Heather Lanier: "Good" and "bad" are incomplete stories we tell ourselves
荷樂 · 雷尼爾: 好或壞不是整個故事
Heather Lanier illuminates truths about the human condition that speak to both the head and the heart. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
about a farmer who lost his horse.
講的是一個農夫失掉一匹馬。
"Oh, that's too bad."
"Good or bad, hard to say."
and brings with it seven wild horses.
"Oh, that's so good!"
and says, "Good or bad, hard to say."
說:「好壞很難說。」
rides one of the wild horses,
騎乘其中的一匹野馬,
"Oh, that's terrible luck."
"Good or bad, hard to say."
knocking on people's doors,
and they pass him by.
就放過了他。
"Ooh, that's great luck!"
"Good or bad, hard to say."
looking on the bright side
to label a situation,
想要把情況貼個標籤,
incomplete stories that we tell ourselves.
to the story of good or bad,
to truly see a situation.
and loosen my grip
with curiosity and wonder.
wholeheartedly what was good.
was some version of a superbaby,
who possessed not a single flaw
flying into her superhero future.
had a super-high-functioning,
would help me make not just a good baby,
不只能讓我生個好嬰兒,
she weighed 4 pounds, 12 ounces,
重 4 磅 12 盎司,
two possible explanations
to lose the thread of his logic:
had an ultra-rare chromosomal condition
極為罕見的染色體狀況,
of her fourth chromosome.
with her syndrome
delays and disabilities.
of the farmer.
unequivocally bad to me.
I felt gripped by despair,
that all of this was tragic.
is much more fluid,
this mysterious person who was my kid,
would bounce her tiny body up and down
上下輕搖她小小的身體時,
the most stunning Lake Tahoe blue,
像太浩湖那樣令人驚艷的藍,
into other people's eyes.
hold her head up like other babies,
她不能像別的嬰兒那樣抬著頭,
intent eye contact.
aware baby I've ever seen."
最察覺的嬰兒。」
of her calm, attentive presence,
她平靜、專注存在的稟賦,
over to our house to work with Fiona
那時還沒辦法翻身尤其失望,
to wake her neurology up.
my daughter's body,
visit our house that first year,
they thought was bad about my kid.
我孩子不好的地方。
Fiona started using her right hand
我非常的高興,
on my child's left hand.
not to use this hand very often,
the fingers on that hand.
we should devise a splint,
to actually use those fingers,
使用那些手指頭,
into some position that looked normal.
扳到看起來正常的位置。
to realize a few things.
my kid had some bad therapists.
我孩子有幾個差勁的治療師。
a red pill or a blue pill,
my daughter's differences as bad;
that her therapists called,
她的治療師聲稱的目標:
when they could say about a kid,
or 'autistic' or 'different.'"
『遲緩』、『自閉』或是『不同』。」
was the path that erased
a disastrous pursuit,
my daughter had rare blueprints.
有罕見的基因藍圖。
to be like other people.
I could drop my story
and developmental delays and disabilities
that a more able-bodied life was better.
就比較好的這個想法。
about what made a life good or bad
是好是壞的文化偏見,
my daughter's life as it unfolded
out of the side of her mouth
her body onto her belly.
and rolled back onto her back,
to do it all over again,
under a coffee table.
她 12 磅重的身軀。
she'd gotten stuck there,
that her eye had been on all along:
她的眼睛一直盯著的東西:
pulling up to stand and toddling around,
自己站起來、蹣跚前進,
limber freedom of mobility.
肢體靈活的自由。
was a baby yanking on an electric cord,
是個拉扯電線的嬰兒,
that when I released my grip
and see what it was.
of the human experience.
to a new state in America,
batch of therapists.
all that was wrong with my kid.
as problems to fix.
視為應該修理的問題。
as normal as possible;
使菲右娜變得更正常,
be as independent as possible
however that looked for her.
不論什麼樣的潛能。
this open attitude about disabilities.
這種對殘疾的開放態度。
"birth defects,"
「先天的缺陷」,
were objects on a factory line.
生了個唐氏症的嬰兒,
had a baby with Down syndrome.
about a suicidal wheelchair user,
自殺者的商業大片,
wheelchair users tell us
decide what lives are not worth living.
決定什麼生命值不值得活。
children's hospital
to a lifesaving kidney transplant
of disabilities as bad manifests
故事的糟糕體現。
insidious counterstory --
with intellectual disabilities are good
to teach us something magical,
要教我們一些神奇的東西,
and always sweet.
who's one of God's special children,
and the communication device
in my daughter's life
又在我女兒的生命中出現,
身背天使的翅膀就會頭暈。
in angel's wings and a halo
don't experience the sticky complexities
especially as a baby,
that any other kid does,
shoved her two-year-old sister.
to annoy the hell out of you,
and complexity that that title brings,
mozzarella cheese sticks
can consume in one day --
my culture's beliefs
and iPad app to communicate,
I handed Fiona her iPad,
iPad 的頭一天,
or little square on her iPad app.
that my expectations were way too high,
to hit those tiny targets.
as she gradually learned
words she loved,
that her mouth couldn't yet say.
但是仍然有口難言的字彙。
less-fun words, prepositions --
不那麼有趣的字彙和介系詞,
at a dining room table
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Heather Lanier - Essayist, poetHeather Lanier illuminates truths about the human condition that speak to both the head and the heart.
Why you should listen
As an essayist and a poet, Heather Lanier's work spans a range of subjects, from parenting and disability to pop culture and religion. She is the author of two award-winning poetry chapbooks, The Story You Tell Yourself and Heart-Shaped Bed in Hiroshima, along with the nonfiction book, Teaching in the Terrordome: Two Years in West Baltimore with Teach For America, which MacArthur Genius Deborah Meier called "a heart-wrenching … much-needed account." She has received an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award and a Vermont Creation Grant.
In her viral Vela Magazine essay, "SuperBabies Don't Cry," Lanier chronicles her daughter's diagnosis of a rare chromosomal syndrome and explores the ways pregnant women are pressured to create perfect humans. As a mother and a disability advocate, she shines a light on ableist attitudes, encourages readers to see disability as an aspect of diversity, and marvels at the strange beauty of being human. Her book about raising her daughter is forthcoming from Penguin Press and Piatkus / Little, Brown UK. She writes a related blog here, and teaches writing at Southern Vermont College.
Heather Lanier | Speaker | TED.com