Deep sea diving ... in a wheelchair
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0:01 - 0:03It's wonderful to be here
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0:03 - 0:05to talk about my journey,
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0:05 - 0:07to talk about the wheelchair
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0:07 - 0:09and the freedom it has bought me.
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0:09 - 0:12I started using a wheelchair 16 years ago
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0:12 - 0:14when an extended illness
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0:14 - 0:18changed the way I could access the world.
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0:18 - 0:20When I started using the wheelchair,
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0:20 - 0:23it was a tremendous new freedom.
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0:23 - 0:26I'd seen my life slip away and become restricted.
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0:26 - 0:28It was like having an enormous new toy.
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0:28 - 0:32I could whiz around and feel the wind in my face again.
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0:32 - 0:36Just being out on the street was exhilarating.
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0:36 - 0:40But even though I had this newfound joy and freedom,
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0:40 - 0:44people's reaction completely changed towards me.
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0:44 - 0:46It was as if they couldn't see me anymore,
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0:46 - 0:50as if an invisibility cloak had descended.
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0:50 - 0:53They seemed to see me in terms of their assumptions
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0:53 - 0:58of what it must be like to be in a wheelchair.
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0:58 - 1:03When I asked people their associations with the wheelchair,
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1:03 - 1:06they used words like "limitation," "fear,"
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1:06 - 1:09"pity" and "restriction."
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1:09 - 1:14I realized I'd internalized these responses
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1:14 - 1:17and it had changed who I was on a core level.
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1:17 - 1:22A part of me had become alienated from myself.
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1:22 - 1:25I was seeing myself not from my perspective,
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1:25 - 1:29but vividly and continuously from the perspective
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1:29 - 1:32of other people's responses to me.
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1:32 - 1:37As a result, I knew I needed to make my own stories
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1:37 - 1:40about this experience,
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1:40 - 1:42new narratives to reclaim my identity.
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1:42 - 1:46["Finding Freedom: 'By creating our own stories we learn to take the texts of our lives as seriously as we do 'official' narratives.' — Davis 2009, TEDx Women"]
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1:46 - 1:48I started making work
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1:48 - 1:50that aimed to communicate something
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1:50 - 1:56of the joy and freedom I felt when using a wheelchair --
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1:56 - 2:00a power chair -- to negotiate the world.
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2:00 - 2:07I was working to transform these internalized responses,
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2:07 - 2:11to transform the preconceptions that had so shaped
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2:11 - 2:14my identity when I started using a wheelchair,
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2:14 - 2:17by creating unexpected images.
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2:17 - 2:24The wheelchair became an object to paint and play with.
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2:24 - 2:26When I literally started leaving
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2:26 - 2:29traces of my joy and freedom,
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2:29 - 2:31it was exciting to see
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2:31 - 2:36the interested and surprised responses from people.
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2:36 - 2:39It seemed to open up new perspectives,
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2:39 - 2:42and therein lay the paradigm shift.
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2:42 - 2:44It showed that an arts practice
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2:44 - 2:46can remake one's identity
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2:46 - 2:51and transform preconceptions by revisioning the familiar.
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2:51 - 2:55So when I began to dive, in 2005,
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2:55 - 2:58I realized scuba gear extends your range of activity
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2:58 - 3:01in just the same way as a wheelchair does,
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3:01 - 3:03but the associations attached to scuba gear
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3:03 - 3:06are ones of excitement and adventure,
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3:06 - 3:10completely different to people's responses to the wheelchair.
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3:10 - 3:13So I thought, "I wonder what'll happen
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3:13 - 3:17if I put the two together?" (Laughter) (Applause)
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3:17 - 3:21And the underwater wheelchair that has resulted
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3:21 - 3:24has taken me on the most amazing journey
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3:24 - 3:26over the last seven years.
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3:26 - 3:30So to give you an idea of what that's like,
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3:30 - 3:33I'd like to share with you one of the outcomes
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3:33 - 3:35from creating this spectacle,
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3:35 - 3:39and show you what an amazing journey it's taken me on.
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3:39 - 3:48(Music)
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7:08 - 7:15(Applause)
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7:15 - 7:18It is the most amazing experience,
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7:18 - 7:22beyond most other things I've experienced in life.
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7:22 - 7:25I literally have the freedom to move
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7:25 - 7:28in 360 degrees of space
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7:28 - 7:31and an ecstatic experience of joy and freedom.
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7:31 - 7:34And the incredibly unexpected thing
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7:34 - 7:38is that other people seem to see and feel that too.
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7:38 - 7:41Their eyes literally light up,
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7:41 - 7:44and they say things like, "I want one of those,"
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7:44 - 7:47or, "If you can do that, I can do anything."
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7:47 - 7:51And I'm thinking, it's because in that moment
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7:51 - 7:54of them seeing an object
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7:54 - 7:56they have no frame of reference for,
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7:56 - 7:58or so transcends the frames of reference
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7:58 - 8:00they have with the wheelchair,
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8:00 - 8:03they have to think in a completely new way.
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8:03 - 8:07And I think that moment of completely new thought
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8:07 - 8:10perhaps creates a freedom
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8:10 - 8:14that spreads to the rest of other people's lives.
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8:14 - 8:17For me, this means that they're seeing
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8:17 - 8:20the value of difference,
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8:20 - 8:21the joy it brings
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8:21 - 8:25when instead of focusing on loss or limitation,
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8:25 - 8:30we see and discover the power and joy
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8:30 - 8:34of seeing the world from exciting new perspectives.
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8:34 - 8:36For me, the wheelchair becomes
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8:36 - 8:38a vehicle for transformation.
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8:38 - 8:42In fact, I now call the underwater wheelchair "Portal,"
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8:42 - 8:44because it's literally pushed me through
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8:44 - 8:46into a new way of being,
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8:46 - 8:50into new dimensions and into a new level of consciousness.
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8:50 - 8:51And the other thing is,
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8:51 - 8:54that because nobody's seen or heard
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8:54 - 8:56of an underwater wheelchair before,
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8:56 - 8:59and creating this spectacle is about creating
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8:59 - 9:02new ways of seeing, being and knowing,
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9:02 - 9:05now you have this concept in your mind.
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9:05 - 9:09You're all part of the artwork too.
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9:09 - 9:16(Applause)
- Title:
- Deep sea diving ... in a wheelchair
- Speaker:
- Sue Austin
- Description:
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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. (Filmed at TEDxWomen.)
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 09:38
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Deep sea diving ... in a wheelchair | ||
Thu-Huong Ha approved English subtitles for Deep sea diving ... in a wheelchair | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Deep sea diving ... in a wheelchair | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Deep sea diving ... in a wheelchair | ||
Morton Bast accepted English subtitles for Deep sea diving ... in a wheelchair | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Deep sea diving ... in a wheelchair | ||
Joseph Geni added a translation |