A TED Talk Analysis: Living Beyond Limits

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Recently, I watched a TED talk entitled, "Living Beyond Limits." The TED talk was presented in May 2011 by Amy Purdy at an independently organized TED event, TEDxOrangeCoast, in Costa Mesa, California. Amy Purdy lost both of her legs below the knee at age 19 due to meningitis. Although Purdy was depressed for months, she eventually created a pair of prosthetic legs that allowed her to continue her love of snowboarding. Today, Purdy is a world champion adaptive female snowboarder, has appeared on dancing with the stars, and has co-founded an organization that helps athletes with injuries adapt. 

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Purdy started off her speech by describing how her imagination ran wild as a child and how she couldn't wait to "write her own story" in life. When she was 19, however, she was hospitalized with meningitis and, over a two month period, lost her spleen, kidneys, the hearing in her left ear, and both of her legs below the knee. Purdy described how she laid in bed for months, thinking about how she could never travel like she had always wanted or have an incredible story. She eventually realized that she had to "let go of the Old Amy and embrace the New Amy." Four months later, she started snowboarding again and created her own prosthetic legs that enabled her to snowboard. Purdy won two back to back world cup gold medals, becoming the highest ranked adaptive female snowboarder in the world. She helped create an organization for other people with disabilities and even traveled to South Africa to help children attend school. Purdy ended her speech by saying, "Imagination can be used as a tool for breaking through borders." Her message was that facing fears and believing in dreams are what allow people to live beyond their limits. Limitations should be considered blessings because they allow for challenge and imagination to run wild. 

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I really enjoyed this TED talk because of the inspirational message that Amy Purdy delivered. Life is filled with limitations, but imagination and effort can allow us to live beyond them. I believe this TED talk can be related to Sweet Blessings. Sweet Blessings is an organization that sends God's message to children to show them that they are loved and not alone. The children that Sweet Blessings sends cakes to are each faced with limitations, whether it be poverty or illness. Just like Amy Purdy, Sweet Blessings believes that children are more than these limitations and are capable of anything they imagine. 

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Based on the title and knowing the basic information about Amy Purdy, I believe that the audience of her TED talk was aware of her situation and challenges she had faced in life. I also believe that the audience expected to hear about her situation and feelings in depth and to be inspired to live beyond their limitations, just as I expected.

Amy Purdy did an exceptional job delivering this TED talk. She made great eye contact and her body language added to the effect of her speech and showed her passion for the topic. It was very evident that Purdy had strong feelings about her overall message. For example, as Purdy began talking about how she was "physically and emotionally broken" after losing her legs, tears were streaming down her face. However, she asked herself, "If my life were a book and I was an author, how would I want this story to go?" There was excitement in her voice, face, and gestures as she began to talk about how she didn't let her limitations stop her. Her passion is what made this speech great, and it was very appropriate as an inspiring TED talk. 

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To improve her speech, I believe that Purdy could have incorporated more visuals. This would have added more emotion and passion to her speech. For example, when she displayed a picture of herself laying in bed from depression, it was very effective in displaying how emotional the experience was for her. More visual aid in her presentation would have created a more inspirational speech. 

Overall, Amy Purdy's TED talk was very inspirational and a must watch. 

 https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_purdy_living_beyond_limits?language=en