Lizzie Velasquez, TikTok and YouTube star, visited campus for Disability Awareness Month 6 p.m. Thursday in Carter Hall.

Velasquez is an internet personality, motivational speaker, anti-bullying activist and author. Her YouTube channel has over 869,000 subscribers, and her TikTok has over 843,000 followers.

Velsaquez shared her “How Do You Define Yourself?” presentation on campus. She has shared this presentation in a TED Talk that has gained over 11 million views on YouTube.

Velasquez was diagnosed with lipodystrophy and Marfan syndrome at the age of 25. She said doctors did not know what her condition was until then, but when she was born, they knew something was different.

Velasquez was born without amniotic fluid. She was two pounds, ten ounces.

“The doctors told my parents, ‘You need to be prepared because she’s not going to be able to do anything on her own,’” Velasquez said. “‘She’s never gonna walk. She’s never gonna crawl.’”

Velasquez said doctors ran testing on her and the results came back “normal.”

“They didn’t have a reference of what exactly was wrong with me,” Velasquez said.

Velasquez was born with translucent skin. She said the doctors took a picture of her when she was born to prepare her parents for what she would look like.

“It prepared my parents so much,” Velasquez said. “So much to the point where once I was born, they took a Poloroid picture of me and took that to my mom first and they said, ‘We want you to see the photo because we think when you see her in person, you’re going to be scared.’”

She said her parents told the doctor they did not want to see the photo, and they were going to take her home.

“They told the doctor, ‘She’s our daughter, and we’re gonna take her home, and we’re gonna love her,’” Velasquez said. “‘We’re gonna raise her to the best of our ability, no matter what.’ And that’s what they literally did.”

Velasquez said her parents always supported her.

“Not once did they ever ask, ‘Why is this happening?’” Velasquez said. “As first-time parents, they were very excited, and then to all of a sudden be given all of these unknowns and these doubts and fears being given to them, they could have easily been frustrated or upset or all of these things, but they were none of that.”

Velasquez had to deal with health issues that would last long periods of time, so her mom stayed home with her.

“She decided that she wanted me,” Velasquez said. “She and my dad decided that they wanted me to have a sense of normalcy, and to not feel as though they are hiding me away.”

Velasquez said her mom did not just keep her at home and would take her out in public places where she could be around others.

“Because of her doing that, I really did grow up with the idea that I was just like everybody else,” Velasquez said.

Megan Tooman, freshman computer science major, said she thinks Velasquez is inspiring.

“I always like to see people who have found success in life, or who have done great things,” Tooman said. “You kind of find inspiration from that — people who have accomplished their dreams.”

Tooman said she attended the event because she heard about Valesquez on Instagram, and she also grew up with a friend who had a disability. She said she met her friend in kindergarten, and he had rare birth defects that affected his physical appearance. 

“He doesn’t go here, but I’m sure he would love to come out and see it because he kind of struggles with the same things,” Tooman said. 

Tooman said she is glad the university brought Valesquez to campus.

“I would say it was a very, very good idea for USI to bring her out,” Tooman said. “I think with everything that’s going on with the world and everything, the things that people go through, it’s rare to see somebody who’s able to turn all that garbage into something positive.”

Chelsea Nall, American Disability Act coordinator, said she has been working with others in Disability Resources since the fall semester to promote disability awareness. 

Nall said she was going through potential speakers to visit the university, and she came across Velasquez. 

She said she and others at Disability Resources were interested in bringing Velasuez in.

“We really liked her message because she is focusing on not just the world of disability, but about inclusion and about vulnerability, and being yourself and interacting with people around you,” Nall said.

Velasquez said “be curious, not judgemental” was quoted in the show “Ted Lasso” and stuck with her throughout the judgment she faced.

“There were times where I thought, ‘No one is ever going to know or understand what it’s like to be in my shoes,’” Valesquez said. “Nobody looks like me. They don’t know what it’s like to look in the mirror and be disgusted by your reflection.’”

She said, “You don’t know what it’s like to not be able to go to the grocery store without being followed by kids and adults because they just want to stare. They don’t know what it’s like.”

Velasquez said she had a lot of feelings about being judged as she was growing up.

“They still don’t know what it’s like to feel like no matter what you do, no matter how hard you pray, no matter how many birthday wishes you have, you’re not going to wake up in the morning and all of a sudden, look like everybody else,” Velasquez said.

She said it was difficult for her to grow up knowing she did not look like others around her. 

“It was so hard,” Velasquez said. “It made me feel so powerless because I wanted to be able to change not only my situation physically, but I wanted to change the narrative of what my life was going to look like.”

Velasquez said other people judged her and her family since she was born.

“My parents were judged,” she said. “I was judged when I was born, right away, from day one, I was judged. These doctors looked at me, and just by looking at me, they said I would be able to accomplish nothing.”

Gigi Pugh, freshman nursing major, said she attended the event because it was for extra credit and she was interested.

“I really wanted to come anyway because my mom’s a special ed teacher, so disability awareness has been a big part of my life,” Pugh said.

Pugh said the event was really personal.

“I really liked that it wasn’t like she was speaking at us, she was speaking with us,” Pugh said.