This TED Talk features human rights and disability activist Kara E. Yarkhan recorded live at TED Women 2019.

When we're young, we're innocently brave and we fearlessly dream about what our lives might be like.

Maybe you wanted to be an astronaut or a rocket scientist.

Maybe you dreamed of traveling to every continent.

Since I was very young,

I dreamed of working for the United Nations

in some of the most difficult countries in the world.

And thanks to a lot of courage, that dream came true.

But here's the thing about courage.

It doesn't just appear whenever we need it.

It's the result of tough reflection and real work

involving the balance between fear and bravery.

Without fear, we'll do foolish things,

and without courage, we'll never step into the unknown.

The balance of the two is where the magic lies,

and it's a balance we all deal with every day.

First, a word about my fancy wheels.

I haven't always used a wheelchair.

I grew up like many of you, running, jumping and dancing.

I love to dance.

However, in my mid-20s,

I began to experience a series of inexplicable falls.

...