Caroline Casey is a legally blind woman who wasn't told this until the age of 17. Her family, specifically her father, decided that she wouldn't live with the labels of a disabled person, so they simply didn't tell her that she was blind. Caroline worked with many different careers until she had the epiphany that she wanted to live in the same was as a character from her favorite childhood book, Mowgli. So, she left her job and went on a thousand mile journey across India on the back of an elephant. This experience birthed in her the drive to help others to transcend labels. So she created an organization to help with people with "disabilities."
This TEDTalk by Caroline was incredible to watch. Her style of delivery was very natural as she couldn't see the clock which had dictated the other TED speakers. Ms. Casey's TEDTalk also made me think of what I had wanted to do when I was younger. I had aspired to become a street cleaner when I was youngest. This aspiration of mine was much different from the dreams of Ms. Casey, riding motorcycles, being Mowgli, and being a race car driver. When I think of that as a career path today it sounds nice in the same way that Ms. Casey's dream does; it involves driving away from all responsibility and being a free person. Ms. Casey truly achieved this through being present in a world of her own creation. That is the beauty of how being blind has affected her. She can live out her dream as she sees it, without the influence of a world determined by sight.
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