Include Me

"Atypical" My expectations have already been established; "Atypical" must be a show examining the lives of person's diagnosed with developmental disabilities.  Am I correct?  Let's see... Opening Scene:  Non-verbal messages I am receiving:  The main character has a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder as evidence by stimming through the use of a pencil and rubberband, lack of eye contact, lack of facial expressions, and the title of the show. Am I correct?  The first character introduced: Sam's Behavioral Therapist?  Nonverbal evidence; the environment, an office and the manner in which she is sitting several feet across from him with a notepad.   As described O'Hair, Wiemann, Mullin, and Teven (2015), Sam and the therapist appear to have, "The functional competency of expression feelings" (p. 70) nonverbally through gentle smiles, head tilting, and eye contact by the therapist while Sam appears to listen intentl...

Real + Ethical + Competent Communication = Kathie Snow Founded through personal experience and an endless pursuit to ensure her son was and is afforded the same life opportunities as every other human-being, Kathie Snow found herself thrust unintentionally into a role of advocate with one message, "Disabilities is natural" (Snow, n.d.).  Now, 25 years later, she travels across the nation speaking on behalf of inclusion, facilitates training to support various inclusion initiatives, and welcomes conversations with parents, professionals, and individuals with disability diagnoses.  Kathie also inspires thousands through her articles, books, and of course, her website; Disabilities is Natural.  What makes Kathie Snow so effective? Kathie is an exemplary example of O'Hair, Wiemann, Mullin, and Teven's (2015) statement, "Effective communicators understand how their communication choices effective others and why others' communication choic...