DDA speaks with Krystian Shaw, publisher of the Kamloops Self Advocate

Krystian Shaw was never expected to read or write. With dogged determination and a steel resolve, he is now the publisher of a 12-page newsletter he distributes in Kamloops B.C.

 

TRANSCRIPT:

Evan Kelly  0:03   Welcome to DDA's encouraging abilities podcast. I'm Evan Kelly. And our goal is to make our stories more accessible to enlighten people as to who we are, what we do and why. We also want to help others in the disability community tell their stories. Whether it's talking about new government policy, new business ventures or amazing achievements, you'll find it here. Our topics will focus on the developmental disability community, their caregivers, family members, we will talk to self advocates, experts in the field and members of the government, and even our own staff who are doing great things through adaptive technology, advocacy, support, and much more. Our guest today is Krystian Shaw and his mom Linda. Now Krystian is a very well known self advocate who lives in Kamloops, Krystian had dreams of being a professional in the field of media. And through determination and hard work, he developed the Kamloops self advocate, putting Kamloops on the map newsletter that now reaches far beyond the BC borders. Thanks for joining us. Kicking it off right now like Krystian, why did you start this newsletter in the first place,

Krystian Shaw  1:08   Because I wanted to work in the disability field. Because people gave me a lot of support when I was younger, and during my adulthood. And I wanted to return the favour and support people with diverse abilities, just like I was supported when I was younger. But I couldn't go to university to get a college degree. Because I have some challenges of my own.

Evan Kelly  1:46   Now I just pulled out your latest addition here, Krystian, it's really good. It's got lots of information, 12 pages long. You've got Krystian's corner, where you talk about some of your thoughts and feelings on things. You've got poetry, there's recipes, there's interviews, you're covering a lot of stuff. Now, Linda, you were told when he was born, the doctor said basically that he would not be able to read and write. Now he's publishing his own newsletter. Can you speak a little bit to this?

Linda  2:17   Yeah, when he was born, he was premature. And he was five months old before he came home for the first time from the hospital. And he was still on oxygen when he came home. And they said that the chances of him reading or writing was slim to none. And they even told the schools not to bother teaching him to read. And that he couldn't retain it. And he couldn't retain phonics and things like that. So no one, none of the teachers would teach him. So I would try to teach him and yeah, he wouldn't retain it, but we kept it up and kept it up. Finally, in grade six, a teacher decided to go against what they had said in the reports, and went and got him some books from Costco on long vowel sounds and short vowel sounds, and taught him how to read and surprised all he she did it with all the class and surprised all the mothers at the end of the year for them to come for, you know, a teacher conference or whatever and, and students were the students were, and they read to us for the first time, which was really shocking. And then Krystian's had a computer ever since he was seven years old. And people were shocked at how he could get through and navigate the computer even though he couldn't read. They didn't believe me when I said he couldn't read because he was so good at it. And I thought, well, that's how, you know, ones that are illiterate, they can fool people because they do it through signs and through, you know, symbols and things like that. And so then, after that, he, when he started to read he wanted to go to university to at least take a life skills course, I mean Work Experience course. And but they said he had to read and write in order to do it. And so he got on th