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The Heather world | Heather Artinian | TEDxGeorgetown

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    Hi Everyone! Can you hear me well? Yeah? Okay.
    My name is Heather Artinian and I am really
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    excited to be here in front of you all today.
    I want to start off with a question? What
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    world do you belong to? Because that's a question
    that I get all the time. My answer -- is always:
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    "The Heather world." Today, I want to tell
    you about how I got to the Heather World and
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    I hope that what I'm about to say today will
    help you understand better why you should
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    build bridges between the worlds of your own
    lives. I was born profoundly deaf, which means
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    I could not hear anything but an atomic bomb,
    which would be useful, I'm thankful for that.
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    Otherwise, I get a peaceful night sleep every
    night without fail, which is awesome. My family
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    is deaf, my parents are deaf, they're also
    culturally deaf, which means, they communicate
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    using sign language, they went to deaf schools,
    they have deaf friends, they are just totally
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    immersed in that world. I have two younger
    deaf brothers, who are the same way. But,
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    I also have hearing grandparents, hearing
    uncles, deaf aunts, deaf cousins. So my family
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    is just a giant mix of hearing and deafness,
    which I love, it's my favorite part of my
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    family. When I was five years old, I was standing
    on a bridge. And, to my left, were my deaf
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    parents and the deaf world. And, to my right,
    were my hearing grandparents, and the hearing
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    world. I was just five years old at the time
    and I desperately wanted to be included in
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    both worlds. And that's how the controversy
    started. The documentary came about because
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    I decided that I wanted a cochlear implant,
    which is a device that helps me hear. And,
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    my deaf parents, and the deaf world were very
    critical because they felt like I was saying
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    that the deaf world's not good enough for
    me; that I was rejecting my parent's whole
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    life, which was not the case. But then, we
    got criticism from the hearing world as well,
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    because they looked at my parents, saying,
    "why wouldn't you give your child the opportunity
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    to hear?" Complicated question, right? And,
    that's how it started. At the end of the movie,
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    after all the fighting, my parents ultimately
    decided that it was the best choice at the
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    time for me not to get the cochlear implant.
    So, I was once before in the middle of the
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    bridge, but now I was totally immersed in
    the left side, the deaf world. We moved to
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    Maryland, which is a huge deaf community compared
    to where I was living before in New York.
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    You went to the Blockbusters, or restaurants,
    the grocery stores, it was easy because they
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    were very aware of the deaf world, they knew
    how to interact. I remember being back home
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    in New York where my parents would sit in
    a restaurant -- it was such a struggle just
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    to order drinks. There would be a lot of "what's,"
    "huhs," pointing - "oh, no, no, no, I didn't order
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    this." But in Maryland the servers knew what to do
    and my brothers and I went to deaf schools.
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    My parents were visibly happy. But then, we
    lived there for about three and a half years and
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    my mom got really sick so we had to move back
    to New York, and, I became like, I was put
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    in front of the hearing world again. Kids
    on my block, they all spoke, they all didn't
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    sign and I remember looking at them like I
    wanted to communicate with them I wanted to
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    play with them. I was nine years old at the
    time. And for a while, I did not want the
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    cochlear implant. I desperately wanted to
    move back to Maryland, move back to that comfort
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    world that I'd known my whole life. But after
    a while, and especially after my dad got passed
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    over for a promotion at work because he was
    deaf and could not communicate, I realized
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    I did not want that for myself, I just didn't.
    And I really wanted to be able to communicate
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    with just anybody. So, I decided at ten years
    old, I was going to get the cochlear implant.
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    And my parents said, okay. My doctor told
    me that the results I would get would be very
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    minimal because I was ten years old and that
    was past the language learning stage. That
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    I probably would not learn how to speak or
    hear very well but I wanted to try. Who knows
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    right? Maybe it would work. And I think that
    today, it did. I've gotten better at hearing,
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    better at speaking. Right from the beginning,
    I went to a hearing school. And I had no speech
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    skills, no listening skills. People could
    not understand me, they would just sit there
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    and nod like "uh huh." I have no idea what
    you're saying. But that's okay. And, throughout
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    that time I was still going to speech therapy.
    Then, I got to high school and I realized
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    that my speech and hearing was getting better.
    People were starting to understand me and
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    I was starting to understand them. And, I
    also played sports which was my way in, because
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    people saw past the hearing or the lack thereof,
    they saw me and they thought I was good at
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    sports, so they wanted to be my friend. That
    was my first opportunity that I saw to bridge
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    gaps. What I would do is I would go to school,
    then I would go to my clubs and activities.
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    Then I would go to my practice, my second
    practice, I would come home at nine o'clock
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    at night, go straight to speech therapy, and
    then after that I would do my homework, and
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    I did that every day, right up until I graduated.
    It was a lot of work, a lot of dedication,
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    but I was willing to put in the work.And I saw
    the results. I did not do all this myself,
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    you know, I had a lot of help. I had speech
    therapists who put up with me night after
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    night, I had interpreters in the classroom
    who helped me when I couldn't understand.
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    I had a wonderful family, who, supported me
    through all of this. When I was sixteen, my
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    parents and my brothers moved to Rochester,
    New York, which has a large deaf community,
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    just like Maryland. I stayed behind and I
    lived with my grandparents, because that was
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    the best decision for me at the time, because,
    I wanted to keep on doing what I had been
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    doing all along -- going to speech and just,
    building the bridges with people. And this
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    is more pictures of my family, you have my
    uncle and my aunt, my wonderful grandparents,
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    and my other uncle and cousins. I fast-forward
    to today. I am a junior at Georgetown University.
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    I'm majoring in government, minoring in justice
    and peace studies I'm at my dream school.
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    I have dreams of going to law school. And,
    hopefully, like everyone else at Georgetown,
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    becoming a Supreme Court Justice. Who knows?
    Maybe, maybe. Thank you. After high school
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    I realized one thing, I didn't have to be
    in the hearing world, I didn't have to be
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    in the deaf world. I could just stand in
    the middle and be my own world, the Heather
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    World, which is a mixture of all kinds of
    experience I've had- being deaf, living in
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    the hearing world, having cochlear implants.
    I have two now, by the way, I forgot to mention.
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    Which brings me to my idea. I really strongly
    believe that we all should grab the opportunity
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    to bridge the worlds within out lives. Whether
    your experiences are small or big, you can
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    do it. I've learned through my experiences
    that when people seem mean or they seem standoffish,
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    its not because they don't like you. Most
    of the time it's because they're scared or
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    they don't understand. Most of the time, all
    they see is the deaf, they don't see the Heather.
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    So, it's my job and it's your job to reach out
    -- try to build a bridge over that. So what
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    I'll do is introduce myself and say, "hey
    I'm Heather, I'm deaf, I know. But, I have
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    cochlear implants and we communicate just
    fine. If you don't understand me, I'm happy
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    to repeat myself and trust me, my roommates
    do it all the time." And, you'll see the difference
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    -- people start realizing oh, she's normal,
    you know, I can just have a conversation with
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    her like everyone else. They become more comfortable,
    which is the key: people are uncomfortable
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    when they see new things, and I think it's
    our job as human beings to reach out. And
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    this idea can be applied to a variety of different
    things: race, gender, disability, politics,
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    access to education. Reach out, and you'll
    be surprised. I really believe that all of
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    us have experiences.
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    Regardless of how big
    or small, it will make an impact. Just by
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    me reaching out to one other person about
    my deafness, that person will probably become
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    more comfortable around other deaf people.
    And those people will probably become more comfortable
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    around other things because they've tired
    new things. And, I really feel like, once
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    you bridge and you open yourself up, you help
    them understand why you're worth building
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    a bridge over. You are, we all are. But when
    you open yourself up, they understand, and
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    they will try, most of the time. I met my
    best friend
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    in high school and in middle school
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    I was really shy, I didn't reach out to anybody.
    I would just stand in the corner and say nothing.
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    But, when I got my confidence in my speech,
    I started reaching out to people. And, just
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    by me reaching out to this one person, she
    is now studying sign language -- she's fluent,
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    almost fluent, studying speech pathology and
    she hopes to serve the deaf community after
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    just meeting me. So you can do that too just
    by you reaching out about your experiences,
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    you can make a change in someone else's life.
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    But sometimes, people don't understand.
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    I remember talking to this one person and
    he would say to me, "So, where are you from?"
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    I said, "Oh, I'm from New York." He's like,
    "No, no, no, no, really, where are you
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    from?" I went, "New York." He's like, "No,
    no, no, no I can hear the accent. Where are
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    you from?" And I was like "Oh, I'm deaf."
    And they were like, "No way, you're speaking
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    right now. Where are you frommmm?" I said,
    "Okay, okay, you're right, I'm from Africa. That's
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    where I'm from, that's where I get my accent."
    So sometimes, it takes more effort than you
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    think. But that's okay, that's okay. But other
    than that, you will also get negative reactions.
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    Building a bridge is not one sided, you need
    the other person to be willing to come to
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    you. And I've come across many situations
    where people say to me, "Heather, why even
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    bother going to law school? How are you even
    going to communicate in the court room?" Or
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    I've had people laugh at me and disregard
    my opinion because they think I'm deaf and dumb.
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    Or people will look at me and all they
    see is the cost of an interpreter. But, here's
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    what I say to those people. It's okay, its
    part of human nature, people will have their
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    beliefs. But what's important is that the
    bridges that you do make with people will
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    make up for those. Those bridges that you
    make will move society forward and as you
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    build bridges, those numbers will grow.
    And the numbers of those who didn't believe
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    in you will grow smaller, and I'm telling
    you. When I get my diploma from law school,
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    I've kept a list of all the people, I'm going
    to email them my diplomas, and they will be
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    sorry. They will be sorry.
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    This is an example
    of a bridge I made in college.
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    My roommates are the best people I've ever met and I would
    have never met them if I didn't have the courage
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    to reach out and that was just my little shout
    out to the most awesome people I know. Shout out.
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    So my conclusion is, I'm standing in
    the middle of the bridge. I'm understanding
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    really that I don't have to chose what world
    I'm in. I can be in the Heather World, and
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    so can you if you have your own world, who
    cares what anybody says? I think that we all
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    should reach out, build bridges, be your own
    ripple effect in the world, and I think that
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    you will be very surprised at what you will
    find at the other end of the bridge. So reach
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    out, allow other people in, try to understand
    different experiences, allow other to understand
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    yours. No matter what your experiences are,
    positive or negative, you will make an impact.
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    Thank you.
Title:
The Heather world | Heather Artinian | TEDxGeorgetown
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Team:
closed TED
Project:
TEDxTalks
Duration:
14:14

English subtitles

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