Maysoon Zayid- “I’ve got 99 problems… palsy is just one“
Maysoon is an Arabic-American who has CP. She attributes her success to her father, whose catchphrase was “You can do it! Yes you can can!” In this Ted talk she describes her childhood and how she overcame various obstacles that stood in the way of reaching her goal of being on T.V. She soon realized that the T.V industry doesn’t cast disabled persons to act in disabled roles. Her life mission is to change this. This audio is originally from a ted talk with good audio quality. The target audience of this speech is anyone who may be different and feels ostracized for it. Maysoon wants these people to realize that they are not alone and that they too can accomplish their goals. Maysoon is a comedian, so her style uses comedy in order to break down barriers and tackle subjects that may otherwise be uncomfortable to talk about.
Judith Heumann: “Our fight for disability rights- and why we’re not done yet“
Judith had polio when she was just three months old, and was in the hospital until she was three years old. Her parents first realization of discrimination was back in their home country of Germany during the holocaust. When people started to treat Judith differently because of her disability they knew, from previous exposure to discrimination, that something had to be done about it. The audio is originally from a ted talk. This clip has good audio. I think the target audience for this speech is anyone who has or is facing obstacles that are standing in the way of a better life. Judith wants people to see if she could accomplish this seemingly impossible task of passing the ADA, then you can also overcome your own personal challenges. Judith is very good at telling a story and making you feel as though you were there with her while she was going through this process.
Aimee Mullins: “The opportunity of adversity“
Aimee is a record-breaking Paralympic athlete who realized at a very young age how powerful words can be. Her childhood doctor sparked this by calling her a “strong and powerful little girl”. She later picked up a thesaurus and read all of the horrible synonyms under “disabled”. She was appalled. She was determined to speak out about adversity and rather than shield people from adversity, but to prepare them for it. This clip is part of a ted talk. The audio comes through a little quieter than the other two clips. Aimee’s target audience is everyone who has or will ever face adversity. Aimee believes that adversity is so common that instead of hiding from it, we need to be able to take it head on, and be prepared for when it does happen. Aimee believes that sometimes it takes adverse situations in order for people to realize just how strong they are, and to realize what values most to them.
Another Ted Talk “My 12 pair of legs“
Emily 