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AAC-RERC Writers Brigade
Kathy Jo Pink |
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A Life Defined by Sharing and Advocacy
Sharing my experiences and advocating for others with disabilities has always been my life's goal and passion. That is what motivated me to become a part of the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Communication Enhancement Writers Brigade.
Advocacy and assistive technology have been a part of my life since childhood. When I was four years old, I was selected to be one of the ambassadors for United Cerebral Palsy. This enabled me to obtain my first manual wheelchair and my first communication board which had Bliss Symbols on it.
When I was old enough, I attended my local school. In elementary school, I communicated with the Auto-Com, a speech device that contained a more extensive vocabulary. This enabled me to to participate in class activities, work independently in the classroom and do my homework. Its adaptable interface allowed my Bliss symbols to be replaced by words as I learned to read.
I prospered, learned and thrived as a student. When I was in fifth grade, I received my first power wheelchair. In the seventh grade the principal got me a cable so I could plug my communication board into a computer. At the end of my freshman year of high school, I received an apple 2GS computer. The keyboard was placed on my tray and the hard drive was mounted on the back of my wheelchair. It had a voice synthesizer. When I was a freshman in high school, I got a TouchTalker with Minspeak and Word Strategy. This enabled me to work on the school newspaper.
Even my spare time was dedicated to advocating for people with disabilities and educating others. I was in a movie called Handicapped Children And Their families: The Winning Generation. I also created my own newsletter titled, The Pink Sheets. It originally started as a school project for speech and carried over in to 4-H. Publications featured: local and national news, interviews, editorials, a calendar of events and columns titled "Talk to KJ" and "KJ's Fun Corner." As a result of these efforts, I received the W-CASE Award Wisconsin Council for Expectational Children in 1989.
As I became older, my success with employment and technology increased. In high school, I worked for Grant County Social Serves as a clerk/typist. There, I stamped envelopes, typed case notes on clients and articles for an agency newsletter. The following year, I assisted my senior high school office, creating weekly menus and the student handbook. After graduation, I went to a vocational school for two years, majoring in Data Entry and Accounting. That led to a job with the Telephone Publication Office, updating residential listings for telephone directories. With those successes, Over time, my experiences with speech technology gradually advanced from a Touch Talker, to a Liberator and finally a Pathfinder.
Today, I still utilize a Pathfinder to tell my story and advocate for people with disabilities. As I begin my journey with the Writers Brigade, I hope to craft my writing skills, become an ambassador for people who utilize speech technologies and obtain an ECO-14, a newer speech-generating device, to enable me to tell others' stories as well as my own.
Pink, K.J. (October, 2010). A Life Defined by Sharing and Advocacy. ConnSENSE bulletin (full text)
Pink, K.J. (October, 2010). Emergency Preparedness Webcast for People with Complex Communication Needs. ConnSENSE Bulletin (full text)