"Complete silence is very addictive," says Rebecca Knill, a writer who has cochlear implants that enable her to hear. In this funny, insightful talk, she explores the evolution of assistive listening technology, the outdated way people still respond to deafness and how we can shift our cultural understanding of ability to build a more inclusive world. "Technology has come so far," Knill says. "Our mindset just needs to catch up."
As the child of Cambodian refugees resettled in the US, Christine Thach grew up in a tight-knit community of former refugees that taught her the value of collective success and interdependence. She credits her community's success to their readiness to embrace a team mentality and to creating a culture of empowerment. Thach argues that the collective success mindset so often seen in refugee communities, and today's competitive capitalist business culture are not at odds -- in fact, they are complementary.
