"See What I'm Saying"

Katherine Dumas is an activist with a mission. The trouble is, up until recently most people haven't gotten the message.

But now Katherine is working on that through her job as a paid consultant training others to interpret and respond to the language of people who don't use words to communicate. Katherine has teamed up with employment consultant, Carolyn Robinson. and community liaison, Veretta Anderson, of NOW Employment Services in Austin, along with her mother, Shelley Dumas, of University Affiliated Programs, to develop a training curriculum to share with others how she communicates.

For years, Katherine has communicated her likes and dislikes through the time-honored activist approach of passive resistance. In day program and group activity settings, her responses of sitting on the floor or turning her attention away from activities was, in fact, Katherine exercising her freedom of choice and right to personal control. In the day program world of planned group activities and regimented schedules, Katherine's resistance had the grinding-halt effect that was exactly what day programming 6specialletso needed to hear. Only people were not ready to listen.

Through a communication chart developed by Michael Smull, who also facilitated Katherine's Essential Lifestyle Plan, people who know Katherine best are observing her consistent 'behavior-as-communication' to develop interpretations of what Katherine is doing, what they think this means, and what people should do in response to her communication,

Katherine and her co-presenters have begun offering a training called "See What I'm Saying" to teach others to listen to people who don't use words to communicate. She and her employment consultant had previously explored other job options and tried several job-related activities, finding that Katherine prefers variety in her life as well as interaction with people, exactly as her family had identified as her preferences. These training seminars allow Katherine to be Katherine, do the things she likes to do, and interact with different people at each training site.

In the Austin job market where there are many jobs and a variety of options from which to choose, Katherine has carved her own niche as a presenter and teacher, true to her individualistic nature. And her message is finally being 'heard.'

For more information regarding Katherine's presentation, contact NOW Employment Services at e-mail address: ronnie.mckeown@atcmhmr.com