Category Archives: respect
Wisdom from My Flaming Hot Rod Wheelchair – A “Wisdom & Wonder” TEDxFrontRange talk in 2015
My people
and I had the most amazing Saturday in Loveland at the TEDxFrontRange event. If you did not get the opportunity to attend live, we will have a video link soon. It was pretty awesome all the way around and I met some really amazing new friends.
For those who don’t know, TED, Technology Entertainment and Design, first was founded in 1984 amongst the Silicon Valley folks and it began the talks in 1990. TEDx is the local community version of the “ideas worth sharing” ritual made so popular by TED TALKS.
Facebook is famous for TED Talk links.
And so, the talk began:
Hello, my name is Nick Roussos and this is my job coach, Audrey Hendricks. I am so excited to be part of the TEDxFront Range talks this year. I am a man living with [spastic] cerebral palsy, a complication which developed at birth. As a result, my vocal chords do not speak my words.
It is ironic that someone like me, who speaks differently than most people, is giving a TED Talk at this TEDxFrontRange event. It just goes to show how far technology, and more importantly humanity, has come.
Support your local TEDx Talks. They really are ideas worth sharing and we find them in musicians, technology experts, teachers and administrators, slam poets, athletes, and yes, even guys in flaming hot-rod wheelchairs.
Thank you to all the TEDx volunteers and brain children who made it possible to speak.
Dude, the Fun is Just the Same!!
I like to do many activities that other able-bodied people do, it may look a little different and take a bit more support; but I have just as much fun as you.
One thing that can stop me in my tracks, though, is one little word that begins with the letter “R.”. The word “retard” is a hurtful word that means more than what many think it does. It’s not a light word to be thrown about among friends. It is a word that carries a lot of weight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUB1az40gUM
Just like anyone else, I don’t like to be labeled or referred to as anything less than the person who I am. When I hear the word, “Retard,” it makes me feel sad and hurt. It makes me feel like my power has been taken away; like I cannot do all of the things that I would like to. It makes me feel angry and resentful of the people that use it with such carelessness.
I don’t like to feel all of these negative emotions. I like to be positive and try my best. I like to believe we are only limited by our own imaginations. I like to think that if others truly understood the impact the word “retard” can have, they would stop using it, Completely; and not just brush away the concerns of the differently-abled by explaining they “didn’t mean it in that way.”
To all of those who use the r-word regularly,I have one simple request:
Think before you speak.
We all live in one community, one world, and we can make it better if we show each other the same amount of respect that we expect for ourselves and our loved ones. We all need to be aware of the power the words we chose to use can have.
Spread the Word to End the Word!
Awesome in Action, Co 