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Channel / Source:
TEDx Talks
Published: 2014-03-16
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAM9nh8WC-8
ladies and gentlemen it's with great pleasure that I welcome to the stage Jenny Fenton and now we know what's in well bill engine we conceive that we know you there no doubt everyone here has heard about the cost system that operates in many parts of the world still %HESITATION maybe you've heard about how devastating it convey for people who are born into lower costs with our
household the so called untouchables discrimination against these papal has included exclusion from mice professions %HESITATION sub standard wages exclusion from places of worship communal resources like whales purely by virtue of their birth whole groups of people have been segregated within their communities at festivals in restaurants in schools imagine if this kind of marginalization were happening here in Australia and even he in L. amazing beautiful town
of villages who would you be outraged would you might stand the bad news is it is happening in Australia and it is happening in Belgium the untouchables let alone for a talk about to die of people who live with disability to talk about disability I want to share the story of how my family we include a member with disability and now Jenny began six years ago
when my daughter was born I started out with the same understanding of disability that most of you probably have to die with mostly negative ID's around charity unlucky nating prevention and cure and tragedy my outlook was typical of my generation because I had very little contact with people with disability that were largely invisible and when they were visible level largely segregated special boss special school special
workplace and so on the sixties light up I don't hold any of those negative bodies and I thought it might be useful to talk about the series of realizations that led me from and I'm healthy perspective of Austin them to one of inclusion and positivity so six years ago Abidi goes forward really cute crime %HESITATION and for a long while we knew she was the most
perfect unique amazing creature we'd ever set eyes on and there's lies lies %HESITATION as she grew Hehe so we nine Tamala and as she grew Hehe huge smile captured the hearts of friends family and strangers alike this her with her great grandmother now I'm when our little girl was one it began to be obvious that she was on different pasta mini and in the often difficult
months that followed that possibly kind very medical laws and we as a family lost a why I think of those times as the doc dies we worried we argued we cried we withdrew from most of our friends and family struggle to know what to do next and we tried to do everything that every expert told us we should do in the hope that a little girl
will be whole again all the while not realizing that a little girl was hall had been alone just after her second birthday have I be bothered you in my arms another key one we were given a new live who to go with two autopsy stuff niece because in granddaughter and that life was terrible palsy a pall of negative emotions and impossible shade jewels or ice crushed
us in the next few years we also started to be buried on the other people's assumptions about disability as he fell on one enough the crux of that five days of our lives post organizes was that we entered what I think all those fixed March the first minds realization from a time during fix mod I realize that only activities the therapy and the wiring that we
were doing felt like hell but it wasn't it was just hard work it still is I realized that hell would actually be losing a little girl and that no one at dawn Justin on dear dark at least how Floyd always caring left me with that realization was like flicking a switch the next realize I think I'm hot on the heels of the first I realize that
hard work can be negative neutral or positive it's a choice and I chose the second to again it was like flicking a switch I've atomic time to realize that most grief you want and most worry about the future lifted with the acceptance that this is just a different pa the next big shift brought the fix my tone and I realize that no one needs to feel
broken especially not a child in the sun for breaking news what you don't want apology itself the child needs to feel loved exactly as they are sometime later again this progress to an understanding that disability is a natural part of the human experience there's always been paved with disability and they always will be it's our chi with you believing dog fight destiny or science or some
mixture of those it's perfectly natural for human beings to be diverse it's what makes a strong and interesting and vital I also realize that people with disability have why more in common than people without disabilities than I have difference we just focus on defense a lot until I moved into a new mine says not fixing anything but supporting my daughter's development and growth for her the
individual call the average and if he died Narimanov some of her individual qualities include small you might've noticed %HESITATION she has wild curls and a really cheeky sense of humor she's a great swimmer she's a Black Friday she's a fine time she's a masseuse she loves babies and cats and I'm like a lot of other six route she's learning to read and write she has cerebral
palsy and more recently epilepsy and for her that means that she walks with a walking frame or using her wheelchair and she runs a modified bought and uses some flotation support when she screams and she talks with her voice her hands like Kelly storing her body she's quite dramatic in getting your message across across and her talking computer a talking computer also helps her to ride
slowly I came to realize the importance of dreams so I need to Mike show my goal now she's love just how she's an issue we supported to follow her dreams no matter how large or small I also need to help her be able to communicate those dreams and all I now have the same dream so much or not as I do for my son the way
to live those dreams might be different but the dreams themselves on happiness health grow if education travel meaningful employment community contribution friends family love hone along to put it another way like most of you with your children I believe my daughter could be the prime minister of this country now right now you might be thinking I'm a little bit delusional like I how could someone with
the limitations that my daughter has around mobility communication and marta skills if I have a real job or live in Iran hime or any of those things that most people take for granted well I know she can because I love stories and I've the last few years I've been collecting stories about things that people with disability around the world a doing living real lives in their
communities and there is a profound shift happening and each time I hear one of those stories I believe in possibilities more than disability when I made a woman with less my ability to mind and more reliance on a speech generating device who's practicing as a loyal I believe in possibility when I made another woman with similar attributes who's doing a page daily living in Iran high
with support I believe in possibilities when I made a young man who has down syndrome who's the CEO of his own motivational speaking business and he calls the people who support him his staff notice carers I believe in possibility when I hear of a young woman with down syndrome in spying his being elected to local government I believe in possibility when I hear stories of people
with all kinds of libels every kind of libel who are doing every day jobs running their own businesses living in their own homes having children getting married the beat the whole lot I believe impossibility imagine not living in your own time being twenty thirty rolled off and living with the parents and not wanting to or imagine living with a group of people you know I get
to choose in a group home and having very little sigh in coming and going what you ate when you wait bedtimes having visitors imagine living in a home that smells like disinfectant imagine not having a cage here on frontal I want something very different from one and when he stories all of truly inclusive classrooms who are more focused on Kim cooperative learning and community the competition
operating possibility and when I hear that IT percent of kids in yourself wiles with disability to die are in a mine strewn classroom at the Science school is there siblings and nightmares in the community I know that all the parents believe impossibility to started the final realize I shouldn't that shite Althoff to die is that no matter how much we value our child who she's a
culture mostly want I came to realize that people with disability are among the most marginalized in our society I just think I still feeling a little bit distant from this issue right now now is that there are one billion people in the world who live with disability one in five Australians live with disability and now is that this could be you or someone you love to
die tomorrow any die any time any place any income any lifestyle stability knows no bounds so imagine if this was used at grupom that are described could be your home and you would still be luckier than the thousands of young people who live in nursing homes to die well the thousands of people who are still living in institutions we in this community that we value sign
much take a moment to imagine life without community social exclusion he's a human rights issue and inclusion is no different to other human rights movements that have come before I came to realize that I need to be a momma but also need to be a revolutionary militia during I like it fortunately there's a revolution going on around disability globally so haven't had to stop one just
joining Paul the revolutions about money so you will have heard about it in the media but the biggest and best pot is about attitudes words and actions and the really best bit is that Iran has a part to play in this revolution because we all hold ID's we all communicate in some way and we all my community alright that one of my pot supply in this
revolution was to start a social inclusion project in our town where adult is growing up it's cold spell I. belonging and it asks everyone to do three things check your hand check your words and check your actions we're all products of conditioning that tells us that negative attitudes about disability I just common sense disrespectful language around disability it's just part of a language into Chinese it
would just be pretty cool correctness and that people are sick of guided because it's in everyone's best interests but in reality disability is just an idea an exclusion is just a habit and we can change have ideas that don't work for us anymore and we can learn new habits so what did I mean I'm I mean different things to different people I do mean different things
to different groups parents doctors and health professionals schools churches businesses now public spices organizations that support people who live with disability and so on very briefly the exclusion that happens to die is largely by storm customs and beliefs there's not a legal mandate for most discrimination that happens to die so check your head means to consciously explore the aunties and assumptions that you hold about disability
and ask yourself with advice if you and your community well often these ideas on the stove to create distance between us and someone who's different in some way quick quiz have you ever assume that a person with a disability is a back lot or hero is suffering or afflicted as the mind of a child is a burden on society color family is dependent one to amount
to much needs a cue on prevention he's on educative he's only ever going to be able to domestic or manual live belongs with their own con and made special facilities in experts to tease apart seventy to go to some of our special place have you ever seen that someone who communicates in a unique why has nothing to sigh one more quick response any essence as you
might of had in Austin have uses rise their ugly heads to is this people are individuals Lynott they libels on land not your assumptions people with disability belonging all pots of our community everyone has something to offer something to share something to sigh in true community people are burdens their assets the members their own kind is human haunt Methos and we belong together in community that's
who we are at our best and we don't need to queue diverse city we need to enjoy it because it's awesome we're all interdependent so let's let us stop labeling some people dependent and others independent we need each other it's that simple and I want to make special mention of the assumptions around as you need you can be worth seeing fitness for manual in domestic work
and the need for special places these are all arguments that have been used in the past to exclude women an indigenous people from the economic title by saying ridiculous now in those contexts and slowing time will the ideas about disability we've just touched on there's a whole lot of labeling going on again it serves to create distance I don't like the term disability or special for
that matter then a positive terms and I popped the revolution we won't need to use those kinds of labels but in the meantime I want to urge everyone to use more respectful language the mine libel to use when being respectful is a person's nine that might seem like common sense the people with disabilities often have often have it organizes libel added to the nine used instead
of a nine or added to the agenda in place within nine the dancing join go an epileptic an autistic man let's imagine if a libel for some attribute that you have a flat side boldness or an interesting nose was added to your Nyman mentioned every time you were mentioned let's imagine that that attribute was something that most people value in a negative way the impacts pretty
powerful how long has he been bold on it must be hard for you so you didn't have the test before he married you married him non I once worked for the bull man and his wife saves that he became a bit a Lebanese hair fell out you are doing so well from one of the doctors said about you not can I can I fixed up it's
Ronda Pasti isn't when money yeah hot such time as the rest of your faces pretty at least you've still got your so remember manas to asking someone what's wrong with them asking in front of them its route a study by an organization called belonging matters found that ninety four percent of people with disability felt I didn't have enough meaningful community participation what are we gonna do
about that otherwise that you're going about the business of being you that's excluding people and now they wise that you can do the business of being you that includes more pipe either by how you put trying to stability in your language in your classrooms in your work places in your home with your children in the media is it honest and doesn't use positive role models doesn't
use cliches negativity us and them what if we declare our sales socially inclusive community and work towards consciously increasing L. Ford's words and actions to promote belonging what this you know the symbol you probly pocket when you shouldn't have what if we change this symbol to this one New York and other parts of the world are doing this how different of those two images Mike you