Speakers

DeafBlind, but Definitely Not Disconnected

December 20, 2018 By Sarah Evans

Here’s what JennyLynn Dietrich would like you to know about her:

She’s taken service learning trips to Guatemala and Ghana. She’s a chocolate snob who wouldn’t dare touch the generic stuff. She’s engaged to be married next year. She loves to paint, draw, and perform on the theater stage. And she’s passionate about helping others, pointing them toward the resources that could help them change their lives.

You might learn these things if you just ask her. But Dietrich says people are often too afraid or intimidated by two of her more obvious traits: she is deaf and blind.

One of the main points Dietrich hopes to make in her TEDxSalem talk, entitled “DeafBlind: Blind but Not Blind,” is that people with disabilities value autonomy — they want to be seen as regular productive members of society, just like those without disabilities.

“We don’t want people’s pity,” she says. “We just want to be accepted as equals.”

Born with a rare hereditary condition called Stickler syndrome, Dietrich is fully blind in her left eye and has limited vision in her right. She’s also profoundly deaf in her left ear, but she can hear a bit in her right with a hearing aid. Her preferred method to communicate is American Sign Language. She also uses a form of communication called ProTactile — developed by the DeafBlind community — that involves signing on someone’s hand or using parts of their body to help give visual or emotional cues.

During her early years growing up in Oklahoma, Dietrich attended a mainstream school. It wasn’t until high school that she went to a state school for the deaf. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies from Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.

Ultimately she moved to Seattle to work as a Case Manager at the DeafBlind Service Center. She helped other DeafBlind people by providing services to make their lives easier — including advocacy, information and referrals, education, and outreach — and she ultimately discovered she had a passion for helping others.

One of the most useful resources Dietrich found in Seattle was Support Service Providers (SSPs) — sighted guides who provide DeafBlind people with visual information about their environment so that they can participate in regular mainstream activities such as grocery shopping, reading mail, or banking.

“When I moved to Oregon, it was a challenge because there’s not an SSP program here for people like me to access,” she says. “I’ve been working hard this year to get something like that established here by reaching out to other DeafBlind people in the community and leaders in public service.”

Dietrich came to the Willamette Valley to pursue graduate studies at Western Oregon University. She is no longer a student there, but she is focusing her time on attempting to develop supports for DeafBlind people in the state. She is currently a facilitator for a nonprofit called the Oregon DeafBlind Community Alliance Network, something she hopes will become a larger statewide organization to help provide resources to those who need it.

Advocacy would be a critical part of their work — to help the general public look beyond their disabilities and learn about their interests, their personalities, and their goals.

“Instead of watching us in fear from afar,” she says, “be brave, and come and learn from us by engaging with us!”

TEDxSalem VI

TEDxSalem VI is an all-day event featuring talks, performances, refreshments, lunch and a swag bag. It runs 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 5 at the Salem Convention Center. Tickets are on sale now for $55, $45 for students. Follow us on Facebook for the most up-to-date news from our community, and check our website regularly for new information. You can also reach us at info@tedxsalem.com.

Melissa Michaux builds pathways to restorative justice

December 13, 2018 By Micayla Lally

Melissa Michaux’s work is life changing.

The Associate Professor of Politics at Willamette University started the Restorative Justice program at the school, which works with inmates at the Oregon State Penitentiary. It provides an insightful experience for students about the prison system and those within.

The program inspires compassion and gives meaning to the participants through their involvement on both sides of the prison walls.

“I hope the Willamette students have an increased understanding of the stakes involved in public policy, specifically criminal justice policy, by meeting people who are affected by the system we have in place ” she said.

The program also provides a space for learning and growth that allows inmates to develop their own ideas and understanding about why they are in prison and to develop a sense of efficacy for positively affecting the world around them, she said.

Michaux is the incoming Chair of the new Politics, Policy, Law and Ethics department at Willamette. She is a champion of compassionate approaches to prisoners – both during their incarceration and on paths to reintegration into society.

“Restorative Justice in prison is necessary,” she said, “to transform prisoners for safer communities.”

Michaux received her PhD from Brandeis University and her BA with Honors from Boston College. She has extensively discussed healthcare policy and welfare reform and American Politics, as well as the politics of motherhood. There is a common thread through these subjects and that thread is meaningful lives, for all.

Hear more from Professor Michaux at TEDxSalem January 5.

Hometown: Baltimore
Family: husband Rick and three daughters Sophie (25), Emma (16) and Clara (13)
Hobbies: tennis and reading memoirs
Favorite Music: favorite band is Pink Martini
Favorite Author: Margaret Atwood
Favorite Food: blue crabs
Favorite TV Show of All Time: “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (Our dog is named after Buffy’s second boyfriend Riley Finn.)

TEDxSalem VI

Michael Rousell: The element of surprise

December 3, 2018 By Jay Shenai

The substitute teacher didn’t even know his name.

But his question was enough to change the course of Michael Rousell’s life.

“I only had him in class one day,” he said.

But it was enough. Rousell remembers himself as a student at the back of the pack who struggled with dyslexia. He ranted to this teacher about how hard it was to learn and how hard it was to get teachers to pay attention to him.

“Why don’t you become a teacher?,” he asked.

Rousell, now an associate professor of psychology at Southern Oregon University, points to that moment as the one that changed his beliefs about education. For the first time, he thought he could overcome his disabilities and become an educator.

“We are who we are and act the way we act because of what we believe,” Rousell said.

“However, we don’t get to choose our beliefs.”

Beliefs “happen” to us, he said, typically outside our control and often outside our awareness. Moments of surprise serve as the most common catalyst in shaping those beliefs, he said.

Rousell has spent decades making a difference educating others, including 30 years as a teacher and volleyball coach. In his position as associate professor, he uses the element of surprise in training educators. Seeking to replicate that “A‑Ha!” moment in each of his students has been the most satisfying.

“I had so much difficulty because of my learning disabilities,” he said. “When I became a teacher, my goal was to reach out to those students who struggled the most because nobody did that for me.”

“I became a teacher so that students like me wouldn’t have to suffer like I did.”

Name: Dr. Michael A. Rousell

Age: 65

Profession: Licensed psychologist and associate professor at Southern Oregon University

Hometown: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Family: Wife of 47 years, two daughters, four granddaughters

Hobbies/Interests: Hockey; humor as applied therapeutic treatment

Favorite music: Country/western, classical music and rock. “I have an eclectic taste in music.”

Favorite author: Ken Follett (World Without End). “If he’s writing it, I’m reading it.”

Own book: Sudden Influence: How Spontaneous Events Change our Lives

TEDxSalem VI

Hebah Hasan: Overcoming your past to follow your future

November 21, 2018 By Jay Shenai

It was a simple question from her daughter that prompted her to open up about her past.

Hebah Hasan’s family often gathered around her husband to hear stories from his childhood. One day the daughter pointed out that she rarely shared any stories from hers.

“She asked me, ‘Did you do this as a little kid? Did you [dance] ballet, did you do gymnastics, did you do music?’” said Hasan, 32, mother of two and a speaker at this year’s TEDx Salem VI.

“Actually no, I didn’t do any of that,” she said.

“It was a different time and a different place,” she said.

Hasan grew up in Saudi Arabia.

There, women were not to cause trouble in school, she said. They were seen as wives and companions to men, not colleagues, she said. Women were not to interrupt men and were not allowed to second guess the teacher, she said, something that would prove very difficult for the naturally precocious and independent Hasan.

She recalls being regularly neglected and ignored in her classes growing up. She also remembers the emotional abuse she would regularly take at school. One particularly humiliating moment was when she had questioned one teacher’s math problem and had been forced to stand on one foot in the corner for the remainder of the class.

Despite the hardships Hasan endured, she went on to graduate from high school and complete her education in electrical engineering and computer science. Today she works as a software engineer at Garmin in Salem.

Hasan is not looking for pity. Looking back on her struggles, she knows that they played a role in making her who she is now, she said. That’s the part of the lesson she hopes her daughter hears and not the pain or the fear, she said.

“I don’t want to discourage her, it made me who I am,” Hasan said.

She will share her story on the TEDxSalem stage to provide empowerment, she said, and perspective.

“I would like them to look at things from a different angle,” she said.

It’s a perspective she says she wants to share most of all with her son and daughter.

“I want to do it for my kids, they inspire me.”

Name: Hebah Hasan

Age: 32

Education: Degree in electrical and software engineering, computer science from Oregon State University

Position: Software team leader at Garmin Aviation

Hometown: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Family: Husband, son and daughter

Pets: Lots of pets growing up, including a lizard, parrots, bunnies, cats and dogs, mostly from her father who would randomly bring them home, “just from pet store or friends or wherever.” “He got the weirdest pets ever.”

Hobbies: Hiking, camping, being out in nature; learning guitar and piano

Favorite movie: Braveheart, starring Mel Gibson. “When he shouted, ‘Freedom!’ How important this is [for him], to the point that he will fight for it to the end of his life.”

Favorite song: “Remember This,” by NF and “The 4^th Branch” by Immortal Technique

Favorite books: Mystery books, especially the writings of Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle.

TEDxSalem VI

TEDxSalem speaker Carla Brauer on discovering the thrill of the hunt

November 18, 2018 By Jay Shenai

Death does not intimidate Carla Brauer.

The 34 year old owns Dermestidarium, a service for hunters and pet owners that uses flesh-eating beetles of the same name to clean skulls and bones. She worked in the funeral service business before that.

“My whole living has been made around death for years now,” she said.

People sometimes assume that she’s depressed, or morbid or goth, but she’s not, she said. With her service, she gives pet owners mementos of their deceased pets.

“I actually find it really fulfilling,” she said.

Her business isn’t the only place where Brauer confronts death. She also hunts large game. It’s a wide departure from her vegan roots, but you’ll hear more about that switch at her TEDxSalem talk Jan. 5.

For Brauer, the act of stalking prey like deer gives her a deeper appreciation for life, something she says she didn’t quite have as a vegan.

“You get this appreciation and respect and connection for deer as a whole, versus deer as an individual,” she said.

Hunting for food has given her a closer connection with it, a desire to know and appreciate her food, Brauer said. It’s part of a larger push for her to eat healthier food that’s locally sourced.

Part of eating more locally is finding out where your food came from, she said, how it was harvested, how it traveled from the farm or field to your fork.

“You have the opportunity when you’re buying at the farmers’ market to really learn those stories,” she said, “and start asking people about how they grew this, where did this come from, what is it, how do I cook it?”

Hunting for food has also given her a deeper appreciation for the land that she hunts on and the importance of preserving public lands for wildlife, lands under threat of privatization today.

A large portion of state efforts to manage public lands is funded by money from hunting licenses and equipment, Brauer said. A shortage of hunters means a shortfall in management budgets, she said.

“We all share that space. But I feel like when you’re a hunter, you depend on it so much. You’re so invested, and it’s so personal to you that you’re really going to get involved when something comes around that threatens it,” she said.

Name: Carla Brauer

Age: 34

Position: Owner of Dermestidarium, a skull and bone-cleaning service for hunters and pet owners

Hometown: San Francisco

Family: Wife, 2 rescue dogs (Australian Kelpie and Labrador mix), and 4 rescue cats

Hobbies: Gardening, light farming on property, cooking

Favorite movie: Horror movies. “Hard to find a horror movie I actually find scary.”

Favorite music: Country/folk music.

Musical instruments she can play: Fiddle, musical saw

Currently reading: The Power, by Naomi Alderman, A Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold

Currently watching on Netflix: MeatEater

TEDxSalem VI

TEDxSalem speaker starts her own college

November 14, 2018 By Sarah Evans

Michelle Jones thought traditional colleges were broken — so she started her own.

The U.S. higher education system has become a punching bag in recent years — with tuition climbing, students taking on enormous debt and graduates who still don’t know what to do with their lives. Prospective students now judge colleges not on what they will learn but on whether they will get a job.

Despite all the criticism, few are coming up with valid alternatives, said Jones, a longtime professor and one of 12 featured speakers at TEDxSalem VI Jan. 5.

“Most people in higher education agree that it’s broken and we need other options,” she says, “they just don’t know how to go about doing it.”

Jones describes the whole system — where students pick a college, then choose a major, then figure out what they’re going to do, then try it out — as “backwards.” So, in 2016, she did something extreme: she started her own college.

The result was Wayfinding Academy in Portland, a two-year, nonprofit, liberal arts-focused college where students can earn an associate of arts degree, similar to a community college.

“We have faculty, classes, students, all those normal things,” she says. “But none of it functions the way a traditional college would function.”

But let’s back up a bit. How does someone even get the idea to start their own college?

For Jones, it didn’t happen until long after her own college experience. After graduating high school, she did what everyone else did, she enrolled in a four-year college. She earned a bachelor’s degree in two perpetually popular subjects, business and psychology, at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.

Her mentor introduced her to organizational behavior, psychology applied to the workplace setting. She became so interested in the field that she went on to study it at Claremont Graduate University in Southern California, earning a master’s and a PhD.

From there, she started teaching, working at about five universities before becoming a faculty member at Providence College in Providence, R.I. There, she co-taught an elective called “We Don’t Need No Education” where she challenged students to consider what they would do differently if they designed their own college. The idea of revolutionizing higher education never left her, even when she moved to the Northwest, where she ultimately taught at Concordia University.

“I realized the whole system doesn’t really work to the benefit of the student,” she says. “I would hear from many students who were angry, saying, ‘I’m in a lot of debt, I still don’t know what I want to do with my life, I’ve changed my major a bunch of times, and now it’s too late.’ The whole thing felt like a no-win situation for them.”

Armed with her years of observing colleges from the inside, she gathered other like-minded professionals who wanted to change the system, set up a campus and curriculum, raised money, and made sure the school was an approved degree-granting organization with Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission.

The academy graduated its first class in 2018. But what was so different about their experience versus a more traditional college? And did their time at Wayfinding serve them well?

For those details, you’ll have to attend Jones’s talk. She promises a few surprises that might upend what you think is true about colleges, and a thought-provoking look at how serving students better can impact our culture and communities.

“Oregon has a long history of being on the leading edge of things — we had the first bottle bill, we were the first state to have voting by mail, we were the first ‘death with dignity’ state,” she says.

“We are now the first to create an alternative model of higher education.”

TEDxSalem VI

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