http://www.ted.

com/talks/maysoon_zayid_i_got_99_problems_palsy_is_just_one

Maysoon Zayid: I got 99 problems... Palsy is just one

I came chose this Ted talk because of the intriguing title. I expected a slightly humorous spin on a very sad topic. What I got was a full blown comedy act with a few comments that made me really evaluate how I see disabled people. Maysoon Zayid is a stand up comic who cant stand up. A complication during birth left her with Cerebral Palsy. She explains that her parents treated her exactly the same as their other 3 daughters and taught her that she could do anything. Maysoon Zayid is an amazing example of not letting any limitations hold you back. She is Palestinian, Muslim, Female, Disabled and lives in New Jersey. The odds were stacked against her from the beginning, but she lived by her fathers mantra, you can do it, yes you can can, and so she did. Her father taught her to walk at age 5, a feat her doctors told her she would never be able to do. She still walks to this day, and even walks in heels. She went to public school with her sisters and continued on to Arizona State University. She studied theater and got As in all of her classes, but never got cast for a part, even when they performed a play about a girl with CP. She was finally cast as an extra in a soap opera and thought her career was taking off. She realized that casting directors werent going to hire a disabled actor, and decided to become a comic. She has performed in clubs all over America as well as the middle east. Maysoon Zayid and her friend Dean Obeidallah started the New York Arab American Comedy Festival in 2003 to try to change the image of Arabs after 9/11. Changing the populations perspective of Arab Americans was much easier than changing their perspective on disabled people. She finally got her break on Countdown

with Keith Olbermann where she became a frequent guest. It was during that time that she saw how cruel people could be on the internet. The disabled are the largest minority in the world and the most under-represented in entertainment. She survived her childhood before social media and suggests that she might not have if it were present. She founded Maysoons kids to give Palestinian refugee kids the same chance her parents gave her. She even got to perform for Muhammed Ali. I was so impressed by this womans tenacity and success despite her struggles. I was reminded of a man I had a class with my first year of college. It was an economics class that I struggled greatly with and it all came so easily to him. The only difference was he couldnt verbalize his answers himself. He came to class in a wheelchair accompanied by a helper and a laptop placed in front of his face. He too had CP. Through technology and his translator we were able to hear what he had to say. He was one of the most intelligent people Ive had the honor of listening to, but if I had seen him on the streets I would have assumed he wasnt capable of such thought because of his physical state. The statement that hit me the hardest was Maysoons comment about social media. Imagine the ridicule she could have suffered if that were present during the time she grew up. Do you think she would have gotten as far as she has? There are children out there right now suffering with similar disabilities. Are their hopes going to be stripped away by the cruel things people say on social media? Has it become acceptable to discriminate against those who are different than us? Maybe along with all the discussions about race, religion and sexual orientation we are ignoring one of the biggest problems in our society by leaving out the disabled.