How I fail at being disabled

Susan Robinson   |  Dec 2016

2024년 5월 7일 shadowing 완료

 

 

 

 

 

TED Talker/연자

Susan Robinson 

Speaker, blogger, entrepreneur and business advisor

Vice President and Chair of the Nominating Committee of the Penn State Alumni Association

Diagnosed with a genetic visual impairment (Stargardt's disease) in 1992

 

I'd like to introduce you to my mom. I'm guessing that's not what you expected, and it's not what I expected either, and thank goodness I realized that an Asian man was not my mom before I hugged him, because that would have been so awkward. Recognizing people isn't one of my strengths due to a genetic visual impairment that has no correction or cure. As a result, I am legally blind, though I prefer "partially sighted" because it's more optimistic.
And I'm entitled to the label "disabled." 

 

I hate the word disabled when it's used to describe people. It detonates a mindset of less than that utterly disregards capacity, ability, potential, instead prioritizing brokenness and lack. The perspective can be overt. What can't he do for himself that I'm going to have to do for him? She'll probably need some accommodation that no other employee at this business needs. Sometimes, the hidden bias is so sweetly conveyed. "Wow, Susan, look at everything you've done in your career and your life. How did you do all of that and be visually impaired?" I fail at being disabled. So in the spirit of incentivizing the rampant failure of people all over the world and enticing the so-called normal to just give it a rest already, here are five tips to fail at being disabled.

Tip one: know your superpowers. The best team I ever led in my career was based on superpowers, and we even gave ourselves fancy-pantsy titles like "the Pillar of Masterly Acumen." "The Biscuit Butterer." "The Voice of Reason." Because we relied on our strengths, our best strengths, we achieved tremendous outcomes. The trait that prevents me from recognizing my mom allows me to smoothly adapt, to quickly absorb and accurately process an exhausting volume of cues, tease out what's important, determine multiple processes or potentials for any situation that I'm in, and then select the one that makes the most sense, all in a matter of seconds. I see what other people do not. Some people think that's a superpower, but my real superpowers are ricocheting off of glass walls --
and letting my friends walk around with kale in their teeth. It's true. Don't have lunch with me, or dinner.

Tip two: be supremely skilled, supremely skilled at getting it wrong. It is important to be as equally confident in your superpowers as you are in you FUBARs. That's "effed up beyond all recognition" for you millennials. Here's a good example. It is not a great idea to say, "Don't worry, everything in here is too small for me to see" when you accidentally walk into the men's room --at one of the world's largest sporting arenas --or anywhere. I really wish that one wasn't true. I'm serious. It is better to just walk out and let them think you're drunk. 

Tip three: know that everyone is disabled in some way, like when you have a cold and you can't smell and you realize that the milk that you splashed in your coffee was sour only after you've tasted it. Very recently, a woman walked up to me frantic. She could not find the bakery she was looking for. As I motioned in the direction I thought she should go, saying, "There are no stores on this side of the street so your best bet is to cross --""Oh my goodness," she interrupted. "There it is. All I needed was another set of eyes." I just let her have it. I would have said that, you know, being logical and paying attention and staying calm would have done the trick, but who am I? 

Tip four: point out the disability in others. This one is best reserved -- very important note -- this one is best reserved for people you know well, because random strangers typically don't appreciate teachable moments. A few years ago, my parents and I went to see the Rockettes, Radio City's high-kicking dancers. I leaned over to my dad. "The two Rockettes on the left aren't kicking in a straight line." "Yes, they are." "No, they're not." "Yes, they are, and how do you know? You can't see." But I know what a straight line looks like. I had snapped a picture during our back and forth and presented him the evidence that proved I was right. He looked at the picture. I leaned in further. "Who's disabled now?"

 

Tip five: pursue audacious goals. Flip expectation upside down and shove limitation off a cliff to meet its demise. There is a college football linebacker who blitzes, tackles, recovers fumbles while having one hand. There is a teacher who successfully transfers knowledge and inspires countless students while living with Down syndrome. And for me, on my long list, to cycle from Kathmandu, Nepal, to Darjeeling, India on the backseat of a bicycle built for two. It will be an exciting 620-mile adventure, and I'm sure I will have the blurry photos to show for it.

Oh, before we go on, I forgot to introduce you to my mom. I need to do that. And here she is, as she would appear to me if I were looking through a crowd of people looking for her. Or is that an Asian man? Thank you.

 

• Words&phrases/어휘공부
  • detonate : explode or cause to explode. two other bombs failed to detonate
    
  • overt : done or shown publicly or in an obvious way and not secret overt criticism
  • incentivize : to make someone want to do something We need to incentivize our sales managers to achieve these targets. 
  • entice : to persuade someone to do something by offering them something pleasant entice someone into something  The adverts entice the customer into buying things they don't really want 
  • give it a rest: said when you want someone to stop talking about or doing something that is annoying you:
    Oh, give it a rest, can't you?
  • fancy-pantsy :  Rich, attractive, over dressed, pretentious
  • tease something out : to try to get information or understand a meaning that is hidden or not clear tease something out of someone It took me a while to tease the truth out of him. 
  • ricochet : If a ball or bullet ricochets, it hits a surface and moves away from it at an angle The ball ricocheted off the goalkeeper and into the net. 
  • FUBAR : extremely bad or certain to fail or be defeated or destroyed. Fubar is short for Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition: If you don't have a good excuse, then you are fubar.
  • eff up : verb, rude slang To make a mistake; to mess up
  • demise : the end of something that was previously considered to be powerful, such as a business, industry, or system The demise of the company was sudden and unexpected.