TED Talks: On Disability and Difference
The following TED Talks contain content that can help expand our understandings of disability and difference. Although this is not an exhaustive list, most of the videos utilize a social model of disability and offer a variety of perspectives. A couple are not explicitly about disability, but offer suggestions for overcoming biases and for learning about diversity by being wary of “single stories.”
The enchanting music of sign language | Christine Sun Kim
Artist Christine Sun Kim was born deaf, and she was taught to believe that sound wasn't a part of her life, that it was a hearing person's thing. Through her art, she discovered similarities between American Sign Language and music, and she realized that sound doesn't have to be known solely through the ears — it can be felt, seen and experienced as an idea. In this endearing talk, she invites us to open our eyes and ears and participate in the rich treasure of visual language.
Deep sea diving ... in a wheelchair | Sue Austin
When Sue Austin got a power chair 16 years ago, she felt a tremendous sense of freedom -- yet others looked at her as though she had lost something. In her art, she aims to convey the spirit of wonder she feels wheeling through the world. Includes thrilling footage of an underwater wheelchair that lets her explore ocean beds, drifting through schools of fish, floating free in 360 degrees.
The Danger of a Single Story | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.
Own your face | Robert Hoge | TEDxSouthBank
Father, author of the book 'Ugly' and political advisor Robert Hoge explores why we all need to own our own faces. Sharing his own personal story, Robert examines, life, love, beauty, imperfection and pain in this powerful TEDxTalk. Robert Hoge has worked as a journalist, a speechwriter, a science communicator for the CSIRO and a political advisor to the former Queensland Premier and Deputy Premier. While he never went far with his professional lawn bowls career, Robert did carry the Olympic torch in 2000. He is married and lives in Brisbane with an eleven-year-old daughter who thinks his Olympic torch would make a really great cricket bat.