AT Professionals What Could Their Education Be

HOW TEACHERS CAN HELP TYPICAL STUDENTS AND STUDENTS WHO HAVE A DISABILITY GET INTO THE FANTASTIC FIELD I have been asked to come to speak to a class called future help occupation. This class is for students that are interested in the helping occupation of students that want to be a doctor, nurse, and police officer or fireman. The teacher asked me to do this a few years ago and I look forward to this each year, because I am educating the class about assistive technology. Most students who are taking this class, it is most likely that they won't have a class on the topic. when they will be in college. I bring all kinds of communication boards and I say this okay for this hour you can talk, but you need to use these tools to talk to us. My hope with this that students understand how hard it is for someone to communicate with only using a few words. I tell the person with me that please feel free have fun with them, saying things like I don't understand what you want we need to move forward, your speech therapist just want you to work on feelings, or you aren't interested in using this we will quit trying. I make sure that we will have time for discussion when anyone can talk on what was going on and what are your thoughts. Some things that I always get are this never happen, I feel sad because teachers and speech therapists don't believe in their students, and this one interest me, what can we do to stop this from hap- pening. These are the future people who will be working in the field with us someday soon. Most high schools also have computer classes and woodshop classes. What if you ask the teachers, if they will make communica- tion symbols, a desk for a student who uses a power chair, a bench for people to go to when they don't have someone to talk to, or a switch that students can use. Maybe you will find someone who they don't know what they want to be and they might say I think the field of assistive technology looks interesting, I might look into that. Again ask the language arts teachers if they are reading a book with a character with a disability can you come in to speak to their classes and please bring a student to their classes. I believe that if students see someone that they go to school with, they are more willing to listen to you. And they will be interested in going into the field! Students with a disability can work in the field and we should talk about this with these students. This was me when I was a stu- dent. My parents and school team believed in me so they chal- lenged me to be the best so I can write blogs, give speeches and workshops, and work to help the community. High schools have a class for students with a disability and without a disability about life skills and how to work with people who have a disability. This class is excellent for everyone. Let's look at some of the benefits for both groups. First we will talk about students with a disability: being in a regular class, the willingness to work with anyone, following di- rections that a peer gives, and working together. So I bet you are thinking this class only helps students with a disability? I think no, actually I think this class will help more students without a dis-

ability. Let's look at their benefits: they will be understanding of people with a disability, they will have a different viewpoint on life, they will include their friends in clubs and at lunch time, and hopefully when they are adults and owe a business they might hire someone who has a disability. I will ask you which group wins and will get more from this? Most people will say students with a disability get more out of this and I understand but please consid- er this. We are giving someone who they don't have a disability, no one in their family, or they have no friends with a disability; an opportunity to step into the disability community. Maybe just maybe it could be a start of something and they might be inter- ested in it. We don't know what will start their career and life's passion. This part of the paper I'm going to be discussing what comes next for the people who might be interested in coming into the field. We need to welcome them like people did for us. I remem- ber going to my first Closing The Gap in 2017. I have only been interested in working in the field for only two or three years, but people like Kelly Fonner, Joy Z, and Caroline Musselwhite were so welcoming to me and wanted to talk to me. It was an amazing feeling and I am so thankful for that! We need to get more stu- dents attending these conferences, so they can start networking and learning from these amazing people. When I am talking about students, I mean students at all levels and all abilities. If you are a tenth grader and you know that they are interested in assistive technology ask them hey do you want to go to a conference with me, but please make sure that they know that it isn't a vacation from school. Have things for them to do like go to the QIAT work- shop, visit with a family member or someone who uses assistive technology, and start their professional network. Now most high schools won't have money to send a technology class or future helping occupation class to a huge assistive technology and spe- cial education conference and I understand that. But states might have a fair on assistive technology and or a conference and you can take your students to it. That way they are starting to explore the assistive technology world and starting to build their network up Sadly in college we have just a few programs just on assistive technology and I believe that it is wrong and sad, but a lot of as- sistive technology learning is on your own. Why not start their love and learning about assistive technology in middle school or sooner. In closing I will ask you the readers a question. Why don't we have a lot of professionals who use assistive technology in the field? Maybe we don't have an answer to this, but I think that some people in the field believe that you need to go to a college to be a professional. Why do they think that you might be asking yourself? Remember at the start of this paper, I told you that I had people in my life that wanted me to go to a university. For the lon- gest time I wanted that myself, but my school team and my family looked and explored with me what college would be like for me. After we looked at it some more, I told them that I didn't think that college wasn't the right step for me. They listened and supported

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