TED2009
Aimee Mullins: My 12 pairs of legs
Aimee Mullins i els seus 12 parells de cames
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Atleta, actriu i activista; Aimee Mullis ens parla sobre les seves cames protèsiques -en té una dotzena de parells increïbles - i els superpoders que li proporcionen: velocitat, bellesa, 10 centímetres més d'alçada... Simplement, ella redefineix el que el seu cos pot ser.
Aimee Mullins - Athlete and actor
A record-breaker at the Paralympic Games in 1996, Aimee Mullins has built a career as a model, actor and advocate for women, sports and the next generation of prosthetics. Full bio
A record-breaker at the Paralympic Games in 1996, Aimee Mullins has built a career as a model, actor and advocate for women, sports and the next generation of prosthetics. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
I was speaking to a group of about 300 kids,
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Parlava amb un grup de 300 nens,
00:15
ages six to eight, at a children's museum,
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d'edats entre sis i vuit anys, en el museu dels nens,
00:17
and I brought with me a bag full of legs,
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i portava una bossa plena de cames,
00:21
similar to the kinds of things you see up here,
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semblants a les que veieu allà dalt
00:23
and had them laid out on a table for the kids.
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i les vaig posar sobre una taula, pels nens.
00:25
And, from my experience, you know, kids are naturally curious
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i, per l'experiència que en tinc, els nens són especialment curiosos
00:29
about what they don't know, or don't understand,
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sobre allò que no coneixen o que no entenen,
00:31
or is foreign to them.
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o el que és extrany per ells.
00:33
They only learn to be frightened of those differences
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Només els espanten les diferències
00:35
when an adult influences them to behave that way,
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quan un adult els influencia perquè es comportin així,
00:38
and maybe censors that natural curiosity,
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i potser censura la seva curiositat natural,
00:41
or you know, reins in the question-asking
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o perquè els condiciona en una situació en que poden preguntar
00:44
in the hopes of them being polite little kids.
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amb l'esperança de que es comportin com nens ben educats.
00:46
So I just pictured a first grade teacher out in the lobby
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Només puc recordar el professor de primer a la recepció
00:50
with these unruly kids, saying, "Now, whatever you do,
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amb tots aquells nens esverats, dient: "Ara, sigueu bons i
00:53
don't stare at her legs."
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feu el favor de no mirar-li les cames".
00:55
But, of course, that's the point.
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Però, sens dubte, això era l'objectiu.
00:57
That's why I was there, I wanted to invite them to look and explore.
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Per això estava jo allà, volia convidar-los a mirar i explorar.
01:00
So I made a deal with the adults
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Així doncs vaig fer un pacte amb els adults
01:04
that the kids could come in without any adults for two minutes
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perquè els nens puguessin entrar, sense adults, durant dos minuts,
01:07
on their own.
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nomès ells sols.
01:09
The doors open, the kids descend on this table of legs,
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Les portes es van obrir, i els nens van anar directes a la taula amb les cames
01:13
and they are poking and prodding, and they're wiggling toes,
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i ells van poder tocar flexionar, moure els dits dels peus,
01:16
and they're trying to put their full weight on the sprinting leg
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provar de posar tot el seu pes sobre les cames de córrer
01:18
to see what happens with that.
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per veure què passava.
01:20
And I said, "Kids, really quickly --
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I jo vaig dir: "Nois, molt ràpid --
01:22
I woke up this morning, I decided I wanted to be able to jump over a house --
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M'he aixecat aquest matí i he decidit que m'agradaria poder saltar per sobre d'una casa
01:26
nothing too big, two or three stories --
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no massa gran, de dos o tres pisos --
01:28
but, if you could think of any animal, any superhero, any cartoon character,
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a veure si podeu inspirar-vos en algun animal, superheroi, personatge de dibuixos,
01:33
anything you can dream up right now,
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qualsevol cosa que pugueu imaginar ara mateix,
01:35
what kind of legs would you build me?"
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quin tipus de cames em construirieu?"
01:37
And immediately a voice shouted, "Kangaroo!"
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Imediatament un d'ell va cridar: "Un cangur!"
01:40
"No, no, no! Should be a frog!"
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"No, no no! Hauria de ser una granota!"
01:42
"No. It should be Go Go Gadget!"
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"No. Hauria de ser un saltador!"
01:44
"No, no, no! It should be the Incredibles."
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"No, no, no! Hauria de ser de 'Els Increïbles'"
01:46
And other things that I don't -- aren't familiar with.
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I altres coses que jo no... que no coneixia.
01:49
And then, one eight-year-old said,
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Llavors, un nen de vuit anys va dir:
01:51
"Hey, why wouldn't you want to fly too?"
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"Ei, per què no vols volar també?"
01:56
And the whole room, including me, was like, "Yeah."
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I tothom, jo també, vam dir: "Sí."
01:59
(Laughter)
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(Riures)
02:01
And just like that, I went from being a woman
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I, així, vaig passar de ser una dona
02:04
that these kids would have been trained to see as "disabled"
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que aquests nens haurien sigut educats per veure com una "discapacitada"
02:08
to somebody that had potential that their bodies didn't have yet.
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a algú que tenia un potencial que els seus cossos no tenien encara.
02:13
Somebody that might even be super-abled.
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Algú que podia podia ser fins i tot superdotat.
02:15
Interesting.
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Interessant.
02:17
So some of you actually saw me at TED, 11 years ago.
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Alguns de vosaltres ja em veu veure al TED, fa 11 anys,
02:22
And there's been a lot of talk about how life-changing this conference is
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i tots sabem com aquestes conferències revolucionen les nostres vides
02:26
for both speakers and attendees, and I am no exception.
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tant pels espectadors com per els conferenciants, i jo no sóc una excepció.
02:30
TED literally was the launch pad to the next decade of my life's exploration.
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TED va ser literalment la meva plataforma de llançament per la meva exploració la dècada següent.
02:36
At the time, the legs I presented were groundbreaking in prosthetics.
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Les cames que vaig presentar llavors eren unes pròtesis totalment innovadores.
02:41
I had woven carbon fiber sprinting legs
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Tenia unes cames per córrer fetes amb fibra de carboni
02:43
modeled after the hind leg of a cheetah,
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modelades imitant la pota del darrera d'un guepard,
02:45
which you may have seen on stage yesterday.
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que vau poder veure ahir a l'escenari.
02:47
And also these very life-like, intrinsically painted silicone legs.
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I també aquestes, molt més realistes, fetes de silicona pintada.
02:53
So at the time, it was my opportunity to put a call out
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En aquell moment, vaig tenir la oportunitat de fer una crida
02:57
to innovators outside the traditional medical prosthetic community
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als innovadors fóra del món de les pròtesis mèdiques
03:01
to come bring their talent to the science and to the art
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perquè aportessin el seu talent a la ciència i a l'art
03:05
of building legs.
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de fer cames.
03:07
So that we can stop compartmentalizing form, function and aesthetic,
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Perquè poguéssim deixar de compartimentar forma, funció i estètica,
03:12
and assigning them different values.
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i els poguéssim assignar diferents valors.
03:14
Well, lucky for me, a lot of people answered that call.
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Afortunadament per a mi, molta gent va respondre la meva crida.
03:18
And the journey started, funny enough, with a TED conference attendee --
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I va començar un viatge, força divertit, amb un assistent a aquella conferència TED --
03:23
Chee Pearlman, who hopefully is in the audience somewhere today.
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Chee Pearlman, qui per sort estarà per algun lloc en l'audiència d'avui.
03:26
She was the editor then of a magazine called ID,
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Ella era la editora d'una revista anomenada ID,
03:29
and she gave me a cover story.
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i em va concedir l'article d'una portada.
03:32
This started an incredible journey.
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Allò va fer que comencés un viatge increïble.
03:35
Curious encounters were happening to me at the time;
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Vaig tenir unes trobades ben curioses sense parar;
03:37
I'd been accepting numerous invitations to speak
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He acceptat moltes invitacions per parlar
03:40
on the design of the cheetah legs around the world.
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sobre el disseny de les cames de guepard per tot el món.
03:43
And people would come up to me after the conference, after my talk,
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La gent se m'acostava després de la conferència, desprès de parlar,
03:46
men and women.
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homes i dones.
03:48
And the conversation would go something like this,
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I les converses anàvem més o menys així:
03:50
"You know Aimee, you're very attractive.
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"Saps Aimee, ets molt atractiva.
03:54
You don't look disabled."
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No sembles discapacitada."
03:56
(Laughter)
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(Riures)
03:57
I thought, "Well, that's amazing,
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I jo pensava: "Bé, és increïble,
03:59
because I don't feel disabled."
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perquè jo no em sento discapacitada."
04:01
And it really opened my eyes to this conversation
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I allò em va fer obrir els ulls a aquella conversa
04:06
that could be explored, about beauty.
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que es podia explorar: la bellesa.
04:08
What does a beautiful woman have to look like?
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Com ha de ser una dona per ser atractiva?
04:11
What is a sexy body?
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Necessita un cos sexy?
04:13
And interestingly, from an identity standpoint,
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I curiosament, des del punt de vista d'identitat,
04:15
what does it mean to have a disability?
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què vol dir tenir una discapacitat?
04:18
I mean, people -- Pamela Anderson has more prosthetic in her body than I do.
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Vull dir, gent -- la Pamela Anderson porta més pròtesis que jo al seu cos.
04:21
Nobody calls her disabled.
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i ningú diu que sigui una discapacitada.
04:23
(Laughter)
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(Riures)
04:29
So this magazine, through the hands of graphic designer Peter Saville,
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Així doncs, aquesta revista de la mà del dissenyador gràfics Peter Saville
04:33
went to fashion designer Alexander McQueen, and photographer Nick Knight,
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van convencer al dissenyador de moda Alexander McQueen, i al fotògraf Nick Knight,
04:38
who were also interested in exploring that conversation.
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que també estaven interessats en aquesta idea.
04:40
So, three months after TED I found myself on a plane
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Així doncs, tres mesos després d'estar al TED, em trobava en un avió
04:43
to London, doing my first fashion shoot,
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cap a Londres, fent la meva primera sessió de fotos de moda
04:48
which resulted in this cover --
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Que va apareixer en aquesta portada
04:49
"Fashion-able"?
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Mod-ificada?
04:52
Three months after that, I did my first runway show for Alexander McQueen
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Tres mesos després d'allò, vaig fer la meva primera desfilada per l'Alexander McQueen
04:56
on a pair of hand-carved wooden legs made from solid ash.
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sobre un parell de cames de fusta tallades a mà fetes de freixa massissa.
05:01
Nobody knew -- everyone thought they were wooden boots.
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Ningú ho va notar, tothom va pensar que eren botes de fusta.
05:04
Actually, I have them on stage with me:
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De fet, les tinc aquí al escenari amb mi:
05:07
grapevines, magnolias -- truly stunning.
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parres, magnòlies, veritablement impressionants.
05:12
Poetry matters.
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La poesia importa.
05:15
Poetry is what elevates the banal and neglected object
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La poesia és el que eleva les coses banals i els objectes marginats
05:20
to a realm of art.
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al reialme del art.
05:22
It can transform the thing that might have made people fearful
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Pot transformar les coses que fan que la gent s'espanti
05:28
into something that invites them to look,
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en coses agradables de mirar
05:30
and look a little longer,
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i mirar una mica més enllà,
05:33
and maybe even understand.
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i potser arribes inclòs a entendre-les.
05:35
I learned this firsthand with my next adventure.
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vaig aprendre això de primera mà en la meva següent aventura.
05:39
The artist Matthew Barney, in his film opus called the "The Cremaster Cycle."
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L'artista Matthew Barney, en les seves pel·lícules "The Cremaster Cycle".
05:43
This is where it really hit home for me --
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Aquí és on realment em va colpir,
05:46
that my legs could be wearable sculpture.
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va dir que les meves cames eren escultures per portar.
05:48
And even at this point, I started to move away from the need to replicate human-ness
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A partir d'aquest punt, vaig començar a deixar de pensar en la necessitat d'imitar la forma humana
05:55
as the only aesthetic ideal.
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com a únic objectiu estètic.
05:57
So we made what people lovingly referred to as glass legs
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Així que vam construir el que la gent va anomenar cames de vidre
06:01
even though they're actually optically clear polyurethane,
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encara que, de fet, son de poliuterà transparent,
06:05
a.k.a. bowling ball material.
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també conegut com el material per fer boles de bitlles.
06:07
Heavy!
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Pesades!
06:08
Then we made these legs that are cast in soil
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Després vam fer aquestes cames moldejades com terra
06:10
with a potato root system growing in them, and beetroots out the top,
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amb un sistema d'arrels de patata que creix a dins, i remolatxa sortint per dalt,
06:14
and a very lovely brass toe.
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i un preciós dit metàlic.
06:16
That's a good close-up of that one.
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Aquí podeu veure'n una ampliació.
06:18
Then another character was a half-woman, half-cheetah --
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Un altre personatge era la mig dona, mig guepard --
06:20
a little homage to my life as an athlete.
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un petit homenatge a la meva vida d'atleta.
06:22
14 hours of prosthetic make-up
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14 hores de maquillatge protèsic
06:25
to get into a creature that had articulated paws,
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per aconseguir una criatura de potes articulades,
06:29
claws and a tail that whipped around,
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urpes i una cua que es movia,
06:33
like a gecko.
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com la d'un llangardaix.
06:35
(Laughter)
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(Riures)
06:37
And then another pair of legs we collaborated on were these --
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I un altre parell de cames en les que vem col·laborar són aquestes...
06:41
look like jellyfish legs,
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semblen els tentacles d'una medussa.
06:43
also polyurethane.
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també són de poliuterà transparent
06:45
And the only purpose that these legs can serve,
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i l'únic objectiu que tenen,
06:48
outside the context of the film,
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fora del context de la pel·lícula,
06:51
is to provoke the senses and ignite the imagination.
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és per provocar els sentits i fer volar la imaginació.
06:54
So whimsy matters.
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Els capricis són importants.
06:57
Today, I have over a dozen pair of prosthetic legs
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Avui, tinc més d'una dotzena de parells de cames protèsiques
07:03
that various people have made for me,
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que diferents persones han dissenyat per a mi,
07:05
and with them I have different negotiations of the terrain under my feet,
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i amb cadascuna d'elles noto el terra sota meu de manera diferent.
07:09
and I can change my height --
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Puc canviar la meva alçada --
07:11
I have a variable of five different heights.
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Puc tenir fins a cinc alçades diferents.
07:13
(Laughter)
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(Riures)
07:15
Today, I'm 6'1".
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Avui, medeixo 1,86.
07:17
And I had these legs made a little over a year ago
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Aquestes me les van fer fa una mica més d'un any
07:20
at Dorset Orthopedic in England
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al Dorset Orthopaedic a Anglaterra
07:22
and when I brought them home to Manhattan,
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i quan les vaig portar a Manhattan,
07:24
my first night out on the town, I went to a very fancy party.
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la primera nit que vaig sortir, vaig anar a una festa ben luxosa.
07:26
And a girl was there who has known me for years
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Hi vaig trobar una noia a qui coneixia de feia anys
07:29
at my normal 5'8".
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a la meva mida normal de 1,76.
07:31
Her mouth dropped open when she saw me,
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Es va quedar al·lucinada quan em va veure,
07:33
and she went, "But you're so tall!"
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va dir: "Però que alta estàs!"
07:36
And I said, "I know. Isn't it fun?"
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I vaig contestar: "Si. No és divertit?"
07:38
I mean, it's a little bit like wearing stilts on stilts,
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Vull dir, és una mica com portar xanques sobre xanques,
07:40
but I have an entirely new relationship to door jams
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però ara tinc una nova relació amb el marcs de les portes
07:43
that I never expected I would ever have.
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que mai havia experimentat abans.
07:45
And I was having fun with it.
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I era realment divertit.
07:48
And she looked at me,
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Ella em va mirar
07:50
and she said, "But, Aimee, that's not fair."
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i em va dir: "Però, Aimee, això no és just,"
07:52
(Laughter)
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(Riures)
07:55
(Applause)
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(Aplaudiments)
07:57
And the incredible thing was she really meant it.
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I el més increïble és que ho pensava de veritat.
08:01
It's not fair that you can change your height,
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No és just que tu puguis canviar la teva altura,
08:03
as you want it.
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quan vulguis.
08:05
And that's when I knew --
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I llavors vaig saber --
08:07
that's when I knew that the conversation with society
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vaig saber que la relació amb la societat
08:10
has changed profoundly
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havia canviat profundament
08:12
in this last decade.
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en l'última dècada.
08:14
It is no longer a conversation about overcoming deficiency.
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Ja no es tracta de superar les mancances.
08:19
It's a conversation about augmentation.
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És tracta d'anar més enllà.
08:21
It's a conversation about potential.
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Es tracta del potencial.
08:25
A prosthetic limb doesn't represent the need to replace loss anymore.
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Una extremitat protèsica ja no representa la necessitat de substituir una pèrdua.
08:30
It can stand as a symbol that the wearer
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Pot ser el símbol de que la persona que la porta
08:33
has the power to create whatever it is that they want to create
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te el poder de crear el que vulgui crear
08:36
in that space.
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en aquell lloc.
08:38
So people that society once considered to be disabled
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Així, la gent que abans la societat considerava discapacitada
08:41
can now become the architects of their own identities
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ara poden esdevenir arquitectes de la seva pròpia identitat
08:46
and indeed continue to change those identities
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i, a més, poden anar canviar aquestes identitats
08:48
by designing their bodies
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dissenyant els seus cossos
08:50
from a place of empowerment.
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des d'un punt avantatjós.
08:53
And what is exciting to me so much right now
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I ara mateix, el que em fa estat tant contenta
08:58
is that by combining cutting-edge technology --
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és que combinant la tecnologia punta --
09:02
robotics, bionics --
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robòtica, biònica --
09:04
with the age-old poetry,
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amb l'antiga poesia,
09:06
we are moving closer to understanding our collective humanity.
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ens estem acostem a entendre millor la nostra condició humana.
09:12
I think that if we want to discover the full potential
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Penso que si volem descobrir el ple potencial
09:17
in our humanity,
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de la nostra humanitat,
09:19
we need to celebrate those heartbreaking strengths
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hem de celebrar aquests enormes potencialitats
09:23
and those glorious disabilities that we all have.
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i les magnífiques incapacitats que tots tenim.
09:26
I think of Shakespeare's Shylock:
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Penso en el Shylock de Shakespeare:
09:29
"If you prick us, do we not bleed,
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"Si ens punxeu, no sagnem,
09:33
and if you tickle us, do we not laugh?"
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i si ens feu pessigolles, no riem?"
09:36
It is our humanity,
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És la nostra humanitat,
09:39
and all the potential within it,
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i tot el potencial que té,
09:41
that makes us beautiful.
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el que ens fa preciosos.
09:44
Thank you.
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Gràcies.
09:45
(Applause)
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(Aplaudiments)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Aimee Mullins - Athlete and actorA record-breaker at the Paralympic Games in 1996, Aimee Mullins has built a career as a model, actor and advocate for women, sports and the next generation of prosthetics.
Why you should listen
Aimee Mullins was born without fibular bones, and had both of her legs amputated below the knee when she was an infant. She learned to walk on prosthetics, then to run -- competing at the national and international level as a champion sprinter, and setting world records at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta. At Georgetown, where she double-majored in history and diplomacy, she became the first double amputee to compete in NCAA Division 1 track and field.
After school, Mullins did some modeling -- including a legendary runway show for Alexander McQueen -- and then turned to acting, appearing as the Leopard Queen in Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle. In 2008 she was the official Ambassador for the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival.
She's a passionate advocate for a new kind of thinking about prosthetics, and recently mentioned to an interviewer that she's been looking closely at MIT's in-development powered robotic ankle, "which I fully plan on having."
Aimee Mullins | Speaker | TED.com