Megan Galloway

     One tenant of the Carolinian Creed that has guided my time at the University of South Carolina, particularly the last year and a half, compels us to respect the dignity of all persons. This is something that I was raised to do, but it is not until you are put in situations that require the use of this value that you realize its true importance. Introduction to Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology (COMD500) was the first course that I took at the University of South Carolina that heavily called on the adherence to this personal and school-wide value of respecting the dignity of every person. For our homework assignments, we were required to simulate various speaking or hearing disabilities and reflect on our experience. We had to put ourselves into the shoes of a person with a speech or hearing disability that we had recently learned about. After completing the chapter on stuttering, our homework assignment was to go to a restaurant with a partner from class and act as though we had a legitimate stutter. We then had to reflect on our experiences from both the perspective of the stutterer and the friend of the stutterer, which can be found in Artifact 1. My partner and I both had previous experiences where we each had spoken to a person with a stutter; therefore, being the person in the conversation with the stutter put a new perspective on the disorder. Simply being taught about these kinds of conditions does not help you to be able to understand the full capacity of how hampering and frustrating some of these disorders are for a person and their friends or family, but this assignment truly allowed me to be immersed in the situation and experience what a normal interaction with a stranger would be like if I suffered from a stutter. In my experience with a stutter, I did not get the feeling that the cashier that I spoke to really took the time to understand that I was not wanting to have this condition; therefore, it compelled me to vow to never be impatient or jump to any conclusions about a person with any sort of disability, and to treat them with the dignity and respect that they deserve as a human being. It does not matter if they are taking up extra time, I will always be sure to treat others as I want to be treated. Artifact 1 is my reflection from this experience, which illustrates the feelings that I experienced when I literally put myself into the shoes of someone with a frustrating disorder. It required me to look deeper into the purpose of the assignment, which was to realize that people with disorders, such as a stutter, can be easily put into situations where others get frustrated with them; but by simply taking a second to understand their feelings, we can make a big impact for them.

     I attended a session entitled “Culture Shock” at the MOSAIC Symposium, which is a conference that promotes global engagement, leadership, and diversity in international learning. Though it did a great job encouraging us to be aware that culture shock is a real thing when studying abroad, nothing can truly prepare you for your unique experience. The session had addressed how we should be prepared for daily activities to be drastically different from some daily activities that we have grown accustomed to in the United States. However, it did not prepare me well enough for the looks that I would get when feebly trying to communicate by using only my extremely limited Spanish vocabulary. This is when I saw the phenomenon of first seeking to understand come to life from a different perspective when it manifested for me in a unique light when I traveled to Costa Rica during the summer of 2014, not knowing any Spanish. I was often looked at with faces of frustration because I was taking too long to communicate what I wanted, or was saying something completely wrong. I felt as though the locals sometimes thought that I did not respect them or their culture because I did not know how to speak their language. It was important for me to think of how I would have easily gotten frustrated if I was back home in the U.S., and a person visiting from a non-English speaking country was doing a very poor job of trying to communicate with me. I would have felt as though they did not take the time to learn my culture or language. Since learning the language of the place that I was visiting is a more feasible task than expecting someone with a stutter to immediately learn to stop stuttering, I was able to set time aside at night to practice my Spanish a little more so that I could feel as though I was giving the proper respect to the locals and their culture. First, seeking to understand is a cross-cultural concept that is spoken through every language and felt in every level of communication.

     During my interactions with clients at Harvest Hope Food Bank, I often have to remind myself to first understand their situations and fight the urge to jump to a judgment about the person or their lifestyle. Many times, clients will inform us that they are currently unemployed, yet I see that they have smartphones, manicured nails, or brand-name clothing and jewelry. Immediately, my instincts want me to assume that they are cheating the system to get free food; however, I fight those unkind, instinctive thoughts and instead try to put myself in their shoes and understand that I would not want to feel judged by a person who is supposed to be offering me assistance. Unfortunately, the majority of the clients are not cheating the system, but are actually facing very tough situations. According to a set of statistics from Harvest Hope that are available in Artifact 2, about 60 percent of clients that are out of the workforce and are no longer looking for work are those that are disabled or have some other health problem that prevents them from being able to work, or they are the primary caretaker for another person. This shows that they are not simply being lazy and cheating the system, but that some sort of disability, whether it is theirs or the person’s that they care for, is causing them to utilize the services offered at Harvest Hope. They might be adjusting to this new lifestyle and have not yet made the decision to downgrade their phones, or maybe having manicured nails is the only thing that allows a particular woman to feel feminine while battling a certain disease. Seeking to understand before jumping to conclusions involves me putting myself in their shoes just as I did for the COMD500 stuttering assignment and during my interactions in Costa Rica, and realizing that there is often more to the situation than what we can see.

     Seeking to understand an individual’s situation before jumping to a rash judgment and ensuring that they are treated with the respect and dignity that they deserve is a value that I have strengthened through several experiences within the University of South Carolina community and beyond the classroom. I have reciprocated this value in multiple dimensions, such as within the community and even across borders. Seeking to first understand is a quality that everyone should have in common; therefore, I will lead by example and hope that others will join me in the adherence of this fundamental value.