiss come here and play. - Yeah. - All right, Gene Simmons, if you're watching, what do you have to say? - I say, a big fan of you. (Amanda laug

hs) - I love it that the younger generations are getting into Kiss still. - This is Irene. (ladies laughing) Irene is a volunteer and a mom who is absolutely amazing. - Your son is here. - My son is here. He has autism. - Okay. - So he's not the social butterfly. Every day, he's learning how to be independent, how to navigate the social environment here. - Right. - Because it's 125 residents who are very friendly. - Yeah. - Right. He's thriving because he's making his own decisions about how he

spends his day and who he is around. It's not that group home where, you know, you're around in close proximity with six, five or six other people and you have to go to the mall with them. - So that's something I'm curious about 'cause I don't know much about these environments, but when I typically think of these homes, I'm thinking what you're just saying. The group home, very structured, very rigid. And by the way, Promise is not paying me to make this video, I'm just interested in this story

. - (laughs) No, they're not paying me. They never pay me. (laughs) - They don't pay you. But is that what- - That's exactly. You should just be my spokesperson. - Just to finish up on that, you're saying it's different in the sense that it's more independence for the residents? - Yeah, absolutely. My son, he can come out of his apartment and be safe. - Okay. - He can come out and walk the campus, become involved in activities. He can walk outside, he takes a walk every night. - Okay. - And I do

n't have to worry about him being in the public. - That's back to Raymond's point he made earlier, everyone's sort of at their own level with their independence, and they can sort of work from there and do how they, you know, what they can. Be who they wanna be, how about that? - Yeah, and that's the thing, like really important part of living here and being a part of the community here at Promise is that there is no, you know, judgment as to where people are or, you know, judgment at all. What'

s the easiest way to get outta here, Amanda, 'cause we're done with, I mean I love this room. - We have a minefield of tables right here. - We can go around, or if you'd rather? So we also have a shortcut. We can go through these doors (laughs) so we don't have to go through all the tables. 'Cause they also use the dining room for lots of different events. He was just in a fashion show actually last week. - [Peter] You had a fashion show last week? Okay. - It was last Wednesday. - How was that?

- I was in the audience. My stepmom bought me a ticket to go 'cause it's $100 a ticket. So I was really excited that he was gonna be in it. - I was nervous at first, but then I was out on there, like, I'm not very good with crowds, like in terms of being on stages, but once I relaxed, I kinda got into it a little bit. Like, you know, doing the whole, going the runway, down the runway thing and doing the- - You did the whole runway? - I did the catwalk thing. (Amanda laughs) I tried to do the Tra

volta wave kinda thing, you know? (Peter laughs) - Show him the wave and then the other move you did. - All right, I'm gonna go down here, you come towards me. You do the walk. - All right, so I do need my cane, or something like that. - [Peter] And then you turned around? - And then I turned around, I walked right back. (Amanda laughs) - You, you owned it. You owned that walkway, runway. - Kinda. - Hello. - Hi. - Madison, I think I saw you when I was coming in. You were out on the sidewalk, is

that correct? - Uh-huh. - Do you cruise around a lot? - Yeah, - Where are you from, Madison, originally? - Where am I originally from? I'm originally from Dallas. - From Dallas? - Mm-hmm. - [Peter] What do you think of Florida? - It's hot and humid, - Well, Dallas is- - but I like it otherwise. - You like it, how is Promise? Do you enjoy living here or what's your experience? - I do, I enjoy hanging out with friends, and talking with different people, and having the freedom that I have. It's fun

. - You have a lot of freedom? - Mm-hmm. - How so, you can go to Target on your own? - Go to Target on my own, do what I need to do on my own. I also have two other caregivers, so they help me too. - Oh, that's great. - So, yeah. - How was Raymond, now he's gone so you can be honest, how was he in the fashion show? Was he? - He was pretty good. No, he was good. He was really good. - He had the moves? - Yeah. - Could you tell he was nervous the night before? - Yes, yes. - You could tell? (laughs)

- But he was good. - We have some backing on your performance. - Nice, so- - You did a good job. - I kinda wanna give you an overview of what it's like working in the back, if we can do that real quick. - Yeah, let's do that. Let's see what you do, Raymond. - We'll be right back, Amanda. - I'll wait for you. - So usually, I put my cane over here, that way it's out of the way. Over here, we might have packages. Let's see if we have any today. We do. We have keys that we give out, they're caregiv

er fobs, we call them. - Okay. - We take the key, we bump into things. - [Peter] Does Amanda hang out there often when you're working back here? - No. - Is she in that chair? - No, we do not. We try to be very mindful - Okay. - of hanging out, you know, while the other's working. Like, I might drop food off for her at night or whatever, but I don't usually hang out down here and she doesn't hang out while I'm here either. - Okay, so you take your work very seriously? - Yes, I love what I do. Bei

ng a part of the team here and, you know, Christie and all of us working together to make Promise what it is, it takes a team, you know? - [Peter] Right. - Thank you, Christie. - You're welcome. - Thanks, Christie. - Good job. See you later. - So this is our media room. - Okay. - There's computers, I believe there's an Xbox, there's books, and our library is in here too, I think. - Raymond, do you pay rent or do you get paid for your work and they put that towards your rent, or how does that wor

k? - So the rent is based off Section 8 housing, so it's 30% of our income, whatever sources of income you have. So if someone gets social security income, they'll, you know, 30% of that. If they work, whatever your income source is, it's 30% of that. And I just heard thunder. - Yeah. - Oh, this is gonna be fun. - Yeah. (laughs) - Are you prepared? (laughs) - [Peter] Okay, where are we going now? - We're going to the art center. Using the cane, there's different techniques you can use when you t

ravel. I don't remember the name of this technique, but it's more like, I prefer to roll the tip on the ground. You can bounce your cane like different to detect, you know, different things or depending on what you're looking for. - Do you ever have any accidents or very rarely? - Oh, who doesn't? - (laughs) This is true. - This is the learning center. But- - We do come in here for book club. - We do come in here for book club, we come in here for bingo. Art is in this area. - [Peter] So you guy

s have so much going on here, huh? - There's over 60 plus activities going on in one week. - Are you ever lonely here? Do you ever feel lonely? - No. No, I don't. - I think, no. - Let me ask you this, do you feel like you're in your own world out here, as in like it's a very complex country, there are all these issues going on, do you keep up on different social issues, or things? - I do, I try to, I'm very much aware of the news, or try to be at least aware of the basics of, you and I, I think

we talked about it before, the whole Ukraine situation. It's terrible, like, what's happening over there right now. My opinion and I, you know, war is never anything that anyone should want or, you know, encourage. And it just doesn't make sense to me sometimes why things happen the way they do, you know? - What do you think people that don't live like you could learn from you? You have a different way of living than say me, everyone's different in their own sense, but what could we learn from y

ou? - So if I was to give any advice to any one person, or any one, it would be that, A, your boundaries are important with how you interact with others and people interact with you. Also, just being mindful of others, you know, everyone's human, everyone has feelings and no one person is any better than anyone else. There's enough negativity, and life is too short to hold grudges and just to be negative. It's just too short for that. - We both know that first hand. - Well said. You know that fi

rst hand? I lost my grandpa April of 2020 due to a heart attack. - Okay, I'm sorry. - And, yeah. And I lost my grandparents on my dad's side, both of them, when I was in my early 20s and, yeah. And I have one living grandparent left, my mom's mom. And so I miss my other grandparents, I really do. And so I know how it feels, you know, to lose somebody so close to you. I used to have a very special relationship with each of my grandparents and it's hard. And I know Ray's going through a similar si

tuation now, he recently lost his mom. - Oh, I'm sorry, Ray. - He doesn't like to talk about it, - I'm sorry. - [Amanda] But, you know? - [Peter] I'm sorry. - It's, you know, thank you, I appreciate that. And I, you know, grief is one of those things that is truly a personal thing. And I don't think any one person grieves the same way, you know? Yeah, there are similarities. 'Cause, you know, I remember I would say to someone, I'm sorry, you know, you can empathize with the feelings that that pe

rson goes through, but their own individual feelings, those are there. I didn't fully realize how personal it was until like, you know, I lost my grandma in July. Which, you know, she lived a life of, she did her best to do what she felt was right by raising her kids and, or my aunts. And then, you know, my mom in March, I didn't, you know, it's one of those things like, you know, you get the call where they tell you, actually it was a text I think it started with, or I can't quite remember the

full. I think it was texting and then conversations throughout the night, you know, we didn't think my mom was gonna make it. And I remember, at first, then we thought she might pull through, but, you know, unfortunately she didn't. And I know she's at peace, and it's me that has to find that journey of peace within myself. 'Cause I know she wouldn't want me to be all like, you know, she'd want me to live my life and, yes, acknowledge the feelings of grief, but, you know, to not let it consume m

e either, which there are days. I just tell people for the most part, you know, when I'm going through it, I just say I'm managing because each day has just been different. But I also know that I try not to let that stuff consume me, I guess is the best answer. - Well said, Raymond. - 'Cause like I said, life is too short. - [Amanda] And she loved Promise for you too. - She did. I thought it'd be easier to find work down here, I'm not sure why I thought that. - In Florida? - Yeah, don't ask me w

hy I thought that. - So where'd you move down from? - From Massachusetts. - [Peter] So you had a dream to move down to Florida to find work? - No, it was just like, (Amanda laughs) I didn't have a plan, I wasn't going anywhere. I graduated from school, got an apartment, and found a job at Umass in Amherst, title of the area. I did line cook, which was pretty much preparing sandwiches and preparing salads and things. - Is that challenging being a line cook? - No. No. - [Peter] Was that challengin

g for you, no? - No, and, I think, I wanted more out of what they could offer me. So I ended up going into school and I thought I would do computer work. You know, repairing computers and stuff like that. So I did a computer networking course. And by the time I graduated that, I realized that wasn't quite where I wanted to go either. So I didn't really have a plan for what I was looking for when I came down here. I just felt like I needed a change somewhere in my life. - What do you wanna ask hi

m? (Amanda laughs) - (laughs) She's worried about the clouds. - [Peter] What do you guys think? I'm down for the adventure. - I am too personally. - Well, he wants to storm chase and I don't want him to. - I do. I would love to go storm chasing. Would you wanna go storm chasing, Peter? - I would love to. - Let's do it. - Like chasing tornadoes? - Yes, let's do it. - I really don't want you to though. - Sorry, but, you know? - So one of your big outings you're saying is going to Target? - On our

own, yeah, we love to do that. - Sometimes we take the bus, sometimes we walk. - Sometimes I Uber, I won't lie. (Amanda laughs) - You're Uber cheating? - Sometimes. - [Peter] Raymond, I got a question for ya. - Yes. - What is your dream? What are your dreams? - So firstly, I'd love to get my podcast going. That's my hobby, that's my love of, like, you know, my profession, Some type of managerial role, you know? Are you, like, going backwards? - I'm totally (Amanda laughs) walking backwards. - I

can tell, is it awkward for you? - No, I've done this plenty of times. - You know, the funny part is, as a cane user, you're told not to walk backwards. (Amanda laughs) How many people can say they have to drive across the bridge to get to where they live? I'm sorry, but that is awesome. - I feel the same way. (Amanda laughs) There's something about going over a bridge, right? There's like a separation, even if there's nothing under the bridge. (Amanda laughs) - So, I mean, you've been, I've nev

er been out of the country, - I have. - so I have nothing to compare anything to. I guess my question for you is, you're living back here now since you moved back, - Yeah, yes. - is there any one thing that's been harder being back here versus being outside of the country? - I will say there's a certain freedom with living in another country where that country's problems are not your problems. - [Raymond] Yeah. - And your problems are back home in your country and you're not thinking about them.

- Yeah. - So I'm more in tune with more cultural and political issues now that I'm back home than if I was overseas. But other than that, I gotta say, I'm really happy to be back. I'm loving being back in the US. And I'm discovering this country really in a way I never did before. Like, just where we're at today. Look at this day today, this is a new world for me. You guys bring me into your universe. I get to learn from you guys. - But we're learning from you as well. - No, it's collaborative,

it's beautiful, right? - There's meant to be a unity in life, like of oneness. And our friend Seth, he would talk about how there was always this, you know, - Bigger universe. - we're all one, at one point, we're all one. - Yeah. - So really, we're all part of the same, I don't know if soul's the right word, but I feel like that's the right word. So we're all one big part of this big soul of existence. You know what I mean? - The plane of existence. - Yeah. - [Peter] How do you guys cross here?

- I wait until there's a break in traffic and then I go. - Okay. - So if we go right now, we can go. - Let's do it, let's do it. Driving makes me anxious sometimes when I'm with people driving, and it's because other people on the road like- - Wait, stop. - Watch out, watch out, you guys, stop, stop. - Yeah, we're okay. - Okay, we're good. - Thank you. - Nice people. Watch out behind and cool, we're good. - Peter was like, there you go. And we're gonna get some rain, folks. - Yeah, I feel it. -

Amanda wants to kill me, I know it. - She's gonna kill you with the teddy bear here. - (laughs) Actually, this is a puppy named Rocco. - Puppy. - He's our emotional support pup, so he kinda goes everywhere with us really. - [Peter] Rocco's in style with the bow tie. (Amanda laughs) - So I know a lot of people look at us and are like, why do you carry that around? Like, it's so childish and stuff. But my explanation to them is this, we could have dogs as an emotional support pet, but I would wor

ry about taking on the cost of a dog. You know, taking care of myself is difficult enough, why would I take on the cost of a dog when I don't know that I could realistically take care of the dog, you know? - [Peter] You're a responsible guy, Raymond. - Yeah, so then Rocket, Rocco, we call him Rocket, Rocco, there's all kinds of names, like. - All kinds of nicknames. - Rocco? - [Raymond] We gave him his own little world, you know? - His name is Rocco, but we also call him Rocket, Rockidge. (laugh

s) - And I know, I know, I know how it looks to people, I've been told and- - He even has his own voice, I have to admit. - And I know that sounds off to people, but if it's what helps us and if it's what means something to us, then I really don't, no offense, care about what others think in that regard. - [Peter] You gotta live your world. - Yeah. - Yeah. - [Peter] Okay, who's this woman over here. - This is Nicki walking. - Nicki, across the street. So she can work at Publix say full-time, and

then she can pay one third of her salary at Promise, right? - Mm-hmm, so Publix is, you know, it's a shopping grocery store, for those that may not know what it is, but they are a huge supporter of contributing towards Promise. - We have a lot of residents - And, I mean, - that work at Publix. - definitely, yeah, they both employing wise, and both as far as an employer and as far as being. - They were also a sponsor for the fashion show as well. - Yeah, they sponsored the fashion show. - Oh, ok

ay. - They're always very kind and respectful towards residents, you know, when we go in for shopping. - Oh, kill it. (laughs) (Amanda laughs) - Is that the best advice - The time is - you got? (laughs) - 3:39. - Yeah, and it's 3:39, by the way. Thank you, Peter, you could have totally, you know, decided not to take the bus or whatever. And I love that you were willing to get out and join us on that. - No, I wanna see your world. - I didn't think I had shoes for this. (laughs) - I really do wish

there was more, and I wish we could make Promise grow into its own, like, I always had a vision of Promise being like a city of, you know, not just necessarily the idea of Promise, you know what I mean? - [Peter] Mm, here we go. The number 20. - Yep. - (laughs) This is the bus. (bus door beeping) - [Amanda] You wanna go up first? In front of you. - Oh. - There you go. You might just need a little step. (bus driver speaks faintly) (bus driver laughs) (Amanda laughs) - That's okay, it happens. -

You know, (speaks faintly) about this time. - I usually work from seven to 10 so I hear you. (laughs) - [Amanda] Do you think there's a spot for me? (laughs) - Nah. - So for you both, this is a very important part of your lives, having this bus? - Yeah. - It is vital, actually, I would say. - What if you went further, what if you went all the way into Melbourne or something? Would they be okay with that? Or are you? - We've done that before, we actually took the bus to Downtown Melbourne before.

- You can take the bus all the way up to Orlando, I think. (Raymond chattering indistinctly) - Yeah, so I also take the bus to my dentist, and my dentist is in here as well, so I go to ask him right over there. - What is that? - It's a camera. - Oh. (Amanda laughs) (Peter laughs) - Have a great day. - I was wondering what are you doing? - He's filming us. - Oh. Who is he with? - He's with us for the time being. - [Peter] You don't know who Raymond is? (Amanda laughs) Everyone knows Raymond. - O

h, I don't know about that one. - "Everybody Loves Raymond." (Amanda laughs) - Yeah, you even have a show. - We make that joke all the time. - [Peter] So, Raymond, I've always wondered is this, if you step one or two steps ahead, - Okay, we gotta go now. - there's that, the texture. - Yeah. - Is that a huge help for you? - It is actually, like, if I'm trying to cross or if I don't wanna go off the sidewalk, if they put that there, it's meant to imply that there is that, you know, that there's go

nna be a transition. - And the beeping that helps too, with the- - I wish we had more of those. - I'm gonna press this button. - The beepers? - And that they were more interactive 'cause I didn't get a signal that we could cross, whereas Amanda saw something, I'm assuming. - Right, so do you ever come out here alone without Amanda? - I used to when I started out, but, no, traffic makes me nervous now. Like, going through parking lots I'm, ugh, yeah. Not always, I wouldn't be comfortable. It's no

t as easy doing that on my own. - Right now, he's making his own. (wheels screeching) - Geez, people, see- - See, that's what you gotta worry about, huh? - Yeah, exactly. That's the kinda stuff, like why would you do that? - Yeah. - He didn't need to do that or they. - So does that put a little fear in you when you're walking around these areas and you hear that? - It does actually, like. - It freaks him out like if he's by himself, he'd rather be with me 'cause he knows he's safe with me. - Yea

h, and it's not a good thing that I rely on her for that. I know that, but at the same point, it's there and I have to work within that for now, you know? - Right. - And he goes shopping on his own. He's able to find somebody that actually helps him shop if he needs it. - So there's a service called Aira, A-I-R-A, and it's visual on demand help pretty much. So like I call into them through my phone, there's an app on my phone, and they can guide me through the camera on my phone for what I'm loo

king for, what I wish to accomplish. Like, it could be something on the computer, it could be anything. - Is this the Tarjay? - I can't wait to sit down. Yep. - This is the Tarjay. - And why do you say Tarjay, Raymond? - 'Cause it's more classier. - And it's more fun. (laughs) - We're about to enter the Tarjay. Do you have white gloves to touch the handles, sir? (both laugh) Would you like a- - We can use the puppy one. - [Peter] There we go. That's Tarjay style. - There you go, Amanda. - Classy

. Watch out, you got a cart right there. - Yep, there's a whole bunch of 'em. - Do you like if someone says watch out, or, no, you're good enough for you- - It helps. Sometimes I run into things, but sometimes running into things actually helps me figure out where I wanna go, too. - [Peter] Right, so this is where you do your dates, one of the places? - We spend a lot of time here actually. - And when we came over, where you said, this is the table. I sat over there, you're saying, nope, this is

our table. - Yep. - Yep, this is our regular table. (laughs) You seen "The Peanut Butter Falcon?" - [Peter] The movie, why? - "The Peanut Butter Falcon?" - No. - It has Shia LaBeouf and Dakota Johnson in it. And it also stars my friend Zack Gottsagen. He has down syndrome. - Oh, okay. - He was my very first friend when I moved to Florida. - Okay. - And he's doing big things with his life now. - That's so cool. - This is the two of us. This is a picture of us doing "Greece" together actually. -

Oh, yeah. - He was Danny and I was Sandy. - Who? - Danny and Sandy from "Greece." I know you don't like the movie, but I do. (laughs) - [Peter] I can ask you first, Amanda, where would you love to travel to in the world? - I've always wanted to go to Italy actually. If I ever got married and I went on a honeymoon, that's where I would wanna go. - 'Cause that's not dropping clues or nothing. (Amanda laughs) - [Peter] All right, Raymond, it looks like you're going to Italy. You can't disagree- - L

ooks like we better start saving on that one. (Amanda laughs) (Raymond laughs) - [Peter] What about you, Raymond? - Mine used to be Australia, but I'm kind of curious about Ireland. - [Peter] What do you love most about life, Raymond? I'm gonna dive in on you again. - Hmm. (Amanda laughs) (customers chattering) - [Amanda] That's a long time for you to answer, Ray. (laughs) - [Peter] I mean, the easy out would be right now Amanda. Just say Amanda, number one, everything else, nah, I'm just joking

. - I thought you meant in like, not just like here, but, of course, Amanda, Amanda's like love my life, my best friend. - Aw. - And, you know, as I said, she balances me out and sometimes I need that. - [Amanda] And he balances me out too. - Yin and yang here. - Yeah. - But- - We're complete opposites, but we work. - That's how I'm with my wife actually. - The one thing about life that I would say I love most is like learning about people, like why they think the way they do or what led them to

where they are, stuff like that, you know? Everyone has something to tell, some story, whether they realize it or not. - [Peter] You ask for the Uber's name? - Yeah, like if I know it's gonna be some guy named Carlos, I won't say, who are you? I'll say, who are you? And then if he says his name, then, obviously, I know I'm in the right place. - How do you know their names, Raymond? - It tells you in the app. - [Peter] But how do you read it? - My voice, oh, I didn't get into any of that with yo

u, did I? - No. - My phone has a screen reader called VoiceOver, it's available on all iPhones. - Okay, you can go in here, bro. Right here. You know what happened at the back of my head? (Raymond laughs) - Do you need help with the doors? - I'll tell you what, it's the shape of an egg, look at it, like this. See that? - (laughs) Oh my gosh, that's funny. - It looked like he's been with the trimmer or something. - Well, Raymond's got the trimmer, I got the egg. - There you go. (laughs) (Amanda l

aughs) - We're looking for (people chattering) another resident, Matthew. - [Jeff] Hi, Christine, how are you? - And this is Jeff ahead of me. And we're gonna get some of the nuts and bolts from Jeff of the operation a little bit. (laughs) - The nuts and bolts. (all laugh) I think I made them nuts. - Oh, Raymond, hey, I didn't mean that. - I know. - That just came out. (Amanda laughs) - Yeah, it's good. - [Peter] I made you nuts with all my questions, right? - No, I don't mind at all. - You're i

n charge of this operation, obviously. - Yes, I am. (laughs) - There's a waiting list, long waiting list? - A long waiting list. - There's a huge need for this, around the country, around Florida, or? - There is such a shortage of communities like this. - Right. - And the challenge is that the options short of this are nothing like this. My phone rings off the hook from all over the country wanting to know how do you do this? And it's complicated. You have to find the funds to actually make some

thing like this happen. There are private paid places, but they can be thousands of dollars a month of rent. So in order to pay for, you know, me, my staff, Tammy, you know, and a lot of the people who make this a great place for them to live, we have to raise money. - I can't imagine the overhead with something like this. It's gotta be massive. - It is. It is. This is literally like a $20 million campus. - I love the fact that you're doing something that's based off independence. - Yeah. - And

try to make your residences as self-sustainable as possible. - That's what they love about it. - That's beautiful. - You know, when you live at home with your families and you're 30 years old, and all of a sudden you come live in a place like this, you can't take for granted what they need help learning how to do to live on their own and independently. - Right. Were you in the fashion show? - Yes. - You were in the fashion show? Fantastic. - Yeah. - Woo! - You got the dance moves. Matthew. Peter

. - Hi. - Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you. - Farida. Richard, okay. I was looking online, I saw a video of you, and you're a pianist, correct? ("Who Let the Dogs Out?") - I play music. - You play music? - Yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah. - [Peter] And where do you live here, Matthew, are you in one of these places over here? - I live in north building. - In the north building? - Yeah. - Okay. And what do you love about living here? - All the activities and people are nice to me. - People are nice to y

ou? - Yeah. - How long has Matthew been here? - Four years. - And could you imagine it without this? - Well, he would be in probably some restricted environment. Here, he has plenty of choices to practice his decision making skills. And another place, he would probably be staying with us and I would be making decisions for him - Oh, yeah. - or someone else in the group home. So here, you know, for me, life is about having choices and making hopefully right decisions. - Yes. - And sometimes, we h

ave to take risks and make the wrong ones and learn and grow. - So you have a lot going on, Matthew? - Yes. - What are your aspirations? What are your dreams? - My dream is to become an actor. - An actor? - Yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah. - [Peter] What kind of acting. - Like movie and TV shows. - I'm watching "Yellowstone" right now. Did you see that? - No. - It's Kevin Costner out in the West living like a cowboy. Part of me finds something really cool in that. Like, I wouldn't wanna be his character ac

tually, but I'd like to be a cowboy for a little bit. Like, what would you like to be that's different than you are right now? - I don't know yet. - You don't know yet, okay, yeah, yeah. I didn't know pretty much anything about what I was doing with this until like a year and a half ago. It took me a lot of experimentation, a lot of trial, a lot of failure. And a lot of just doing. - Most people care about the disadvantaged people and is no other groups that adults with disabilities who are so d

isadvantaged. Children, they have parents, they always have somebody to take care of. Over here, they don't have anybody to depend on, only on government, what can help them a little bit. And even small thing for the people means so much, like, one time, one girl, she was saying, "Oh, today my father was calling me." And she was telling to everybody that she had phone call from somebody. And such small thing is so important to them, that somebody put attention to them. They give them a little bi

t, you know, time, they want to be wanted. They want to be accepted by other. And this is probably the most important, you know, for them, not how rich they are, not how nice clothes they have. They want to be important. - Mm-hmm. Amanda took off. She's had enough of us. (Raymond laughs) Thank you, Raymond, you're awesome. - Thank you, Peter, thank you for your time seriously. - Can I get a hug? Is that all right? - Of course, yeah. - Hey, Shane! - It's all good. You're so tall compared to me. I

think you're six feet? - Six feet, you got it. - That's what I read somewhere. - You got it. All right, guys, end of the road, few final thoughts from today. I gotta say it was quite an amazing window in to a world that I think most of us know nothing about. What, was I here for six hours? And what I could get was a feeling, a feeling of the residents of Amanda, of Raymond, of some of the others, able to live their freest lives, able to get on that bus and go to Tarjay for a date at the Starbuc

ks. And while that might not seem like anything to a lot of us, I think it's everything for a lot of these residents. So I admire how they're operating Promise. Learned a lot from these guys today, from Amanda and Raymond, and just the wisdom and the ability for them to be very comfortable with who they are. I think a lot of people in these circumstances, they don't care about putting on an image, a show, playing pretend, impressing, any of that. That's not the vibe I get. The vibe I get is they

are very comfortable with who they are, very authentic, down-to-earth. And it's a nice feeling to be around. So hope you got something outta that, guys. Oh, I'm gonna leave a link below for Promise. I know they're a nonprofit, which I'm guessing means they're taking donations. I didn't get that info from Jeff, but I'm sure that is the case. So I'll leave a link down below. Thanks for coming along (calm upbeat music) on that journey, until the next one.