Dean Smith

SPE 222

Advocacy of Persons with Disabilities

OPTION 2: INTERVIEW WITH A PROFESSIONAL WHO WORKS WITH PERSONS

WHO ARE DISABLED

Name of the individual interviewed: Alexis West

Population of individuals served by the person interviewed: Elementary students who are deaf

Characteristics of the individuals served: (cognitive, communicative,

social/emotional/behavioral, and physical): The student that Alexis works with is on the same

level as her peers, with the only difference being her inability to hear and her processing time of

reading information. Her student is very social and doesn’t let her disability hold her back.

1. Why did you choose this profession?

Alexis is a paraeducator and first chose to go into special education because her sister was born

with down syndrome. When she first saw how hard it was for her sister to get the help she

needed, that was the moment she knew she wanted to go into special education. She wanted to be

the change she wanted to see. She wanted to help people who were going through what she and

her sister went through for not getting the best help possible. Alexis has been working as a

paraeducator for two years now and she continues to love what she does.

2. What are the greatest strengths of the persons with disabilities you serve?

Alexis said that the greatest strengths of her students are their personalities. She doesn’t see their

disability as something that defines them and holds her students back, in fact she sees it as the
opposite. Their disabilities help highlight and emphasize their strengths, one of her students is

deaf. Her student’s inability to hear helps her to be able to highlight her strong non-verbal

listening skills as well as her strong communication skills. Another one of her student who is

deaf’s strength is her memory. Since she has to rely on her other senses and skills to help her

since she is unable to hear, her memory is really good. Alexis shares that one of her students

often remembers a lot of the small details from conversations they’ve had a while ago.

3. What are the greatest limitations of the persons with disabilities you serve?

Obviously one of the greatest limitations for her students is that she can’t hear, at all. She is

completely deaf. However, one of the biggest limitations that doesn’t immediately pop out to

most people is COVID-19. This is a limitation because everyone is required to wear masks.

When people wear masks, the student who is deaf is no longer able to read other people’s lips,

thus taking away a big strategy for communication. The student now has to rely on Alexis more

to be able to sign to the student and communicate with the class. Another limitation for her

student is her ability to process information. The student can still read and process information, it

just takes longer than students who can hear.

4. What are the accommodations that are recommended for the persons with disabilities you

serve?

For her student who is deaf, she often receives extended time on tests since it takes longer for her

to process information than students who are able to hear. The student also has Alexis with her

who is able to use sign language to help the student be able to communicate. Another

accommodation is that the student is allowed to sit anywhere in the classroom. This is because

the student gets to sit where she is best able to read the lips of her teacher. Alexis also said that
although it may seem like the front of the class may seem like the best option, that is not always

the case.

5. What have you learned from this profession and what can the public learn from you?

One thing that Alexis really wanted to emphasize and hopes what other people learned from her

and her job is to never judge a book by its cover. If people just took her students at first glance

they wouldn’t see how amazing they are. At first glance they would only see a student who deaf.

They wouldn't see a student who is one of the funniest girls they ever met, they wouldn’t see a

student who is caring and compassionate, they wouldn’t see a student who hopes that one day

she can be a teacher and be in charge of her own classroom too. At first glance they wouldn’t see

a student who is all of these things and also deaf, which is why it’s so important to see the person

and not the disability.