The Power of One | Preethi Srinivasan | TEDxIBABangalore
## Speaker Context
- Speaker identity: Quadriplegic speaker (name not given, described by speaker).
- Audience, setting, occasion of the talk: Unspecified setting, seems like a public address or talk.
- Framing the speaker establishes: The speaker is "the power of one" and "the face and voice of this invisible segment of society."
## People
- Father: Passed away when the speaker was nine months old, and again at 57 years old (the speaker mentions two instances).
- Toby: Golden Labrador Retriever who was nine months old when the speaker's father passed away.
- Mentor/Unnamed Source: Gave advice to the speaker's mother ("be the change," "be the power of one").
- Friend(s) (General): Those who make assumptions about people in wheelchairs.
- Father's friends: Those who questioned the speaker's family care capabilities.
- Children (in the village story): Children aged 8 to 16 from the village in Africa.
- Mother: The speaker's mother, who had a heart attack and who struggles to sign a cheque properly.
## Organizations
- Tamil Nadu senior women's cricket team: Team the speaker was the first and youngest girl to play for.
- Madras University: Institution where the speaker was admitted for practical classes.
- Soul Free: A public charitable trust spreading awareness about spinal cord injury in India.
## Places
- Tiruvannamalai: Town where the speaker lives, described as a beautiful spiritual temple town.
- India: Country where the speaker gives examples of societal issues (e.g., rehabilitation centers, low incidence of long-term facilities).
- Village (in Africa): Location visited by an anthropologist where the competition story took place.
## Tools, Tech & Products
- Wheelchair: Used by the speaker; used to illustrate accessibility needs.
- Speech activated software: Used by the speaker to become employed.
- Helmet: Example of something the audience can be the "power of one" by choosing to wear.
## Concepts & Definitions
- Disability: Conceptualized by the speaker as "a matter of degree," and questioning the societal definition.
- Power of One/Oneness: The central concept; the belief that collective unity is stronger than individual achievement or competition.
- Ubuntu: A basic concept taught in the speaker's village, meaning everyone near needs to be happy, grow, and uplifted.
- Being "Left Out": The emotional state of feeling excluded or that injustice has happened.
- Invisible segment of society: The group the speaker represents (those with disabilities, implied).
- Closed mind: Defined by the speaker as the *only* real disability.
## Numbers & Data
- Nine months old: Age of Toby when the speaker's father passed away.
- 45 minutes: Duration of the daily run with Toby.
- Two to three kilometer: Distance of the daily run with Toby.
- 100: Reference number used to highlight how few people in a group of 100 could touch their nose with their tongue.
- 2%: Academic percentile in which the speaker was in the top.
- Three: Number of children who were used in the Labrador Retriever example (if interpreting "a two three kilometer run" as distinct segments, or simply the number of friends referenced).
- 15 days: Duration of practical classes the speaker was told she could not attend due to her condition.
- Top two percentile: Academic ranking the speaker was in.
- Two years: Duration the speaker stayed inside the house due to panic attacks.
- 12 to 16 hours a day: Hours people reportedly work when striving for success.
- 1 billion strong: Estimated population of the country (India).
- One fifth: Proportion of the world's population that is female.
- Three: Number of existing long-term rehabilitation centers mentioned for spinal cord injury (in the country).
- 14: Reference number for the Pune permanent facility (implies 1/4 is permanent).
- 38 minutes: Interval rate at which spinal cord injuries happen (one happens every 38 minutes).
- 8: Age when the speaker became the first and youngest girl to play for the Tamil Nadu senior women's cricket team.
- 57 years old: Age of the speaker's father when he passed away.
## Claims & Theses
- The speaker claims the tongue is the strongest muscle in the body.
- The speaker asserts that if she made the strongest person, she could make the body turn the crowd.
- The speaker asserts that a person being in a wheelchair does not mean they cannot do anything.
- The speaker claims that society conditions people to feel that "I am different from you and my needs are more important than yours."
- The speaker asserts that the impulse to compare leads automatically to competition.
- The speaker claims that competition leads to conflict, and conflict leads to war.
- The speaker asserts that true growth can only happen "with others."
- The speaker claims that the ability to function in modern life (e.g., moving through a university) is not limited by physical ability (citing the working ramp at Madras University).
- The speaker claims that the "real achievement" was setting a precedent for others.
- The speaker asserts that I can be the happiest person here and now, requiring no external validation.
- The speaker claims that "nothing to lose at all" except illusions is what allows for freedom.
- The speaker claims that the power of oneness is demonstrated when children hold hands and walk together rather than competing for resources.
- The speaker claims that being the power of one requires actions like choosing to wear a helmet or being a designated driver.
- The speaker claims that if people support them (by giving jobs/education), they will work twice as hard.
- The speaker claims that the only real disability is a closed mind.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- Conditioning process: Establishing the belief that one is different from others and one's needs are primary.
- Competition mechanism: The process of needing to compare oneself to others to ensure having "more than you."
- Conflict escalation: Competition leading to conflict, and conflict leading to war.
- Rehabilitation/Reintegration Process: The goal of getting persons with spinal cord injury back into society through education and income.
- Healing/Transformation: The process described by the speaker involving going "within" to find something eternal beyond birth and death.
## Timeline & Events
- Early Childhood: Receiving the conditioning that "I am different from you."
- Childhood (Cricket): Playing cricket on the streets, involving ownership and disputes over equipment.
- Period before Paralysis: Being the star, believing she deserved everything (implied period of high achievement).
- Incident: Falling into water during a college excursion.
- After Incident: Becoming paralyzed below the neck, and subsequently living in the house for about two years due to panic attacks.
- At age eight: Becoming the first and youngest girl to play for the Tamil Nadu senior women's cricket team.
- College Attempt: Being told she could not get admitted into a Correspondence/long-distance study program in India.
- After near-death experiences: Starting "mouth painting" (healing/art expression).
- Later Life: Getting invitations to schools, colleges, and corporate houses to teach spoken English/Tamil numbers.
- Over time: The speaker started working full-time as a writer for a movie-based website and using speech-activated software.
- Immediate Past: The speaker's father passing away overnight; mother having a heart attack; having no income.
- Investigation/Current Concern: Discovering the lack of long-term rehabilitation centers in India.
- Recent History: Experiencing the realization that two paraplegic girls in the speaker's acquaintances were forced to commit suicide.
## Examples & Cases
- Golden Labrador Retriever named Toby: The speaker cared for him after her father passed, taking him for a daily 45-minute run for 2-3 km in Tiruvannamalai.
- The tongue touching the nose: Used to demonstrate physical capability despite assumptions.
- Friend group in cricket: The kid who owns the bat and ball and claims ownership when interrupted.
- Academic success: Being in the top 2% of the American student population who could have gone to Yale or Princeton or Howard.
- Water Incident: Falling into about two and a half feet of water, leading to C4-C5 level cervical spinal cord injury, causing paralysis below the neck.
- Madras University Ramp: The working ramp in the ID building of Madras University, allowing students who can walk to use it, prompting questions about stairs.
- Corporate Meeting: Speaking to the top management of big companies and being asked what they are "living for."
- Village Story (Africa): An anthropologist giving children from 8 to 16 a basket of fruit and making them run, where the children walked together rather than fighting.
- Speaker's Current Life: Teaching spoken English and spoken Tamil numbers to Westerners in Tiruvannamalai.
## Trade-offs & Alternatives
- Being a star/achiever vs. becoming the invisible one: The perceived contrast between her past identity and her current physical state.
- Competing for resources vs. cooperating/oneness: The contrast between individual accumulation/comparison and mutual support.
- Competing with self vs. competing with others: The realization that internal competition is preferable to external competition.
- Living limited vs. being fully alive: The trade-off between restricted existence and full freedom in the present moment.
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- The initial assumption: If you are in a wheelchair, people automatically assume you can't do anything.
- The necessity of support: The realization that even the speaker's family needed external help (e.g., mother needing someone to sign a cheque).
- The flawed assumption of institutional care: The fact that there is "not even one long-term rehabilitation center" for girls in her condition.
- The challenge to the norm: Questioning why ramps are needed if people can walk up them, as people who can walk can walk up ramps.
## Methodology
- Observation: Observing the immediate physical capabilities of the audience (tongue touching nose).
- Storytelling: Using personal narrative (Toby, the fall, the village) to illustrate macro concepts.
- Research/Data Gathering: Discovering statistics about spinal cord injury incidence and lack of local rehab facilities.
## References Cited
- Anthropologist: One of the world's leading anthropologists who visited the African village.
- Lord of things: An undefined entity/concept mentioned regarding the speaker's spiritual journey.
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- The speaker's primary call to action: "I need to create an inclusive society that's wheelchair accessible that is truly inclusive in terms of providing good education that that can provide employment entrepreneurship reintegration into society after any serious condition."
- General appeals: Choosing to wear a helmet, being a designated driver, and talking to people in wheelchairs.
- Direct appeals: To "befriend us, give us jobs, give us education."
- Final appeal: To be the power of one by simply changing the way one thinks and deciding to cooperate instead of compete.
## Implications & Consequences
- If the status quo remains: People will continue to be ostracized, live in isolation, and fall victim to lack of support (illustrated by the suicide case).
- If the principles are adopted: India will become the number one country in the world very soon.
- If the community acts: The power of oneness can be leveraged for collective societal upliftment.
## Open Questions
- How can India make it happen to create the necessary inclusive infrastructure?
- What does the speaker mean by "lord of things came my way" regarding what she was ready to do?
## Verbatim Moments
- "If you're in a wheelchair people automatically assume you can't do anything why should it be that way right"
- "I'm the power of one I'm the face and voice of this invisible segment of society"
- "We are trying to give them wheelchairs we're trying to mobilize them we're trying to give them that faith that they are not a shame and a burden they have value just like everyone else"
- "the bottom line is the bottom line right if you have money in your pocket nobody treats you like"
- "the only real disability is a closed mind"
- "I can say I've been there done that to boat"
- "I only lost my illusions and I can be totally free"
- "Ubuntu everyone near me needs to be happy everyone near me needs to grow everyone near me needs upliftment"
- "I'll offer all of you free hugs"