I can't speak. Here's how I get people to listen | Jessica Irwin
TED Talks Daily

I can't speak. Here's how I get people to listen | Jessica Irwin

B1IntermediateOctober 22, 20269 min
  • One speaker

Jessica Irwin is many things: a photographer, artist, author, performer. She also happens to be nonverbal, born with cerebral palsy that affects the muscles she needs to talk. Speaking through a device that turns her typed words into speech, she gives a sharp, funny and urgent reminder that being unable to speak has nothing to do with intelligence — and shares a few easy ways anyone can better communicate with nonverbal people. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Jessica Irwin is many things, a photographer, artist, author, keynote speaker.

muscles she needs to talk.

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0:00

You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hugh. Jessica Irwin is many things, a photographer, artist, author, keynote speaker.

0:15

She also happens to be nonverbal because of a form of cerebral palsy that affects the muscles she needs to talk. That never stopped her from sharing her opinions. communicates through a device that turns her written words into speech.

0:30

That synthesized voice is the same voice you'll hear in her talk, delivering the words she wrote. Here's how she puts it. I am Jessica Irwin, and I have never spoken a single word in my life, even to say my

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