TED - Remaking my Voice - Feel Good Friday

I am hijacking Vanessa Feel Good Friday. Shhh don’t tell her.

There are so many wonderful inspirational stories out there. The one that touched me this week was from the TED conference. If you haven’t heard of TED let me start by saying WOW you have to check it out. It is a non-profit organization stands for Technology Entertainment and Design. The notion of TED is that individuals are sharing ideas worth spreading and supporting. Each story you hear is more amazing than the next.

Ted has over 700 talks that can be viewed online under Creative Commons license. This means that you can utilize these talks in presentations and classrooms as long as you provide credit to TED. There are many powerful speakers in the archives from TED that at times you are moved to tears because of the story and times you sit and cheer for what has been accomplished by one person on a mission.

Most people know the story of Robert Ebert. How he was a famous film critic. Then one day he received news that he had cancer and a new journey in life had begun. Just like the roller coasters in the amusement park so began his journey with all the twist, turns and drops that one can handle. Each one knocking the wind out of his sail but he getting back up to take flight because he wants to live a full life with the people he loves. In the end of one journey he finds that he has lost the money maker his momma had given him. The voice millions had come to know as Robert Ebert would be no more. Robert needed to take a journey that so many thousands take each year to find a way to communicate with their loved ones. It is a journey that he found some solutions that just didn't work for one reason or another.

In his TED conversation, you hear the message that yes; he has lost the voice that was his identity for so long and how he searched and searched for "his" voice. But in this powerful conversation, it is not the voice that speaks the message that conveys the message; it is the desire to make an impact with words regardless if they are spoken with voice or on the written page you see in his facial expressions, the touch of his wife’s hand that even without a voice he is speaking volumes. You see a man that loves life, wants to share life with all and has a message for others to hear. You experience the emotions of the moment and gives you pause to think "should I bank my own voice files just in case".

In Remaking my Voice, you hear the sadness and frustration that Mr. Ebert feels. This feeling is something that many AAC users feel. They feel that they are too slow and abled body listeners are too impatient. From my own brief experience, I can say this is what I learned also. Listening to Remaking my voice, you are humbled to see the journey this man has taken and you are also inspired to see that after a loss you can find your way.

Life is a journey not a destination. Enjoy each moment you have, embrace the differences you and know that you are special to everyone you meet. Have a wonderful Friday.

Our own unique voice

First let me start by saying I am not a speech language pathologist. Now that is out of the way, let me say that the most powerful tool that we own and that is unique to each individual is our voice. For years, Augmentative and Alternative Communication has been about giving individuals who had limited use, lost or never had a voice the power of a voice. The downfall was that most AAC users that had similar devices also had similar voices. Over the years, the voice choices quantity and quality have improved immensely. Now technology has given one well known individual the power – the uniqueness of his voice back. Roger Ebert best known for as a Movie Critic on At the Movies lost the power of his voice because of complications from thyroid cancer surgery in 2006.

As many of us have done on a daily basis, Ebert was web surfing when he came upon a A Scottish firm called CereProc that was using text to speech to re-create famous voices. Life is always about chance meetings and possibility. Ebert came upon a possible solution for his desire to be back broadcasting and the possibility of his loved ones and fans to hear his unique voice once again.

Ebert appeared on the Opera show to demonstrate his “new” old voice. The most powerful image you can witness is his wife crying because it was the first time she has heard her love's voice since 2006.

For me, it gave me hope. It reminded me of a friend that had a rare genetic disorder that as it progressed would rob him of his voice. A voice that for so many years have given us chills, smiles and tears as we sat and listened to him sing. He once said, “One day technology will catch up to me and I will have me I was and the me I hope to be back.” My friend did not live to see the reality of his words come true.

For me, I hope the technology becomes a possible tool for the future AAC users. For now, I will continue to believe in the possibility that technology will allow individuals the power of knowing that a voice is a powerful tool. That maybe in the future if disease, rare disorders or accidents threaten to take the power of ones voice, we will have something in our tool kits to help individuals retain their unique identity the sound of their voice.