TiffanyHammond
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Diana Pastora Carson: [00:00:00] This episode is proudly sponsored by ABILITY Magazine, the leading magazine for health, disability, and human potential that strives to shatter myths and stereotypes that surround disabilities.
Diana Pastora Carson: Welcome to the Beyond Awareness: Disability Awareness That Matters podcast. I'm your host, Diana Pastora Carson. Here you'll find a safe space to learn and grow with leaders in education, disability studies, disability advocacy, and diversity, equity, and inclusion conversations. Specifically, we look at how disability fits into diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and belonging, and how to frame disability awareness in the context of educating [00:01:00] K 12 communities.
Diana Pastora Carson: This show serves educators, parents, and community members who strive to learn and or teach about disability in a research based and respectful way, moving beyond simple awareness. And diving into inclusive and socially responsive conversations. Now let's go beyond awareness. Hello everybody and welcome back to Beyond Awareness Disability Awareness That Matters. I am delighted today to be joined by Tiffany Hammond. Welcome, Tiffany. You are an autistic author, wife, and proud mom of two amazing autistic teenagers. You have a master's degree in developmental psychology with a focus on childhood development, but your real expertise comes from living and breathing the everyday joys and challenges of being autistic and raising [00:02:00] children with the same diagnosis.
Diana Pastora Carson: You do this through stories, presentations, trainings, workshops, collaborations, and more. And I must say that your style of writing in general leaves me in awe every single time I read your prolific social media posts, but you are also the author of A Day With No Words, which is a nUmber one New York Times Bestselling illustrated children's book, which I love and that we will discuss in a moment.
Diana Pastora Carson: So welcome again, Tiffany. Thank you. Thank you for having me here. Excited to be here. I'm excited to have you.
Diana Pastora Carson: So I always start with asking my guests why, what is your why can so please first tell us a little bit more about your background and especially your why. What brought you to this place in life?
Tiffany Hammond: Okay. [00:03:00] I'm a writer. I, I have, that has always been my primary form of communication is, is, is writing. I didn't speak that well as a, as a, as a child. I had speech, I could talk. Um I just, it. I don't think people actually understood the way that I talked. It was like I always talk to them like, oh, you're so monotone or is so low, and then you're just so flat and it is just kind of like, so, and then when I did speak, it was a lot of, they didn't really like understand what I was talking about or what I was saying, and so it was just a lot got lost when I would talk to people so. Um my grandma is the one that, that got me my first notebook and she was just like, you gonna have to just learn to, to, to, to write instead. And then maybe [00:04:00] as you keep writing and getting more comfortable with it, then maybe the, the, the, the speech will come with that. And, and if it doesn't, you know, it doesn't.
Tiffany Hammond: Um so I've been writing since I was like 8, 7, 8 years old. Um. But it wasn't until my oldest son was probably 10 or so when I started to like share more about autism and and online. And I really just did it on Facebook on my personal page because I was still doing a lot of advocacy offline. Um. And, uh, I would share a little bit on my, my personal profile and my friends were like, Hey, you should start a blog or you should do a, you know, get a page and do a blog.
Tiffany Hammond: And I was like, okay, I'll [00:05:00] start a blog or whatever. And I started a blog and, and, Um and then I also like had a little page on, on Facebook and. All those people that said I should have started a blog or whatever, they didn't even follow it. Like they didn't even like it or follow it. I'm like, oh, so I just did this for nothing, you know?
Tiffany Hammond: And, Um that would kind of like, it kind of fizzled out. And I just went back to just sharing on my, my personal page and still working with families offline, still doing advocacy offline. And then I got frustrated. With the work that I was doing offline and the people that I was working with and what we were fighting for and what we were doing, they didn't seem to understand that yes, we all are familiar with autism.
Tiffany Hammond: Yes, we are autistic. Yes, we are raising autistic kids. But there are a lot of other intersections that we are not discussing and we are not talking about. [00:06:00] And that could be race, it could be be gender, it could be socioeconomic status. It could be, it was like a lot of stuff we were not like addressing.
Tiffany Hammond: There were a lot of things in our groups that people needed and they couldn't access, because of, you know, who they were and, and, and I was like, we're not talking about this and we are not advocating for this because here I am in these advocacy groups and stuff with, and I probably feel like 80% of the people that were there, 80% of the parents that were there were higher income.
Tiffany Hammond: Like able to actually come to these, these, these meetings and go to Austin and go, you know, fight and go do these things. And were able to pay for lawyers to get their kids to go to better school districts. And, and I, they had privileges that a lot of us didn't know, wouldn't know, couldn't get. I was frustrated.
Tiffany Hammond: I went [00:07:00] online. And that's when I just started ranting and I was like, I need to be in a space where they won't see me. Because a lot of them were on my personal page. They were friends and on the on Facebook. So I was like, I'm gonna go to Instagram. So I went to Instagram and I had an Instagram page since they launched Instagram, I just hardly used it because I didn't understand it. It was so image driven and it still is. So I was like, I didn't know how to use it. I was like, I don't have that many pictures. And then, you know, but I went there and I started to share there and I started to, to share our stories there and, and, Um the, the, the challenges and the things that we faced.
Tiffany Hammond: And I started to do it over there. And at the time that I started, there were not a lot of autistic people online that were talking about. Being autistic and being Black. There were not a lot of, Black disabled people sharing online in general, and for a lot of them, they would [00:08:00] just focus on one part or the other and never really kind of together.
Tiffany Hammond: It was just like they were talking about, you know, their diagnosis and the things that they face. But it wasn't always talking about what happens when you compound and you add race to it. Um. So it was very isolating at times. People did not like the stuff that I was sharing, and I was saying, and I was getting hit over the head every day.
Tiffany Hammond: Oh, all this girl, it is, everything's not about race. This, uh, hit, you know, like, oh lord, you know, it was just like, Um it was, it was, it was a lot. It wasn't as. I wouldn't say it's easier today to, to share, but no, it is easier today to share than when I was, when I, when I first started. It was, it was, it was a lot, it was a lot of, Um anger.
Tiffany Hammond: It [00:09:00] was a lot of, I was in a space with a lot of parents, autism parents. Because I am a parent, they were often arguing with the autistic adults, and that was, and I'm stick in the middle 'cause I'm an autistic adult, and then I'm like a parent and then I'm like, but I can't be on one side or the other.
Tiffany Hammond: It was just too hard to, to split up. And both sides was just yelling and not understanding each other. And both were right and both were wrong. It was just like, I'm just gonna exist outside of y'all. Like I don't wanna carry nothing that y'all have, you know? So when I decided to make that decision, Um that was when I became quote unquote fidgets and fries.
Tiffany Hammond: That was fidgets and fries. That's my, that's my profile name. Yeah. [00:10:00] Okay. That, that took a, a little while because I was operating under a another handle. It was two dollops of autism. And that is because I was primarily being a parent in those spaces. 'cause that's what I was, that's what I was advocating for and that's what I was fighting.
Tiffany Hammond: And when I decided that I needed to share everything about me, not everything that we go through, but all the pieces of me, like everything to, to together, because I don't experience life as one thing or the other. You know, it's always filtering through everything, every lens that I have and own. And I was like, I need to share in that way, right? All nuance, all the time. No sides, no banners, no colors, no symbols, no no preferences for identity. Like, like I don't wanna do any of that, [00:11:00] you know? And, and I, you know, challenged myself to, to talk about, you know, things that, that meant a lot to us and. That would often when I would share, Um and then I would go read other people's things that often gave me new topics to tackle because I, I would see a lot of conversations get derailed because of different things like identity preferences or identifiers or symbols or, and, and I'm like, this person has these really good points and you're mad because they, they say they refer to themselves as being a person with autism. And so you're focusing on like the wrong things. And I don't care what people call themselves, you know?
Tiffany Hammond: So then I would go and I would highlight, talk about those topics, talk [00:12:00] about, and so basically all that to say, my why is always gonna be my kids. I wanted to create a community that was worthy of their membership, and I hadn't found that. And, Um I wanted a, a, a community that can hold all of who they are.
Tiffany Hammond: And I hadn't found that. So I was like, I'm gonna try an attempt to build that myself and see how successful I am with that. And that was kinda like the challenge that, that, that, that, that I had with myself, it was always one nuance above everything else, period. Everything that you have to share about everything that you are at all times.
Tiffany Hammond: Um remind other people that they, they, they are more than one thing [00:13:00] to create a safe space for, for, for me to land when I, when outside real world is hard enough. Like I didn't wanna be like dealing with all the stuff outside of it, coming to an online space that I created and I'm still fighting with people over the same stuff I'm fighting with outside.
Tiffany Hammond: And I'm like, I'm not doing that. It's gonna be a safe space. And I was okay. And, and another one was like, I was gonna be okay with being and creating an echo chamber. I'm good with that. Mm-hmm. Because this is supposed to be my space, my safe, safe, safe space in this place where I'm not gonna debate my identity or my children's identity with anybody else.
Tiffany Hammond: So. It needed to be a, or our experiences, definitely, I'm not gonna debate my experiences with somebody. So safe space nuance, a community that's worthy of my, my, my kids belonging there. And that's, that [00:14:00] was my why.
Diana Pastora Carson: That was, that's just that, that is the most beautiful why I'm so happy you shared that. Thank you, Tiffany. Thank you. What do you think? You said it got easier to share. Do you think it was in part that you became stronger in who you are and who you knew your kids were? Or do you think that it was because of the environment and the space that you created? Or was it a little bit of both?
Tiffany Hammond: I think it was a combination. I think that, I think fidgets and fries is, is me, but also not me. At the same time, it was a space where I could, could, could experiment with. It was a, it was a space where I could, I felt I could share the things that Tiffany couldn't, I couldn't do and couldn't, [00:15:00] uh, couldn't be. So it was, in many ways it got easier because I was allowed to, to, to, to share in a way that I couldn't offline. I was able to, to, to be bolder, to, to experiment more, to test boundaries, to create boundaries. I was, you know, so, and then I think, I wanna say it is like, over time, I guess I got a little wiser mm-hmm. With. Easier for me because I barely scroll anymore.
Tiffany Hammond: Like I go online, I'll check notifications and I'll be like, okay, that's cool. Look at it. I might take a half scroll, like whatever, or go see who the people that I follow, who I'm closest with, I'll go see what's going on on their pages and then I'll log off. I hardly scroll [00:16:00] anymore. Like I don't like. In the past, I would scroll and I would see something that would like, make me so upset that I'm like, okay, now I gotta create something to, to, to, to counter that, to come back with that or, and so nowadays I hardly scroll, so I hardly see other things and I hardly see what other people are saying, and I don't go into anybody else's space to argue with them about something.
Tiffany Hammond: And, and so that in many ways that. Makes it feel easier for me to share because I barely venture outside of my safe space. Like mm-hmm. That's my space. I barely leave the house and, you know, and, and so in a lot of ways it's gotten easier that way, but then also it's gotten a lot easier because I feel like me and a few others have taken a lot of hits over the years.
Tiffany Hammond: It was like a lot of the things that we, [00:17:00] we, we, we fought for, we, we got to, I'm trying to figure out how to say this without sounding like I'm like tooting my own horn or sounding like whatever, but even in the conversations about, yeah, the conversations surrounding like ABA or identifiers or what, I literally can see my imprint on those.
Tiffany Hammond: Like, I can see the things that I've, I've said in the past and I've shared, or I'll listen to other people on other podcasts or look in their posts and stuff and they'll say like, like, they were inspired by something that I wrote like probably like two years ago, three years ago or whatever. So where I was getting hit over the head for identifiers and stuff and, and go, you know, felt like I was going to war with the whole of the autistic adult community because my son.
Tiffany Hammond: Was a person first identifier who would rather be known by name than [00:18:00] diagnosis. And I had to go up against this big, angry people who felt that it was literally, there were several that that claimed that I was abusive because I let my son be known by name and not an autistic individual. Um. Going up again, you know, and people calling him dangerous and so I'm like, you're calling a 13-year-old dangerous. He doesn't go online, isn't like, you know, so it was like, so then I'm having to come up and talk about how identity shapes us all and how I don't have the luxury of being autistic adult all the time.
Tiffany Hammond: When I step outside this house. I'm just Tiffany. I try and distance myself from autism as much as possible because I know what happens when people know that I have a disability, especially one that impacts my brain. So I have been in situations where I have been in [00:19:00] interactions with people who have the authority to remove my children, who would want to have me fill out evaluations to see if I'm fit. Like, you know, and, and, and that's been in a school setting that's been in a hospital setting, Um with my, with my, my kid being in the hospital for like almost a month.
Tiffany Hammond: And somehow they, they, they figured out that out that I also was autistic autistic and stuff. And then they came in there, social worker doctor, and, and they're like, Hey, we wanna see, you know, do you wanna consent to taking this evaluation? And I'm like, for Aiden? No, for me, they wanted to evaluate me. I'm in the hospital with my kid who's been in there for a month, and I was like, I know what would happen next.
Tiffany Hammond: So it's, I don't have the luxury of being a wholly autistic all the time, and a lot of people do not. So when I step outside, I literally do carry autism like a nap [00:20:00] sack. A lot of people do. Every time you mask, you're carrying it. You're putting it aside, you know, and, and so I'm having to share stories like that and, and, and I'm, I'm seeing, and I'm doing it over and over again and I'm seeing people's perspective shift and change.
Tiffany Hammond: And I'm doing that with ABA and I'm doing that with, you know, 'cause I'm neutral on ABA, I'm not pro, I'm not anti. But I do know that there's a lot of circumstances that, where there's, where there's families where there's little to no choice. That is what they have. Um and so, and I, and I'm talking about all the factors that go into, to the decisions that families have to make.
Tiffany Hammond: And I'm doing that over and over and over again, and I'm seeing people's perspectives change and, and, and, and just to see how people used to meet [00:21:00] me when I would share those things, those tough top topics and subjects to how they meet me now with those tough topics and subjects is like night and day.
Tiffany Hammond: So in a lot of ways it's easier. I just share a little bit, you know, it's still hard sometimes, you know, but it's a bit easier and. So, yeah, it's just, I feel like I've been at it so long, you know, wore a lot of people down and, Um you know, so Yeah.
Diana Pastora Carson: Well, you've enlightened them for sure. You definitely, I love that.
Diana Pastora Carson: I mean, you've established boundaries to protect yourself and your children and to create what you envision for their, you know, the sanctity of who they are. And, in that process you have enlightened people through a lens of complete love and acceptance, um non-judgment, [00:22:00] and just a desire to, to change things.
Diana Pastora Carson: I, I love that. I thank you for sharing. Thank you. Thanks. So you wrote this number one New York Times bestselling book. A Day with No Words. I ordered it and I eagerly opened it up. I couldn't wait. I pre-ordered it and when it finally came months later, I was so excited. And I fell in love with it for two reasons.
Diana Pastora Carson: One is, everything about it is beautiful. The flow, the inclusive and loving message of presUmption of competence or assUming intelligence or whatever you wanna call that. Um the parental expectation of respect and dignity for her child, and shameless advocacy for it. I wonder where you got that idea from, Um and the bold colors and illustrations, all of that and more.
Diana Pastora Carson: And the [00:23:00] second reason that I love it is I love how both mama and her child use a tablet or communication device to communicate with one another as well as with others in the community. Uh, that's not, I mean, that's something that people in the field are starting to hear about, but it's not practiced widely, and I love that it is being modeled in this children's book so beautifully. And yes, mama in the book is modeling communication, but she is more than modeling. She is validating and normalizing alternative modes of communication. And this speaks volumes to me and to our community.
Diana Pastora Carson: It is. Extraordinary, and I love it again because it aligns with my mission of taking us beyond awareness, and in my opinion, it's [00:24:00] a must have for my children's book collection and anybody's children's book collection. So thank you for creating that. Yeah.
Diana Pastora Carson: So my question is, when did you realize storytelling was your tool for change? What were you trying to disrupt?
Tiffany Hammond: I think around the time that I launched fidgets and fries, when I did the, the reimagining of my space or reinvention of the space, uh, it was around that, that time. 'cause I, I, I realized I was already telling stories like up until that point, up until that point. Yeah. And I, and I liked that.
Tiffany Hammond: I remembered when I first started I was, you know, doing what. The other accounts were doing, it was more like education. [00:25:00] It was stats, it was data, it was, you know, graphics on what is autism, what is a meltdown, what is, and I'm just like, no, that doesn't fit me. Like I feel like I wanted to attract the people that took, that came to my space that already knew what autism was.
Tiffany Hammond: When they already knew what a meltdown is and, and stuff. This isn't knocking all the other accounts that share education and, and, and data and, and information and, and a glossary of terms and, you know, old concepts, new concepts, all that stuff. It, because I still follow those types of accounting, you know, it's just, they still over different function.
Tiffany Hammond: You know, I, I'm, that's not the, the, the, the function that that, that I wanted to, to serve. I wanted to be like, if you came. You found Fidgets & Fries anywhere. It's 'cause you already know what autism is. You're already on the journey. And so I was like, I'm just gonna share, I'm gonna share stories about [00:26:00] our lives and our lives, nobody else's.
Tiffany Hammond: I don't wanna try and generalize, you know, the, you know, the autistic experience because it's so vastly different. Yeah. And I was like, the biggest thing that, that I could do is, is, is tell my story. Tell our story. Because it, like, literally, it's the only lens I see 20/20, I don't know anybody else's like life and experience.
Tiffany Hammond: And I'm like, I'm gonna share this. This is how this is, this is, is, is is our life. This is me testifying to you. I'm not debating it. I'm not, you know, Um I. Then I was trying to do it in a way that other people can see themselves in a little bit, even if it's just a little tiny bit, that's all I need. I just need a little sliver. You know? It's like, just a little bit, just need to get my little toe in your door just a little bit. And I was like, I got you when I'm in there. And so it was just like [00:27:00] finding a way to tell our story, but connect it to somebody else's. Um that was, that was the goal. That was the power. That was the. That's how I felt like I could do, I could do things, I could do things here, you know, like I can, I can, I, I, I can change, I don't wanna say the world, but I can't think of anything else. So like, change, like yeah, change the world with, with, with, with, with my pen, there's writing and sharing our story and I was like, there's so much power in that, you know?
Tiffany Hammond: And, and. That's when I realized, you know, there's, there's just, and, and I come from, I come from a family of storytellers. Hmm. Almost every single one of 'em, my mom's side. And, Um they always told stories. That's how we learned. That's how we, we, we, you know, that's how we like connected to, to each other and, and our [00:28:00] past as they told some amazing stories, you know, and they were like the best storytellers that I know and.
Tiffany Hammond: That is what I wanted to, to, to, to be. I wanted to be like them. I was like, stories have power, you know? So I was like, I wanna use that. I wanna share stories and 'cause storytelling is advocacy. And I was like, that's, that's my power right there is, is in stories. So when I became Fidgets & Fries, I was like, stories, stories all the time. Share stories.
Tiffany Hammond: I wanted to humanize my children, Um because they live in a world that often, it denies their humanity, and I wanted two people to, to, to, to know them, to see them, to connect with them. So it makes it easier. It makes it harder for them to, to, to not care about them and to, [00:29:00] to, you know, and, and, and.
Tiffany Hammond: When people, you know, see them and they know them and they're like so connected with them, and then that's when they feel like, oh my gosh, we have to, to, to help them. Mm-hmm. We have to help them get what they need. We have to help them access what they need. And that's the biggest part of, of my platform is I want people to see us as human too. And I do that through stories. Mm-hmm.
Diana Pastora Carson: It's true what you say. I, I have a story that, I mean, it's unbelievable to me now. Um but it relates so much to what you're just saying. I'll just share it really quickly. I was speaking to a friend of mine who was a therapist, actually a psychologist, and I was telling her something about Joaquin, my brother. I don't remember what it was, but it [00:30:00] was a celebration of something he did or how he demonstrated his comprehension of something and she said, "oh my gosh, just like humans."
Diana Pastora Carson: No!
Diana Pastora Carson: Yes. She said that and I just like looked at her and my eyes bulged just like yours, and then she covered her mouth and she said, oh my God, I can't believe I just said that. And I said, neither can I.
Diana Pastora Carson: But this is what, this is the mindset that's so, it's just always there, you know, not in everybody, but it still lingers in so many, and the work that you're doing to humanize the experience of kids, especially kids who are non-speaking, you know, it matters.
That's gold. I've been there too.
Diana Pastora Carson: Not like, I don't, I haven't had anyone say explicitly like, like human, but like they've been saying like a real [00:31:00] person or like, I haven't been there. I've been there a lot, like many times before. And it's, it's, it's a, it's amazing the things that can come out of, you know, someone's mouth, whether they're not, but that's how. That's how ingrained in them it is. And that's how like they've been conditioned to, to see, you know, disabled people like that, and especially nonspeaking and, and so much so that even if they felt like they were a good person and they weren't like that way, sometimes that stuff slips out. Subconciously, you didn't think you were gonna say it, but you said it and it is because it's so, it's so deep in you. Yeah, it's so deep in our society and it's like, it's, it's there. It's prevalent, it's, you know, and that's the, you know, and that's why you have so [00:32:00] many, you know, people that will, you know, defend terms like human meat puppets and things like that. Like, because it's. This is in our, this is in our society.
Diana Pastora Carson: It's deeply woven into, you know, how we operate as a, as a, as a society, and, and it's just, it's wrong. I'm just trying to push, trying to push back on a bunch of that stuff as much as possible, as, you know, as much as I can. And I was just like, you know, push back on it and in books and, and, and in my newsletter and my posts, and just, you know, hoping that it can, it can reach people and, and they can, you know, look at, you know, disability in a [00:33:00] in a different way and, and, and begin to like, respect, you know, disabled people and, just acknowledge that they're, they're human. You know, they're, you know, they're just as worthy. And, and, and, you know, just, that is just the biggest thing that I wanna do is just like, yeah. humanize. Yeah. So. If we take this into a classroom setting, if a teacher reads your book aloud in class, what do you hope changes in how the educator and their non-disabled students see non-speaking students the very next day?
Diana Pastora Carson: That's a good question because it has been read in a lot of classes, in a lot of schools and a lot of classrooms, and I've read it in a lot of classrooms, in a lot of schools across the country. It's always so interesting because [00:34:00] the biggest thing that I was hoping to get from a book was that I wanted to write something that was going to, I guess, not fully resolve itself like I wanted it to be like after the book, there's a question, because there was something in the book and there was gonna be some questions and, and you were going to, you know.
Diana Pastora Carson: Have a lot of questions like, and you know, you read a lot of books, especially like, you know, picture books and stuff. It was almost like it ends and you're good because everything was, you know, wrapped up. It was nice, tidy. It was, but it was still a good read. You know, it just, it just, it ended. You don't have many questions.
Diana Pastora Carson: I wanted a book that was gonna challenge people and that they would have a lot of questions. Yeah. When I'm reading it in class to, to kids and they, at the end, it's a lot of questions. Like they have questions and [00:35:00] you know, or they won't have a lot of. Experiences that they wanna share, they'll, they'll say like, oh, my brother has autism.
Diana Pastora Carson: Or they'll say, oh, there's some class in our school and they have tablets and they have, and I didn't know that that's what they were doing on the tablet. Well, now you know. You know, so it's like, you know, and they'll ask questions about, well, how do you, we know if they want a friend, if they don't if we don't know what they're saying or they talk, so it's like a lot of questions come from the book and like I wanted to try and create something that was going to induce a lot of questions, like people want.
Diana Pastora Carson: I wanted it to be like, oh. What the heck is even meant by a day with no words if they're using words Right. [00:36:00] You know, and, and stuff. So it was just like, that was the title itself is a challenge 'cause I'm literally, we're using words, just like speaking words. Yes. But a lot of times when people find out that my son doesn't speak, that's one of the questions that they have.
Diana Pastora Carson: Like, so does he not know words? Not understand my words, so he just, you know, so it's like that itself, but I'm using words, even when you're reading a book, you're using words. And so, the title itself is a challenge. The tablet, it, that automatically brings questions. And, you know, and the, the thing that I hope that the educators do when they're, when they're reading this book in classrooms, is that, you know, they explore the themes of the book outside of the book when they're finished. Yeah. Like they, they [00:37:00] ask their, their class questions. They, they, they think about all the ways that they themselves communicate non-verbally, you know, without speaking. You know, we, we all wave, we all read without, you know, talking. Well, it depends on how old you are. Like those three year olds, they're still reading out loud, you know? But you know, you, you can read to yourself. You can write letters, you can draw pictures, you can do sign language, you can do, when you smile. A lot of times people, they're like, oh, they assUme you're happy. You're smiling or you're laughing. You know what I'm saying? There's a lot of our communication that we do without speaking.
Diana Pastora Carson: So I think, like, I think that a good thing that I've seen in a lot of classrooms is that the teachers often like, talk about that, and that was the biggest thing that I put in the author's note too, is I wanted you to be like, well, you think about all the ways that [00:38:00] you communicate without speech. Everybody does it. Mm-hmm. Do it every single day. Mm-hmm.
Diana Pastora Carson: My niece speaks in emoji. I don't know what none of it means, but it's. Something could. So, so like if she would've said it to like her peers, they definitely would've understood it, you know, but so that's, that's communication, that's things. And that was like the biggest part of what I do in my platforms and in my work, is I wanna tell a story that can connects some way within yours.
Diana Pastora Carson: So if you could see. Yourself as a non-disabled person or a speaking autistic person or speaking allistic person who has a disability but they're not autistic. Um if you could recognize and understand that you communicate with no speech many times of the day, how come you cannot extend that same level of grace and understanding to [00:39:00] somebody who doesn't speak at all? And so that's what I, I wanted to like write something that connected to that side of them. Like if you could recognize that, like, oh, okay, I don't speak either a lot of times. And then maybe when you go out and you see another, you know, autistic person who has a, a tablet or letter boards or anything that she would understand like, oh, okay, I get it. Cool.
Diana Pastora Carson: I wanna wanna, I wanna just sUmmarize what everything that you've just said with my favorite line in the book, Um where mama says, my son does not speak, but his ears work just fine. The words that you say go straight to his mind. Hmm. Yeah. I mean, that, that's, that's the, the book in a nutshell is, is the advocacy [00:40:00] for multimodal communication and respect and dignity as it relates to multimodal communication and access to communication.
Diana Pastora Carson: So again, thank you for putting your heart and soul in that book and making it available to everybody. Are you ready for some lightning round questions? For fun? Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Okay. Here we go.
Diana Pastora Carson: Coffee or tea? Ooh. Uh, tea. It's gotta be decaffeinated or no caffeine, everything. Any particular flavor? Um I think any kind that's lemon. Like lemon. I dunno the brand or anything, but I just, as long as it's lemon. Nice. I like to just have water with fresh lemon squeeze in it too. Hot water, my own lemon tea.
Diana Pastora Carson: Okay. How about park or beach?
Diana Pastora Carson: Park. Okay, I have [00:41:00] things with water. Okay.
Diana Pastora Carson: Paper or audio books? Paper.
Diana Pastora Carson: Favorite self-care practice? Watching tv. I, I don't get to do it super often. So, tv.
Diana Pastora Carson: Favorite song? Wow. I don't even think I have a favorite song right now. I have a favorite artist and, and, and you know, but not like Who's your favorite artist? Beyonce. Okay. Yeah.
Diana Pastora Carson: Favorite food you reach for when you need grounding? I guess I would say it's probably gonna be a weird one, but, oh. Little multigrain Cheerios. I dunno why. I'm sure there's somebody listening who is right there with you. I dunno why they just, they taste alright. [00:42:00] They're good to me.
Diana Pastora Carson: So, favorite small joy moments?
Diana Pastora Carson: I think it's when. Well, right when my son's about to go to sleep, my oldest, and then he wants to like grab your hand and like lay, want you to lay with him and stuff. That's, you know, one of them. And then the other one would be whenever my youngest, uh, Josiah, you wants me to like play basketball or something with him because he's, he's at that age where he's like, he barely comes outta the room. You don't hardly see o the teenage stuff, you know, hoodies. And it's like, and you just know they were ceo. So, and it's pretty cool when he wants to like, do stuff with me still. So that is, I understand completely. Yes.
Diana Pastora Carson: Favorite school memory?
Diana Pastora Carson: Graduation I was [00:43:00] ready to go. A high school was not super pleasant for me. And I was ready to get out of there. Okay. And then college, you know, just ready to get out there too. I, I think I had favorite moments in college the first time that the, the earning of the bachelor's, the undergrad, 'cause that's where I met the majority of my, my friends, my life, my life friends was there and that's where I met my husband. So those were the good, good times. But shoot, graduation, all of them. I'm so glad you found that community and friendship when you got there. Yeah.
Diana Pastora Carson: A book that changed you. Oh man. I would say I. Oh gosh.
Diana Pastora Carson: Anything by Bell Hooks for sure. Like I don't even have one book I could like [00:44:00] say. Um and then there was, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. Mm. Mm, yes. All of Bell Hooks, every single one, and, and that one, and those, those was the ones that, that I believe if, you had asked anything about what inspired me to be storyteller, it was definitely gonna be my family.
Diana Pastora Carson: Um but those books like actually just showed me that you can have, there's so much power in. Hmm. Words and then authors can, can, they're amazing. Yes. Yeah. Oh, lovely. Thank you. If your book had a soundtrack, what would be the song or the vibe? Oh, man.
Diana Pastora Carson: I don't know. It just seems like, it's like, okay, [00:45:00] so it's like a book and it's so like, it's like, oh, oh. It's like revealing and it's also introducing and it's also like, so it's like showing you new experience, introducing you to that new experience as well. It's like kind of inspirational. Then it has a little moment of conflict in there, so it'll be like, I have no clue.
Diana Pastora Carson: I feel like it would be something off of, Um oh my gosh. You're gonna, might not know this, but you might absolutely know this 'cause I won't explain it correctly, but you remember like when you were like younger and they, like every holiday season or whatever, they would show that Disney cartoon with was nothing but music.
Diana Pastora Carson: It's like an orchestra or, or, or, so with Mickey Mouse and he's the mm-hmm. The, the conductor dad. Like one of them songs where he is like doing like. I do. And I was thinking it would be an orchestra, I think. Yeah. Yeah. In my mind, that's what came up for me after reading it. Yeah. I [00:46:00] love that. Go look at that thing.
Diana Pastora Carson: Yeah. That's great. Okay, last one. Belonging in five words or less. Belonging in five words or less. Holy cow. Um I guess it'll just be like, Um uh. Everyone has a place here or just how is this belonging? I don't know. It's just, oh, I like that. Everyone has a place. Yeah. I think I just was like, everyone has a place.
Diana Pastora Carson: It just feels like everyone should have a place. Yeah. Yeah. Um yeah. Tiffany Hammond, thank you so much. If people wanna check out your work, if they wanna get your book. Or any other things that you offer, where can they find you? Um I am on Instagram at fidgets and fries. There's a period in between, Um [00:47:00] fidgets period and period fries.
Diana Pastora Carson: Facebook is fidgets and fries. TikTok is fidgets and fries, but I'm not super active on there. Um I have a Substack, which is called Tiffy, T-I-F-F-Y, in bloom. Um and if you want to know more about A Day with No Words, I have a website for that. And that's ADayWithNoWords.com or if you wanna know anything else about me and what I do, the work that I do, I have a site called TiffanyHammond.com, and that's it.
Diana Pastora Carson: And I will put all of that in the show notes. Thank you again, Tiffany. Thank you.
Diana Pastora Carson: Thank you for tuning into this episode of Beyond Awareness, disability [00:48:00] Awareness That Matters. I love providing this podcast to support you in your passionate disability awareness and inclusionary practices work in our schools and communities. And I hope you'll help me to help others by promoting this episode far and wide.
Diana Pastora Carson: You can also proactively support this podcast in the following ways, subscribe, rate and review this show on Apple podcast, Google podcast. Spotify, or wherever you listen to this episode, it really means the world to me to have your support in this way, because it increases the chances of others getting to hear the messages presented in each episode.
Diana Pastora Carson: For more valuable resources that align with the values of this podcast, you can visit my website, dianapastoracarson. com, where you'll find links to my priceless free resource, how to talk about disability with kids. As well [00:49:00] as my blog, where I share my thoughts as an educator and sibling advocate, my flexible online Beyond Awareness Basics course, my books, including the beautifully illustrated children's book, Ed Roberts Champion of disability Rights, as well as my comprehensive guide for anyone wanting to do disability awareness work.
Diana Pastora Carson: That is the book entitled Beyond Awareness, Bringing disability into Diversity Work in K 12 Schools and Communities. Now while I love this book so much, and I believe you should have it in your library as a resource, I do understand that time is of the essence. So, if you are super busy like me and you just need something quick, easy, and convenient that will get to the point, I have just what you need.
Diana Pastora Carson: You should definitely get your hands on my handy, tri fold, laminated, [00:50:00] beyond disability awareness educator's guide. Published by NPR Inc. Again, all of these resources can be found at dianapastoracarson. com. You can also follow me, Diana on Instagram at dianapastoracarson and at facebook. com slash go beyond awareness.
Diana Pastora Carson: Podcast transcription and podcast guest information can be found in the show notes. Intro and outro music has been provided courtesy of my son, Emmanuel Castro. Thank you again. Be well, be a lifelong learner, and let's be inclusive. See you next time.
Diana Pastora Carson: Latin Theme Music: Cuando [00:51:00] empieza el ritmo Todo el mundo se junta Bailamos, gritamos, amamos
Diana Pastora Carson: Subamos las manos Nada nos puede parar Hasta el final vamos a cantar Estamos aquí para disfrutar Moviéndonos al ritmo Manos arriba, arriba, todas las manos para arriba. Que viva la vida, no hay alternativa. Arriba, arriba, todas las manos para arriba. Que viva la vida, que viva, que viva, que viva. Whoa,[00:52:00]
Diana Pastora Carson: whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Todo el mundo together, bailaremos forever, sudando, gozando, brillando hasta la mañana. Whoa, whoa. Nada nos puede parar. Hasta el final vamos a cantar. Estamos aqui para disfrutar. Moviéndonos de ritmo. Manos arriba, arriba. Todas las manos pa arriba. Que viva la vida. No hay alternativa.
Diana Pastora Carson: Arriba, arriba. Todas las manos pa arriba. Que viva la vida. Que viva, que viva, que [00:53:00] viva.
