TEDxOhioStateUniversity held their 13th annual conference on Saturday. Credit: Kyle Quinlan | Lantern Reporter
This year’s TEDxOhioStateUniversity conference illuminated a variety of topics, spotlighting a wide array of disciplines ranging from exercise science, visa workers and the impact of storytelling on one’s personal life.
In its 13th iteration, titled “Luminary,” nine speakers covered topics ranging from music in dementia care to landscape architecture’s impact on retail centers in the Mershon Auditorium Saturday. Bilan Yakoub, curator and president of TEDxOhioStateUniversity, said the group sought speakers in fields and disciplines that were new to their stage.
TEDxOhioStateUniversity has 46 undergraduate members, and is one of the only completely student-operated TEDx organizations in the world, according to Yakoub.
“I think what really excites me is that this event is the perfect opportunity for students and community members to expand their scope of understanding and enrich their perspectives,” Yakoub said.
Among the speakers were Carmen Swain, an associate professor in the Department of Human Sciences; Anisa Kline, a staff member in Ohio State’s Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Developments Economics; and Angus Fletcher, an Ohio State professor of story science for the university’s Project Narrative.
Swain discussed how “exercise improves quality of life” and explored the current issues related to the accessibility of exercise for those with intellectual disabilities.
The exercise physiologist said exercise is not solely important for athletes, explaining how it can improve the lives of people from all types of backgrounds, situations and conditions.
“I have seen firsthand the power of exercise,” Swain said. “It can help an addict overcome addiction, help the anxious feel less anxious and help a cancer patient prevent a recurrent cancer.”
Swain said her experience with a previous student, who was interning at an inclusive gym in Dublin, Ohio, made her realize the level of inaccessibility within workout facilities for the more than 7 million Americans with intellectual disabilities.
“There is a gym on nearly every corner, yet they are inaccessible to millions of Americans,” Swain said. “There’s a lack of tools that make exercise accessible to those with an intellectual difference.”
The physical activity participation rate and levels of physical fitness among adults with intellectual disabilities are greatly lower than the general population, according to Swain, which leads to increased obesity rates, chronic disease and reduced quality of life.
“We need to advocate for change,” Swain said. “Simple tools can lead to exercise access, empowerment and a more equitable environment. Exercise is for everyone.”
Kline spoke on how little is known about H2A workers, who come to America with a temporary agricultural visa and usually work in fields, farms, nurseries and greenhouses.
“Nationally, the H2A program has grown about 270% from 2015 to 2022,” Kline said. “However, we don’t know very much about who they are as a population because they’re not included in the National Agricultural Workers Survey.”
As a result, demographics such as average years of experience and marital status are not known to the public, Kline said.
This led Kline to conduct anonymous and confidential surveys of H2A workers throughout Ohio.
“Even though we can’t see them, they are absolutely a part of our economy and our communities,” Kline said.
Through these surveys, Kline said she learned many things about these men — such as how most of them have partners and children and at least a ninth-grade education. Additionally, their range of experiences varies, with some men struggling with the English language and some wishing their hours weren’t as demanding.
“The H2A program is a combination of good and bad, like most things in life,” Kline said.
Kline recommended ways to improve the program — which currently has some men working from 4:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in heavy heat without breaks and gives little to no time off — by allowing workers to return to their home country for vacation, offering English classes and assisting workers with getting Ohio driver’s licenses.
“The recommendation I’m making is not about charity,” Kline said. “This is about making a minimum investment in the people we rely on to put food on our tables and flowers in our gardens.”
Fletcher discussed the self-healing power of storytelling through an experience with military veterans.
Fletcher said there was a group of veterans who checked into a clinic last year, suffering from a loss of purpose. These veterans felt they had no reason to get up in the morning and the clinic had the group journal their thoughts for therapy — with only one member having a transformative effect.
“In his journal, he wrote down a story about his life, reigniting his sense of purpose,” Fletcher said.
After studying this story and concluding that it had no impact on other veterans in the group, only him, Fletcher said the inclusion of a positive plot twist was a significant story aspect that created wonder within the veteran’s brain.
Fletcher said the positive plot twist was something unexpectedly good that had happened to the veteran in the course of his life. Writing it down helped the veteran identify this moment, and reevaluate his life with a new sense of positive perspective.
“Wonder is the emotion you feel if you undergo a religious conversion or another kind of spiritual experience. It’s the feeling of being born again,” Fletcher said. “If you experience wonder from a plot twist in your own history, it can have a radical transformative effect because it can change the most important story in your brain — the story you tell yourself, about yourself.”
This personal story connects one’s past, present and future to provide an overall sense of direction, Fletcher said. Although there are negative parts of one’s story, revisiting the past for positive surprises when feeling a loss of purpose can help provide momentum to better one’s future.
“The more bad there is in you or the world, the bigger the surprise that comes from the good,” Fletcher said. “And the bigger the surprise, the more that its wonder can connect the hard days of your past to the positive days of your future, giving you purpose now.”
