-
Often when I'm out in public,
-
a child will stare at me.
-
And if the child is particularly brave,
they'll approach me and ask,
-
"Are you a pirate?"
-
(Laughter)
-
To which I then need to respond,
-
once again,
-
"Yes."
-
(Laughter)
-
I mean, let's be honest:
-
I've got two hooks, prosthetic legs,
and a penchant for hard liquor.
-
(Laughter)
-
All I need is an eye-patch and a parrot,
and I'm basically there.
-
(Laughter)
-
But I like being a pirate.
-
I find many advantages
to having a disability,
-
and I'm not just talking about
the money I save on gloves ...
-
(Laughter)
-
or the fantastically legitimate excuse
for never having to master chopsticks.
-
(Laughter)
-
I'm talking about real advantages
I feel I've gained,
-
having gone through physical adversity.
-
When I was 19, I contracted a disease
-
that resulted in the loss
of both my arms at the elbows,
-
both my legs below the knee,
-
and left enough scars on my face
to elicit jealousy in Freddy Krueger.
-
(Laughter)
-
Now, I made never be able
to communicate in sign language,
-
but my increased resilience
and general ability to problem-solve
-
has been heightened
by being forced to think laterally
-
to overcome problems
that most people aren't faced with.
-
One of the first lessons that I learned
-
immediately followed
the painful and arduous task
-
of learning how to walk again,
-
but it went on to pay dividends
for the rest of my life.
-
It happened when I attempted
to step up a curb.
-
Now as rudimentary as this action
sounds to most of you,
-
stepping up a curb
is somewhat of a challenge
-
for those of us without ankle movement.
-
So I tried stepping up the curb
-
the way I'd always known how, front on,
-
for days on end,
-
with no success,
-
until it became obvious
that the time and effort
-
I was investing into this endeavor
was clearly disproportionate
-
to the benefit of its outcome.
-
(Laughter)
-
So, I decided to inspect the problem
from a different angle.
-
If I couldn't use an ankle joint
-
to achieve the range of motion
that I required to mount the curb,
-
I would have to use a different joint,
-
like my hip.
-
So I turned my body
perpendicular to the curb
-
and placed my foot up sideways,
-
and I was able to step up immediately.
-
Within five minutes,
-
no staircase was safe from my advances.
-
(Laughter)
-
That very day, I climbed
a staircase of three flights,
-
which I was quite impressed with as well,
-
except I realized that I didn't know
how to get back down again.
-
(Laughter)
-
That was a long weekend.
-
(Laughter)
-
Now, in my past life
as an able-bodied person,
-
I'd been a guitarist.
-
I was alright as a player,
-
but I'd never really taken it further.
-
I'd never really started a band
or played live all that much.
-
Nonetheless, music
was a great passion of mine,
-
and when I lost my arms,
-
the idea that it may no longer
be a part of my life
-
critically challenged
my will to keep living.
-
However, the thought that emerged
-
immediately after being
discharged from hospital
-
was "If Ray Charles can play the piano
while blind as a bat,
-
let's get to work on a solution
for this guitar problem."
-
So, consulting with an engineer,
-
I designed a slide system
that would hook into my left hook
-
and I devised another pick-holder system
that would clip into my right hook.
-
Now, if this worked,
-
I would be able to play the guitar
open tuned on my lap, like a slide.
-
So after weeks of testing and alterations,
-
I finally had the accessories back
to play the guitar again,
-
and I was right back where I was
before losing my hands --
-
being issued with noise complaints
from my neighbors, obviously.
-
(Laughter)
-
But this time, I took it further.
-
I started a band with my friends.
-
We wrote songs and recorded them.
-
We even played gigs to real people.
-
Not as many as this.
-
(Laughter)
-
But even though it was a just a tiny step,
-
it was a giant leap from what I'd achieved
when I was all in one piece.
-
Now while relearning every action
that one has ever cultivated
-
might seem like
a significant undertaking --
-
and believe me, it very much was,
in the short term --
-
it was nonetheless
having a positive effect
-
on the way that I approached
everything else in my life.
-
Not only did it transform
my ability to problem-solve,
-
but I also felt I became more pragmatic,
-
less sensitive to hindrances,
-
in some cases, more patient,
-
and magically transformed
people's abilities
-
to offer me their seats
on public transport.
-
(Laughter)
-
Trivial setbacks began
to pale in comparison
-
to challenges I'd previously overcome,
-
and this allowed me to take a calm
and measured approach to these challenges,
-
keeping them in perspective
-
and often even finding new
and improved ways to overcome them.
-
The benefit of not dwelling
on the negative
-
and just getting on with the task at hand
-
became self-evident.
-
It even encouraged me to pursue
some more fulfilling career paths
-
that may otherwise have been inadvisable.
-
And who would have thought
that an appropriate job for me
-
might involve the meticulous operation
of electronic equipment
-
to curate dance music to people
in inaccessible places
-
under the influence of alcohol.
-
(Laughter)
-
Not I.
-
So in a competitive industry where DJs
have been relentlessly honing their craft,
-
desperate to attain gigs,
sending demos to clubs,
-
my best friend and I
took a different approach,
-
and we started our own club night,
-
and we employed ourselves as the DJs.
-
(Laughter)
-
Suddenly, we had a headline slot.
-
(Laughter)
-
Now, when we started
that club night, I could not DJ.
-
The first time I ever got behind the decks
was on our opening night,
-
in front of hundreds of people.
-
I'd only just learned
where the play button was.
-
(Laughter)
-
But, being previously faced
with so many ultimatums,
-
one's forced to be astute
in adapting to new situations.
-
That club night went on to become
-
the longest-running
weekly club night in Sydney,
-
and we as DJs went on to play
Australia's biggest music festivals.
-
So eventually, I either learned quickly,
-
or the standards of clubs
have gone really downhill.
-
(Laughter)
-
Coming close to death
can be an educational experience.
-
It's certainly true that one's priorities
receive somewhat of a realignment
-
immediately afterwards,
-
and it's also true
that some of those priorities
-
are met with an increased
sense of urgency.
-
But another, more salient realization
that comes to light
-
is the triviality of our own
self-importance and self-consciousness.
-
To truly understand the extent
to which your self-consciousness
-
prohibits you from engaging
in opportunities
-
should lead everyone to take risks
they otherwise wouldn't.
-
We're merely a blip on the time line
of the universe, right?
-
Act accordingly.
-
Now the ideas that I'm presenting today
were imbued upon me
-
through some otherwise
unfortunate circumstances, granted,
-
but they're lying dormant in the lives
of anyone who's willing to exploit them.
-
If we all understand
that we all have unique weaknesses,
-
and if we're honest about what they are,
-
we can learn how to best
take advantage of them,
-
whether they be mounting a curb
or fear of presenting sales reports,
-
or the inability to sufficiently
manage one's finances --
-
looking at that guy --
-
(Laughter)
-
there lies the ability to learn, to adapt,
-
and even the ability to rewire
one's instinctual response to challenges.
-
Adversity is good,
-
and it has the potential
to make you stronger,
-
and, at the very least,
-
you can scare the hell out of kids
if you look like a pirate.
-
Thanks.
-
(Applause and cheers)