Episode 264-Empowering Voices: Michelle Vinokurov's Autistic Advocacy and Navigating the Professional World

Discover the world through the eyes of Michelle Vinokurov, an empowering autistic self-advocate and behavior specialist, as she joins us to mark World Autism Awareness Day. Michelle's voice brings an unparalleled depth to our discussion, as she unveils her transformative experiences post-Purdue University Global and her trailblazing work in behavioral analysis. Her blog, The World of Autism, and contributions to the Flutie Foundation and CARD USF, are just a few facets of her dynamic advocacy that you'll get to know. Together, we peel back the layers of what it means to lead with authenticity in the neurodiverse community and the positive ripples that self-advocacy can create.

In the intricate dance of professional life, women with autism often choreograph their own unique movements to navigate their careers. Hear Michelle's personal strategies for self-advocacy in the workplace, from seeking visual aids to championing crystal-clear communication. The episode is not just a narrative; it's a toolkit for fostering an inclusive environment where women on the spectrum can flourish. Through blogs, podcasts, and heartfelt guest stories, we celebrate the power of shared experiences, and the episode culminates in exploring how these connections shape a more inclusive and understanding society for all. Michelle's journey and the broader conversation inspire a future where collaboration and support are the standards, not the exceptions, in advocating for individuals with autism.

Chapters

• 0:04 Empowering Autistic Self-Advocate
• 8:42 Supporting Women With Autism at Work
• 19:34 Empowering Autism Advocacy and Collaboration

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Welcome to the SJ Child Show, where a little bit of knowledge can turn fear into understanding. Enjoy the show, join the International Autism Summit 2024 and support World Autism Awareness Day. Hey everyone, on April 2nd we celebrate World Autism Awareness Day, a global initiative to promote understanding, acceptance and inclusion of individuals in the autistic community understanding, acceptance and inclusion of individuals in the autistic community. To mark this special occasion, we're thrilled to announce a one-day sale for tickets to the highly anticipated International Autism Summit 2024, april 19th and 20th. Don't miss this. One day only sale April 2nd, 2024, world Autism Awareness Day. 2024 World Autism Awareness Day. Hello and welcome to the SJ Child Show. It's so exciting today to have Michelle back. You know, I'm so grateful for the times that we've been able to get together. I think you've been in every single summit or event that I've had. Were you even in the safety summit? Possibly that might've been the only one you missed the safety summit.

Speaker 2: 1:35

Yeah, I was in that one. That was the same day as my graduation from college, that's right, I knew that there was something.

Speaker 1: 1:43

Oh my gosh, no, you are amazing and the um, you know just level of passion that you put into, uh, your life and your experience and sharing that. I'm so, so grateful for you. So thanks for coming back and I'm excited to hear what is going on and what you've been doing since graduation. Let's start there. Well, let's start. For anybody that's listening to Michelle for the first time, give us an introduction and tell us a little bit about yourself, and then we'll go from there.

Speaker 2: 2:18

Sure. So for those who don't know me, my name is Michelle VanCurve. I'm an autistic self-advocate. Who don't know me? My name is Michelle VanCurve. I'm an autistic self-advocate. I was diagnosed with autism around the age of two. It was the same year that my younger brother was going to be born. Funny story with that, but yeah. And then from there it just. My parents found out my diagnosis very early on in life because they saw that I was developmentally behind compared to my older sister. So that's where they kind of figured out that I needed to get more supports in place. And then now here we are today.

Speaker 2: 2:58

I graduated from Purdue University Global just almost two years ago already, and fast forward in time. Now I work as a behavior specialist for the public school district here in Florida that I'm at, and I also work with full spectrum ABA as an RBT and also other roles with them. I have like a bunch of side roles with them because I have a. I have like a huge partnership with them. And then I also run a blog website known as the world of autism. If you haven't checked that out yet, make sure to check it out. Go and follow for great content that I got on there as well.

Speaker 1: 3:36

Yeah, and we'll definitely put those links in there so that people can go check that blog out and everything and support your website and everything. And, oh my gosh, all of these exciting changes for you. And what have you like inside? What has it felt like for you to kind of be able to take this new step in all of these advocacy roles?

Speaker 2: 4:09

take this due step in all of these advocacy roles. So for me it's. For me, the purpose of, like, everything that I do is pretty much to help people. I always was given so much in my life in the beginning, especially in the beginning of my life, like, I received a lot of services and and that's to thank my family for that because of how much that they were always there for me growing up and everything, and so now I am getting back into the community by doing everything that I do career wise ambassador for Flutie Foundation, and I'm also a board member for CARD USF. It's an autism organization in Florida. So I got a lot of exciting stuff happening that has broadened my resources out, like not just for students, but it's also for families, professionals, teachers, therapists, you name it. So it's I've had a lot going on, especially this year alone.

Speaker 1: 5:14

That's amazing, and I really love the Flutie Foundation. I think that they just do so many amazing events. They include so many people in their organization and in their events and everything. I love to see that. And CARD is wonderful too. You know, dr Grandchapé just recently came back, if you will, to be the president again, and she had left for quite some time and things had changed. And so how do you feel about that? How do you see, are there changes that have already been put into place or what are your experiences?

Speaker 2: 5:58

with that. So I just joined the board as of only like a couple of months ago really. So what's happens now is that through the board actually because of me now the board is now filled up. 50% of the board has autistic self-advocates on it alone, and it's huge because we have on the board autistic advocates that are coming from different counties within florida. I am the first one that's representing for banty sarasota, so it's really exciting. I um, there's just like there's different people that are representing from different places and it just really broadens like the resources that the organization can bring to the communities and everything. So it's just it's really important about that and I um I know, with card alone, that they've been doing a lot of updates to the organization itself, as it now has reached like 30 years that the organization has existed. So so it's really exciting. There's a lot of updates that are happening. There are events that are happening even throughout for April, as we know that April is World Autism Month. So definitely stay tuned for that as well.

Speaker 1: 7:19

Absolutely Lots of exciting things coming up in April. One big, exciting event I cannot wait for myself that you are going to be a part of the International Autism Summit. Wow, like just to even imagine and think that I can sit in my home office and reach people around the world and they'll volunteer to come with us on this expedition, if you will, to really change the idea of autism, especially autistic women. You know what are some kind of throw an interesting question into the mix what are some possible traits that you might say that you think you have that differentiate from what people find like an assist male. You know kind of projection looks like as far as. What does that look like for you? Like what projection looks like as?

Speaker 2: 8:26

far as what does that look like for you? Like, especially now as an adult woman. So I for me, like, I'll just say from like I'll start off when I was younger to now. So when I was younger I actually had a lot of communication issues that to the point I was, I didn't even have any verbal language. So back then this was like in the early 2000s. It was like non-existent to for, like for women that are on the spectrum to have those kind of challenges at that early on in age. And I think that a lot of it was missed, that people don't see that that much because they think that it's more observable in boys than it is in girls. But that's not true. I think it's more of like, a perception of like with different genders and everything. But, yeah, I, that's one thing. And then also now, like as an adult today, that, um, definitely that women with autism are not getting as much support as there should be in place Like.

Speaker 2: 9:27

I'll give a good example of an experience I had through my job right now that when I was starting off my job I started it last, last January I was actually struggling in the beginning because of the fact that, like I've had people like misunderstand what I would talk, like the way that I was supporting basically for us, for a classroom, like if I was coming to visit that. They've had perceptions of like oh, I'm not giving this much support or I'm not giving like a year, I'm giving too much, or I'm not giving like a year I'm giving too much or I'm not giving enough. And I think that there were definitely a lot of communication boundaries that were happening. And you know I was. I actually had a meeting with my supervisor in the beginning of the school year about this, because I was when I was starting this school year, I actually felt a little overwhelmed because of the fact that, like now I have my own assigned schools and I was starting off and I'm like, all right, how am I gonna take on whatever feedback that I got from when I first started? So I actually sat down with my supervisor.

Speaker 2: 10:43

I had everything written down and everything that specifically told what kind of supports I wanted in place and one of the things was basically like visuals of like protocols that I should follow, that God forbid that situations like that come up, you know, and I was also explaining about like pretty much of how my autism is, and like how there's a lot of good things about with me being autistic, like being very creative, problem solver, being loyal and being reliable to, especially for the schools that I work with. And then I was also explaining about how sometimes I need clarification of things or I need things to be clear when people are communicating with me. So those were just those things that brought up and I thought this would be important for people to know, because it's just that it's important to get supports in place and doesn't matter boy, girl, woman, young man, like doesn't matter, like there's got to be supports in place for those, for our, for our population absolutely and I really like how you advocated for yourself by going and making a list.

Speaker 1: 12:03

I mean that was really smart, because sometimes you get in there and the fear takes over and nervousness takes over and all of the things and if you don't have like what you need to say, then sometimes that can go out the window too. So I like that you did that and plus, it was probably easier for them to understand how to help you. If you come kind of knowing your skillset, knowing your challenges, to be able to say this is where I might need assistance. Like you said, clarity, so important.

Speaker 1: 12:36

In general communication. Overall, it is the truth and I think that that's something, especially with, like acronyms and abbreviations, we get away from. We get away from that clear intention of knowing what something means and things like that. As you know, autistic women in the workplace what kind of, maybe like role modeling or mentoring are you doing for the students? Like what kind? How do you see yourself in that position personally, like you know, growing and nurturing that.

Speaker 2: 13:13

So the biggest thing that I love with my role so much is the fact that I am modeling a lot of like more of the behaviors that like, or even just skills in general, social skills, coping skills, even to like pretty much anything that will help. The goal is to help enhance a individual's quality of life. That's the goal, whatever be from independence to gaining skills like, as I've mentioned, like social skills, coping, emotional skills, like anything that to where, pretty much where I'm also teaching, training teachers, families, therapists that work in the schools, you name it to where they learn how to incorporate like inclusive strategies in the classroom. How to incorporate like inclusive strategies in the classroom, like that, you know, like such as where peers are interacting with each other, like more of like in a way like pretty much, like incorporating naturalistic approaches, like when there's situations that come up like I would like I'll model for a teacher to teach a child like okay, ok, I. I know that this activity can may be difficult, but remember we went over strategies that you can use to overcome when difficult activities come ahead, so you can always ask for help. You can always like pretty much like things like that, to make sure that you know it's a good way to practice with the kid that like how their strategies that we've been practicing, and like when real life situations come up that it could be applied with.

Speaker 2: 14:58

So but especially for like the families and stuff, like how, the goal in my role is making sure that like skills and stuff are being generalized from between home and school. So I would like for me, like I always would make sure that every pretty much like every month, I'm always reaching out to families about like that I have my case with, like how are things going for the student at home? Or has the teacher communicate with you about what's been working in school? Because whatever has been working in school, we can generalize it to home and vice versa. So that's it's just really important to where that everybody is on the same page. And and I love it about my role, because I work with, I work with, I work with everybody, I don't just work with students, like it's just cause it takes it truly does take a village to impact one kid's life.

Speaker 1: 15:56

Yeah, absolutely. What do you think about? You know the other teachers or the admin, like, how do they take the information? Are they excited to take it? Are they still in you know that learning process?

Speaker 2: 16:12

I guess having you there as an autistic is so much better for them to kind of have that coaching experience through the funny thing when I started out this school year with my assigned schools which, by the way, there's like only by me there's only eight weeks of school left, so I'm about to finish my first year being a behavior specialist, so it's huge I um to me like I, the way that I explained it to my schools, like kind of how I disclosed myself, is that I told them that I can relate to students on a personal level.

Speaker 2: 16:51

That's pretty much how I explained it to them and how, like I explained to them that how I'm very creative, I'm a problem solver, I am reliable to teachers and stuff, like I always will make sure to schedule time to be at the classrooms that need support and stuff, and like if there's additional days, they're like I will even squeeze in like additional days if I'm, if I'm able to, because that's where the whole flexibility comes in. But yeah, if I'm able to, then I would do that. But yeah, I I actually had one school where I was able to explain it enough that they understood the word neurodivergent, and that's pretty much how I disclosed myself in a way like that is that saying that I'm neurodivergent and how, like I have a different way of thinking and it's a good thing. So I and it was very accepting by those admin that I still work with and everything. So it's just it's made such a huge difference.

Speaker 1: 17:55

Yeah, that's so important. I love that situation for you and, you know, I hope that, um, people can start to learn how to incorporate inclusion in their workplaces and things like that. Let's talk a little bit about as much as you want to, of course. Like you know your hobbies, your personal things, that you're doing anything like that that you might be interested, like the blog. Tell us a little, talk to us a little bit about that.

Speaker 2: 18:24

Cool. So I've been running a blog website since 2019 is called the world of autism. I was inspired by my English professor at my community college and I'm going to say this this was when I was living in New Jersey, because I grew up in New Jersey before I was living in Florida. I was living in Florida that I, my English professor, this was in my social media course and she was telling me about how I should create a website that it, that in which I would share my journey on, and so that's kind of where it all started was from that, and I my mom even encouraged me to to do that. So I did that and it kind of expanded ever since then, especially once 2020 hit, where, with COVID and everything, that's where it hit. In regards to where I was expanding, it's not just being my own journey, but calling it as the world of autism, in which, like, there's experiences from autistic and neurodiverse individuals from all over.

Speaker 2: 19:34

So I've I've had it where I have guest stories, like and I give choices to people, just like I do as a behavior specialist for students, like how I give choices to them on how they want to approach or present something. Same thing for my blog website. I pretty much give choices to people of how they want to share their story. Either they can have a written guest blog story where they would just type it and I would incorporate it, or I would do like I do today.

Speaker 2: 20:03

I do a whole podcast series on my blog website and I'll create a blog story for that too, because everybody has equal opportunities to be able to share their journey, to share their story, because it is very informative for families, for teachers, therapists, professionals, you name it and so and it's not even just like with people's voices being heard. It's also like where it's also for educational purposes, where people can learn more about like like therapy services to even just like recommendations, conferences or books or even specific topics about picky eating, to stimming to pretty much all the well-known topics that you would hear about. You would just also hear from my website as well. So there's a lot of different things that are happening, and I also do have a keynote speaker page because I have presented at conferences before. So for anybody that wants to check that out, make sure you check that out too.

Speaker 1: 21:15

Oh, I love that. That's a wonderful. And what about? I was just thinking when you were talking do you have, like, any mentors or people that you've kind of looked up to along the way? I'd love to hear about that.

Speaker 2: 21:29

Sure, so it actually was when I was in sixth grade, and this was when I finally learned that I was autistic. Even though I was autistic very early on, I it was through Dr. I it was through Dr Temple Grandin. She's a well known autistic professor. After learning from her, like watching her documentary and everything like, that's where she really became my, my mentor in terms of, like advocating for the community.

Speaker 2: 22:03

And it got to the point where, when I was 16 years old, that was when the it was the very first time I shared my journey to the online world, because I didn't really share it online at all. I wasn't really that much on social media platforms till I was 16. So I pretty much from there, like ever since then, that really picked up for me about like, okay, I really want to help the neurodiverse population so much, and it's pretty much geared me towards like my careers today because and I'll tell you this, like that I've been working, and this has been a proud thing for me, because I've reached five years now that I've been working more than one job. So it is, it is possible for people to do that. So don't ever think that that you can't. So I yeah.

Speaker 1: 22:58

Oh, that's fantastic. And you know, Temple is such a pioneer and such a dear, such a pioneer and such a dear, dear, like person. She's going to be in Salt Lake in just a few days and I'm really hoping I get to go and meet her and finally see her in person, Cause, you know, I've had her on the show, I've talked to her through emails and stuff, but no, I'd love to to really just be able to. Um, you know I'm a hugger she probably isn't, but that's okay, I met her.

Speaker 2: 23:30

I actually did meet her for the first time in person. This was in 2018, about a few years ago. I met her when I was in New Jersey. I was still working as a teacher assistant at the time. I just got into the school district for the first time ever, so I'm like it was really exciting. I watched her. I was at a my dad's family friend who runs a autism organization it was called Faces for Autism. Grand come to speak and everything and I got to meet her in person.

Speaker 1: 24:06

While I was getting one of, I got one of her books and I got signed and everything. So it was amazing. I love that, yeah, and there's so much to be said now. I mean we're basically following in her footsteps and just really trying to help educate and teach, and woohoo for us. So, yeah, and it's it. What a magical and special journey to be on and to be able to say like we're impacting more than just our own families, our own communities, like we're on this global effort to just really try to reach, you know, this huge initiative of people to make a difference, make a change, to open people's eyes to the, the beauty, the um, the beauty, the uh, amazing abilities that humans can have when they're given the you know, belief that they can be something bigger than themselves. Absolutely Love that. What are your plans? Moving forward? What's next?

Speaker 2: 25:26

What are your plans moving forward? What's next? It's pretty much where I'm still just also like professionally growing my own career, like in regards to where I keep going for more certifications and everything, because I feel like that really helps a lot in regards to like even just for like credential purposes of how, like I'm able to pretty much like give the resources I do because of my background. So it's not even just like personal but also like professional too, and it makes it really important like I have, like um, there's a organization here in Florida called All Friends Network.

Speaker 2: 26:22

I've been partnering up a lot with the ceo. His name is trevor and he um, he has cerebral palsy and he runs this organization because he wanted for neurodiverse people to be involved and make friendships and everything. So there's been a lot of like partnerships going on for me in regards to like the resources that that could be provided for families and stuff, knowing like there are services, especially even for those who are above age age 18, because it's really important that that there always should be services even beyond that age.

Speaker 1: 27:01

So yeah, and florida has a lot of actually really great ones. They have happy and employ you that are out there and some really good other, the Dan Marino Foundation. I just get emails from them all the time. They're doing some autism events sometime like in the next few days, I think. So if you don't know, better go check it out. I don't know where they're at and I don't know much about Florida, so that's all. I just get the email, much growth and I'm just.

Speaker 1: 27:51

I'm so excited and proud of you and happy to be your friend and to be, you know, going on this journey and kind of partnering up with you and being able to do all of these things together like this. Yeah, same same with you. It's amazing. It's amazing what we can do when we put our minds to it. Even better, what we can do when we join other people in with us and we start to really see change happening. So, yeah, everyone, please go check out the world of autism and make sure you follow Michelle on her social medias. Hopefully everything will go as planned with this first recording done on stream yard today, so we'll get all the uh, all the good stuff in the show notes for everyone, um, anything else that you can think of.

Speaker 2: 28:39

That's going on or you want to talk about uh, I just want to let people know that don't ever stop following your dreams, because I know that, like for a lot of autistic people, we get so much setback because of perceptions that are from society and everything. But don't let that get to you, because you're able to do a lot more than you think that you can. Like, as I've shared myself, I went from being a nonverbal autistic who was pretty much in her own world and everything, to where I graduated with a four-year degree, working multiple jobs for the past few years now, to even being board members for organizations. So do not give up on your dreams.

Speaker 1: 29:24

I love that. Michelle, thank you so, so much. And someday, someday, we'll be able to get together and meet each other in person too. I just can't wait for that day. I know One of these days, like I'm you know, now that we have the nonprofit up and running I'm not really up and running, we have it established Then I'm really hoping and my husband does too that we can come together somewhere and have an in-person event. I think it would be just the most amazing thing we could do. So I agree, thank you. Thank you for just for being a support to your community, to your schools, supporting me on this journey and my show and my listeners. So it's just been such an honor and a pleasure to have you. Thank you so, so much.

Speaker 2: 30:16

Thank you so much for having me on again, and then I love our friendship and the collaborations that we've been doing for so long.

Speaker 1: 30:25

Yeah, me too. Thank you so much, and you know I'll air this before our events coming up. So everyone, when you're at the end of this podcast, please go over to the International Autism Summit 2024. You can find it. It's on the the Padooty event website P-O-D-U-T-Y. And we are going to have such an amazing two days, 20 hours of advocates from around the world, panel discussions. You know everybody gets involved. They are asking questions in the comment section and being engaged, and just I couldn't be more excited to see what's going to come about for this new exciting international summit. Wow.

Speaker 2: 31:14

Yeah, I'm excited about that too, especially from people like coming from all over.

Speaker 1: 31:20

Like it's going to be such a neat way to network and to establish, you know, connections and, like you said, partnerships around the globes. So we will be a speaker, so please make sure that you go and get your tickets. I'll also say that there will be a special ticket sale April 2nd, on World Autism Awareness Day, so make sure to tune back in and until then, everyone, take care. Thank you so much, bye.