ask yourself how important is your independence today I'd like to give you an inside awareness of living life to its fullest for persons with disabilities and over the next 15 minutes I'll cover ideas on how I believe this can be achieved but first let me take you back inside a school in a bathroom a boy sits eating his lunch all alone it's recess so outside kids are playing having fun but this boy he's alone this boy was me when I was born doctors discovered that I had a spinal tumor that needed to be removed the
surgery was successful but left me partially paralyzed and by the time I was five years old I started using a wheelchair while there are many people who come to have physical disabilities later in life I grew up with it being the only thing I'd ever known a lot of my childhood was spent in and out of the hospital and while children learn different abilities on two legs I had to learn them on two wheels including learning how to make friends see when you're different from everyone making connections or making friends can be a bit of
a challenge and unfortunately I was no different now this is actually a common trend because according to a study conducted by Professor and Snowden at the University of Windsor 53 percent of children with disabilities both physical and mental have no friends so what changed with me how did I do it how did I get to the point where I'd eventually have the confidence to deliver a TED talk well I discovered sports baseball at first and I was obsessed I thought I'd outgrow this whole being in a wheelchair thing and eventually become the shortstop of the
Toronto Blue Jays that's me jumping out of my wheelchair to make a play I was serious and I didn't care if I'd get hurt sport for me became an outlet and over time it gave me confidence it taught me about coaching goal-setting but most importantly it taught me to do things on my own independently because when you have a disability being independent can be empowering and it can lead to other things like one day learning to drive using hand controls or living on your own or one day having the confidence to ask a girl out
on a date but why is this important why should all of you care well for one independent living allows individuals with disabilities to thrive and to have a full life and the other is that disability can happen to anyone even right here in this audience whether it be to circumstance or illness later in life as it stands right now more than 2.6 million Canadians over the age of 15 that have a disability need help with everyday activities and with an aging community especially right here in Mississauga the need to stay independent is going to be
crucial so I've broken it down into three areas I believe that can help cultivate independence the first is how we view or perceive disability and to me this symbols got to go what do you see when you see this I see someone in a wheelchair that's immobile that's dependent on others for mobility this doesn't represent me now this is actually the international symbol of access and it was introduced in 1969 by the Swedish handicap Institute it's been almost 50 years since this tired out-of-date symbol came to be and I think we can do better what
if we changed it to this this is the new dynamic symbol for accessibility and it's already been introduced in places like New York and Arizona and we're trying to get this right here in our province as part of an initiative called the forward movement started by Jonathan silver and Dylan itsuka what's this symbol has the ability to change the perception of disability and hopefully by the end of the year we can get this changed in parking lots around around Ontario and actually all of you can play a part in doing this if you go to
the forward movement dossier at the conclusion of today you can sign the petition and my hope is that we can change this as soon as possible but clearly it goes beyond just symbols we also need to change how people with disabilities are portrayed in the media 15% of the world's population has a disability and yet when was the last time you saw someone with a disability in an acting role what about a news reporter or an anchor too often when disability is portrayed in a TV show or movie the storyline revolves around illness or being
disadvantaged in some way to me the best way to showcase the potential of persons with disabilities is to focus on the Paralympics in 2012 I had the honor of representing Canada in the London Paralympics in fact that's me at the opening ceremonies it looks pretty excited during those games media coverage hit an all-time high in many international countries coverage had countless hours on all these to sports but let me ask how did it be fair here in in North America or here in Canada well how many people watched how many people watch the Rio Paralympic
Games last year or the Sochi games I didn't think so while media executives would likely state that there simply wouldn't be enough of an audience I believe this has to change NBC America's broadcaster of the Olympic Games sent 2800 staff to cover the Rio Olympics only 25 remained to cover the Paralympics Paralympians deserve the same amount of coverage media attention applause that Olympians get were athletes there are incredible storylines that come directly out of the Paralympics these stories have the ability to reduce the stigma associated with disability and they also have the opportunity to inspire
the next generation of Paralympians now sticking with this sport theme a second area of focus to enable independence for persons with disabilities is to stress the importance of physical activity I remember back in elementary school I was still getting the hang of using my wheelchair I had this incredible teacher that would throw me in with the rest of the class when it came to playing games or activities now for many of us dodgeball is a rite of passage when we were kids and when it came time to introduce the class to play dodgeball she simply
adapted the rules so that I could play in fact she told a class that in order to tag me out that the ball had to hit me and not my wheelchair well that meant that literally everyone started aiming for my head which they did successfully but you know what in avoiding the ball I started learning how to maneuver my wheelchair I learned that I could do some pretty cool things in a wheelchair I learned that I could pop wheelie I learned that I could spin I learned that I was an athlete I learned I had
hidden skills hidden that would one day lead to bigger things throughout school I had wonderful teachers that adapted games so that I could play and from this point on I realized that through physical activity I learned to do things on my own I might do things differently but by doing them on my own I felt empowered and in control my parents threw me into a number of team sports but while I was successful at those sports it never became a true passion of mine that is until I discovered wheelchair tennis now in wheelchair tennis there's
really only one rule difference we get a second bounce the first bounce has to land within the lines the second gap bounce can go wherever but by far the best thing about wheelchair tennis is that you can play it against an able-bodied person stay with me here but I would get two bounces on my side of the net and someone who uses two legs would get one ask any wheelchair tennis athlete and nothing gives us more satisfaction or make us laugh than beating someone on two legs wheelchair tennis was without a doubt the most important
thing that happened to my life it gave me confidence some might say talking us as well I learned to do things on my own I learned about coaching I traveled the world I became more resilient more social less introverted without a doubt wheelchair tennis is the single most important thing that happened to my life now we know about functional independence and how physical activity can help this but rarely is it discussed the importance of the social aspects of playing a wheelchair sport through wheelchair tennis I met other fit adults all of whom never used their
disability as an excuse for anything whenever the parent of a disabled child asks me for advice on getting there their son or daughter involved in a sport I invariably discuss the importance of friendships these friendships have the ability to carry over through adulthood they give you confidence and because of wheelchair tennis I found my own confidence now my spinal area of focus today to enable independence is the removal of barriers to accessibility right here in our community in my journeys as a Paralympian I travel to many countries some of these countries did a fantastic job
in terms of accessibility others legs far behind I always use the example of London transforming its city to become wheelchair accessible in preparation for the 2012 Paralympics all taxi cabs were made wheelchair accessible as you can see there's a ramp protruding from from this cab and all of them had this this meant that I could get anywhere in London in addition to this a new train line was built called the Jubilee Line the Jubilee Line meant that I could visit every single tourist attraction and it was purposely built wheelchair accessible now in other countries I
visited such as north and such as South America or Africa accessibility still had a long way to go now you might ask how we are here in Mississauga our own community well we are good but not great a specific example of this occurred this past February as many of you do I take the GO train into work every day I lived near streets ville and on a cold February morning I got out of my car into my wheelchair I rolled up to the elevator I press the button nothing happened I waited a few seconds I
pressed it again nothing happened I later found out that the elevator was out of service and that I would have to make alternative plans now luckily for me I'm able to drive a car using hand controls so I was able to find a way to work but for many other people with disabilities this was a complete disruption to their life this is unacceptable it's very tough to be independent when the infrastructure of a city remains inaccessible now it goes beyond just transportation but if you go to Toronto some of the city's most exciting and dynamic
neighborhoods remain largely inaccessible for people with physical disabilities now while there are there are organizations like stopgap that have helped put ramps in many businesses you can actually see them here in Port Credit or in streets Ville as well we still have a long way to go the way I see it is that if someone with a disability can't get to your business you've just lost the customer so the benefits really go both ways now while it's only played a part in accessibility has also led to more than half of all Canadians with disabilities to
being unemployed this number must change for those in the room or listening online who are decision makers hiring managers who possess the innate ability to create change let's get more people hired with disabilities who possess the drive the skills and the commitment to make an impact even right here in our own community a few weeks ago I was asked to attend an event at the CN Tower Toronto's most iconic landmark for the opening of new panoramic ceiling-to-floor windows because before these windows being installed someone with a disability or even a small child couldn't actually see
at out the window and I was as I was giving an interview I looked over my left shoulder and I saw a young boy in a wheelchair he must have been seven or eight years old he was looking out at this incredible view I thought to myself what well the next 20 years look like for him how will he manage on his own what path will he choose will he be an athlete a banker a teacher whatever path he chooses it will be his path his decisions because living life with a disability shouldn't prevent you
from living life to its full potential thank you [Applause]
