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

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

譯者: Janet Lui 審譯者: Yow Jen Shieh

It's wonderful to be here

很榮幸能在這裡

to talk about my journey,

說說我的心路歷程

to talk about the wheelchair

說說輪椅

and the freedom it has bought me.

還有它帶給我的自由

I started using a wheelchair 16 years ago

16年前我開始使用輪椅

when an extended illness

一場大病

changed the way I could access the world.

令我不得不改變接觸世界的方法

When I started using the wheelchair,

當我坐上輪椅

it was a tremendous new freedom.

它帶給我嶄新的自由

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

我的人生曾經離我而去 被禁錮起來

It was like having an enormous new toy.

所以，當我坐上輪椅，簡直是一件新奇的玩具

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

我可以再以迎風呼嘯，感受世界的美好

Just being out on the street was exhilarating.

可以再次上街實在令人振奮

But even though I had this newfound joy and freedom,

雖說我自此獲得新生的快樂和自由

people's reaction completely changed towards me.

外人對我的反應卻截然不同

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

他們彷彿視我如無物

as if an invisibility cloak had descended.

就像我身上披著隱形斗篷

They seemed to see me in terms of their assumptions

以乎在他們的成見中

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

我坐在輪椅上定必會如何如何

When I asked people their associations with the wheelchair,

當我問人們「提起輪椅，你們聯想到甚麼？」

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

他們會說「局限」、「恐懼」

"pity" and "restriction."

「可憐」、「拘束」

I realized I'd internalized these responses

我想我曾經深受這些成見的影響

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

他們的反應直入我心深處

A part of me had become alienated from myself.

我心中的一部分開始疏遠自己

I was seeing myself not from my perspective,

我曾不敢用自己的角度審視自身

but vividly and continuously from the perspective

而是不斷地、深深地受到他人的成見

of other people's responses to me.

影響我看待自己的方式

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

有感於此，我知道我必須為自己寫下新篇

about this experience,

關於這次經歷

new narratives to reclaim my identity.

重塑自尊，再創新天

["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"]

[ 尋找自由：在開創自己的故事時， 我們學會認真看待寫照生命的一字一句，就如同我們在自敘人生一樣。── Davis 2009, TEDxWomen]

I started making work

於是我開始藝術創作

that aimed to communicate something

旨在與他們傳遞

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

我使用輪椅時的快樂與自由

a power chair -- to negotiate the world.

我叫它做「能量椅」── 助我涉足天下

I was working to transform these internalized responses,

我想扭轉深深影響我的外間反應

to transform the preconceptions that had so shaped

透過出奇不意的影像

my identity when I started using a wheelchair,

改變世間對我當初使用輪椅時

by creating unexpected images.

那些曾經牢不可破的成見

The wheelchair became an object to paint and play with.

輪椅變成一件可畫可玩的器具

When I literally started leaving

當我為我的快樂與自由

traces of my joy and freedom,

留下印記

it was exciting to see

令人耳目一新的是

the interested and surprised responses from people.

人們看到作品時的意外反應

It seemed to open up new perspectives,

這像開創了新的眼界

and therein lay the paradigm shift.

進而奠定典範轉移的基石

It showed that an arts practice

這證明藝術創作

can remake one's identity

可以重塑一個人的自我

and transform preconceptions by revisioning the familiar.

用重新審視的方式，來轉化先入為主的看法

So when I began to dive, in 2005,

當2005年我決定坐輪椅潛水

I realized scuba gear extends your range of activity

我認為潛水裝置於常人抑或輪椅使用者

in just the same way as a wheelchair does,

其實發揮同等功能，擴展在水中的自由度

but the associations attached to scuba gear

但全副潛水裝上陣

are ones of excitement and adventure,

給人刺激歷奇的印象

completely different to people's responses to the wheelchair.

同時徹底改變外人對輪椅用者的看法

So I thought, "I wonder what'll happen

於是我想：如果將兩者結合效果會如何？

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

(笑聲) (掌聲)

And the underwater wheelchair that has resulted

於是我們成功製作了一部潛水輪椅

has taken me on the most amazing journey

於過去七年

over the last seven years.

帶我體驗了非一般的水底旅程

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

為了讓你們明白這非凡經歷

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

我想和大家分享這件法寶

from creating this spectacle,

帶給我的其中一次奇觀

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

以及那個精彩美妙的旅程

(Music)

(音樂)

(Applause)

(掌聲)

It is the most amazing experience,

這是我至今最難忘的經歷

beyond most other things I've experienced in life.

及此過去種種皆無可比擬

I literally have the freedom to move

基本上我可以自由活動

in 360 degrees of space

360 度亳無拘束

and an ecstatic experience of joy and freedom.

體驗至高無上的快樂與自由

And the incredibly unexpected thing

實在喜出望外，妙不可言

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

見證此事的人都可以感同身受

Their eyes literally light up,

他們眼前一亮

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

會說「我想要那部潛水椅！」

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

或者「如何她做得到，我也能做任何事！」

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

我想，因為刻下

of them seeing an object

他們見證著

they have no frame of reference for,

一件前所未見的事

or so transcends the frames of reference

或者超乎他們

they have with the wheelchair,

對於「輪椅」的想像

they have to think in a completely new way.

他們得開放新思維

And I think that moment of completely new thought

我認為成就創新看法之時

perhaps creates a freedom

或許同時開創了新的自由

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

這自由亦延及其他人的生命之中

For me, this means that they're seeing

對我來說，這代表他們看得到

the value of difference,

差異的價值

the joy it brings

箇中的快樂

when instead of focusing on loss or limitation,

而非著眼於喪失或拘束

we see and discover the power and joy

以新觀點看世界

of seeing the world from exciting new perspectives.

可以發掘出振奮人心的能量與喜悅

For me, the wheelchair becomes

於我而言

a vehicle for transformation.

輪椅是一部轉化器

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

其實我現在稱呼這潛水輪椅為「變身器」

because it's literally pushed me through

因為事實上它從後推我一把

into a new way of being,

幫我踏入全新的生命

into new dimensions and into a new level of consciousness.

揭開人生新一頁，對自身重新覺悟

And the other thing is,

另一方面

that because nobody's seen or heard

因為從來無人知曉

of an underwater wheelchair before,

潛水輪椅應該是怎樣

and creating this spectacle is about creating

創造這法寶時

new ways of seeing, being and knowing,

就同時創新了一種看法、認知、認同

now you have this concept in your mind.

現在這看法已植根在你的腦海了

You're all part of the artwork too.

你們也是這件作品的一部分了

(Applause)

(掌聲)