Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Clear Discrimination of Communication



I am writing this from the 'other side of the coin' so to speak. I am writing this with adaptations I and others made long ago. If not for this clear writing, it could be said that I was mentally impaired.

First, just what is it I am doing? I am using the pointer finger of my left hand to hit and press letter keys to spell words that I organize into sentences. We then get into paragraph and essay construction that I learned in grade school.

Typing on the computer wasn't instant. Before I could hunt out letters on a keyboard, I had to find them on a communication board. Blinking 'yes/no' for a letter was many years ago, and is where finding and identifying a letter began.

Since I am using only one finger, I must be doing something special to make capital letters and hit multiple keys, like <ctrl> <alt> <del>. Computers come with accessibility features built right in. That particular one is called Sticky Keys. There are many adaptations. This and a lot of computers call the program Ease of Access. An Occupational Therapist in Southern California first set it up for me years ago. It was called something else back then. I don't need all the adaptations now. I just pretty much need the Sticky Keys. (There used to be an important one called Bouncy Keys. What happens on a computer if you hold a key down too long? Too long can be a whole second. I was getting mmmmmaanyyy letters.)

With identifying letters, came the ability to sit up and move an arm by having lots of therapy. It was a combination of Speech, Occupational, and Physical therapies. You can't single out one. It's like a pie. If you have a cherry pie, but only single out the cherries, you have a different dessert. (Cherries Jubilee)



Now that I communicate clearly, you see there is no cognitive impairment. This means communication and cognition are mixed together.

Sure, a cognitively impaired person won't communicate. What about communication disabilities, though? People who don't communicate are being called cognitively impaired. This isn't right.

A so-called 'cognitively impaired' person who is finally able to communicate through higher technologies will challenge the system not set up to handle communicative impairments. This is Locked-In Syndrome. This is what is happening with the man who has been called 'Ghost Boy,' Martin Pistorius.





This essay could be communication. I am still vegetative, although I am able to speak somewhat. It might take me all day to type this with one finger, but I'm not going anywhere. Besides, I know stuff you need to know. I doubt that all the people who see this are clairvoyant. They are reading this. Again, no special powers are being used.
 
___________________________________

Sign language is just an adapted form of communication. I'm not exhibiting some mystical power. The hand movements aren't "spastic" like previously said. If anything, there is great cognitive skill going on here.



___________________________________
 
Years ago, I became familiar with the following categories of intelligence disability:


Click to enlarge.

I'd be classified as "profound" when I first had my bleed.  Why? Because we don't know. I'm going to disagree with Google and say profound impairment is impairment so severe, that the subject can't be tested. The definitions I kept getting on Google had numerical IQ scores.

To illustrate look at the word "profound."


 

I am PROFOUND.


I was

(cherry pie)

Now I'm

(Cherries Jubilee)




Obviously, there is clear discrimination of communication.
What is my diagnosis?
Case closed.


* I have a BA in Psychology and an MA in Special Education. I have worked in disability, children's disability, and mental health. I have guest taught specifically on the topic of children with special needs issues.

 

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