By Hannah Foley, PRC-Saltillo Blogger
What is day to day life like for someone who uses AAC? How different is it from daily life for anyone else? What kind of exciting things do we get to do every day to avoid boredom?
I think it is a common perception of society in general that people with disabilities, and especially those with AAC needs, have this super exciting life and get to do fun activities all day every day and that we never experience the phenomenon of boredom. If this is the case, I missed the boat on receiving my immunity to boredom that people with disabilities get at birth, or I got a defective dose of the shot.
Not long ago, I had volunteered to allow a PT student to observe one of my“activities” for a few hours (going to the gym for one hour twice a week and going to PT once a week are the only regular activities that I do on a regular basis). I am someone who likes to teach people and help them learn so that they can take what they learned from me and apply it to other situations and individuals that they encounter and be better prepared/educated for those situations. So, I happily volunteered to have a PT student observe one of my personal training sessions at the gym. Why not? Or so I thought….
I gave the student the address to the gym that I train at and I gave her the time that my session starts and I told her that I would meet her there at the time of my session. She proceeds to ask me if I would like to “hangout” or “get coffee before or after the gym”. First of all, I don’t even like coffee. Second of all, I don’t even know this person. I am not a charity case who needs to hangout with strangers who I will never see again so they feel good about themselves that they are spending time with someone with a disability. The day of her observation arrives and I am of course running a few minutes late to the gym (classic Hannah got every red light on my way to the gym), so I texted her on my way to the gym to let her know I will be there in a few minutes. She said, “okay, I am sitting in my car in front of the gym until you get here”. So, I arrived to the gym and looked around the parking lot for this person I have never met before. I couldn’t find anyone (I thought she would come out of her car when she saw me, the only person in a wheelchair, but no), so I am like “I have to start my workout. She will find me, she has the address”. I proceeded to get at least 5 texts and phone calls so I had to stop my workout and get back in my wheelchair so I could answer her and help her find the gym.
She finally found the gym about halfway through my session. Keep in mind that I was not in my chair when she walked in so I could not really talk to her because I was doing a workout and didn’t have access to my device. So, she starts talking to my trainer about me and asking her questions about me that my trainer did not know the answers to. She didn’t even know that I use AAC or that I understood what she was saying which was infuriating. Anyway, at the conclusion of my session after I was back in my chair with my device, she asked MY MOM what her and I usually do after the gym. It was like she thought I do activities all day. I told her that I was going home to eat lunch and then I had a maintenance appointment for my wheelchair and a meeting for work. Her face said she was surprised that I did not have anything else planned for the day. I am not sure what she was expecting me to do the rest of the day, but apparently she thought I do “activities” all day, every day. I thought to myself, “you and I are the same age, what activities do you do? Go to class, do homework, and perhaps go to work. Yeah, that is what I do too and I have a disability - what a foriegn concept”.
I don’t understand what people think that people with disabilities, especially those who use AAC, do to fill their time, but apparently they think we have this daily schedule of “fun activities”. I have been consumed with school and homework for the past fifteen or so years of my life and I am now trying to start my career. When I don’t have any homework and/or work to do, I’m bored…just like everyone else, and especially since the start of the pandemic. I often don’t even know what to write these blogs about. Society, in general, apparently thinks that people with disabilities have some special schedule full of fun activities and that they are immune to boredom. Where do I get my shot of immunity to boredom? Or, how do I request a refund for my defective dose? Please fill me in on such information because I apparently missed the memo.
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Communicators In Action - disability, social, aac, daily life, language, communication