Disability Awareness Month 2021: The Parallels of Unspoken rules in the Freelance world and Higher Education

Join us for our month of interesting conversations centered around our diverse disabled communities. Each March, Disability Awareness Month is celebrated throughout Indiana. Given that adults and children with disabilities represent slightly more than 19 percent of Indiana's population, disability awareness is important for all of us. Persons with disabilities are sometimes turned into objects of ridicule. But rather than being the butt of a joke, each individual in our campaign uses humor to open a conversation and highlight ways in which we can all understand each other better. There are 54 million Americans with disabilities. Adults and children with disabilities represent nearly a fifth of Indiana's population. There's nothing funny about the ignorance and naivety that often keep us from connecting with our fellow Hoosiers. The Parallels of Unspoken rules in the Freelance world and Higher Education with Alexandra "Lexie" Signor, DM Register: https://indstate-edu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYocuyqpj8iG9awvyx5xzFU3qyvMfmqjcFb Many vocations come with a set of rules by which the person working the job are to abide. Many of these rules are claimed to be explicit, but many are implicit. For a person on the autism spectrum, the distinction it's not so clear and success in their chosen field is that much more difficult for them. Ms. Signor will talk about her experiences in the freelance world and in higher education regarding the discovery of the unwritten rules, and how she has learned to successfully navigate them even as a person with autism. If you have questions, please contact Elonda Ervin at elonda.ervin@indstate.edu Planning Committee: Oyibo Afoaku, Indiana State University Peter Ciancone, The WILL Center Elonda Ervin, Indiana State University Jamie Frey, Ivy Tech Community College Molly Hare, Indiana State University Marlene Lu, ARC of Indiana Ian McNeil, Terre Haute South Vigo High School Traci McNeil, Ivy Tech School of Nursing Amber O\'Haver, Indiana Statewide Independent Living Council (INSILC) Breanna Pierce, Indiana State University Martha Reed, Indiana State University