Caroline Casey: Looking Past Limits

Caroline Casey's amazing story is told through her inspiring TED Talk from the TEDWomen conference in 2010; her story is one that emphasizes the wrongs of labeling those with disabilities. She begins with a question, "Can any of you remember what you wanted to be when you were 17?", then moves into an anecdote about her aspirations as a teenager. She says how when she was 17, she wanted to be a biker chic or maybe race cars. When she told her parents of this dream, they informed her that there was no way she could achieve it, because she has been legally blind her entire life. How does someone grow up not knowing they are blind, you ask? Well Caroline Casey explains the answer to this in her speech that discusses how much of an impact labels have on judgements of yourself and others.

Caroline Casey delivering her speech 

Now, the simplest explanation for this is that her parents just did not tell her, so she grew up learning to live with the blindness that she didn't know she had. The important parts of her story, such as this, are emphasized with dramatized hand gestures, lots of eye contact, and lots of humor. Especially during her opening anecdote were these techniques utilized, so that the audience reacts stronger to the fact that she has been blind since birth and didn't find out about it until she was 17. Her hand gestures included lots of pointing, especially when she was showing the audience things that she could and could not see while on stage. The use of these gestures as well as her opening anecdote helped the audience connect with her much more easily. I think the audience was definitely not sure what to expect from the beginning, because you could hear and see their reactions when she told them she was blind. If I were Caroline, the only thing I would have changed about this speech is to have a little less anecdote especially towards the end, and a little more generalization of her story to the entire disabled community because she only had about 30 seconds of that towards the end.

Caroline using hand gestures to get her point across

As the speech goes on,  Caroline explains how her parents avoided putting her in special needs schools. They just did not want her to be labeled as "legally blind" or "disabled" or anything similar to that because they felt that she would fall into a state of self-fulfilling prophecy. With that being said, they didn't want her to be treated differently or change things about herself just because she is labeled as different from everyone else.

So, this TED talk is titled "Looking Past Limits" because Caroline truly wants to show how putting labels on humans with disabilities creates limitations for them, therefore not allowing them to reach their full potentials. This can be generalized to all people with disabilities, especially children, not getting all of the opportunities that they deserve solely because they are labeled as something different than the norm. I think that Caroline's main point here is that these labels are demeaning and the term "special needs" should not be used as strongly as it is now in our society, because that is the sole reason her parents did not send her to a special needs school when she was younger. Also, she never would have obtained any of the jobs she has had in her adult life if they would have known she was considered legally blind. All in all, this sound message combined with her enthusiastic and uplifting delivery created a speech that most definitely resonates in the minds of all who watch it; and in the words of Caroline, "It is extraordinary how far belief can take you".

Link to the TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/caroline_casey_looking_past_limits?language=en#t-31056

It's the Little Things That Make the Biggest Difference

Volunteers explain the next activity to their buddy

After just a few weeks of getting to work with the amazing kids in LYSA TOPSoccer, I have learned so many insightful things about children with disabilities.  First off and most importantly, I have realized the value of patience in working with these kids. Patience is absolutely essential in teaching them the game of soccer because they can't always comprehend and act on what you say after the first time you give them a direction. I experienced this first hand-- the buddy I was assigned to on the first week, named Damien, has been diagnosed with ADHD as well as Autism.  He had trouble following directions and all he seemed to want to do was run around and do the opposite of whatever we told him. So to sum up, that week I came back to campus tired out and frustrated with the lack of progress.  Two weeks later I was assigned to Damien again and got to see him already drastically improving in so many different ways.  The beginning of the practice was very similar to that first week I was working with him, but as time passed his other buddy and I collaborated and found activities that peaked his interest more than others.  With our patience combined with our persistence to help him achieve his very best, Damien's other buddy and I worked together to help him improve in merely 2 weeks time.  At the very end of the practice, Damien's mother came up to us and said: "That is the most that he has touched the soccer ball in probably a month. Whatever you guys are doing, keep it up!".  This statement just uplifted me and really made me feel like I was making a difference in someone's life.

Child watches his buddy dribble towards the goal

Another observation I made about working with disabled children is the extreme amounts of encouragement and effort that the buddy has to put in to make sure the child understands what you are asking them to do. As shown in the photo on the right of a previous practice, the buddy sometimes has to demonstrate the action that you want them to mimic, for example "dribbling" or "shooting" the ball. Through persistence and lots of positive words, the child ends up learning the exercise.   Seeing the proud smile on my buddy's face when he accomplishes something new is one of the main reasons I keep looking forward to coming back to TOPSoccer week after week!

It's More Than a Game

This picture, from the LYSA TOPSoccer website,
shows buddies and players from previous years in action.

Lending a helping hand to others has always been a passion of mine that I have demonstrated through my love and constant pursuit of volunteering;  and I get the lucky opportunity to be able to earn credit for a class and do projects through work in a volunteer organization! The organization LYSA TOPSoccer was presented to me and I knew instantly that it was perfect for me due to my experience with soccer as well as my previous work with special needs children.  Through extensive research, I learned many enlightening and heartwarming things about this organization and how strongly it impacts the lives of children.

The main aim of LYSA TOPSoccer is to help children with special needs learn the game of soccer through relaxed drills and fun activities. This is done through one-on-one pairings of athletes to buddies-- us volunteers being the buddies. According to their website, the buddies attend to the physical, cognitive, behavioral, sensory and hearing needs of their athletes while giving them constant encouragement to improve.

This program began in August of 2009 and has been growing exponentially since.  It is a community-based soccer program that has truly impacted the lives of so many young individuals.  With an age range of 4-18, no child will be turned down the opportunity to get the chance to learn and play soccer in such an engaging and positive environment.

I actually got the opportunity to participate this past weekend in a practice, and it exceeded my expectations. I was paired up with a boy named Damien who made me smile from the moment I started talking to him.  His energy was unbelievable, and the time we spent hanging out and playing soccer made me so eager to come back for the next practice. I got to observe how Damien overcame the physical and mental obstacles that his ADHD and Autism created, and seeing him improve in merely an hours worth of practice just made my day.

All in all, I absolutely cannot wait to continue volunteering with this organization.  It has already been exciting as well as eye-opening and I've only been to one practice!

Website Citation:

LYSA TOPSoccer. (2012). Retrieved September 15, 2015.