So, today we had our APS visitors. I gave Huan a bunch of choices for his lesson - Investment,  Robert Frost and Can You See Me? - a lesson featuring Ido Kedar and his views on looking past labels to ability.  Huan chose the latter.  As you can see, he did incredibly well.  I could not get one ounce of emotion from our guests.  At the end, I asked Huan if he had a message for our visitors - you can see his response.  I then asked them if they had any questions for Huan and they said no.  I was floored by this and said, "really, after what you have just seen, you don't have any questions or a response to what Huan has just said to you."  They just stared at me.  Finally Elaine said, "thank you for letting us watch." I will be very interested to see what kind of feedback you get from them.  

HV

6/2/15

What do you want to talk about? IDO KEDAR

Do you want to answer questions first or go right to summarizing? SUMMARIZING

IDO IS AN AUTISTIC WHO COMMUNICATES THROUGH RPM. HE WROTE A BOOK ABOUT AUTISM. I WANT TO WRITE A BOOK TOO. IDO IS AUTISTIC ONLY THAT IS A PART OF WHO HE IS. I AM LIKE IDO HE AND I ARE BOTH AUTISTIC BUT THAT IS ONLY PART OF WHO WE ARE. I WANT TO BE KNOWN FOR MORE THAN MY AUTISM. I WANT TO WRITE SO THAT MY EXPERIENCES CAN HELP OTHERS. I HAVE SUFFERED TOO MUCH FROM PEOPLE NOT HAVING RESPECT AND TOLERANCE FOR ME. I DON'T WANT TO SEE OTHERS HAVE THE SAME DIFFICULTY I HAD.

IDO WROTE ABOUT OSCAR PISTORIUS BECAUSE HE WAS AN EXCELLENT ATHLETE WHO HAPPENS TO NOT HAVE LEGS. THEN HE KILLED HIS GIRLFRIEND. NOT GREAT MORALS BUT STILL A GREAT RUNNER. INSTEAD OF PISTORIUS WE CAN FOCUS ON WALLACE WHO HAD HIS LEG AMPUTATED. I THINK THESE HARD WORKING GUYS ARE AMAZING. THEIR ENDURANCE IS INCREDIBLE. THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DISABLED ATHLETES AND NORMAL ATHLETES IS THEIR BODIES. BOTH WORK HARD IN THEIR COMPETITIONS AND TRAINING. IT DOES NOT MATTER THAT THEY ARE DISABLED I THINK THEY ARE ALL INCREDIBLE ATHLETES.

CW:How do you want to be recognized in the world? 

I WANT TO BE RECOGNIZED FOR MY ABILITIES NOT BY DISABILITIES. DOESN'T EVERYONE? I THINK TOO MUCH EMPHASIS IS PUT ON LABELS. JUST LET PEOPLE BE WHO THEY ARE! IT IS MORE IMPORTANT TO RESPECT AND INCLUDE PEOPLE THAN USE LABELS. LABELS ISOLATE AND EXCLUDE. NO ONE DESERVES THAT. I THINK THAT INSTEAD OF TRADITIONAL REQUIREMENTS WE SHOULD ALL PEOPLE THINK AND COMMUNICATE THE BEST WAY THEY CAN. NOT EVERYONE SHOULD BE TREATED THE SAME. WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT!

Do you have anything to say to our visitors? 

THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE. I HOPE THAT YOU WERE IMPRESSED AND WILL HELP SPREAD THE WORD THAT APS NEEDS TO USE RPM. 

YOU ARE WELCOME.