Unstoppable Teacher and Disability Expert with Stephanie Cawthon

Stephanie Cawthon grew up deaf. She tells us her story of how for her childhood she was quite isolated due to not having good methods of communicating with those around her. It wasn’t until college and the advent of the Americans With Disabilities Act that she began to learn to advocate for herself. Through self advocacy and some good teaching she finally learned American Sign Language, (ASL) and finally began to communicate efficiently with those around her.   Stephanie has proven since college to be a dedicated teacher. She now is a tenured professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas Austin. In 2023 she founded the National Disability Center for Student Success. This center and the five-year grant that funds it is providing and will continue to offer invaluable information and techniques for including persons with disabilities into society especially within the college and university system.   Stephanie has authored several books including a non-academic one which is being released on September 15 of 2024.   On our podcast Stephanie and I are joined by two interpreters. Amanda is voicing Stephanie’s comments to me and Audrey is signing my comments to Stephanie. This episode gives us all a tremendous look into the philosophies and concepts about inclusion of persons with disabilities. I trust that you will enjoy and learn a lot from our time with Stephanie.   About the Guest:   Stephanie W. Cawthon, PhD, is an internationally renowned author, researcher, and consultant who brings relatable insights and real-world skills to her mission that—when we tap the power of accessibility—we ensure disabled people can thrive and succeed.    Dr. Cawthon’s groundbreaking research has been funded by over $50 million in federal and other grants. In 2023 she founded the National Disability Center for Student Success at The University of Texas at Austin, where she is a tenured Professor of Educational Psychology.    She also brings a lived experience to her work. In addition to her congenital hearing loss, she has several mental health and physical disabilities that have a significant impact on her ability to engage in important life activities.    Dr. Cawthon earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Stanford University and her doctorate from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.   Ways to connect with Stephanie:   Website: www.StephanieCawthon.com Book Website: www.DisabilityIsHuman.com Social Media: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-cawthon/ Twitter: @swcawthon Instagram: DrStephanieCawthon The website for the National Disability Center: www.NationalDisabilityCenter.org   About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children’s Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association’s 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/   https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well, hello and welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. And it is called that for those who may not know, because inclusion for us comes first, since diversity typically tends to leave out discussions about disabilities, and today, I think we're going to be talking a lot about disabilities, among other things. Our guest is Stephanie Cawthon. And Stephanie is a person who happens to be deaf, so what I say is being signed to Stephanie, and then there is somebody who is going to be interpreting what Stephanie will be saying through sign to me. So you will notice as we chat, there will be some pauses, and that is because signing is going on. And so we will work with that. And I think it will be a fine time all the way around anyway. So let's go ahead and start Stephanie. I want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset. And Stephanie happens to be a person who works in Texas, among other things, in 2023 she founded the National Disability Center, Center for Student Success, and she has had a lot of grants that have helped her, but she is now with her Center at the University of Texas at Austin, and I was telling her before we started, that I will, recent, or soon, be in San Marcos, Texas to deliver a speech. So that's not too far from Austin, and I will be accompanied by my guide dog, Alamo boy. It's going to be a Texas world so it is Alamo, as in, Remember the Alamo? So Alamo and I have been partners for about six and a half years, and that's kind of fun. Anyway. That aside, Stephanie, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're really glad you're here,   Stephanie Cawthon ** 03:21 and I'm thrilled to be here. Thank you so much for the warm welcome.   Michael Hingson ** 03:26 Well, it is my pleasure. Why don't we start, if you would, by you telling us a little bit about, kind of the early Stephanie, Stephanie growing up and all that, and sort of give us that as a background. It's always kind of fun to go back to the beginning somewhat,   Stephanie Cawthon ** 03:40 okay, sure. Thank you again. So early Stephanie, all right, me growing up, well, I grew up living in Canada, and then we moved to the United States when I was eight years old. And so that's sort of that change was interesting. I grew up without sign language at all at that time, ASL or any signed language was not prevalent, nor was it even allowed to be had. It was speech only, speech therapy, sitting in the front of the room, wearing hearing aids and that type of thing that was my experience. I learned to read lips pretty early on, and so I really paid attention in school, primarily to my teachers, friends, less so really not so much. Communicating with friends and peers was rough as a youth, because it's hard to pay attention to speech, for eating and then socially things. And paying attention to a person with disability is rough. Now the teacher was focused, and so I could focus on them. And at that time, my last name began with an A and so, uh. That was nice. I it was really and I received A's in school, and I cared