ZOOM: To begin, in 10 words or less, how
would you describe one another?
Barb: (Lois is) Straightforward, loyal, perseverant, playful, hardworking, well-loved, funny,
and stupidly honest
Lois: (Barb is) Complicated, imaginative, dedicated, spiritual, wise, honorable, grateful, witty,
and PATIENT
----Conner: Barb, what was your childhood like?
I
f you visit the Loud Mute Radio website (and
we highly recommend you do), you will find
the following introduction:
“A radio show hosted by an autistic mute? Why
not?! The creators of Mule and Muse Productions,
Barb Rentenbach and Lois Prislovsky, PhD, welcome
you to “Loud Mute Radio.” Here is how this works.
Barb is mute, but she types one letter at a time and
loves being heard as she is a contemplative, which
means she spends most of her time thinking about
things that are not present and observing that which
is. She says being a muse is a tidy job, but somebody
has to do it. Her advanced autistic degrees make
her more equipped than most for this calling. Barb
says, “I am disguised as a poor thinker.” But with
two books full of hilarious stories and fascinating
truths about her life with autism and everyone else,
that is changing. Her co-host, Lois (somebody has to
speak – its radio), is an educational psychologist with
real-world stamina and training. (So, yeah, Lois is
the Mule in this relationship, but she actually smells
pretty good.) Their Mule and Muse world views are
different, but together their work illuminates the
value of paying much more attention to individuals
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ZOOM Autism through Many Lenses
with fresh perspectives. We invite you to laugh and
lighten up as we promote finding purpose, connection, equality, and joy. Join us in minding thy heart
to mine thy mind.”
With an intro like that, we knew we were in
for quite a treat when we sent over our ZOOM
questions (and our staff photographer/reporter
Conner Cummings asked a few of his own too)
for this dynamic duo to answer. We were certainly not prepared for just how witty the responses that we got back would be. Our editor
Sharon snorted! Seriously, she laughed so hard
that she literally snorted. And to be honest, we
think you will too when you read them.
We are so honored that Barb and SS (the moniker Barb gave Lois, which stands for Smiling
Shrink or Smiling Sadist depending on the
day—see, told you she was cheeky) shared their
hearts, their experiences, their insight and, yes,
their humor with our ZOOM readers. We know
reading their answers will change the way you
think about disabilities, about communication
and well … about life.
Barb: Jam-packed. Now that I schedule my
own life, I thrive in a more enjoyable pace.
Smother (the name Barb has for her mother) ran
my childhood, and it was a marathon sprint.
At 70, she still chooses that pace. My childhood
was a whirlwind of every kind of therapy you
can imagine and some you can’t. Smother had
me try everything as long as it had little probability of lasting harm. My Barbara Ruth body
showed up for it all. My Barb mind was more
selective. Smother put the hell in “helicopter
parent.” It was a lot to process. In addition to
educational and therapeutic requirements, lil’
Barbara Ruth was expected to participate in
family gatherings, travel, church and countless
sports to the best of her ability. This kid snowskied, ice-skated, rode horses, tandem bicycled,
and zoomed on dirt bikes. Where there is a will,
there is a way. Smother made sure I had a will.
Did all that stimulation help? Absolutely! I had
to practice doing and being more every single
day. Today, dividends from Smother and DD’s
(Darling Dad) Barbra Ruth investments of love
are my greatest wealth. I don’t know why I was
allotted such a life bounty, but I intend to make
the major efforts to give back. I’ll probably let
tandem biking go; I never pedaled anyway.
Barb: Nope. I think in senses not sentences. For
example, I can hardly imagine having enough
strength in this typing finger to explain how I
process color – each and every shade and hue
has a distinct taste, smell, sound, texture and
feeling. My physical eyes carry a “legally blind”
sentence, but light shines through, and the party
begins. It took me decades to translate sensations into words. Language is not efficient communication for me, but alas, it is the only socially
acceptable channel at this time. Like my typing,
human evolution is slow. Lucky for me, I am
PATIENT as advertised.
Thinking and typing in language are the hardest
things I do, and I do them every day.
I use typing to understand my own mind and
that which seems external to it. My knowing is
sensory-based. My sensory flames burn naturally. Language is not natural for me. Typing
language is several energy transformations away
from my core. Typing is gas on my fire of knowing. Like a good forest ranger, through lots of
smutty trial and error, I learned to use this accelerant to control burns. Writing is very hard to
do, especially when sensations are blazing. Daily
scheduled typing allows one sensory fire to be
processed at time. One fire is warm and illuminating. Multiple fires are chaotic and dangerous.
I know being disguised as a poor thinker makes
----Conner: Barb, are there always words in your
head ready to come out?
Barb’s annual lake house birthday bash!
ZOOM Autism through Many Lenses
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