Post 3 - Barb Rentenbach

I really enjoyed the opportunity we had to learn about Barb.  I was really impressed, intimidated actually, at her intellect.  I had always heard about how those who have autism area really intelligent, but are unable to express it.  With Barb, however, hearing her book excerpts really opened my eyes.  I almost became envious of her intellectual capabilities.  She has a great way with words and I wish I could say the same about myself.  One thing that really struck me was her take on Autism as an evolutionary trait.  Could it really be possible that autism is a sort of evolution in humans to help us deal with the large amounts of constant input that we are provided with every hour of the day?  To me, this was a very profound idea.

This experience has left me with something very useful for my career as a teacher.  Now, more than before, I see disabilities not as a hindrance, but as a different way to look at things.  Even though disabilities vary and may hold some students back more than others, I want to try to look past them and find what a disabled student may really be capable of.  That capability may even be something they are better at than their peers.