I saw on the news that a 13-year old girl, Carly, who is severely autistic, is now communicating on the computer. Her parents were astounded when, two years ago, Carly typed out some words. She is communicating, through the voice on the computer, what it’s like inside her world. What a tremendous insight Carly has given us. She is even taking questions [www.abcnews.com] to help us understand what it’s like to be autistic.

Communication can be difficult for those of us with seasoned skills. We have been exposed to all types of communication, verbal and non-verbal, and have conditioned ourselves to act or react to certain stimuli. And for those of us that talk a lot, having a sore throat and not being able to talk can be very painful in many ways.

Here is this 13 year old that has a strong desire to communicate with the outside world and she has found a way to do it. She believes she has something to share, words and perspectives of value to others, and she has found a way to communicate. It may not come as easily to her as it does to the rest of us, yet she perseveres.

How much effort do you put into your communication?

I heard a new term … the ‘new politics’. The newscaster said that this means it is not to misconstrue statements made by the candidate, or the candidate’s spouse. Listen to what the candidates are saying, how they are saying it, their body language …. and what they are not saying! “For the first time in my adult lifetime I am really proud of my country…because people are hungry for change.” Is that really what Mrs. Obama meant? It has become a huge story on talk radio and on television. I’m sure that was not her train of thought. She did not let us see inside her mind. She did not make her thinking visual to the rest of us. Certainly she did not mean that literally?

What an ingenious way to communicate! This is my most recent foray into the multi-faceted technological communications world. I have seen, as I’m sure you have too, many emails and statements whose meaning has been misconstrued because of vague words, lifeless tone and ambiguous meanings. It will be interesting to see in what other media these mis-communications [or mis-rememberings as one Congressional hearing testifier recently stated] appear. Stay tuned!