really effect
over a billion people imagine a world
where we only spoke about ability
imagine a world where being disabled
didn’t matter I have a personal war with
the word disabled
I find it limiting outdated and negative
15% of the world’s population experience
some form of disability 15% that’s 1
billion people being held back by this
one word disabled my idea is very simple
let’s remove disabled from the equation
I had cerebral palsy I was born with it
it was caused by medical negligence the
team of doctors that delivered me had
never delivered a baby before and
because of this I got brain damage we
found out my diagnosis when I was 4
years old
after a blur of discipline hospital
appointments I saw every specialist in
the country and then we found out this
diagnosis server palsy and the words
that followed it were a condemnation and
it’s followed me ever since you’ll never
walk they said you’d be lucky if you
survived to the age of 10 this picture
is the earliest picture we have of my
existence and the first 40 hours of my
life very uncertain my family came in
from across the country to say goodbye I
spent the first week of my life in
special care
and the second week and high dependency
all my life I’ve had limits placed on me
because of this word disabled then Todd
I’ll never do this I’ll never do that I
stand here today as a proud man in
international athlete and a visionary
with a passion to change the way we look
at disability forever when I was younger
I hated public speaking because it
exposed one of the elements of my
condition I shake there’s nothing I can
do to change it there’s nothing I can do
to control it and Here I am my arms
revealed to show my limitations but this
is never been an issue what I’d like to
show you guys today is how removing the
word disabled empowered me and how we
can empower a billion people it’s not
about the 15 percent it’s about the 85
percent yes 15 percent of the world’s
population experience some form of
disability
they’ve got their conditions they’ve got
their diagnosis they’ve got their
limitations they’ve been placed on them
by the other 85% I don’t need to change
the way people with conditions think
about themselves I need to change the
way everyone else thinks about them the
way everyone else interacts with them my
mission is to change the collective
consciousness how we think about people
who are different so for the rest of my
talk I’m going to make a conscious
effort to use the word different instead
of disabled I said at the start I have a
war with the word disabled and everyone
always goes it’s quite a powerful thing
to say when did you decide you have a
war with one word in 2050
I was sitting in the Athletes Village in
Holland angry and frustrated are
different things that gone on and I
started to break down the word disabled
I never fully know what it meant
home we didn’t speak about it my family
didn’t care that I had cerebral palsy I
did everything my brothers did I did
everything everybody else did and it
wasn’t until I went out into the wider
world this word was placed on me and all
of a sudden it mattered you were
disabled you’re not allowed to take part
in sport you were disabled it’s very
unlikely you’ll go to university you’re
disabled it’s unlikely you’ll be
anything alike so what does this word
mean having a physical or mental
condition that limits movements senses
or activities there are so many things
wrong with this definition and I
honestly don’t know where to start but
first of all let’s break down some of
this disability is not limited to
physical and mental there are millions
of people worldwide to have learning and
social disabilities to name a common few
Asperger’s dyslexia these are all
disabilities not include in this
definition but my main issue with this
word disabled if the emphasis on the
word limits and this is why I have a war
with the word disabled because when you
break it down it breaks into two words
this enabled let that sink in for a
minute
a wood we’re literally telling people
they can’t do something before we even
give him a chance to try
we’re selling someone based on a medical
condition that they shouldn’t bother I
was told I’d never walk I’m standing
here today so clearly someone made a
mistake somewhere and I think we’re
making a massive mistake by labeling
people with this word disabled I’m pre
determining their future I believe by
removing the word disabled we can
empower a billion people and I’m going
to tell you how the first step is to
rethink how we talk about this because
it’s not talking about so the first step
is education in schools we have to talk
about difference not disability
difference because young people
understand difference they don’t
understand disability when I explain
what’s going under my body one of my
legs don’t work properly why am i left
arm shakes why I can’t do certain things
I don’t talk about disability because
it’s the wrong way to talk about it
because they can’t relate to it I talk
about difference because everybody can
relate to being different people have
different skin color different hair
color they’re from different backgrounds
different ages different genders
different sexualities so difference is
the way forward to explain it and the
emphasis has to be on education in
schools we have to break down previous
periods toward this word disabled
because that’s what it is
it’s a barrier it’s labeled and we tell
people you can’t do something because
there’s something we don’t understand
difference everyone can understand
difference and by educating the next
generation we remove intolerance and
hatred but we need to go a step further
we can’t just teach in schools we have
to teach the teachers first because the
majority of teachers and educators don’t
fully understand disability and when I
say teachers and educators
I don’t mean just in school teachers
coaches anybody that works with humans
majority of people don’t understand what
this means and if we talk about
difference then we can empower people
my big goal in life is put the emphasis
on abled I started in able not disabled
as angry young man and it’s blossomed
into work has taken me across three
continents speaking to 40,000 people
worldwide and what has taught me in this
time is when something isn’t talked
about that’s when there’s intolerance
about it so I think we need to have more
open and honest conversations about
difference but we also have to change
certain things we have to change the
representation of people that are
different we need global role models we
need people in the media in the public
eye they’re representative of the world
we live in people with different
conditions whether they be physical
mental social or learning did not come
from one background yeah in the public
eye and in the media we only ever see
one type exposed when people hear the
word disability they think of our users
or amputees because it’s something they
can see only 8% of the disabled
population in UK are wheelchair users so
what about the other 92% well if you
look at disability campaigns that’s all
you ever see wheelchair users or
amputees and they’re always from the
same background it’s as part of changing
our understanding and changing our
perceptions I propose that we need to
change how we highlight this there are
people with all kinds of different
abilities in this room that you’re not
even aware of but more in a solution
what can you do in your daily lives well
I have three very simple steps and I
guarantee you if you follow these three
steps not only will your communication
be a hundred times better but you will
learn things you didn’t even know the
first step when you meet someone who’s
different
it’s to ask their 9 ask their name
because all throughout my life people
have spoken to me about my condition not
about Who I am ask how they are and
thirdly ask them what they can do ask
them what they want to do put the
emphasis on what they’re able to do for
the emphasis and what they want to do I
believe strongly as a society we should
be empowering people and this is not
about coming down to anyone’s level this
is about creating a level playing field
so that we can empower a billion people
and a lot of people say why does this
matter I haven’t got a disability
there’s nothing wrong with me
I’ll tell you why this matters everyone
knows someone who’s got a condition even
if you haven’t got one yourself and as I
said 15% of the world’s population
experience some form of difference so if
these 15 percent of being left out we
miss out on a whole wealth of knowledge
we’re going to do the first social
experiment on a TEDx can everybody on
thank you yep that’s perfect I will let
you guys sit down in a minute and I’ll
explain to you why as I continue to talk
about the solution the solution is
breaking down previous thoughts
previously when we spoke about
disability it was in a negative context
it was about what someone can’t do I’m
proposing we talk about what people can
do and I’m going to go back to education
because currently education is not
accessible and that is one of the key
problems with this world if you have a
group of people that can’t access
education they can’t self better they
can’t become citizens of the world and
you miss out on what they have to
contribute if a group of people come
access education then we’ve done
something wrong as a society and if it’s
simply just an issue of removing the
physical barriers or putting in some
aids to help them such as ramps and
there’s no excuse not to okay you guys
miss it down now so I made you guys
stand up and I didn’t tell you why well
this is what it’s been like all my life
I’ve been told to do things or told I’m
not allowed to do things with no other
reason given I was excluded from support
in school for five years and the only
thing I was ever told was it’s because
you’re disabled so this is a social
experiment to teach you guys what it’s
like living with this world over me
disabled I like to finish with one final
point and it’s a quote he’s just a man
that moves differently Harry King this
is the man that has coached Olympic
athletes for the best part of 30 years
and he coached me to become the first
person ever to qualify for a Paralympic
Games and my event and he didn’t know
anything about CP and he still doesn’t
really know that
about CP now but to him it didn’t matter
he never treated me any differently he
never saw me any differently and it’s
because of that that we have achieved
phenomenal things I’m just the man that
moves differently and now this man is
asking you to join me on this journey
join me together and let’s enable a
billion people thank you very much [Applause]