The world through the eyes of a child | Joshua Beckford | TEDxVienna

Joshua Beckford is an 11-year-old boy with autism. This makes him special because he experiences the world differently. He has a passion for making the world a better place and believes if we don't save our Planet, nothing else that we do is important.

Joshua learned to read English fluently by the time he was two and a half and was speaking Japanese by the age of three. At the age of six, he became the youngest person in the world to study Philosophy and History at the prestigious University of Oxford in England, where he gained a distinction in both subjects.
He has a certificate for IXL, an online math program, for completing 29,000 math problems. In 2012, he was nominated and won the National Black Youth Achievement Award (BYA) for Education. He is now the BYA Ambassador for Education. Joshua is also an Ambassador of the GUBA Foundation, a Ghanaian autism charity, where he helps to raise awareness about autism in Ghana and the African community.
Souce: https://www.beyondblackwhite.com/brown-baby-oxford-bound-8-year-old-makes-university-history/
https://nigerianwiki.xyz/joshua-beckford-bio/

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Reka Artner: So welcome to Vienna.
Is it your first time here?

Joshua Beckford: Yes, it's my first time.

RA: Are you excited
about this conference?

JB: Yeah, it's my biggest event so far.

RA: Biggest event. (Chuckles)

(Applause)

Now, Joshua,

as Vlad already mentioned,
you have a very bright mind,

and you love to study,
you love to get new information.

Why is that?

JB: Well, because studying is my passion

because studying is fun,

and it helps you to learn,

and it helps you
to experience your journey,

your journey along your life,

and, you know, it's fun,
and you learn new stuff.

RA: We all agree it's fun.

That means that you love to go to school.

You enjoy going to school, right?
JB: Mm-hmm.

RA: Wow, most kids
don't like it that much,

but you do love it.

What are your favorite subjects?

JB: My favorite subject is science.

RA: Science, science, and why science?

JB: Well, because science
can practically do anything,

as in, like, you know ...

RA: Like, for example,
what we heard before,

of going into space?

JB: Like space, yeah.

RA: Cool, very nice!

So, actually, now you're going to school,
but you're only 11 years old,

and you've already been studying
at the University of Oxford.

For most of us, a dream come true,
and you've already done that.

How was it?

JB: It was great, it was pretty hard,
but I got through it.

(Laughter)

RA: What kind of subject did you study?

JB: Philosophy.

RA: Philosophy, okay.

And what did you have to do
in that class and that subject?

JB: I had to do five tests,

and they had lots of questions in them

about your own opinion
of what you think about philosophy.

RA: Mm-hmm.

And how did you do on the test?

JB: In every one of the tests,
I got five distinctions.

RA: Crazy, I think
that's a big round of applause.

Awesome!

(Applause)

So you love to study,
you love to get to learn new things,

and you also really like
to learn languages.

How many languages do you speak, Joshua?

JB: Oh, I speak Japanese.
RA: Japanese.

JB: A bit of Chinese.
RA: Chinese.

JB: A little bit of German.
RA: A little bit of German.

JB: And some French.

RA: Wow!

Yeah, that's all of them.
RA: And let's not forget English.

JB: English, yeah, of course.
(Laughter)

RA: Do you want to count
till 10 in Japanese?

Because I've never heard
somebody count in Japanese.

JB: OK.

Ichi, ni, san, yon, go,

roku, nana, hachi, ku, juu.

RA: Wow. Cool! (Laughs)

(Applause)

That's so cool!

That is very cool!

And I heard that you gather information
from the Internet a lot,

but you also love to read books.

And how many books have you read so far?

JB: I'm not sure,
but it's probably quite a lot.

RA: (Laughs) Quite a lot.

[So] many that you said
you want to write your own book.

Is that correct?

You're about to write your own book?

JB: Yeah, well, I'm progressing on it.

I'm writing a book on ancient Egypt.

RA: On ancient Egypt, okay.
And where do you get the information from?

JB: I get the information from Google

and lots of books that I read
about the history of Egypt.

RA: Mm-hmm. Cool.
Have you been there?

JB: Yes, I've -
RA: You've been to Egypt?

JB: I went to Egypt
when I was 10 years old.

RA: Oh, wow! So you actually did
some research on the ground?

JB: Mm-hmm.
RA: (Laughs) Perfect, very cool.

Now, next to all that studying
and all that learning,

you also try to keep fit,
and you love to do sports.

What kind of sports do you do?

JB: Well, I'm good at football,
basketball, cricket,

rugby, tennis,

badminton, swimming ...

(Laughter)

yoga ...

(Laughter)

tai chi ...

RA: Awesome!

JB: Golf.
RA: Golf!

(Laughter) (Applause)

Are you not too small
for rugby and football, by the way?

JB: No, I'm not too small.

(Laughter)

I can tackle a lot of people.

(Laughter)

RA: Also the grown-ups, the adults?

JB: Yeah, I tackle them in football.

RA: (Laughs) Okay, cool.

Joshua, do you have a preference,

that you say you'd rather talk
to grown-ups and adults,

or kids?

Do you have a preference there?

JB: Well, I like to talk to adults a lot,

and I like to talk to children as well.

But, you know, adults ...

RA: Why do you like talking to adults?
What makes them so fascinating?

JB: Because adults mostly
have a lot of information

that I can learn from,

and, you know, it's fun
to get information from them.

Like I said earlier,

that will add on
a little experience as well.

RA: Beautiful. Well,
there are a lot of adults here today.

So in the break,
you can totally talk to them.

I think they will love to talk to you.

And now, Joshua, when you grow up,
what do you want to become?

What do you want to be?

JB: I want to be
a neurosurgeon when I grow up.

RA: And why is that?

JB: Well, because since I was four ...

I decided to be a neurosurgeon
when I was four

because on my dad's laptop,

I have a surgery simulator,

and I have to pull out organs

and put them back in.

It's really gross.

(Laughter)

If you're not into that stuff,

don't try it.

RA: (Laughs) Don't try it!

Host: And you're actually
also doing that in the lab.

You're already learning
how to use the scalpel

and doing that on animal organs, right?

And how is that experience?
Is that not gross?

JB: Well, not to me, at least.
RA: Not to you? (Laughs)

Cool.

And, so you are really fascinated about,
as you said before,

you want to grow up
and become a neurosurgeon,

and you told me that you want to do that
in order to help people.

Is that correct?
JB: Yeah!

RA: What other things
are you passionate about

and advocating for?

JB: Well, I want to save the Earth.

RA: You want to say the Earth? Really?
And how do you want to do that?

JB: Well, sending out tips to everyone,

and, you know, trying to change the world

and change people into doing
the right things for Earth.

(Applause)

RA: That is very impressive.

And we actually have
a live audience right here,

plus all the people
looking at the livestream.

Do you want to give us some tips
on what we can do?

JB: Well, you could turn
your devices off in the nighttime

when you're not using them.

You could also pick up
rubbish from the floor

and also not throw rubbish on the floor.

RA: It makes sense,
in the first place, yes, absolutely.

Is there something else that we can do?

JB: When you cut down trees to get wood,

plant them back more often.

RA: Mm-hmm.

JB: And you also
shouldn't start forest fires.

RA: (Laughs) Did you hear that,
guys? No forest fires.

Okay. So you're advocating
for saving Mother Earth,

and there's also another cause
that you're advocating for.

You told me that you're also involved

in advocating for a new understanding
of autism, is that correct?

JB: Mm-hmm.

RA: And you're involved
in other charities doing that.

Do you want to tell us a bit about that?

JB: Well, I am an ambassador for charities

on children in Africa and children in need

and children that need the money too.

So when people come to events

to hear me making a presentation,

they pay money,

and since I'm an ambassador,
that money goes to charity

to help all the kids and adults

to buy more stuff
and to buy food and clothes

and all the stuff that they need.

RA: That's very honorable,
that's very nice.

Is there something that you want
the audience to know of autism?

JB: Well, if you don't know
what autism is,

autism is a kind of way
of thinking differently.

It's like your brain thinks another way.

And there's a high side
and there's a low side.

The high side is where, like ...

you're born with lots
of gifts and good stuff

that people dream of.

There is, unfortunately, a low side,

and it's more common to be
on the low side of autism,

unfortunately.

And the low side is
where sometimes you can't speak

and you have trouble speaking,
maybe learning difficulties.

It's really sad.

RA: But I think
you don't have troubles at all.

Seriously, you're sitting
in front of this big audience.

A lot of, I think, grown-ups

would be very scared to do that
and would be super nervous,

and you're doing a great job.

Isn't he?

(Applause)

Now, Joshua, since you mentioned

that you are advocating
for saving Mother Earth,

would you like to share your poem here?

He actually wrote a little poem about it.

So I will go off stage,
and the stage is all yours.

And you can share that with us.
Yeah? Awesome.

I'll see you backstage.

JB: So my poem is about Mother Earth.

I hope you guys like it.

Mother Earth, Mother Earth,

she's getting hurt.

Why do people keep spitting on the ground?

Why do people keep throwing
litter all around?

I don't like it, not even a bit.

And you probably don't like it.

Each day, she's getting more alert,

while we are only getting hurt.

Why do people keep doing
the wrong things in life

which will cause them lots of strife?

I care about our Mother Earth.

I don't want to see her hurt.

If people continue to do the wrong things,

we will reap the punishment
that nature brings.

The Earth is the only home we know.

If we destroy it, we will have
nowhere else to go.

Mother Earth is alive.

We should do everything
to make her thrive.

If we cause her lots of pain,

we have nothing much to gain.

When Mother Earth makes a tsunami,

she's weeping oceans of tears,

the ways of which
will just increase our fears.

When we mine what's in the Earth,

she shakes us with big earthquakes

to tell us of our big mistakes.

When we cut down the trees,
Mother Earth gets naked,

and soon we'll have
nothing left that's sacred.

If we poison the air
with fumes from cars and planes,

the forest will go up in lots of flames.

Soon, we will have no atmosphere,

and, one day, we might just
no longer be here.

Maybe the cure for all disease
is not to do just as we please.

Just being nice to one another

might just be the key
to getting on with each other.

Please help take care of Mother Earth

as she will take good care of you.

The planet belongs to me and you.

We abuse our bodies day and night
with much fault to how's our plight.

I wish that we would all take stock

before nature takes us back.

If we fail to take care
of that marvelous machine,

Mother Nature will charge us
with a mortal sin.

I hope that you will listen to my plea

as nature will be watching you and me.

If we don't save our planet,

nothing else that we do is important.

Thank you for listening.

(Applause)