I’m not going to lie, before watching this incredible woman speak I always had the same picture in my mind of what a prosthetic leg looked like and just give you a picture in your mind it was the plastic and metal ones that you see on TV when watching a special about a soldier who lost his leg while fighting in a war. The legs are bulking and only really meant for walking or running, they don’t look like a real leg, but the person can lead a normal life with this hunk of metal attached to them. But as the video began I was a bit taken a back when they showed Aimee Mullins walking around in a short dress with her legs exposed and they actually looked like legs; it never even crossed my mind that they could create these prosthetic legs that actually looked like legs, I know that it was silly of me to not realize that this was possible but I’ve never seen them so my mind only envisioned them as the metal and plastic things.
After my initial shock wore off I started to listen to what she had to say and it made a lot of sense. She spoke about how she talked to groups of children and she could imagine what the teachers told their students before coming in to listen to her speak, they would warn them about her legs and how they shouldn’t ask questions or stare, but rather they should just sit back and be polite. That is what is wrong with the educational system, we push down the curiosity; so rather then start off her talk with that awkward elephant in the room of her fake legs she invited only the students in for 2 minutes without adults. She eliminated the limitations that would hold back students from asking real questions that they had. Without the teachers and adults in the room the students were able to really express their thoughts and opinions, this lack of limits created a safe zone where they felt comfortable with Aimee and were willing to shout out any answer to any of her questions because there was not their fear of being wrong or being considered rude. Society is teaching children that people with disabilities are less capable then those without, but Aimee shows that you can lead a completely normal and inspiring life with the handicap.
Aimee Mullins has had the opportunity to combine two areas of education, technology and the arts, to create her own way of living with her 12 pairs of legs. She has learned that through the power of creativity she can reach out to more people than she ever thought possible. She has learned to embrace the curiosity and the questions because it is through the questions that students ask her that they learn how to explore the unknown. What I really took away from this TED talk was that creativity and curiosity are what really drive the human mind and the problem that is faced in so many schools is that those elements are all too frequently pushed to the back burner in favor of math and English, we teach students to fear the unknown rather than embrace it and the endless possibilities of their mind. One quote really struck me towards the end of Aimee’s speech she said, “To discover full potential in our humanity, we need to celebrate those heartbreaking strengths and those glorious disabilities that we have.” This means that we have to teach to the whole child, we must understand that each student possesses something worthwhile and it is the teacher’s job to pull that out and allow the world to see what that student has to offer.
No comments:
Post a Comment