“We were laying in bed just the other night, looking at the ceiling, and I said: ‘You know, it’s been thirty years, and it’s never felt worn. There’s never been a sense of tiredness with you.’”

"Being disabled in America is like living in a third world country."

“My grandmother always told me: ‘It doesn’t matter if you’re crippled, blind, or crazy. All this world cares about is how you survive. As long as you don’t do drugs or go to jail, you’re gonna be fine.’” “What do you mean by: ‘The world only cares about how you survive?’” “The only thing people care about is if you’re working, and if you’re paying your taxes. I worked for the city for six years. During the time that I was working, I was Mr. Matthew Phillips. The moment that I wasn’t able to work anymore, I became a social security number.’”

"Right after I lost vision in my eye, I was so bad at walking that I ran into a girl eating ice cream, and knocked her cone out of her hand. She screamed: 'Are you blind!?!?' I turned to her and said: 'I am blind actually, I'm so sorry, I'll buy you a new cone.' And she said: 'Oh my God! I'm so sorry! Don't worry! It's no problem at all! I'll buy another one.' So we walked into the ice cream store together, and the clerk said: 'I heard the whole thing. Ice cream is free."

"He wants to go home."

"My husband was an editor at the New York Times, so he’d work really late nights, and I’d sometimes get lonely. So I started letting this tomcat into our house everyday. But my husband was horribly allergic to cats, so right before he’d get home, I’d let the cat back out again. But one night it was raining so hard that I refused to let the cat out, and my husband stayed up all night sneezing. And that’s how I got a puppy!"

"I've struggled with my weight my whole life. When I was twenty-one, I decided I wanted to be skinny. I thought it was going to bring me love, happiness, everything I wanted. I barely ate. I exercised three times a day. I got down to 130 pounds and I was more miserable than ever. I hated myself. And after that I gave up on trying to be thin. Now I've gotten to the point where I have to lose weight again--- but this time for my health."

"He had his first birthday yesterday, so he goes crazy every time he hears the 'Happy Birthday' song." "Let's see it."

"My family made me come. But I hate it. I can't get a job because I have a lot of accent. I was an assistant manager at a big jewelry store in the Dominican Republic, now I clean tables. We had a big house there. Now we live in a small apartment. If I was home right now, I'd be in a very nice restaurant, on the beach, laughing with my friends. Not sitting alone on a bench, trying to learn English. There I was a princess. Here I am an immigrant. A servant."

"So in addition to telling stories of individuals, we hope this trip may in some way help to inspire a global perspective, while bringing awareness to the challenges that we all need to tackle together."