To finish my degree, I am doing my internship with DynaVox Mayer-Johnson. I started during the spring quarter and will be done during the summer quarter. I’m the Communications and Awareness intern and I love it. Ultimately, I would like to talk to /work with people who have never been around people with disabilities before. But I am willing to talk to people with disabilities, therapists, staff, little kids, parents of kids with disabilities, etc. 

One idea that we had for my internship was for me to go to AAC camps and not only talk to campers but talk to counselors as well. However, out of the 8 camps that I called, only one camp – the camp that I used to go to – was interested in having me.  I’m guessing that was because they know me. 

It’s a big, frustrating cycle. People know so little about disabilities and need awareness. But when I call and offer to give them awareness, they don’t have a concept of a DynaVox, get confused, and say they are not interested. 

As a result of this experience, I have come to the sad conclusion that it really is not what you know, but who you know. Having contacts is so important. They can make your job so much easier. A lot of my friends work with people with disabilities. I have asked them if they know of anybody who would want me to come do my presentations for their group. Hopefully, knowing the right people will help me get the ball rolling and many more people will be aware of the capabilities of people with disabilities.