Season 8 Goals And Dreams Blog 24: A Cosmic Twin

 A Cosmic Twin

OCALICONLINE is an international conference online that focuses on people with low-incidence disabilities, including autism. I have spoken at OCALICONLINE two times. The first time I did it in 2022, I spoke with my public speaking mentor, Dr. Brooks, and coincidentally, Noah’s (now former) soccer coach, Katie. The presentation was based on research that Katie did with Dr. Brooks about my impact on preservice teachers. Needless to say, I loved this opportunity and experience! Dr. Brooks and I talked about the possibility of eventually doing a research paper along the same lines as that first OCALICONLINE presentation, but fast forward to 2025, and that had still not happened. Quite honestly, I had almost forgotten about it.

In the middle of February 2025, Dr. Brooks responded to a public call for articles focusing on collaboration to be considered for a special edition of the Journal of Special Education Preparation (JOSEP), a higher education journal published by the teacher education division of the Council for Exceptional Children. It was a long shot, but she shared about how I collaborate with her class to talk about my personal experiences with autism and why this is an effective method in teacher education. Guess what? WE GOT PICKED!

Not only did the editors of JOSEP respond to Dr. Brooks, they paired us with a team from New York - a professor and a self-advocate who have the same type of collaboration as me and Dr. Brooks, but in Buffalo. Dr. Brooks - and I’ll call the other professor, Dr. Kabe - met in early April to talk about their college programs and collaborate about how these experiences could be shared in an article to help other college professors begin similar programs in their courses. Dr. Kabe works with an autistic woman named Kayleigh who comes and speaks in her class, just as I speak in Dr. Brooks’ class. Kayleigh and I mirror each other in ways that have many similarities, but differences at the same time.

Firstly, while I use speech to communicate, Kayleigh uses an AAC Device. An AAC (or Augmentative and Alternative Communication) device is an electronic device that often resembles an iPad that helps generate speech for those who are nonverbal. Second, while I started out in a public school setting and moved to a more segregated school (special ed), and back, she started segregated, went to a more public school setting, and bounced back and forth for the remainder of her career. As Dr. Brooks and Dr. Kabe started writing this joint article, they sent me and Kayleigh emails asking us interview questions that were included in the final draft of the article. They listed us as secondary authors in their publication, acknowledging our voices and the collaborative partnerships we help to create in university classrooms. After a lot of back and forth, including several reviews that addressed the feedback of three different editors, on Saturday, August 9, 2025, we got an email from JOSEP accepting the article! After making minor type edits, it was formally published on September 16, 2025. Information about the article can be found at the following links:

Link to our article (starting on page 50): https://openjournals.bsu.edu/JOSEP/issue/view/393/175

 JOSEP speaks podcast is also available. This is "AI" generated episode of each issue. https://open.spotify.com/show/7edqJAkTj9siYAJJ0xB1zG?si=86921051e9974947&nd=1&dlsi=ce69a8b64d6c4e78

I have named this season goals and dreams, as I am trying a new system to motivate myself to continue reaching new goals. I have always hoped to be published in a research paper since I started working with Dr. Brooks. After OCALICONLINE 2022, it was admittedly one of the only goals that I had hardcore giving up on and/or did not have a contingency plan to make it happen, even if it didn’t happen when I wanted it to. The fact that it did happen, with almost zero intervention from me, has emboldened me in my effort to reach my other goals.

What’s also cool about this particular goal is that it brought me and Kayleigh together. We are two people, who are seven years apart, three states away, and on different parts of the autism spectrum, and yet we have very similar life experiences. I believe that Kayleigh is a cosmic twin of mine, and I am so grateful our paths have crossed. 

Have a Greattastic day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri