One of Mark Horvath’s worst fears is being homeless.

After the crash of the housing market in 2008, Horvath found himself single, jobless and facing an impending foreclosure on his home. For the second time in his life, Horvath was homeless.

Inspired by long-time passions of videography and social media, Horvath began sharing the stories of and connecting with homeless people across the country through a platform now widely known as Invisible People. Horvath said he considers himself a storyteller for the homeless, or those without voices.

Horvath, an internationally recognized activist, talked about his fear and activism for the homeless during his speech at this year’s TEDx Syracuse University event on Saturday. Nearly every seat in the Slocum Auditorium was filled.

The theme for this year’s talk series was Glitch, so the seven TEDxSU speakers shared stories and experiences that were meant to challenge the status quo of the negative connotation associated with the word “Glitch.”

“(We wanted) to open people’s minds to an all-encompassing way of thinking,” said Stephanie Bronfein, the lead organizer and curator for TEDxSU and a senior in the Bandier Program at SU.

The TEDxSU stage served as a symbolic platform for the event, as it was decorated in outdated models of computers, television sets and VCR players. These were a few of the items that people first experienced glitches with, but also many of the same items that served as pivotal starting blocks for modern technological advancement, according to a TEDxSU event pamphlet.

Following Horvath’s speech, Emily Anhalt, a psychotherapist and psychological consultant, shared her personal story about living with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) during her TEDxSU talk.

At the beginning of her talk, Anhalt asked the audience to remember the kid in elementary school who was always shouting out without raising her hand, daydreaming in the middle of class and always putting herself in other people’s conversations.

“That kid was me,” Anhalt said with a grin.

Feeling empowered by what some labeled a disability, but she felt at times was her “superpower,” Anhalt wrote her doctoral dissertation on ADHD and success without using medication. She spent nearly two years interviewing, transcribing and analyzing ways in which people with ADHD feel it has contributed to their success, according to the TEDxSU website.

After Anhalt, five more speakers gave in-depth talks on a wide array of topics.

One of the speakers, Amy Oestreicher, gave a suspenseful account of her medical challenges: a blood clot, more than 25 surgical procedures and having to abstain from eating and drinking for years due to her stomach rupturing during one of her operations.

Although the average person would dub many of the things Oestreicher experienced as a series of unfortunate events, she describes them as her life’s “beautiful detours.” She explained that each of the seemingly tragic events that she faced led to beautiful new beginnings in her life, like starting college, traveling around the country performing her one-woman show and meeting her husband of 10 years.

After the last TEDxSU speaker gave their talk, a reception was held for all of the presenters and attendees.

Published on April 17, 2016 at 10:37 pm

Contact Kylon: ktharris@syr.edu