Latest / DA CREW Podcast / SEASON 2 DA CREW PODCAST EPISODE _8 _HOST LATONYA MICHELLE LITTLEJOHN

Transcript

SEASON 2 DA CREW PODCAST EPISODE _8 _HOST LATONYA MICHELLE LITTLEJOHN · DA CREW Podcast

• 0:09
  Hello, Hello, hello, and welcome to the Crew Podcast. I am
• 0:16
  the visionary Queen angel and welcome to season two. I want to thank you
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  for tuning in and for all of your support throughout season one. We're back
• 0:29
  dmdvas of the Airway. At Wings of Transformation Publishing, we are committed to
• 0:36
  helping our authors reach their goals and pursue their dreams of becoming published authors.
• 0:41
  We work closely with each author to ensure a successful publishing experience, and we
• 0:47
  are dedicated to helping them tell their stories in the most meaningful and impactful ways.
• 0:52
  We look forward to putting you on the path to writing your book.
• 1:02
  Aspiring Authors Magazine is a founding sponsor for Doc Crew Podcast. Get featured inside
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  Magazine is an international magazine founded in May of twenty twenty by Queen Angela.
• 1:18
  Get featured Tony every second Monday and fourth Friday of each Money that you don't
• 1:27
  want to miss Body Hello, Hello, hello everyone, and welcome to season
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  two of Delayed but not Denied the podcast in conjunction with the Crew pot Cast.
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  I am elated to be here tonight that first season was mind blowing.
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  This second season who knows. But I am glad that you're here with me
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  to go on this journey and be a witness of people sharing their testimonies,
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  their stories in just their lives. So but before we start, I go
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  to the God, heavenly Father would come to you. Thanking you for season
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  two of The Crew podcast. We thank you for being in the midst of
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  all of this, for giving us a platform to reach people, to hear
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  people, to let people know that they're not walking in anything on their own,
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  that you walk ahead of them and we walk beside them. So it's
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  seeing your son Jesus' name. I pray Amen. Tonight Tonight, tonight,
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  I have a very wonderful guest, Miss Michelle Steiner, and she wants to
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  share her story with you guys. So, Michelle, how are you tonight?
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  I am doing great. Thank you so much for having me. Thank
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  you for being here. I want to give you an opportunity to introduce yourself
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  and share your story. So the flor is yours. Thank you well.
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  My name is Michelle Steiner. I live in Pennsylvania with my husband Ron and
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  our two cats, Jack and Sparrow, and I work in a school as
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  a disability writer, I want to know I work in a school, I'm
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  sorry. As a para educator, I work with students that have disabilities and
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  some who don't, some just who need a little bit of extra help.
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  And I'm also a disability writer and speaker and photographer, and I have my
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  blog called Michelle's Mission or I write about having a learning disability and I get
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  a chance to feature my photography. And I have a learning disability myself.
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  Okay, so if you don't mind me asking what type of learning disability do
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  you have? I have discalculia, which is a math learning disability, and
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  it impacts how I perform numbers I'm some for and I just cannot really perform
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  a lot of tasks with that. I also have limited hand dexterity in both
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  in my hands, and that wasn't diagnosed until I was an adult. But
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  what it was, it was the light bulb just went off and I was
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  like, oh, that's why things were falling out of my hands. And
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  I also have visual perception issues, but they are in my brain, not
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  in my eye, and that in facts my reaction time and my eye hand
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  coordination. So I'm not able to drive and it impacts other areas too.
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  Okay, I do have the same disability with the math. I was born
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  with spina and hydrocephalus. So math is not my friend at all. So
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  how do you navigate life being that you're unable to drive or you know,
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  things like that. I was told that I shouldn't drive either because of poor
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  hand eye coordination. But I did, you know, go, I stepped
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  out on faith and I got my license. So you know, anything is
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  possible, yes, And that is great that you were able to do that.
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  I know that. One of the things that I do is I've been
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  really blessed with having a great support system. My husband takes me to work
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  in the morning, and I have a sweet coworker that takes me home at
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  night. And I also live in a central location where I'm able to walk
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  to go a lot of places. And even though it's a small town,
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  there's still I'm able to go to the gym, I'm able to walk home
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  if things. My coworker isn't able to take me. So I have a
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  plan B with that, and that gives me a lot of freedom with that.
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  And then there's another really unexpected gift that came along with not being able
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  to drive. I have that chance to notice details that other people would miss
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  because sometimes I sit in the passenger seat or I'm walking. I'll be in
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  the car with my husband and I'll say did you see that? And he'll
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  be like, no, I'm focused on the road. He's getting a little
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  bit better about this. But I get that chance because I'm not driving to
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  go back and take a picture of that flower or whatever neat thing was.
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  And if I wasn't, you know, if I was driving, I wouldn't.
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  I would definitely miss that opportunity. Okay, could you dive deeper into
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  what a para educator is? Sure? A para educator helps the teacher.
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  It's a teacher's aid and they go into the classroom and they help the teacher
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  and the students. Sometimes I might be helping a student that has a disability.
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  I might be reading a test to them. I might be working with
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  somebody that just can't get the concept. Now they know, do not ask
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  me to help them out with math. They'll soon find out I'm not able
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  to do that. But I can also go into a lot of situations and
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  because I have a disability, I can show my students also how to advocate
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  for themselves to be able to get help. That's beautiful. I would like
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  to ax. What is it like being in the field of education and having
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  a learning disability. It is very rewarding for me because I get that opportunity
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  now to help somebody. Somebody read a test to me and encouraged me all
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  those years, and that really made a difference. And I feel like I'm
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  getting that chance now to go into a class and to make that difference for
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  a student that otherwise wouldn't be able to have that service that they need to
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  be successful. It also can come in with his challenges A lot of times,
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  especially if I'm working with new staff, they can't see my disability,
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  so a lot of times people will think, Oh, there's nothing wrong with
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  you, Why can't you get this math and why can't you help them?
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  And it's just I have to advocate for myself so other people understand what I
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  need. Okay, growing up and going through school, were you bullied because
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  of your disability? Yes? I was. The bullying started pretty early.
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  Part of it was I was an only child for thirteen years, so I
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  didn't have a lot of other students to interact with. I spent a lot
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  of time with adults, and then having the disability really brought everything brought that
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  out. I can remember I went to a very small school district in a
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  very conservative area, and they did not value anybody who was different, and
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  my disability made me stick out like a sore thumb. And I also had
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  I couldn't hide, I couldn't blend in with everybody else. Everybody knew that
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  I went to Learning Support, and even when I was in regular Red classes,
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  people knew I was going there to get a test read or to get
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  some help, and they let me together with the learning support students, and
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  some of the learning support students, I didn't really relate to them because most
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  of them struggled with reading. I was probably the only one that really needed
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  help with math, and some of them had behavior issues and other ones had
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  other diagnosis that was not learning disabilities. But we were all in this class
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  together and I just didn't feel like I could relate to them or my regular
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  Red peers. Have you came in contact with any students that have a similar
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  disability as you, Yes, I have seen a lot of students that have
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  had similar disabilities. It's really nice because I get that opportunity to tell them
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  that it's okay and that they are smart. The brain's just wired differently.
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  I can't remember. I was in a class and they were doing something that
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  I could not do. It was science class, and I was just feeling
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  like, Okay, God, why am I in this room? Why am
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  I here? I can't help them. There's just no purpose to this.
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  And somebody said that the student was crying because he was really frustrated, and
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  I got my answer that was my reason, and I went over to him
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  and I told him I have a learning disability. I know how hard it
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  is. I'm not able to help you with this, but I want you
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  to let me know when you are struggling so I can make sure you get
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  the resources that you need. And he wasn't crying after a certain time.
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  He was asking for help and now he's really thriving in the classroom independently.
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  When did you know that education was the path that you wanted to build your
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  career around. I knew whenever I was in high school that I wanted to
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  go to college and that I wanted to work with students in some capacity,
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  And there was definitely that fear though, of going to college. I didn't
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  know if I could handle it because of my math disability, and I had
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  other people that didn't think I could as well. I had a teacher who
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  told me, I don't think with your disability you can handle college, and
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  she tried promoting a trade school, which there was nothing there that interested me.
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  But luckily God did place people in my life that were able to encourage
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  me. I had a wonderful student teacher that told me that I could go
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  to college because I was a hard worker and I knew how to study.
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  And I also got involved with a federal agency called Office for Vocational Rehabilitation,
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  and they paid for all the testing and if you qualify having a disability,
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  they helped to pay for college. I was able to graduate debt free,
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  and they can also help with job placement programs. The only thing that was
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  really difficult with them was I had to get tested for having a learning disability
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  all over again for accommodations. And I've never been a great test taker.
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  I always score really low on tests, and the psychiatrists originally thought I could
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  not go beyond community college, and then some of them thought, like with
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  job choices, when I had later evaluations that I could not do things such
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  as getting jobs with communication or journalism or writing. And I've since been able
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  to do all of those things. But for a while I really wasn't able
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  to understand that that was somebody's opinion, not necessarily a fact, and I
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  was really discouraged, especially when I started the community college. So being that
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  you were discouraged, how do you keep yourself going in an environment where it
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  would be easy to just say, you know, I can't do this.
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  You know, what do you do to keep going? One of the things
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  that helps me is focusing on what I can do. It's so much more
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  empowering for me to focus on activities than I am good at, such as
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  reading or writing or photography, and those things bring me joy. But if
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  I focus on the things that are negative that I can't do, such as
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  math or driving, then I get really negative with that, and I really
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  want to focus on things that do bring me joy and bring me that happiness.
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  I'm a much more positive and uppie person when I focus on what I
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  can do. Right, So I would like to ask you what is the
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  endgame for you? Like, what is the all and be all of the
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  education that you would like to see within our youth now, I would definitely
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  love to see each and every person, whether they have a disability or they
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  don't become who God wants them to be and to be able to find their
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  purpose in life. Each of them is going to have different gifts, different
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  talents, different strengths, and I just want to be in that process of
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  encouraging them. I definitely don't want to be someone that discourages some dreams that
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  maybe are high and maybe won't happen, but I don't know what the end
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  is. God knows that, and I want to be able to encourage people
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  with resources and just to help them to be whoever they are created to be
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  and to have their purpose. Miss nudget Scott said, what an inspiration you
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  are to all the children you come in contact with. God bless you go,
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  which's very kind. What does that mean for you to know that you
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  are that you are an inspiration to the children that you come in contact with.
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  It makes me feel very happy and satisfied that I can inspire somebody and
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  I can help somebody else in their life, and I can give them a
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  positive experience and when they look back on their years of school. I hope
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  that they see that they remember that I encourage them and that I believed in
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  them. The same way I can look back on a lot of the staff
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  that helped me and especially that student teacher that really encouraged me with that,
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  because I think that is definitely them that I love. In twenty twenty four,
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  do you have any goals, dreams, and aspirations that you are working
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  towards at this moment. I definitely want to get more things published. I
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  have sending out a lot of stories that I do to be able to share
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  about my experience and just explaining what life is like with a learning disability.
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  I also want to expand my blog, I definitely with my audience and also
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  just get with a lot of the message. I want to do more photography,
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  and I'd also like to work on a book and just get out and
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  speak more places and be able to share my story and to help other people.
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  Well. I extend my platform to you in any capacity that I can
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  help. Where can people find you if they want to reach out to you
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  for photography or any other thing that like anything else that they may want to
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  reach out to you about in your field of expertise. You can find me
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  at my blog Michelle's mission dot net and I am also on Facebook and Instagram
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  as well. Okay, well, Ms Michelle, it has been lovely talking
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  to you tonight. I would love to have you to come back and just
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  expound on more about you know, your your career and your goals moving forward.
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  Is there anything that you would like to say before we head out.
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  I would just love to encourage people to uh know what they want and uh
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  if they if they're not sure, to ask God to reveal what that purpose
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  is and his good plan and to be able to who also asks that he
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  finds a way for you to be able to do it, and to try
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  to remember that success doesn't always come with the package that you want, but
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  sometimes it comes in something even better. I agree, I agree, I
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  love that, I love that. I thank you for your time. I
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  thank you for sharing your story with us again. I would love to have
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  you come back and talk with us again. Your story is amazing. There
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  are so many people that I feel like would be able to benefit from knowing
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  that even in spite of a learning disability, that you can still have a
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  full life and you can still have a career and you know, do things
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  and instead of feeling as if because you have a disability that you can't,
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  so I applaud you for standing on that and showing people that it can be
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  done. Oh, thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. You're
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  very welcome. You're very welcome. So everyone, I would like to thank
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  you for tuning into delay but not denied tonight. And as I always tell
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  you, even if you're delayed, what God has for you will never be
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  denied unto you. So until next time, I wish you well and everyone
• 20:32
  have a good night. The book A Song for Zupporah, written by David
• 20:40
  Harris, is a powerful historical fiction centering around the life and character of Moses's
• 20:45
  future wife Zupporah before they met. Book author David Harris brings the reader into
• 20:51
  the relationship between Moses and