Event Review: Infinite Learning Academy in Hutchinson Island, FL

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This past month, I had the honor and the privilege of presenting for the Infinite Learning Academy at their inaugural family/educator retreat and conference. Hosted by Tamyra Telles and her husband, Andrew, it was held at the Marriott Hutchinson Island Resort on Hutchinson Island, FL from Tuesday June 13th to Friday June 16th and the small group of attendees came from various parts of the United States such as Florida, North and South Carolina, Texas and of course, Massachusetts.

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Now, this kind of retreat and conference was a very unique one to me. The majority of the attendees were teachers and employee specialists as well as one or two families. For the majority of the young existence of “Going the Distance,” I have been trying to find my core audience, the audience that I would focus a majority of my presentations on.

Being a former special education student, I always had a strong bond with my teachers, particularly those who saw my potential as a public speaker and writer. Ever since I graduated from Seekonk High School in 2007, I’ve made it my core mission to give back to education by sharing my story as a neurodiverse student and the challenges that came with it.

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As for presenting at the retreat itself, I had the honor of doing 7 total presentations, two of those were presented twice on how Autism can be represented in Disney Characters.

For example, in volume 1, Dopey from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” represents those who are non-verbal and could only communicate through their emotions or Tigger from “Winnie the Pooh” represents those who have a lack of understanding on personal boundaries.

In Volume 2, there is Pinocchio who doesn’t understand the threat Stromboli poses to him until it is too late. Most people think of Disney as just entertainment, but if you look closely at these kinds of characters, you can see that there is more to them than meets the eye.

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In addition, I also presented a presentation on School Safety Drills and Autism, something I greatly struggled with when I was a student, and much to my surprise, I found out that while most of the drills featured are practiced, it was to my surprise extent and dismay, that not everyone practices school bus evacuation drills. I explained that schools need to practice school bus evacuation drills because what happens if say, the students were on a field trip or going to and from an athletic event.

How would they act in a real emergency? Such as if the bus caught fire?

To me, I felt like there is still a long way to go for schools to embrace school bus evacuation drills in the same manner as say, fire or lockdown drills.

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Another presentation that I debuted on Hutchinson Island was called “Cosmo the Seedrian: What Does She Represent for the Autism/Neurodiversity Community?” For those of you who don’t know who Cosmo is, she is a character from the 3rd season of the anime adaptation of “Sonic the Hedgehog” who is a very relatable character to those on the autism spectrum. Much like the Disney presentation, the goal is to identify and share what Cosmo relates to the community. In Cosmo’s case, she is prone to sensory overloads and meltdowns because of her character history.

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Finally, I concluded the retreat with my signature presentation, “The Man Behind the Curtain” which is about my journey of obtaining and holding onto a paid job while neurodivergent. One of the key points I talked about is how flexibility is more than a necessity, but a survival skill in life, not just in employment. But mostly, the message was that there is plenty of individuals out there that want to be given a chance at what they want to do but are denied.

In the presentation, I discussed the importance of finding the fit, not forcing it and one of the examples given was how a client for the employment agency, EmployU, got a job simply by folding up utensils in napkins.

Much like School Safety Drills, we still have a long way to getting employment for developmentally different and disabled individuals, but it has to involve a give and take on both the employer and the employee with the job coach or advisor providing mediation.

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When all is said and done, I left Hutchinson Island on June 17th knowing that going forward, these would be the kinds of events I would be going to. In my business, one of the triangles I have is devoted to families, educators and employers and this certainly fit that triangle.

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If you would like me to come present and cover your retreat and/or conference for this blog, don’t be afraid to reach out to me today!!

Catch you all later!!

#Diversity #Disability #Neurodiversity #Equality #SpecialEducation #Autism #Education #Employment #Inclusion