【推荐2】Women Pioneers Who Changed the World

Ali Stroker

Ali Stroker took the theater world-and, indeed, the very Internet-by storm when, on June 9, 2019, she became the first performer in a wheelchair to take home a Tony Award. After becoming the first actor in a wheelchair in Broadway history in 2015, she won the award for her powerhouse performance in the revival of Oklahoma!

Susan B. Anthony

Susan B. Anthony participated in her first women’s rights conference in 1852. Over the next 54 years, she published The Revolution; gave speeches; called the first Woman Suffrage Convention in Washington, D. C. (1869); and was arrested for voting (1872). She was also a vocal advocate for abolishing slavery and improving workers’ rights, higher education for women, and training standardization and registration for nurses.

Anna Bissell

In 1889 Anna Bissell became the CEO of the company, making her the first female CEO in America. She traveled around the country selling sweepers and making deals with major retailers to carry the Bissell brand. Eventually, she took the brand international. She was also one of the first company heads to give workers pension plans.

Malala Yousafzai

When terrorists began seizing power in her hometown and attacking girls’ schools, Yousafzai gave a speech defending her and all women’s right to an education. She continued to speak out even after her cover was blown and the terrorists issued a death threat. In 2012,a masked gunman boarded the bus and shot her in the head. She survived. In 2014, she became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

【推荐1】When Jordan Reeves was 8 years old, she couldn’t wait to start a new dance class. But as she was warming up, she noticed that some of the kids were staring at her. Did she wear her clothes backward? Were her clothes dirty? No. The kids were looking at her left arm. It stops above the elbow (肘).

“I’ve had to deal with people staring at me in my whole life,” Jordan, now 13, explains. Although Jordan sometimes feels uncomfortable when people stare, she’s proud to be different. And she’s using her difference to inspire other kids with disabilities.

Growing up, Jordan attended camps for kids with limb (肢) differences. Then, three years ago, she was invited to a special workshop. She was challenged to design a new prosthetic (假体的) arm — one that would turn her disability into a “superpower”.

Jordan teamed up with designers to create an arm. They used a 3D printer to create the prosthetic arm. Instead of paper, the 3D printer used plastic to create an arm shaped like a unicorn’s horn (独角兽的角). Jordan called her invention Project Unicorn.

Jordan’s mom shared the story of Project Unicorn online, and it quickly spread on social media. Jordan was already a mentor (导师) to other kids with disabilities. Now she had a bigger audience and could share her message with more people.

In 2017, Jordan and her mom formed an organization called Born Just Right to help other kids with limb differences. They’re making it possible for kids from across the US to create their own limbs, as Jordan did.

“We want to show kids that anything is possible,” Jordan says. “Your differences are amazing. You never know what amazing things you can do with them.”

【推荐3】Marijana grew up in Serbia. Her parents made a living by picking vegetables and selling them on the market. Neither one of them ever got past primary school. “We were poor," Marijana says.

The Roma are Europe's largest minority (少数)group, numbering 8 to 12 million. They often face discrimination and have trouble getting basic rights and services. Many Roma families go hungry now and then. Roma children are often put into “special schools” for children with special educational needs. Without education, people can't find jobs, and they're poor for generations.

For Marijana and many other young Roma, both the chance for success and the pain of discrimination began in primary school. “It made me feel so bad," she says,"when my classmates' parents didn't want their children to sit with me." Sometimes she had to deal with teachers who picked on her simply because she was Roma. Once, she did an art project for a class.“But the teacher said, ‘You didn't do it, someone else did. You are Roma; it is in your   character to lie,’ Marijana says.

But it was not all discrimination. “I had a very nice teacher of geography, ”Marijana says. “Because of the trust some teachers gave me, I felt I needed to keep going and succeed.”

Marijana is glad she went to mainstream schools, where the quality of education was better, but what really got her through school was that her parents believed in her. “Some people often said to my parents, ‘She'll get married. Why are you wasting your money and time on her?’ Nobody except my family believed I could do it,” she says.

Since university in Belgrade, Marijana has been working for the World Bank for 7 years. She deals with both Roma and non-Roma problems including education and social protection. But her most important impact might just come from her own history. “When I do field visits as part of my work, I always tell my own story to encourage Roma kids and their parents to go to school, and not to give up.”