Most often times, an individual’s struggles are not clearly visible. In Amanda Thompson’s talk, she shares her personal testimony and encourages the audience to view the world in a different light, serving as a powerful advocate of tolerance and acceptance.

Amanda Thompson is a graduate student at Fort Hays State University pursuing a degree in Speech Language Pathology. She received her Bachelors of Sciences in Speech-Language-Hearing from the University of Kansas in 2014. While an undergraduate student at Kansas University, she was vice president of the student group Ablehawks and Allies, an accessibility ambassador, part of KU's 2014-2015 Women of Distinction Calendar in the category of "advocating for disability awareness and access", and winner of the 2013 Michael Lechner Advocacy award. Amanda has an energetic passion for advocating for people with disabilities and teaching others that these individuals are people first, before their disability or anything else. She hopes to work at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital and continue to advocate for people with all kinds of disabilities after completing her masters at FHSU.


This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx