TEDxJacksonville: Introducing the Speakers

SARA GAVER
Beyond Face Value

Sara Gaver is a Junior at the University of North Florida. Although she has a physical disability called Arthrogryposis that leaves her wheelchair bound, she lives independently on UNF’s campus taking full-time classes and working at the Disability Resource Center. She will graduate in the Spring of 2016 with a B.A. in Mathematics and a minor in Community Leadership. On campus, Gaver is involved in many things: she is an Honors student, a member of three honor societies, part of the Rotaract Service club, and the Vice President of Internal for the Presidential Envoys Student Alumni Association. In her free time, she loves to paint and read. Her family lives in Osteen, a very small city near Daytona Beach. Her father is a law enforcement officer and her mother is the activities director at a local high school. She also has a younger brother who is very involved in school. Gaver credits her family as, “my biggest support team, always encouraging me to be the best.”

1. Why did you apply to give a Talk at TEDxJacksonville?

I was encouraged by my friends to tell my story. To show people what I have done, where I will go, and that people with physical disabilities aren’t a different kind they are truly the same. I want people to see that a disability isn’t always a bad thing but rather a challenge that throws obstacles in our way. These obstacles however don’t keep us from doing everything we possibly can.

2. What is your favorite TED Talk?

My favorite talk is “I’ve got 99 problems...palsy is just one”

3. What does (un)knowing mean to you?

Unknowing to me means that what we think we know may not be all of it. Is the definition in the dictionary spot on or is it too broad? Everyone has the right to form their own opinions but sometimes those specific thoughts don’t always fit into the “knowing” as well as they should. (Un)knowing means  there’s a chance for growth and understanding because our “knowing” is never complete.

4. What do you wish the world (or the city of Jacksonville) could (un)know?

I wish society in general could (un)know what it’s like living day to day with a physical disability. Society makes assumptions about all of us but what they don’t realize is that we are no different than they are and we can do anything we put our mind to.