What does it mean to choose — truly, powerfully, and unapologetically? In this bold and thought-provoking talk, Nidhi Goyal explores the layered dimensions of choice, particularly for those who are often denied it. As a disability rights activist, stand-up comic, and fierce advocate for equity, Nidhi shares how owning her choices helped her rewrite her story — and how society must evolve to allow others to do the same. This talk challenges conventional norms around gender, disability, and autonomy, urging us to question who gets to choose, and why. It is a stirring reminder that choice isn't just a privilege — it’s a right that must be accessible to all. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Nidhi Goyal, born in 1985, is a blind Indian disability and gender rights activist. The one behind The Rising Flame, an NGO advocating for women and youth with disabilities. She was diagnosed with an incurable, irreversible progressive degenerative eye condition that rendered her blind at 15, she lost her. vision, but her aspirations stood strong and she became India's first blind female stand-up comedian. Ms. Nidhi also serves in UN Women Executive Director's advisory group. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
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- 18:54Reimagining Economies through AI-Powered Innovation | Gary Shiffman | TEDxGreenville SalonIn his TEDxGreenville talk, Gary Shiffman explores the disconnect between Greenville’s impressive GDP growth and its lagging real wages, highlighting South Carolina’s rank near the bottom nationally. Analyzing over a century of economic plans, he reveals the city’s consistent prioritization of growth over wages. Shiffman warns that Greenville’s labor-driven economic path is outdated in an era of AI, where capital increasingly replaces labor. He urges local leaders, educators, and entrepreneurs to act now—by building innovation labs, launching startups, and recruiting AI firms. Greenville, he argues, is ideally positioned to lead the next generation of advanced manufacturing by focusing on building happy employees. I believe that small groups of creative and dedicated people change the world. I seek to work with and to empower others working to help make our communities freer and safer in a complex, coercive, and violent world. I have served in war and traveled the world, studied Economics human behavior, and worked at the pinnacles of power in government and in industry.I co-founded two AI companies when I saw an opportunity join behavioral science with AI innovations coming from computer science to empower those on the front lines of combatting coercion, fraud, and violence in the military, law enforcement, and in financial institutions.I love to teach, write, and engage with curious people. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
- 9:37We need ugly art — here’s why | MJ Chiao | TEDxUBCWhen we think academia, the comic book and comic form is usually overlooked as a piece of valuable literary scholarship. Comics are often presumed as not academic or critical enough to be a valid source of literary study, and if they are to be taken seriously only a certain kind of tragic, memoir style are considered worth analyzing. By arguing that ‘bad art’, ‘ugly comics’, or ‘juvenile fiction’ are necessary fragments of history to navigate the quickly developing world around us, MJ Chiao advocates for the comics form as a radical form of activism and social remembering. Ugly comics becomes survival. MJ Chiao is a fourth year English Literature student who is passionate about comics and graphic forms. With a love for teaching and writing, MJ wishes to challenge the status quo of English studies and academia to encompass the new medias and technologies of our everyday. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
