A small sample of the “Our Voices” project was displayed for two weeks at the In Situ Photo Project gallery in central Christchurch. The exhibition provided the opportunity for the work to be displayed in a public location and share some of the stories from the participants with a mainstream audience. Many of the participants and their support networks were present at the opening along side the more usual attendees.
Let’s change the way we look at people with Down syndrome. AnnaRose is a nineteen year old from NJ. She’s a full time college student who works part-time at a physical therapy center and enjoys basketball and swimming through the Special Olympics NJ.
AnnaRose, as many people with Down syndrome, only wants to realise her potential and live a meaningful, beautiful life.
Krystal-Bella, Talks about answers commonly asked questions about dyspraxia.
Fixer Abi Hocking, 18, from Porthleven, Cornwall, has dyspraxia. She helped make this animation to promote awareness of the condition.
The Dyspraxia Foundation is the only national registered charity in the UK dedicated to raising awareness of dyspraxia and championing the needs of people living with the condition.
Temple Grandin, diagnosed with autism as a child, talks about how her mind works — sharing her ability to “think in pictures,” which helps her solve problems that neurotypical brains might miss. She makes the case that the world needs people on the autism spectrum: visual thinkers, pattern thinkers, verbal thinkers, and all kinds of smart geeky kids.
In this factual talk, geneticist Wendy Chung shares what we know about autism spectrum disorder — for example, that autism has multiple, perhaps interlocking, causes. Looking beyond the worry and concern that can surround a diagnosis, Chung and her team look at what we’ve learned through studies, treatments and careful listening.
Decades ago, few pediatricians had heard of autism. In 1975, 1 in 5,000 kids was estimated to have it. Today, 1 in 68 is on the autism spectrum. What caused this steep rise? Steve Silberman points to “a perfect storm of autism awareness” — a pair of psychologists with an accepting view, an unexpected pop culture moment and a new clinical test. But to really understand, we have to go back further to an Austrian doctor by the name of Hans Asperger, who published a pioneering paper in 1944. Because it was buried in time, autism has been shrouded in misunderstanding ever since. (This talk was part of a TED2015 session curated by Pop-Up Magazine: popupmagazine.com or @popupmag on Twitter.)
“I have cerebral palsy. I shake all the time,” Maysoon Zayid announces at the beginning of this exhilarating, hilarious talk. (Really, it’s hilarious.) “I’m like Shakira meets Muhammad Ali.” With grace and wit, the Arab-American comedian takes us on a whistle-stop tour of her adventures as an actress, stand-up comic, philanthropist and advocate for the disabled.
