Barb

I would like to start off my response by saying I have found a new idol. Barb Rentenbach is one of the most intelligent people I've ever met. Prior to the presentation, I watched both videos. I also visited Barb's website for Mule and Muse Productions. I read some of her material, but not all of it. I came into the presentation not knowing exactly what to expect. I wasn't sure if it would be purely Barb or Barb with a panel of others with verbal difficulty. During the videos I watched the night before, I could tell that Barb was a very smart woman that had many thoughts and feelings. I also noted in the videos how much the commentators with verbal difficulty had to say. They were all very funny. When the presentation began and Barb began typing, I was expecting her to type "Autism is my prison." When she changed her sentence on me, I was surprised. She seemed, not to embrace, but at least learn to live comfortably with her disability. I wondered if she had always been at peace with her disability, or if took many years, if not decades to come to the place she is now in life. I have worked with many students with disabilities; many that I know comprehend the receptive language, but cannot respond or express much. So this was not a new phenomenon to me.  I personally feel that many people diagnosed with a disability are automatically treated differently because they cannot verbalize themselves. However, I have a feeling there are a lot more people that have feelings and thoughts like Barb, but are still trapped (or as Barb says their voices are still in the "shop.") During the presentation, I kept racking my brain for a question. I have this brilliant woman sitting in front of us, and I felt intimidated a little; not because of her disability by any means, but because she was smarter than almost the entire audience. This may be jumping to conclusions, but she has had her whole life to do what she says she does best "think." She has had her lifetime to contemplate, while us "normals" are always on the go. We are always doing or acting or speaking. We never shut up and watch, listen, relax. I think that was one of her most important lessons to me. How different would I be if for at least fifteen minutes a day, I just contemplated? Not necessarily about academics or work, about life. Her words were very carefully chosen, but they always had strong meaning. After the presentation, I had the pleasure of meeting Barb. There was no denying she could understand everything around her, even if she wanted to have lunch instead.