I can't speak. Here's how I get people to listen | Jessica Irwin

0:02You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. Jessica Irwin is many things. A photographer, artist, author, keynote speaker. She also happens to be nonverbal because of a form of cerebral palsy that affects the muscles she needs to talk. That never stopped her from sharing her opinions. She communicates through a device that turns her written words into speech. That synthesized voice is the same voice you'll hear in her talk, delivering the words she wrote. Here's how she puts it. I am Jessica Irwin, and I have never spoken a single word in my life.

0:42Even to say my name, nor the vital word of, stop. The truth is, I have so much I would like to say, many witty comebacks rolling around inside my head. In her talk, Jessica offers a sharp, funny, and urgent reminder that being nonverbal has nothing to do with intelligence and that the world is badly set up to hear people like her. The problem, she says, is especially bad in healthcare, the clinics and hospitals that are supposed to serve people of all walks of life with all kinds of communication modes, needs, and styles. The good news? She has some ideas for how anyone can better communicate with nonverbal people.

1:21And when people hear the words brain damage, they automatically jump to intellectual impairment. But when somebody has brain damage, it should not mean their entire brain should be disregarded. My case affects movement, not intelligence. That's coming up right after a short break.

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4:23And now, our TED Talk of the day. I am Jessica Irwin, and I have never spoken a single word in my life. Even to say my name, nor the vital word of, stop. The truth is, I have so much I would like to say, many witty comebacks rolling around inside my head. Through typing on my communication device, I can express about 25 % of what I want to say. The other 75 % stays trapped inside my head for only me to hear. This happens, every, single, day. Why is this? I have a level of cerebral palsy, that means my mouth muscles, simply won't allow me to physically talk. That is the sole reason. Let's focus on, slowly sounding out the letter, J.

5:15Did you feel your tongue on the back of your teeth as you sounded the letter out? I am unable to move my mouth and tongue that way. which means the only way you can hear my intelligent thoughts and ideas is when i type them out for you on my communication device at the rapid speed of seven words per minute the robotic voice outputs what i'm saying but it doesn't express my quick wit or can it quickly express something in an emergency imagine seeing your little niece about to touch the hot stove Gracie, stop! I am unable to quickly say those words. My only hope is that I can manage to push her over.

6:00With love. Many non-verbal people spend a lot of time in hospitals. We enter a system that is brilliant at some things. But untrained in hearing voices like ours. So it becomes a place of fear. Many people in my situation can't physically use our communication devices when we are lying down, our voices are suddenly not there. Imagine lying in a hospital bed with an injured hip, with wounds and bone fractures. A nurse comes up to your bed, bypasses your notes, and goes to roll you straight onto your injured hip. What can you do to prevent the extreme pain that you know is coming your way? Absolutely nothing.

6:43You can't say the single word, stop. I mean, you can start crying, but you are on pain medication, that has a side effect of irritability. This is misinterpreted by the nurse as, the patient is just fussing because they don't want to roll. And your only option is to brace for the extreme pain and take it like a non-verbal person. this is not hypothetical it has been my horrifying reality this is why i'm bringing communication training into hospitals i don't want other patients to experience unnecessary pain and here's the brilliant thing this problem is solvable all it takes is knowing one simple thing assume the patient is intelligent ask yes and no questions and ask them to look up for yes yes and look down for no let's try it together if you're with me look up for yes now look down for no awesome just like that without a single spoken word we've had a conversation this also works for complex scenarios like are you in pain do you want me to call someone can i examine where you are hurting.

8:06Can I run through the alphabet, so you can spell out a word by looking up on the correct letter? Four simple steps. But they can save a life. Sometimes people ask me to squeeze their hand to signal yes. In my type of cerebral palsy, I have a high involuntary muscle grip, so my hand muscles will begin to involuntarily squeeze. Like a bear trap. You will be thinking, why isn't she letting go of my hand? And I will be thinking, bollocks, my hand won't let go, I'm stuck, and they don't know. It's hilarious sometimes. Here's the thing. Cerebral palsy is a brain injury. And when people hear the words brain damage, they automatically jump to intellectual impairment.

8:57But when somebody has brain damage, it should not mean their entire brain should be disregarded. My case affects movement, not intelligence. Being non-verbal doesn't mean we don't have opinions and knowledge to share. We often get loudly spoken down to and patted on the head, because people just don't know how to approach us. So here's a tip. Simply start a conversation with hi, my name is. And just let the conversation grow from there. There's no need to talk loudly or slowly. speak to us like you would the person sitting next to you right now can you imagine patting them on the head how weird would that be and these head patters are likely the people to assume i'm the one with unusual behaviors look at our facial expressions and eye movements try humor to see if we laugh if we do that proves we can hear and understand you observe whether we are typing on our communication device look for a digital screen in front of us you hold the power to give someone back their voice that is a beautiful thing so whether you are a professor doctor nurse or a future friend please try to communicate remember i'm so much more than my physical appearance my name is jessica erwin i am a photographer artist author a keynote speaker and a human being.

10:32I am just like you.

10:44That was Jessica Irwin at TED 2026. If you're curious about TED's curation, visit ted.com slash curation guidelines. And that's it for today. TED Talks Daily is a podcast from TED. This episode was fact-checked by the TED Research Team and produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Lucy Little, Emma Taubner, and Tansika Sungmarnivong. Additional support from Daniela Ballarezzo, Christopher Faze-Bogan, Valentina Bohanini, Banban Chang, Brian Green, and Lainey Lott. Learn more at podcasts.ted.com. I am Elise Hu. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feet. Thanks for listening.

11:35This episode is sponsored by Ashby. Every talk you hear on this show started as an idea, and every idea that actually gets built needs a team. Today's sponsor, Ashby, is the software that supports hiring for those ambitious teams. Ashby is the all-in-one recruiting platform used by the teams at Lovable, Notion, Plaid, and Clay. If you wish that AI could help you move faster through scheduling and scorecards, that you could find that silver medalist candidate from 18 months ago in a few seconds, or that you had better visibility into the state of your candidate pipeline, Ashby is for you. See why over 80 % of Forbes' top AI companies choose Ashby to hire the best talent.

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