Today I have just one request. Please don't tell me I'm normal.
Hoxe teño unha única petición. Por favor, non me digades que son normal.
Now I'd like to introduce you to my brothers. Remi is 22, tall and very handsome. He's speechless, but he communicates joy in a way that some of the best orators cannot. Remi knows what love is. He shares it unconditionally and he shares it regardless. He's not greedy. He doesn't see skin color. He doesn't care about religious differences, and get this: He has never told a lie. When he sings songs from our childhood, attempting words that not even I could remember, he reminds me of one thing: how little we know about the mind, and how wonderful the unknown must be.
Gustaríame presentarvos os meus irmáns. Remi ten 22 anos. É alto e moi guapo. Non fala, pero transmite alegría mellor ca algúns dos máis destacados oradores. Remi sabe o que é o amor. Compárteo incondicionalmente pase o que pase. Non é avaricioso. Non lle importa a cor da pel. Non lle importan as diferenzas relixiosas e, fixádevos nisto: nunca dixo unha mentira. Cando canta cancións da nosa infancia, intentando pronunciar palabras das que nin eu podería lembrarme, recórdame unha cousa: o pouco que sabemos sobre a mente e o marabilloso que debe ser o descoñecido.
Samuel is 16. He's tall. He's very handsome. He has the most impeccable memory. He has a selective one, though. He doesn't remember if he stole my chocolate bar, but he remembers the year of release for every song on my iPod, conversations we had when he was four, weeing on my arm on the first ever episode of Teletubbies, and Lady Gaga's birthday.
Samuel ten 16 anos. É alto. É moi guapo. Ten unha memoria impecable. Porén, é unha memoria selectiva. Non se lembra de se me colleu o meu chocolate pero acórdase do ano en que saíu cada canción do meu iPod, conversacións que tivemos cando el tiña 4 anos, facer pis polo meu brazo durante o primeiro capítulo dos <i>Teletubbies</i> e o día do aniversario de Lady Gaga.
Don't they sound incredible? But most people don't agree. And in fact, because their minds don't fit into society's version of normal, they're often bypassed and misunderstood.
Non vos parece incrible? A pesar disto, a maioría da xente non está de acordo. E, de feito, como as súas mentes non se axustan ao concepto de normalidade da sociedade, a miúdo son ignorados e incomprendidos.
But what lifted my heart and strengthened my soul was that even though this was the case, although they were not seen as ordinary, this could only mean one thing: that they were extraordinary -- autistic and extraordinary.
Pero o que me animou e fortaleceu a miña alma foi que, mesmo se esta era a situación, aínda que non os considerasen ordinarios só podía significar unha cousa: que eran extraordinarios. Autistas e extraordinarios.
Now, for you who may be less familiar with the term "autism," it's a complex brain disorder that affects social communication, learning and sometimes physical skills. It manifests in each individual differently, hence why Remi is so different from Sam. And across the world, every 20 minutes, one new person is diagnosed with autism, and although it's one of the fastest-growing developmental disorders in the world, there is no known cause or cure.
Ben, para aqueles menos familiarizados co termo "autismo", é un complexo trastorno cerebral que afecta á comunicación social, á aprendizaxe e, ás veces, ás habilidades físicas. Maniféstase de maneira diferente en cada individuo de aí que Remi sexa tan diferente a Sam. En todo o mundo, cada 20 minutos, diagnostícase un novo caso de autismo, e aínda que é un dos trastornos do desenvolvemento que máis rápido aumenta no mundo, non hai causa nin cura coñecidas.
And I cannot remember the first moment I encountered autism, but I cannot recall a day without it. I was just three years old when my brother came along, and I was so excited that I had a new being in my life. And after a few months went by, I realized that he was different. He screamed a lot. He didn't want to play like the other babies did, and in fact, he didn't seem very interested in me whatsoever. Remi lived and reigned in his own world, with his own rules, and he found pleasure in the smallest things, like lining up cars around the room and staring at the washing machine and eating anything that came in between. And as he grew older, he grew more different, and the differences became more obvious. Yet beyond the tantrums and the frustration and the never-ending hyperactivity was something really unique: a pure and innocent nature, a boy who saw the world without prejudice, a human who had never lied. Extraordinary.
Non me acordo do meu primeiro encontro co autismo, pero non recordo vivir un só día sen el. Tiña só tres anos cando o meu irmán chegou ao mundo e estaba moi emocionada de ter un novo ser na miña vida. Cando pasaron uns cantos meses deime conta de que el era diferente. Berraba moito. Non quería xogar coma os outros bebés e, de feito, non parecía interesarse por min nin o máis mínimo. Remi vivía e reinaba no seu propio mundo, coas súas propias regras, e encontraba o pracer nas cousas máis pequenas, como poñer os coches en ringleira ao redor do cuarto, mirar fixamente a lavadora e comer calquera cousa que houbera polo medio. Conforme medraba, volvíase máis diferente e as diferenzas facíanse máis evidentes. Pero máis alá das rabechas, da frustración e da hiperactividade inacabable, había algo realmente único: unha natureza pura e inocente, un neno que vía o mundo sen prexuízos, un ser humano que nunca mentira. Extraordinario.
Now, I cannot deny that there have been some challenging moments in my family, moments where I've wished that they were just like me. But I cast my mind back to the things that they've taught me about individuality and communication and love, and I realize that these are things that I wouldn't want to change with normality. Normality overlooks the beauty that differences give us, and the fact that we are different doesn't mean that one of us is wrong. It just means that there's a different kind of right. And if I could communicate just one thing to Remi and to Sam and to you, it would be that you don't have to be normal. You can be extraordinary. Because autistic or not, the differences that we have -- We've got a gift! Everyone's got a gift inside of us, and in all honesty, the pursuit of normality is the ultimate sacrifice of potential. The chance for greatness, for progress and for change dies the moment we try to be like someone else.
Non podo negar que houbo algúns momentos difíciles na miña familia, momentos nos que desexei que eles fosen exactamente coma min. Pero miro cara a atrás as cousas que me ensinaron sobre a individualidade, a comunicación e o amor, e doume conta de que son cousas que non querería cambiar pola normalidade. A normalidade pasa por alto a beleza que nos achegan as diferenzas e o feito de ser diferentes non significa que alguén estea equivocado. Só significa que hai unha visión diferente do que é correcto. Se puidese transmitirlle unha soa cousa a Remi, e a Sam, e a vós, sería que non tedes que ser normais. Podedes ser extraordinarios. Porque, autistas ou non, as diferenzas que temos... son un don! Cada un de nós ten un don no seu interior e, sinceramente, a busca da normalidade é o último sacrificio do potencial. A oportunidade para a grandeza, o progreso e o cambio morre no momento no que tratamos de ser coma os demais.
Please -- don't tell me I'm normal. Thank you. (Applause) (Applause)
Por favor, non me digades que son normal. Grazas. (Aplausos) (Aplausos)