What makes you different? What sets you apart?

[Sophia Petrillo]

With everyone in the midst of application hell, lol, I thought it would be neat to see what, if anything, makes you unique? Experiences, background, employment, etc.

I have been a licensed massage therapist for over 10 years and I recently started back into the modality of craniosacral therapy. I started exploring and found some connections and cross over between CST & speech development issues. Not sure if it will help my application but it's fascinating!

[DeafAudi]

I'm applying to Audiology and I wear a cochlear implant. What really makes me different is that this is actually my fourth implant! I had meningitis when I was 2 1/2 and my (implanted) right ear just did not work for me. My device failed three times and finally, my left side was implanted. It has been almost ten years after my last implant with no problems. I really feel that my experiences has given me a greater understanding of the benefits and also limitations of cochlear implants.

 

Good luck to everyone else applying this year!

[Sunday]

I'm applying to Audiology and I wear a cochlear implant. What really makes me different is that this is actually my fourth implant! I had meningitis when I was 2 1/2 and my (implanted) right ear just did not work for me. My device failed three times and finally, my left side was implanted. It has been almost ten years after my last implant with no problems. I really feel that my experiences has given me a greater understanding of the benefits and also limitations of cochlear implants.

 

Good luck to everyone else applying this year!

 

Hi North of Border, I am in shock that I read your post here. Very good warm feeling that someone else is doing what I'm doing! I finally got to hear with CI's and contacted the audiology program in the my area to let them know I was ready to apply. I explained what happened to me and i knew of one with cis himself. So I was motivated! Now I really wish you the best luck with your 4th implant! Which program are you applying to?

[DeafAudi]

Hi Sunday, I will write you a pm!

[MadtownJacket]

Wow, I had no idea there were audiologists with cochlear implants themselves.  I also have cochlear implants, but I'm not going to grad school for audiology.  Just stumbled across this thread and thought it was neat!

[DeafAudi]

Hi there,

 

That's so cool you also have CIs! Yes, I guess there are audiologists with CIs, lol. I only have ever heard of one in my province, though so I guess it is fairly uncommon .

[ehemingway]

I'm a minority male going for speech. Woo!

[autismadvocate]

I have a different view with regards to autism, the population I want to work with as an SLP. Pretty much everyone sees it from a parent or professional point of view. I see it more from an autistic point of view - while I'm not autistic myself (I don't think), my sister is and because of her I've really been drawn into the burgeoning adult autistic culture, if you will. If you're not familiar with autistic culture, it actually seems to be going a comparable path (with comparable barriers) as Deaf culture - a lot of people capitalize Autistic and there's the whole concept of neurodiversity and acceptance, etc. It's really cool to be on the ground floor of a culture that's just starting off. Anyways, I feel like this point of view really helps me understand and help autistic people themselves (because helping their parents isn't always the same thing), and it definitely makes me unique. I didn't play it up too much in my application, though, because many parents/professionals aren't always so supportive of this view...it's a huge paradigm shift away from the way we're used to thinking of autism, and that can be hard to adjust to for some people.

[DeafAudi]

autismadvocate, that is so interesting! I appreciate that people such as yourself are working to give autistic people a voice. Not too long ago, Deaf people  were also treated as being incapable of taking responsibility for their own welfare.

 

I hope that I don't sound completely ignorant, but isn't it difficult for autistic people to relate to one another and especially form a culture? In my limited experiences with autistic spectrum people, I have found it extremely hard to form a friendship or even a relationship with the person. I know that every individual is different but I am curious and intrigued by this idea of an Autistic culture.

Edited December 31, 2013 by DeafAudi

[Sunday]

I just saw this thread now!! How awesome other people have seen it now since October! You go male minority! Who knows maybe in few months there will be other audiologist with CI's that pop up?!?! You never know :)

[autismadvocate]

autismadvocate, that is so interesting! I appreciate that people such as yourself are working to give autistic people a voice. Not too long ago, Deaf people  were also treated as being incapable of taking responsibility for their own welfare.

 

I hope that I don't sound completely ignorant, but isn't it difficult for autistic people to relate to one another and especially form a culture? In my limited experiences with autistic spectrum people, I have found it extremely hard to form a friendship or even a relationship with the person. I know that every individual is different but I am curious and intrigued by this idea of an Autistic culture.

 

I'm glad you find it so interesting! It is difficult to form a culture in person for many people on the spectrum - in part because it's a pretty small minority group for in person, because the person has to not only know they're autistic (lots of people are undiagnosed or misdiagnosed) but also be open about their diagnosis (a lot of people, for fear of stigma, hide it). That said, there's a really big online culture that I've gotten involved with on online forums like http://www.wrongplanet.net/ (which I recommend you check out - they're very welcoming and not judgmental or anything [which I would, btw, say is part of the culture]). Online forums are actually a really great equalizer, because even someone who can't talk may still be able to type (and even people who are "verbal" are often able to convey better/more consistently in writing). So right now because of issues of size and communication abilities, the culture is mainly online.

 

There is in-person culture, too, though - I'd definitely categorize organizations like ASAN (Autistic Self Advocacy Network) as such, where autistic adults advocate for themselves (their motto is nothing about us without us, which is really appropriate when you know the background on Autism Speaks) - their website if you wanted to check it out is http://autisticadvocacy.org/ . There are also different rules for in-person interaction in groups of autistic people. Like if someone doesn't want to make eye contact, that's respected, you don't touch people without their knowledge/consent, respectful of sensory issues, don't assume someone's intelligence and/or worth is related to their ability to talk, etc.

 

I wouldn't say it's difficult for autistic people to relate to each other, though. I know it's a widespread claim that people with autism don't have empathy, but that's not the case and reality may, in fact be quite the opposite (and that's not just my own opinion/that of the autistic community, science is FINALLY beginning to back that up, which is good because people used that "fact" to dehumanize people on the spectrum). Anyways, they relate to each other quite well, at the very least to the same degree that you'd expect neurotypical people to do.

 

Giant brownie points for realizing every individual is different - you'd be amazed how many people don't seem to get that. Though there is a common thread, autistic people tend to be more different from each other than alike. There's a saying in the autism community: "If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism." As in, it's great that you met one person, but that doesn't mean you can extrapolate your understanding of that person to the entire autistic population.

 

Here's a presentation by autistic self-advocates on the culture of autism - you may find it interesting: http://www.autismspectrumexplained.com/culture-of-autism-presentation.html

 

I know it's a tangent, but I actually took my sister (who has a form of autism) to one of the Deaf World events at my school and she had a lot of trouble. Things that were done to get attention in lieu of sound (touching, flashing the lights, etc) were real issues for her sensory-wise and she had to leave because she was getting overwhelmed. The slight clash of cultural differences, as influenced by different experiences of the world, I found quite interesting and I thought you might, too.

 

All this autism-related stuff may not seem so related to audiology, but the audiologist's office is actually one of the first places children on the spectrum tend to end up. Because they're often not speaking and/or responding as expected, physicians/parents assume there are hearing problems and send them off to get their hearing examined. So you'll likely have plenty of people on the spectrum cross your threshold in the future...

Edited January 3, 2014 by autismadvocate

[Sunday]

I'm glad you find it so interesting! It is difficult to form a culture in person for many people on the spectrum - in part because it's a pretty small minority group for in person, because the person has to not only know they're autistic (lots of people are undiagnosed or misdiagnosed) but also be open about their diagnosis (a lot of people, for fear of stigma, hide it). That said, there's a really big online culture that I've gotten involved with on online forums like http://www.wrongplanet.net/ (which I recommend you check out - they're very welcoming and not judgmental or anything [which I would, btw, say is part of the culture]). Online forums are actually a really great equalizer, because even someone who can't talk may still be able to type (and even people who are "verbal" are often able to convey better/more consistently in writing). So right now because of issues of size and communication abilities, the culture is mainly online.

 

There is in-person culture, too, though - I'd definitely categorize organizations like ASAN (Autistic Self Advocacy Network) as such, where autistic adults advocate for themselves (their motto is nothing about us without us, which is really appropriate when you know the background on Autism Speaks) - their website if you wanted to check it out is http://autisticadvocacy.org/ . There are also different rules for in-person interaction in groups of autistic people. Like if someone doesn't want to make eye contact, that's respected, you don't touch people without their knowledge/consent, respectful of sensory issues, don't assume someone's intelligence and/or worth is related to their ability to talk, etc.

 

I wouldn't say it's difficult for autistic people to relate to each other, though. I know it's a widespread claim that people with autism don't have empathy, but that's not the case and reality may, in fact be quite the opposite (and that's not just my own opinion/that of the autistic community, science is FINALLY beginning to back that up, which is good because people used that "fact" to dehumanize people on the spectrum). Anyways, they relate to each other quite well, at the very least to the same degree that you'd expect neurotypical people to do.

 

Giant brownie points for realizing every individual is different - you'd be amazed how many people don't seem to get that. Though there is a common thread, autistic people tend to be more different from each other than alike. There's a saying in the autism community: "If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism." As in, it's great that you met one person, but that doesn't mean you can extrapolate your understanding of that person to the entire autistic population.

 

Here's a presentation by autistic self-advocates on the culture of autism - you may find it interesting: http://www.autismspectrumexplained.com/culture-of-autism-presentation.html

 

I know it's a tangent, but I actually took my sister (who has a form of autism) to one of the Deaf World events at my school and she had a lot of trouble. Things that were done to get attention in lieu of sound (touching, flashing the lights, etc) were real issues for her sensory-wise and she had to leave because she was getting overwhelmed. The slight clash of cultural differences, as influenced by different experiences of the world, I found quite interesting and I thought you might, too.

 

All this autism-related stuff may not seem so related to audiology, but the audiologist's office is actually one of the first places children on the spectrum tend to end up. Because they're often not speaking and/or responding as expected, physicians/parents assume there are hearing problems and send them off to get their hearing examined. So you'll likely have plenty of people on the spectrum cross your threshold in the future...

This is excellent that you shared this on this site since I am going into audiology.  You wrote interesting things, about meeting one person with autism and that does not represent the autism community as a whole.  I agree because people who are deaf or hard of hearing, there are some many different people.  Very interesting because not one person will ever represent a community.  

True too about how the audiologist office would be the first place children on the spectrum would be going to.because they may have an assumed hearing loss.  

Thanks for sharing your knowledge of lights and touching and differences.  

[virginiarunninggirl]

I think some of my volunteer work and two international work experiences are somewhat out of the norm. There are also things in my application that they might find interesting as far as sports go. My sports experiences were unique--and show tenacity. Because there was a place for awards they were mentioned. It's not always all about gre's and gpa's. One never knows what will interest the admission's committee. I would imagine they would want a variety of students in ages and backgrounds.

[autismadvocate]

Sunday, thanks for being interested! Sorry for writing so much before, it's just a HUGE area of passion for me and I kind of got carried away talking about it...oops!

 

If you want to learn more about traits autistic people possess, I think you may find this article helpful: http://www.autismspectrumexplained.com/3-specific-traits.html    I wrote it with my sister's help (making a website explaining autism would probably be another thing that makes me different/sets me apart as a candidate, I suppose), and it goes into a lot more depth on sensory issues, eye contact, and other traits from the autistic perspective.

[DeafAudi]

Hey autismadvocate,

 

Thank you for taking the time to compose such a thought out and informative response! I have only met a few people with autism spectrum disorder so I did not know much about it. I hope I will get the chance to learn more about it in graduate school.

 

That is also an interesting point about your sister and the Deaf World events. I guess I really never thought about it in that way. I will have to check out your link and kudos to you for being such an advocate for your sister. I find that a lot of siblings with special needs family members tend to end up in "helping" professions. My younger sister is a nurse and has always been an advocate of mine (being deaf) . Just an observation! 

Edited January 6, 2014 by DeafAudi

[autismadvocate]

Glad you liked it, DeafAudi! You're probably right about siblings, haha - believe it or not, it's so common that there's actually a national organization just for siblings of people with disabilities (mostly developmental disabilities) who are advocates for disability rights. (It's called the Sibling Leadership Network.) So I guess most of us tend towards advocacy...

[Sunday]

Sunday, thanks for being interested! Sorry for writing so much before, it's just a HUGE area of passion for me and I kind of got carried away talking about it...oops!

 

If you want to learn more about traits autistic people possess, I think you may find this article helpful: http://www.autismspectrumexplained.com/3-specific-traits.html    I wrote it with my sister's help (making a website explaining autism would probably be another thing that makes me different/sets me apart as a candidate, I suppose), and it goes into a lot more depth on sensory issues, eye contact, and other traits from the autistic perspective.

I just saw your article! wow, lots of time and energy and heart into it! You have get into the schools you want now, hope you do!!!

[Persis]

I just saw your article! wow, lots of time and energy and heart into it! You have get into the schools you want now, hope you do!!!

autismadvocate, i just saw your article too.  awesome work.  However, you mentioned that your little sister has Aspergers.  There is no more Aspergers.  It is now just Autism.  You might want to update your it.

[autismadvocate]

Thanks for pointing that out Asemoooooo (I'm huge into constructive criticism, so that is awesome and I appreciate it), but I'm familiar; actually, that's one of the first things I go over on this page (which, for all of you guys who enjoyed the last page, I recommend reading this one, too): http://www.autismspectrumexplained.com/2-terms--background.html  Believe it or not, though, a lot of people in the autism community still find it useful to distinguish between the different former diagnoses, myself included.

 

There are a lot of reasons for this. First, it's a huge, recent change. Not only are people on the spectrum not generally fond of change, but many people have been using the label Asperger's (or Aspie) for decades now. It's habit, and for some people it's part of the way they see themselves. Secondly, as I said, it's still useful among others within the autism community because it conveys more information about the person than just saying autism spectrum disorder, namely it tells the other person that she's never struggled much with verbal language. That's the reason I will slip it in occasionally; I had a bad experience when a mom of an autistic child met my sister, saw how verbal she was, and took her as a sign of hope for her ten year old to gain verbal language someday, only to have it come crashing down when she learned my sister was always verbal. We left the mother fighting back tears. I felt like a terrible, terrible person for that incident and switched back to saying Asperger's more often. And last, it's a label that has a whole lot less stigma than autism. It's unfortunate, but there is a HUGE stigma attached to that label in society, one which our negative narratives about autism feed (yes, I have an article about that, too, which I recommend you read: http://www.autismspectrumexplained.com/negative-narrative.html ).

 

Stigma is a HUGE problem, one that despite not being autistic I've experienced myself. Back in high school, I used to volunteer at an autism support group for parents. Often, parents wouldn't be able to find a babysitter so they'd bring their autistic child with them to the meetings. Since that distracts the parents (and bores the child) I'd go to a playroom with the child and play with them until the meeting ended. I'd been doing this successfully for at least a year when a new parent showed up with her child. I offered to help her watch him, but she turned me down over and over, despite the fact that he was distracting her, disturbing the meeting, and she obviously could have used my help. I couldn't figure it out until the end of the meeting when, embarrassed, the mom apologized for having turned me down. The reason she gave for her actions? Someone had told her my sister had autism, and she got my name and my sister's mixed up. In short, because of a misunderstanding the mom thought that I was autistic and that made her not trust me with her son.

I was the same person as I had always been, but as soon as she thought I was autistic this mother deemed that I was no longer trustworthy. I was being judged not by my actions, but by my label, and that was in a group of parents who are presumably more open and educated about autism than the average person. That's how deep the stigma of autism goes. It's just so, so upsetting. Anyways, trying to avoid stigma is a definite, legitimate (and very, very sad) reason people with Asperger's might not want to use the label of autism.

 

You could, of course, say that someone is "high functioning" on the autism spectrum to differentiate (and possibly lower stigma? I'm not sure - as soon as people hear 'autism' they tend to go straight into charity case mode), but then you run into even more objections from the autistic community. You see, a person with autism isn't inherently higher functioning than a person with Asperger's. Depending on many factors, an autistic person who types to communicate could be higher functioning in life than someone with Asperger's, even though people with Asperger's tend to be thought of as higher functioning. Functioning also varies from minute to minute. So, yes, while one minute a person might be functioning well, the next they might be having a melt down and not functioning well at all. It just generalizes way too much.

 

Forgive me, btw, if you knew all this already, Asemoooo - to have known that Asperger's was an outdated label (as of May), I figure you have to have a decent level of understanding of autism, I just have no way of telling how much so from the short response and tried to cover all my bases. Also, again, apologies for the length - as I've said before, this is something I'm hugely passionate about and I do tend to go on a bit more about it as a result. Thanks again for pointing that out, though! :)

[DeafAudi]

You know, this is all very interesting to me because it is also true that there is a stigma or notion that deaf people who use verbal language are somehow more intelligent than Deaf people who use sign language. I can't tell you how many times I have been told "You do so well [for a deaf person]!" or the like simply because I can pass for a hearing person most of the time.

 

Another reason is because many Deaf people tend to write in their own language (eg: ASL), which can come across to the unfamiliar reader as poor English. 

 

I guess it is part of our job as audiologists and speech language pathologists to educate people that verbal language does not=intelligence. In the past, I feel like audiology has been geared towards emphasizing the CI and verbal route, but as an audiologist, I plan to respect my patient's decision, including if they decide to go the sign language route. The CI is not a cure and does not always result in verbal language, which is something I have observed among my own friends with CIs. 

Edited January 7, 2014 by DeafAudi

[autismadvocate]

So, so true. I can't tell you how many times my sister's been told "I never would have guessed you were autistic" which is intended to be a compliment... Here's my favorite reply I've ever seen: http://static.someecards.com/someecards/usercards/MjAxMy0yMTY0NDQwODc1OTY5OWZj.png

 

That phrase actually made a blogger's list of the top 15 things never to say to autistic people, and I'd take a wild guess and say you've experienced many of these yourself - I highly recommend reading: http://www.autistichoya.com/2012/02/15-things-you-should-never-say-to.html

 

I think that's something that most people with disabilities deal with. Phrases like, "You're so brave!", "You do so well for a ______ person!", "But you don't look ______!" (intended as a compliment), etc all can be quite unintentionally demeaning. The key word there, of course, is unintentional, which is why I'm a big fan of disability understanding and education (awareness is all well and good, but we need to move further than that).

[DeafAudi]

Haha, yes and yes! I read a similar list of 10 things to never say to a person in a wheelchair, and I was APPALLED that people could possibly be that ignorant. 

[Sunday]

You know, this is all very interesting to me because it is also true that there is a stigma or notion that deaf people who use verbal language are somehow more intelligent than Deaf people who use sign language. I can't tell you how many times I have been told "You do so well [for a deaf person]!" or the like simply because I can pass for a hearing person most of the time.

 

Another reason is because many Deaf people tend to write in their own language (eg: ASL), which can come across to the unfamiliar reader as poor English. 

 

I guess it is part of our job as audiologists and speech language pathologists to educate people that verbal language does not=intelligence. In the past, I feel like audiology has been geared towards emphasizing the CI and verbal route, but as an audiologist, I plan to respect my patient's decision, including if they decide to go the sign language route. The CI is not a cure and does not always result in verbal language, which is something I have observed among my own friends with CIs. 

Interesting how in your friends with CIs you saw verbal language did not always result.  I'm curious about that stuff!! How many friends do you have with CIs? How many use ASL? Both? Spoken language?

It's true though, because how is that I am really smart because I use verbal language and not ASL?  I know I have been told that my whole life, but I've often thought, what does that person really know?  It might be just their way of saying "that's cool" but they have to understand ASL, the language itself, before really say that. 

Edited January 8, 2014 by Sunday

[deci:belle]

Hi there,

 

That's so cool you also have CIs! Yes, I guess there are audiologists with CIs, lol. I only have ever heard of one in my province, though so I guess it is fairly uncommon .

 

There's a 4th year in my school's grad program at the moment, and I have a hearing loss myself (no CI or HA though), so it does happen!

 

For me it's being a daughter of immigrants, Black-Caribbean with a cookie bite SN HL. A super random combination.

Edited February 21, 2014 by deciBELLE

[autismadvocate]

1. I LOVE your username!

2. I hate to betray my ignorance, but what's a cookie bite SN HL mean?