Deep sea diving ... in a wheelchair | Sue Austin

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Translator: Janet Lui Reviewer: Michelle Ho

It's wonderful to be here

好高興可以响呢度

to talk about my journey,

同大家分享我嘅心路歷程

to talk about the wheelchair

同埋講下呢張輪椅帶畀我嘅自由

and the freedom it has bought me.

I started using a wheelchair 16 years ago

十六年前我開始坐輪椅

when an extended illness

一場大病令我唔可以 好似以前咁接觸世界

changed the way I could access the world.

When I started using the wheelchair,

當我開始坐輪椅

it was a tremendous new freedom.

佢帶畀我全新嘅自由

I'd seen my life slip away and become restricted.

我曾經以為 病後傷殘，下半世一定唔好過

It was like having an enormous new toy.

但呢張輪椅就好似一件神奇玩具

I could whiz around and feel the wind in my face again.

令我可以出返去吹風

Just being out on the street was exhilarating.

而且，可以出到街真係好爽！

But even though I had this newfound joy and freedom,

雖然重獲自由，我真係好開心

people's reaction completely changed towards me.

但街外人對我嘅態度就完全唔同晒

It was as if they couldn't see me anymore,

佢哋好似當我透明

as if an invisibility cloak had descended.

就好似我著咗件隱形斗篷咁

They seemed to see me in terms of their assumptions

佢哋帶住一份成見嚟睇我

of what it must be like to be in a wheelchair.

覺得我坐輪椅就一定會係點點點

When I asked people their associations with the wheelchair,

當我問「一提起輪椅 你哋會諗起乜嘢？」

they used words like "limitation," "fear,"

佢哋會話「局限」、「恐慌」

"pity" and "restriction."

「可憐」、「無自由」

I realized I'd internalized these responses

我發現我都受到呢啲成見影響

and it had changed who I was on a core level.

亦令我從根本對自己嘅睇法唔同咗

A part of me had become alienated from myself.

感覺自己有一部份唔再係自己咁

I was seeing myself not from my perspective,

我再唔係由自己嘅觀點出發去審視自己

but vividly and continuously from the perspective

而係受其他人對我嘅睇法影響

of other people's responses to me.

As a result, I knew I needed to make my own stories

於是我覺得咁唔掂

我要活出自己嘅故事

about this experience,

我要重新演繹，定義自我

new narratives to reclaim my identity.

[ （投影片）尋找自我： 喺活出自己嘅故事時，

我哋學識認真看待 寫自己生命的一字一句。

["Finding Freedom: 'By creating our own stories we learn to take the texts of our lives as seriously as we do 'official' narratives.' — Davis 2009, TEDx Women"]

—— Davis 2009， TEDx 女性中發表 ]

I started making work

我開始做一啲作品

that aimed to communicate something

旨在向大家傳遞 我坐輪椅嘅嗰份內心喜悅同自由

of the joy and freedom I felt when using a wheelchair --

a power chair -- to negotiate the world.

我叫佢做能量椅

因為可以同個世界摙過

I was working to transform these internalized responses,

我將我內心嘅感受盡量傳遞出嚟

to transform the preconceptions that had so shaped

透過破格嘅攝影

去改變當初我開始坐輪椅時 對自己嘅成見

my identity when I started using a wheelchair,

by creating unexpected images.

The wheelchair became an object to paint and play with.

張輪椅變咗一件我可以又寫又畫嘅嘢

When I literally started leaving

當我開始為自己留下快樂同自由嘅印記

traces of my joy and freedom,

it was exciting to see

外界對我嘅作品有反應，令我好雀躍

the interested and surprised responses from people.

It seemed to open up new perspectives,

呢啲作品好似打開咗新嘅視野 引領藝術轉型

and therein lay the paradigm shift.

It showed that an arts practice

藝術創作可以重塑一個人嘅自我觀感

can remake one's identity

and transform preconceptions by revisioning the familiar.

同時改變固有睇法，改變成見

So when I began to dive, in 2005,

當我 2005 年開始坐輪椅潛水

I realized scuba gear extends your range of activity

我發現水肺潛水裝置同輪椅 都一樣畀到你水底嘅自由

in just the same way as a wheelchair does,

but the associations attached to scuba gear

可以話水肺潛水帶畀人嘅印象 係充滿刺激同歷奇

are ones of excitement and adventure,

completely different to people's responses to the wheelchair.

而且同輪椅畀人嘅印象完全唔同

So I thought, "I wonder what'll happen

我心諗：唔知兩件事擺埋一齊會點呢？

if I put the two together?" (Laughter) (Applause)

（笑聲、掌聲）

And the underwater wheelchair that has resulted

最終我哋真係做咗部潛水輪椅

has taken me on the most amazing journey

而且响過去七年

佢帶我體驗咗非一般嘅水底旅行

over the last seven years.

So to give you an idea of what that's like,

為咗令你哋明白我講嘅經歷

I'd like to share with you one of the outcomes

我想同大家分享呢件法寶 帶畀我嘅其中一段體驗

from creating this spectacle,

and show you what an amazing journey it's taken me on.

同埋佢帶咗我去嘅世界有幾咁精彩

(Music)

（音樂）

(Applause)

（掌聲）

It is the most amazing experience,

呢個係我呢世人至今最精彩嘅體驗

beyond most other things I've experienced in life.

以前種種都無得比

I literally have the freedom to move

我基本上可以自由咁郁動

in 360 degrees of space

360 度通行無阻

and an ecstatic experience of joy and freedom.

體驗至高無上嘅快樂同自由

And the incredibly unexpected thing

至於令我喜出望外，妙不可言嘅係

is that other people seem to see and feel that too.

其他人似乎都可以感同身受

Their eyes literally light up,

佢哋對眼當堂發晒光

and they say things like, "I want one of those,"

又話：「我都想要要部咁嘅嘢！」

or, "If you can do that, I can do anything."

又有話：「如果你連潛水做得到， 我冇嘢唔可以做唔到！」

And I'm thinking, it's because in that moment

我覺得，因為嗰一刻

of them seeing an object

佢哋睇緊一件嘢係佢哋前所未見

they have no frame of reference for,

or so transcends the frames of reference

或者超乎佢哋想像

打破晒佢哋對輪椅嘅觀感

they have with the wheelchair,

they have to think in a completely new way.

以致令佢哋重新看待輪椅

And I think that moment of completely new thought

我同時覺得 潛水輪椅想法出現嘅嗰一刻

perhaps creates a freedom

that spreads to the rest of other people's lives.

將自由嘅呢一份情懷感染到其他人

For me, this means that they're seeing

呢件事話畀我哋聽

普通人都睇得到差異嘅價值 同箇中嘅快樂

the value of difference,

the joy it brings

when instead of focusing on loss or limitation,

當我哋唔係著眼於損傷或者局限

we see and discover the power and joy

而係用新視野、新角度去睇

of seeing the world from exciting new perspectives.

我哋就會發現力量同喜悅

For me, the wheelchair becomes

輪椅係一部轉化器

a vehicle for transformation.

In fact, I now call the underwater wheelchair "Portal,"

我而家叫呢部潛水輪椅做「變身器」

because it's literally pushed me through

係因為佢令我踏入全新嘅生命

into a new way of being,

into new dimensions and into a new level of consciousness.

揭開人生新一頁，對自我有新嘅覺悟

And the other thing is,

因為之前無人見過潛水輪椅係點

that because nobody's seen or heard

of an underwater wheelchair before,

and creating this spectacle is about creating

所以潛水輪椅面世 象徵著新睇法、新認知

new ways of seeing, being and knowing,

now you have this concept in your mind.

而家呢種睇法都响大家心中紮實

You're all part of the artwork too.

所以你哋都係作品嘅一部份喇！

(Applause)

（掌聲）