What is Communication?
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 choices affect them as they do" (p. 4). What makes her effective is her ability to remain present in a conversation through listening and meeting people where they are currently at whether in practice or knowledge. She openly shares her experiences, good and bad, right or wrong, and engages other to openly share by focusing on sentences beginning with "What and How" to support greater depth and breadth to the conversations. She ensures her topics are supported by practice and research which empowers her message and ability to create lasting relationships of trust and comfort. Additionally, her ability to listen and reflect is quite poignant. Finally, Kathie Snow is, "Committed to the courageous expression of personal convictions in pursuit of fairness and justice" (p. 14).
Why believe me? In the winter of 2016, I nervously wrote Kathie Snow an email, not expecting a response, and shared a new project I was considering in an effort to support my county's inclusion efforts. Not only did she respond, I had the privilege of speaking with her for a significant amount of time. She listened to me, provided me the affirmations I needed to continue on my journey, filled me with knowledge and sound advice, but above all, she instilled confidence in my inclusion vision through her words.
A year later, I continuously strive to model these same communication skills that provided me an outstanding example of listening, reflecting, and the need for personal connections with those I am supporting. I also utilize her website resources as learning opportunities for my staff and self and incorporate her information into my presentations and support efforts. Additionally, I strive to maintain the courage she exemplifies as I meet people of all thoughts and opinions regarding inclusion for people of all abilities.
Would you like to experience Kathie Snow for yourself? Here you go...
References:
O'Hair, D., Wiemann, M., Mullin, D.I., & Teven, J. (2015). Real communication (3re. ed). New York: Bedford/St. Martin's
Snow, K. (n.d.). Disability Is Natural. Retrieved from http://www.disabilityisnatural.com
I love that you choose a childrens advocate. I have a friend who back in 1990 had a daughter with Autism. Back then there were not many resources for children with Autism. She and her family decided to be the voice for the children They began a foundation call GRACE (getting resources for Autistic children everywhere) Now they assist children well in to their 20, with schooling, therapies, after school activities, and now employment. Anything is possible when we unite and find a voice.
ReplyDeleteHi Stephanie,
DeleteThank you for sharing! Your words are quite powerful regarding uniting our voice and I could not agree with you more. Also, I am quite interested in the foundation you mentioned, GRACE. Does a website exist? I tried a search but didn't have any success.
Lynnette
Wow! She sounds amazing. I wish I knew of her when I taught in the classroom. Teaching didn't prepare me for all the disabilities I would encounter. There were times when I was unsure of how to help some of the students who counted on me. It was such a helpless feeling. Luckily I had the drive to ask questions and read, read, read to find resources and ways to meet these students needs. What about the teachers who don't?
ReplyDeleteWow! She sounds amazing. I wish I knew of her when I taught in the classroom. Teaching didn't prepare me for all the disabilities I would encounter. There were times when I was unsure of how to help some of the students who counted on me. It was such a helpless feeling. Luckily I had the drive to ask questions and read, read, read to find resources and ways to meet these students needs. What about the teachers who don't?
ReplyDeleteLynnette,
ReplyDeleteWow, thank you so much for introducing me to such a wonderful human being. Kathie sounds amazing and from the looks of it is doing amazing work advocating for children and adults who have varying disabilities. I love her message "Disabilities are natural". She went from trying to help her son have a better life, to helping many more families in return. I am thrilled you were able to get a hold of her and have a meaningful conversation. My childcare center is closed on Monday for MLK, but the teachers have an in-service day. Sometimes I feel like the topics we discuss are redundant year after year. I am going to share this lady's name with my Director and co-workers on Monday. Perhaps her message and insightful knowledge can help us with the children in our center who have a disability. Great post, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Jennifer
Hi Jennifer,
DeleteKathie's resources have provided me a wealth of knowledge and support and if you don't mind, I would like to recommend her, Person First Language article. It is a brilliantly written resource that is easy to follow and quite profound. Additionally, it speaks directly to our topic this semester; communication.
I hope you enjoy the website,
Lynnette
Lynnette,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog post. I agree with your post. I like when you post, that disabilities is natural. By comparison, children with disabilities (either cognitive or physical) cannot compare with many fields of academia or sports or some other form of social life. As a result, children with disabilities can become ostracized. What is interesting is that having two different types of disabilities has completely different outcomes. Physical – or visible – disabilities usually do not put other children off; in fact they can facilitate new relationships.
Iesha
I like this blog very much. Becuase it contains all the necessary points related to speak English fluently and learn the spoken or written english language. I prefer to read this type of blogs from you in future.
ReplyDelete