After completing the interactive lectures for week 6, I gained a whole new perspective on the importance of communication and its essentiality in forming relationships. Without communication, there are barriers to forming relationships and it is much more difficult for an individual to express themselves in a way that allows them to live a complete and satisfied life. When watching Chris Klein's Ted Talk, I was especially interested when he discussed the obstacles he encountered in the first 6 years of his life when he did not have access to adaptive communication devices. In these years, he was unable to express himself. He could not express himself. He could not form relationships with the people around him. He could not tell his mother how much he loved her. After viewing this Ted Talk in its entirety, I was able to connect what I learned to my service learning project. For my service learning, I work in a pool setting with individuals that have physical and cognitive disabilities. One of the women that I work with during my Thursday shift is blind and nonverbal, therefore, unable to communicate to express her thoughts and feelings. Whenever I work with her, I always talk with her as I would with any other woman her age. I speak with her like the adult that she is. Although she does not have access to an adaptive communication device while she is at the pool, she acknowledges what I am saying to her by smiling occasionally or reaching for my hand. I know that she is completely aware of everything that we talk about and the more that we interact, the more I pick up about her variations in body language and what certain motions mean.
Below, I have attached the link to an article that discusses the importance of communication and how to communicate correctly with people that have different variations of disabilities. I found it all very relevant to this week's topics and the course in general. In the article, there is a section that covers the "do's and don'ts" of interacting with people that have disabilities. The article also contains a section called "The Ten Commandments of Communicating". Each of the commandments offers great advice that everyone working with people that have disabilities would benefit from reading. I hope you all find it just as useful as I did!
http://www.labor.state.ny.us/workforcenypartners/forms/communication.pdf
Below, I have attached the link to an article that discusses the importance of communication and how to communicate correctly with people that have different variations of disabilities. I found it all very relevant to this week's topics and the course in general. In the article, there is a section that covers the "do's and don'ts" of interacting with people that have disabilities. The article also contains a section called "The Ten Commandments of Communicating". Each of the commandments offers great advice that everyone working with people that have disabilities would benefit from reading. I hope you all find it just as useful as I did!
http://www.labor.state.ny.us/workforcenypartners/forms/communication.pdf