WEBVTT

00:00:00.934 --> 00:00:02.767
The day I left home for the first time

00:00:02.791 --> 00:00:04.948
to go to university was a bright day

00:00:04.971 --> 00:00:07.492
brimming with hope and optimism.

00:00:07.516 --> 00:00:10.439
I'd done well at school.
Expectations for me were high,

00:00:10.463 --> 00:00:12.614
and I gleefully entered the student life

00:00:12.638 --> 00:00:16.213
of lectures, parties
and traffic cone theft.

00:00:16.236 --> 00:00:18.890
Now appearances, of course,
can be deceptive,

00:00:18.914 --> 00:00:22.005
and to an extent, this
feisty, energetic persona

00:00:22.029 --> 00:00:25.160
of lecture-going and traffic
cone stealing was a veneer,

00:00:25.184 --> 00:00:28.199
albeit a very well-crafted
and convincing one.

00:00:28.223 --> 00:00:31.625
Underneath, I was actually
deeply unhappy, insecure

00:00:31.649 --> 00:00:33.839
and fundamentally frightened --

00:00:33.863 --> 00:00:37.462
frightened of other people,
of the future, of failure

00:00:37.486 --> 00:00:39.815
and of the emptiness
that I felt was within me.

00:00:39.839 --> 00:00:42.316
But I was skilled at hiding
it, and from the outside

00:00:42.340 --> 00:00:44.721
appeared to be someone
with everything to hope for

00:00:44.745 --> 00:00:45.972
and aspire to.

00:00:45.996 --> 00:00:49.178
This fantasy of invulnerability
was so complete

00:00:49.202 --> 00:00:50.890
that I even deceived myself,

00:00:50.914 --> 00:00:53.438
and as the first semester
ended and the second began,

00:00:53.462 --> 00:00:55.970
there was no way that anyone
could have predicted

00:00:55.994 --> 00:00:58.593
what was just about to happen.

00:00:58.617 --> 00:01:01.726
I was leaving a seminar when it started,

00:01:01.750 --> 00:01:03.887
humming to myself, fumbling with my bag

00:01:03.911 --> 00:01:06.310
just as I'd done a hundred times before,

00:01:06.334 --> 00:01:08.786
when suddenly I heard
a voice calmly observe,

00:01:08.810 --> 00:01:10.978
"She is leaving the room."

00:01:11.002 --> 00:01:12.393
I looked around, and there
was no one there,

00:01:12.417 --> 00:01:15.067
but the clarity
and decisiveness of the comment

00:01:15.091 --> 00:01:16.911
was unmistakable.

00:01:16.935 --> 00:01:19.555
Shaken, I left my books
on the stairs and hurried home,

00:01:19.579 --> 00:01:20.794
and there it was again.

00:01:20.818 --> 00:01:22.857
"She is opening the door."

00:01:22.881 --> 00:01:26.829
This was the beginning.
The voice had arrived.

00:01:26.853 --> 00:01:29.076
And the voice persisted,

00:01:29.100 --> 00:01:31.541
days and then weeks of it, on and on,

00:01:31.565 --> 00:01:33.804
narrating everything I did
in the third person.

00:01:33.828 --> 00:01:35.462
"She is going to the library."

00:01:35.486 --> 00:01:37.057
"She is going to a lecture."

00:01:37.081 --> 00:01:40.393
It was neutral, impassive
and even, after a while,

00:01:40.417 --> 00:01:42.975
strangely companionate and reassuring,

00:01:42.999 --> 00:01:46.416
although I did notice that its
calm exterior sometimes slipped

00:01:46.440 --> 00:01:49.517
and that it occasionally mirrored
my own unexpressed emotion.

00:01:49.541 --> 00:01:52.129
So, for example, if I was angry
and had to hide it,

00:01:52.153 --> 00:01:55.495
which I often did, being very adept
at concealing how I really felt,

00:01:55.519 --> 00:01:57.832
then the voice would sound frustrated.

00:01:57.856 --> 00:02:00.645
Otherwise, it was neither
sinister nor disturbing,

00:02:00.669 --> 00:02:02.755
although even at that point it was clear

00:02:02.779 --> 00:02:04.779
that it had something to communicate to me

00:02:04.803 --> 00:02:07.150
about my emotions, particularly emotions

00:02:07.174 --> 00:02:10.235
which were remote and inaccessible.

00:02:10.259 --> 00:02:13.359
Now it was then that I made
a fatal mistake,

00:02:13.383 --> 00:02:16.562
in that I told a friend
about the voice, and she was horrified.

00:02:16.586 --> 00:02:18.807
A subtle conditioning process had begun,

00:02:18.831 --> 00:02:22.496
the implication that normal
people don't hear voices

00:02:22.520 --> 00:02:25.854
and the fact that I did meant
that something was very seriously wrong.

00:02:25.878 --> 00:02:29.242
Such fear and mistrust was infectious.

00:02:29.266 --> 00:02:32.307
Suddenly the voice didn't
seem quite so benign anymore,

00:02:32.331 --> 00:02:34.808
and when she insisted
that I seek medical attention,

00:02:34.832 --> 00:02:36.879
I duly complied, and which proved to be

00:02:36.903 --> 00:02:38.626
mistake number two.

00:02:38.650 --> 00:02:40.772
I spent some time telling the college G.P.

00:02:40.796 --> 00:02:42.987
about what I perceived
to be the real problem:

00:02:43.011 --> 00:02:45.843
anxiety, low self-worth,
fears about the future,

00:02:45.867 --> 00:02:47.616
and was met with bored indifference

00:02:47.640 --> 00:02:49.410
until I mentioned the voice,

00:02:49.434 --> 00:02:51.434
upon which he dropped his pen, swung round

00:02:51.458 --> 00:02:54.145
and began to question me
with a show of real interest.

00:02:54.169 --> 00:02:56.789
And to be fair, I was desperate
for interest and help,

00:02:56.813 --> 00:02:59.635
and I began to tell him
about my strange commentator.

00:02:59.659 --> 00:03:02.183
And I always wish, at this
point, the voice had said,

00:03:02.207 --> 00:03:03.875
"She is digging her own grave."

00:03:03.899 --> 00:03:07.400
I was referred
to a psychiatrist, who likewise

00:03:07.424 --> 00:03:09.957
took a grim view of the voice's presence,

00:03:09.981 --> 00:03:12.029
subsequently interpreting
everything I said

00:03:12.053 --> 00:03:14.365
through a lens of latent insanity.

00:03:14.389 --> 00:03:17.298
For example, I was part
of a student TV station

00:03:17.322 --> 00:03:19.850
that broadcast news bulletins
around the campus,

00:03:19.874 --> 00:03:21.900
and during an appointment
which was running very late,

00:03:21.924 --> 00:03:23.149
I said, "I'm sorry,
doctor, I've got to go.

00:03:23.173 --> 00:03:24.667
I'm reading the news at six."

00:03:24.691 --> 00:03:26.977
Now it's down on my medical
records that Eleanor

00:03:27.001 --> 00:03:30.151
has delusions that she's a television
news broadcaster.

00:03:30.175 --> 00:03:33.600
It was at this point that events began

00:03:33.624 --> 00:03:35.830
to rapidly overtake me.

00:03:35.854 --> 00:03:38.226
A hospital admission
followed, the first of many,

00:03:38.250 --> 00:03:41.138
a diagnosis of schizophrenia came next,

00:03:41.162 --> 00:03:44.746
and then, worst of all,
a toxic, tormenting sense

00:03:44.770 --> 00:03:48.124
of hopelessness, humiliation and despair

00:03:48.148 --> 00:03:50.659
about myself and my prospects.

00:03:50.683 --> 00:03:53.092
But having been encouraged
to see the voice

00:03:53.116 --> 00:03:55.648
not as an experience but as a symptom,

00:03:55.672 --> 00:03:58.744
my fear and resistance
towards it intensified.

00:03:58.768 --> 00:04:00.828
Now essentially, this represented taking

00:04:00.852 --> 00:04:02.880
an aggressive stance towards my own mind,

00:04:02.904 --> 00:04:05.271
a kind of psychic civil war,

00:04:05.295 --> 00:04:08.205
and in turn this caused
the number of voices to increase

00:04:08.229 --> 00:04:11.590
and grow progressively
hostile and menacing.

00:04:11.614 --> 00:04:15.070
Helplessly and hopelessly,
I began to retreat

00:04:15.094 --> 00:04:17.209
into this nightmarish inner world

00:04:17.233 --> 00:04:19.281
in which the voices
were destined to become

00:04:19.305 --> 00:04:23.303
both my persecutors
and my only perceived companions.

00:04:23.327 --> 00:04:26.382
They told me, for example,
that if I proved myself worthy

00:04:26.406 --> 00:04:28.549
of their help, then
they could change my life

00:04:28.573 --> 00:04:29.746
back to how it had been,

00:04:29.770 --> 00:04:32.486
and a series of increasingly
bizarre tasks was set,

00:04:32.510 --> 00:04:34.511
a kind of labor of Hercules.

00:04:34.535 --> 00:04:36.472
It started off quite small, for example,

00:04:36.496 --> 00:04:38.188
pull out three strands of hair,

00:04:38.212 --> 00:04:39.879
but gradually it grew more extreme,

00:04:39.903 --> 00:04:42.099
culminating in commands to harm myself,

00:04:42.123 --> 00:04:44.269
and a particularly dramatic instruction:

00:04:44.293 --> 00:04:45.982
"You see that tutor over there?

00:04:46.006 --> 00:04:47.280
You see that glass of water?

00:04:47.304 --> 00:04:50.078
Well, you have to go over and pour it
over him in front of the other students."

00:04:50.102 --> 00:04:52.341
Which I actually did,
and which needless to say

00:04:52.365 --> 00:04:54.022
did not endear me to the faculty.

00:04:54.046 --> 00:04:58.326
In effect, a vicious cycle
of fear, avoidance,

00:04:58.350 --> 00:05:01.184
mistrust and misunderstanding
had been established,

00:05:01.208 --> 00:05:03.936
and this was a battle
in which I felt powerless

00:05:03.960 --> 00:05:08.313
and incapable of establishing
any kind of peace or reconciliation.

00:05:08.337 --> 00:05:11.971
Two years later,
and the deterioration was dramatic.

00:05:11.995 --> 00:05:15.679
By now, I had the whole
frenzied repertoire:

00:05:15.703 --> 00:05:18.668
terrifying voices, grotesque visions,

00:05:18.692 --> 00:05:21.436
bizarre, intractable delusions.

00:05:21.460 --> 00:05:23.632
My mental health status
had been a catalyst

00:05:23.656 --> 00:05:26.221
for discrimination, verbal abuse,

00:05:26.245 --> 00:05:28.376
and physical and sexual assault,

00:05:28.400 --> 00:05:30.162
and I'd been told by my psychiatrist,

00:05:30.186 --> 00:05:32.571
"Eleanor, you'd be better off with cancer,

00:05:32.595 --> 00:05:36.324
because cancer is easier
to cure than schizophrenia."

00:05:36.348 --> 00:05:39.716
I'd been diagnosed, drugged and discarded,

00:05:39.740 --> 00:05:41.792
and was by now so tormented by the voices

00:05:41.816 --> 00:05:43.997
that I attempted to drill
a hole in my head

00:05:44.021 --> 00:05:46.853
in order to get them out.

00:05:46.877 --> 00:05:50.954
Now looking back on the wreckage
and despair of those years,

00:05:50.978 --> 00:05:54.024
it seems to me now as if someone
died in that place,

00:05:54.048 --> 00:05:57.741
and yet, someone else was saved.

00:05:57.765 --> 00:06:01.055
A broken and haunted
person began that journey,

00:06:01.079 --> 00:06:03.988
but the person who emerged was a survivor

00:06:04.012 --> 00:06:06.262
and would ultimately grow into the person

00:06:06.286 --> 00:06:08.386
I was destined to be.

00:06:08.410 --> 00:06:11.074
Many people have harmed me in my life,

00:06:11.098 --> 00:06:12.568
and I remember them all,

00:06:12.592 --> 00:06:15.369
but the memories grow pale and faint

00:06:15.393 --> 00:06:19.061
in comparison with the people
who've helped me.

00:06:19.085 --> 00:06:21.681
The fellow survivors,
the fellow voice-hearers,

00:06:21.705 --> 00:06:23.953
the comrades and collaborators;

00:06:23.977 --> 00:06:26.281
the mother who never gave up on me,

00:06:26.305 --> 00:06:28.889
who knew that one day
I would come back to her

00:06:28.913 --> 00:06:32.559
and was willing to wait for me
for as long as it took;

00:06:32.583 --> 00:06:35.096
the doctor who only worked
with me for a brief time

00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:37.168
but who reinforced
his belief that recovery

00:06:37.192 --> 00:06:39.482
was not only possible but inevitable,

00:06:39.506 --> 00:06:41.885
and during a devastating period of relapse

00:06:41.909 --> 00:06:44.785
told my terrified family,
"Don't give up hope.

00:06:44.809 --> 00:06:47.798
I believe that Eleanor
can get through this.

00:06:47.822 --> 00:06:50.636
Sometimes, you know, it
snows as late as May,

00:06:50.660 --> 00:06:54.062
but summer always comes eventually."

00:06:54.086 --> 00:06:55.916
Fourteen minutes is not enough time

00:06:55.940 --> 00:06:58.852
to fully credit those
good and generous people

00:06:58.876 --> 00:07:00.829
who fought with me and for me

00:07:00.853 --> 00:07:02.628
and who waited to welcome me back

00:07:02.652 --> 00:07:05.127
from that agonized, lonely place.

00:07:05.151 --> 00:07:07.294
But together, they forged
a blend of courage,

00:07:07.318 --> 00:07:10.880
creativity, integrity,
and an unshakeable belief

00:07:10.904 --> 00:07:14.729
that my shattered self could
become healed and whole.

00:07:14.753 --> 00:07:16.706
I used to say that these people saved me,

00:07:16.730 --> 00:07:18.076
but what I now know is they did something

00:07:18.100 --> 00:07:20.647
even more important
in that they empowered me

00:07:20.671 --> 00:07:22.269
to save myself,

00:07:22.293 --> 00:07:24.817
and crucially, they helped
me to understand something

00:07:24.841 --> 00:07:26.397
which I'd always suspected:

00:07:26.421 --> 00:07:28.785
that my voices were a meaningful response

00:07:28.809 --> 00:07:31.735
to traumatic life events,
particularly childhood events,

00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:33.584
and as such were not my enemies

00:07:33.608 --> 00:07:38.336
but a source of insight
into solvable emotional problems.

00:07:38.360 --> 00:07:41.406
Now, at first, this was very
difficult to believe,

00:07:41.430 --> 00:07:43.780
not least because the voices
appeared so hostile

00:07:43.804 --> 00:07:47.126
and menacing, so in this
respect, a vital first step

00:07:47.150 --> 00:07:49.841
was learning to separate
out a metaphorical meaning

00:07:49.865 --> 00:07:53.619
from what I'd previously
interpreted to be a literal truth.

00:07:53.643 --> 00:07:56.769
So for example, voices
which threatened to attack my home

00:07:56.793 --> 00:07:59.498
I learned to interpret
as my own sense of fear

00:07:59.522 --> 00:08:03.156
and insecurity in the world, rather
than an actual, objective danger.

00:08:03.180 --> 00:08:05.312
Now at first, I would have believed them.

00:08:05.336 --> 00:08:06.884
I remember, for example,
sitting up one night

00:08:06.908 --> 00:08:09.354
on guard outside my parents'
room to protect them

00:08:09.378 --> 00:08:12.598
from what I thought was a genuine
threat from the voices.

00:08:12.622 --> 00:08:15.112
Because I'd had such a bad
problem with self-injury

00:08:15.136 --> 00:08:17.708
that most of the cutlery
in the house had been hidden,

00:08:17.732 --> 00:08:20.202
so I ended up arming myself
with a plastic fork,

00:08:20.226 --> 00:08:22.988
kind of like picnic ware,
and sort of sat outside the room

00:08:23.012 --> 00:08:26.702
clutching it and waiting to spring
into action should anything happen.

00:08:26.726 --> 00:08:28.374
It was like, "Don't mess with me.

00:08:28.398 --> 00:08:31.107
I've got a plastic fork, don't you know?"

00:08:31.131 --> 00:08:32.587
Strategic.

00:08:32.611 --> 00:08:35.193
But a later response,
and much more useful,

00:08:35.217 --> 00:08:39.611
would be to try and deconstruct
the message behind the words,

00:08:39.635 --> 00:08:42.633
so when the voices warned
me not to leave the house,

00:08:42.657 --> 00:08:44.709
then I would thank them
for drawing my attention

00:08:44.733 --> 00:08:45.926
to how unsafe I felt --

00:08:45.950 --> 00:08:48.819
because if I was aware of it, then I could
do something positive about it --

00:08:48.843 --> 00:08:51.306
but go on to reassure both them and myself

00:08:51.330 --> 00:08:54.805
that we were safe and didn't
need to feel frightened anymore.

00:08:54.829 --> 00:08:56.294
I would set boundaries for the voices,

00:08:56.318 --> 00:08:59.033
and try to interact with them
in a way that was assertive

00:08:59.057 --> 00:09:01.289
yet respectful,
establishing a slow process

00:09:01.313 --> 00:09:03.645
of communication and collaboration

00:09:03.669 --> 00:09:06.944
in which we could learn to work
together and support one another.

00:09:06.968 --> 00:09:09.588
Throughout all of this,
what I would ultimately realize

00:09:09.612 --> 00:09:11.472
was that each voice was closely related

00:09:11.496 --> 00:09:13.781
to aspects of myself,
and that each of them

00:09:13.805 --> 00:09:16.091
carried overwhelming
emotions that I'd never had

00:09:16.115 --> 00:09:18.169
an opportunity to process or resolve,

00:09:18.193 --> 00:09:20.729
memories of sexual trauma and abuse,

00:09:20.753 --> 00:09:23.640
of anger, shame, guilt, low self-worth.

00:09:23.664 --> 00:09:26.140
The voices took the place of this pain

00:09:26.164 --> 00:09:27.627
and gave words to it,

00:09:27.651 --> 00:09:29.466
and possibly one of the greatest
revelations

00:09:29.490 --> 00:09:32.490
was when I realized that the most hostile
and aggressive voices

00:09:32.514 --> 00:09:34.237
actually represented the parts of me

00:09:34.261 --> 00:09:36.450
that had been hurt most profoundly,

00:09:36.474 --> 00:09:38.602
and as such, it was these voices

00:09:38.626 --> 00:09:41.944
that needed to be shown
the greatest compassion and care.

00:09:41.968 --> 00:09:44.959
It was armed with this
knowledge that ultimately

00:09:44.983 --> 00:09:47.247
I would gather together my shattered self,

00:09:47.271 --> 00:09:49.862
each fragment represented
by a different voice,

00:09:49.886 --> 00:09:51.913
gradually withdraw from all my medication,

00:09:51.937 --> 00:09:56.601
and return to psychiatry, only this
time from the other side.

00:09:56.625 --> 00:10:00.199
Ten years after the voice first
came, I finally graduated,

00:10:00.223 --> 00:10:02.093
this time with the highest
degree in psychology

00:10:02.117 --> 00:10:04.551
the university had ever
given, and one year later,

00:10:04.575 --> 00:10:06.433
the highest masters, which shall we say

00:10:06.457 --> 00:10:08.156
isn't bad for a madwoman.

00:10:08.180 --> 00:10:10.847
In fact, one of the voices
actually dictated the answers

00:10:10.871 --> 00:10:14.077
during the exam, which technically
possibly counts as cheating.

00:10:14.101 --> 00:10:15.478
(Laughter)

00:10:15.502 --> 00:10:18.212
And to be honest, sometimes I quite
enjoyed their attention as well.

00:10:18.236 --> 00:10:20.379
As Oscar Wilde has said,
the only thing worse

00:10:20.403 --> 00:10:22.896
than being talked about is not
being talked about.

00:10:22.920 --> 00:10:25.063
It also makes you very
good at eavesdropping,

00:10:25.087 --> 00:10:27.897
because you can listen
to two conversations simultaneously.

00:10:27.921 --> 00:10:29.186
So it's not all bad.

00:10:29.210 --> 00:10:30.877
I worked in mental health services,

00:10:30.901 --> 00:10:33.098
I spoke at conferences,

00:10:33.122 --> 00:10:35.408
I published book chapters
and academic articles,

00:10:35.432 --> 00:10:38.198
and I argued, and continue to do so,

00:10:38.222 --> 00:10:40.442
the relevance of the following concept:

00:10:40.466 --> 00:10:42.694
that an important question in psychiatry

00:10:42.718 --> 00:10:44.338
shouldn't be what's wrong with you

00:10:44.362 --> 00:10:46.942
but rather what's happened to you.

00:10:46.966 --> 00:10:49.804
And all the while,
I listened to my voices,

00:10:49.828 --> 00:10:52.686
with whom I'd finally learned
to live with peace and respect

00:10:52.710 --> 00:10:54.804
and which in turn
reflected a growing sense

00:10:54.828 --> 00:10:58.467
of compassion, acceptance
and respect towards myself.

00:10:58.491 --> 00:11:01.625
And I remember the most moving
and extraordinary moment

00:11:01.649 --> 00:11:04.935
when supporting another young woman
who was terrorized by her voices,

00:11:04.959 --> 00:11:07.534
and becoming fully aware,
for the very first time,

00:11:07.558 --> 00:11:09.830
that I no longer felt that way myself

00:11:09.854 --> 00:11:13.554
but was finally able to help
someone else who was.

00:11:13.578 --> 00:11:17.122
I'm now very proud to be
a part of Intervoice,

00:11:17.146 --> 00:11:21.091
the organizational body of the International
Hearing Voices Movement,

00:11:21.115 --> 00:11:24.474
an initiative inspired by the work
of Professor Marius Romme

00:11:24.498 --> 00:11:25.726
and Dr. Sandra Escher,

00:11:25.750 --> 00:11:28.922
which locates voice hearing
as a survival strategy,

00:11:28.946 --> 00:11:32.288
a sane reaction to insane circumstances,

00:11:32.312 --> 00:11:35.947
not as an aberrant symptom
of schizophrenia to be endured,

00:11:35.971 --> 00:11:39.211
but a complex, significant
and meaningful experience

00:11:39.235 --> 00:11:41.535
to be explored.

00:11:41.559 --> 00:11:43.818
Together, we envisage and enact a society

00:11:43.842 --> 00:11:46.295
that understands
and respects voice hearing,

00:11:46.319 --> 00:11:48.700
supports the needs
of individuals who hear voices,

00:11:48.724 --> 00:11:51.981
and which values them as full citizens.

00:11:52.005 --> 00:11:54.267
This type of society is not only possible,

00:11:54.291 --> 00:11:56.279
it's already on its way.

00:11:56.303 --> 00:12:00.073
To paraphrase Chavez, once
social change begins,

00:12:00.097 --> 00:12:02.165
it cannot be reversed.

00:12:02.189 --> 00:12:05.392
You cannot humiliate
the person who feels pride.

00:12:05.416 --> 00:12:07.183
You cannot oppress the people

00:12:07.207 --> 00:12:09.667
who are not afraid anymore.

00:12:09.691 --> 00:12:12.311
For me, the achievements
of the Hearing Voices Movement

00:12:12.335 --> 00:12:14.745
are a reminder that empathy, fellowship,

00:12:14.769 --> 00:12:17.489
justice and respect are more than words;

00:12:17.513 --> 00:12:20.100
they are convictions and beliefs,

00:12:20.124 --> 00:12:22.586
and that beliefs can change the world.

00:12:22.610 --> 00:12:25.361
In the last 20 years,
the Hearing Voices Movement

00:12:25.385 --> 00:12:27.573
has established hearing voices networks

00:12:27.597 --> 00:12:30.564
in 26 countries across five continents,

00:12:30.588 --> 00:12:33.933
working together to promote
dignity, solidarity

00:12:33.957 --> 00:12:36.999
and empowerment for individuals
in mental distress,

00:12:37.023 --> 00:12:40.264
to create a new language
and practice of hope,

00:12:40.288 --> 00:12:44.208
which, at its very center,
lies an unshakable belief

00:12:44.232 --> 00:12:47.098
in the power of the individual.

00:12:47.122 --> 00:12:50.019
As Peter Levine has said, the human animal

00:12:50.043 --> 00:12:51.671
is a unique being

00:12:51.695 --> 00:12:55.045
endowed with an instinctual
capacity to heal

00:12:55.069 --> 00:12:59.256
and the intellectual spirit
to harness this innate capacity.

00:12:59.280 --> 00:13:01.740
In this respect, for members of society,

00:13:01.764 --> 00:13:04.233
there is no greater honor or privilege

00:13:04.257 --> 00:13:06.893
than facilitating that process
of healing for someone,

00:13:06.917 --> 00:13:09.839
to bear witness, to reach out a hand,

00:13:09.863 --> 00:13:12.202
to share the burden
of someone's suffering,

00:13:12.226 --> 00:13:15.276
and to hold the hope for their recovery.

00:13:15.300 --> 00:13:17.872
And likewise, for survivors
of distress and adversity,

00:13:17.896 --> 00:13:20.384
that we remember we don't
have to live our lives

00:13:20.408 --> 00:13:24.096
forever defined by the damaging
things that have happened to us.

00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:26.605
We are unique. We are irreplaceable.

00:13:26.629 --> 00:13:29.322
What lies within us can
never be truly colonized,

00:13:29.346 --> 00:13:31.678
contorted, or taken away.

00:13:31.702 --> 00:13:35.776
The light never goes out.

00:13:35.800 --> 00:13:37.886
As a very wonderful
doctor once said to me,

00:13:37.910 --> 00:13:41.137
"Don't tell me what other people
have told you about yourself.

00:13:41.161 --> 00:13:44.188
Tell me about you."

00:13:44.212 --> 00:13:45.994
Thank you.

00:13:46.018 --> 00:13:51.542
(Applause)