- [Interviewer] How to work with a victim/survivor with a developmental disability. Welcome to our new four part webinar series called Your Lived Experience. In this series, you will learn what it is like to be a person with a disability from their perspective as a person with a disability. In each webinar we will focus on a specific type of disability. The first webinar will discuss physical disabilities. The second will discuss visual disabilities. The third webinar will discuss being Deaf and/or hard of hearing. And the fourth webinar will discuss developmental disabilities. In each webinar you will hear about the speakers best experiences when trying to get help, and their most frustrating experiences. You will learn suggestions, tips, and best practices for when you interact with a person with a disability in your office. And finally, we will share with you some common accommodations that are appropriate for each specific type of disability. We hope you enjoy this new webinar series. The Miami Inclusion Alliance, or MIA is comprised of four organizations that have spent the last several years studying the domestic violence and sexual assault services in Miami-Dade County. And how persons with disabilities are utilizing these services. Disability Independence Group is an advocacy center for disability rights. Dade Legal Aid is a legal aid that handles domestic violence cases. MUJER is a licensed sexual assault center. And CVAC is the Miami-Dade County one stop for domestic violence. This project was supported by Grant number 2015-FW-AX-K001 awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations, expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women. The mission of the Miami Inclusion Alliance or MIA, is to learn about the intersection of disability and domestic violence and/or sexual assault in order to promote a culture of inclusion within and between all collaborating agencies. This collaboration will implement the necessary changes so that persons with disabilities who are affected by domestic violence and/or sexual assault have access to services. Today our speaker will be Genesis Espaillat, a self-advocate. How would you describe your disability?

- My name is Genesis Espaillat, and I have a specific learning disability. So basically I have challenges in certain areas. Like for example, an example reading. I could read to you a whole entire book chapter and not understand anything that I just read. But if somebody else reads it to me and explains it along the way, I'll understand it better. Math, I'm horrible at math. Money, sometimes I need help with money. You know, like Let's say that, I know I spent let's say that something's $20 and I give you an $100 bill that's fine. But if you give me change like quarters and dimes and all that stuff, that's a little bit more difficult for me. But yeah, basically I have trouble understanding things sometimes, I need more elaboration and more like explanations. I think that means the same thing, but yeah. So I just need a little bit more time, and I need, yeah.

- [Interviewer] Can you tell us about your best experience when you were trying to get help?

- So back in Panther Life I had a academic mentor, and she was amazing, she was great, she was awesome. Like she was the best. And she would help me with all my assignments and she never made me feel like I wasn't capable or able. She just made things a lot easier for me. So I could understand she would break things down in a way that I was able to understand and not feel like I wasn't able to learn the material if it makes sense.

- [Interviewer] Can you explain what a job coach does?

- But a job coach does a lot. They help you with interview skills with learning how to dress for an interview, your resume, which that's my challenge area. I really do not like I'll put the things in, but I don't know how to make it look nice. I think I went over basically what a job coach is. They help you with everything that has to do with the workplace. And if you have trouble within the workplace, you can also contact your job coach and let them know, this is going on and I don't know how to handle it. And they'll help you learn how to cope. They'll teach you like coping techniques and things like that. when the workplace gets hectic and stuff like that. And they'll also be there when you wanna set up a meeting with your boss or something to talk over, things that are happening within the workplace that are affecting you mentally and stuff like that.

- [Interviewer] Can you tell us about your most frustrating experience when you were trying to get help?

- But I think it's because there's a lot of ignorance towards the fact that people, my learning disability is not visible. So people don't see that. So if I need help, it's like, why do you need help? Like, that's there. And it's like, I need a little bit more help and a little bit more explanations in order for people to, in order to understand what I am, the material or whatnot, you know what I mean? It's just that. Yeah, basically. So I tell them like, can you please read this? Or can you please help me with this? And if they look at me like weird or whatever, I'll just be like, I'm just having a little bit of trouble with this. Because I feel like I don't have to tell them I have a learning disability, unless like let's say I'm advocating for myself for something. Which that is kind of advocating, but I feel like in that sense, I don't necessarily tell them. But there has been, I have been in situations where I have had to tell people, I have a learning disability that they look at me like, you don't look like it. And it's like, that's not something that you're supposed to look like, because it's something neurological. You get what I'm saying? For me it's very difficult when people say like, but you don't look learning disabled. It's really hard for me.

- [Interviewer] What suggestions would you give to people that are working with persons with disabilities like you?

- [Genesis] A, treat the person as an individual. B, be patient. C, use precise and simple language. D, give instructions one at a time. E, ask questions one at a time. F, give the same information more than once in different ways. G, get information in written, verbal or picture format.

- [Interviewer] What are some types of common accommodations that help people with disabilities like you?

- [Genesis] A, every victim/survivor is different and the accommodation that is appropriate for one, may not meet the needs of another. B, some common accommodations are. One, materials that use pictures, symbols, or diagrams, instead of words. Two, have all information available in written format and to also audio. Three, have all the information also available on computer with voice input. Four, have a line guide available to identify or highlight one line of the text at a time. Five, provide templates or forms that will prompt information being requested. Six, verbal responses instead of written responses. Seven, allow typed responses instead of written responses. C, ask the victim/survivor what type of accommodation they need.

- [Interviewer] What are some unique tactics used by abusers.

- [Genesis] A, not giving them the time to effectively communicate their thoughts. B, limiting the victim/survivor access to social and educational settings. C, taking advantage of the lack of training in sex education for the population, making it difficult for the victim/survivor to recognize unlawful activity. D, taking advantage of someone's money. E, refusal of assist with daily activities, such as bathing and self care.

- [Interviewer] Tips on the best way to work with a person with a developmental disability.

- To say things in different ways, to say things in different ways and to let the person know like, reassure the person that this is a safe place that they're able to say what they're going through without feeling judged or, you know what I'm saying? You get what I'm trying to explain? So I feel like that's something really important to make people with developmental disabilities feel safe, is to try to have someone there that can explain things in different ways. Because I feel like I've been in situations where people have been rude not necessarily in that area, but like, that are like, you don't understand what I'm saying it's kind of like self-explanatory, and it hurts. So I feel like that's really important.

- [Interviewer] And what about if someone had to give you papers with information on it, how would you like it? Would you like pictures, simple words.

- I would like simple words but I would also like for a person to be there to explain what is being said on those papers. 'Cause even if it's simple, sometimes it might be hard or sometimes, there is no simple way to say it, but a way to explain it, I feel like if there was somebody there that can help me understand what is being said on these papers, I would feel more comfortable.

- [Interviewer] And someone that you could ask questions to if you didn't understand it.

- That's correct. Thank you so much for taking the time to watch this video. And I hope that this video helps you understand people that have developmental disabilities, so you are able to help them effectively when they do need help.

- [Interviewer] Here are some resources for you. Disability Independence Group website, www.justdigit.org phone number 669-2822. Legal Aid Society website, www.dadelegalaid.org. Phone number 579-5755 x 2229. CVAC website, www.miami-dade.gov. phone number 285-5900. MUJER website, www.mujerfla.org. Phone number main office, 247-1388. Sexual Assault Helpline, 763-2459. Thank you for watching this webinar today. We hope you enjoy the other webinars in this series, Your Lived Experience.