Dr. Rhonda Richmond
I recently had the incredible opportunity to speak at Elevate Atlanta’s Night of Elevation event. Standing on that stage took me back to my experiences as a student in an Elevate program many years ago – then called Colorado UpLift. I couldn’t help but reflect on how far I’ve come—both in terms of my personal growth and the skills I’ve developed along the way. What made this event even more special was realizing that the very same tools I was using to address the crowd—public speaking and teaching—were the ones I started learning as a student at UpLift.
For those who may not know, Elevate programs focus on cross-age mentoring, where older students mentor younger ones, helping them with schoolwork and personal development. This structure was incredibly powerful for me. As someone with learning disabilities, I struggled with traditional learning environments. But UpLift provided a different kind of classroom where I wasn’t just learning—I was teaching, too.
Supporting younger students was important because it forced me to practice what I struggled to retain. Because I had difficulty with problem-solving, math was a huge struggle and a shameful experience. When I was with younger students, I could count up or down with them to solve simple math problems without feeling shame or embarrassment. I could ask them to spell words on a list I was looking at without having to remember how to spell them on my own.
Being part of a cross-age mentoring program also taught me valuable communication, patience, and leadership skills. As a mentor, I had to break down complex ideas and explain them in ways that others could understand—something that didn’t always come easily for me because of my communication issues. I’ll be honest: I still have a fear of public speaking, I just don’t allow it to stop me from sharing my story anymore.
Public speaking is one of the most difficult tasks for me, though many wouldn’t know it just by watching. I’ve had to develop specific strategies to manage the hurdles that come with it, but it’s not a matter of overcoming them—it’s about working with them.
One of the main challenges I face is recalling vocabulary on the spot. When I’m unable to look at my notes, it feels like my brain momentarily loses access to the words I need. But if I pause to check my notes during a speech, I can easily lose my place entirely. To cope with this, I’ve developed little habits, like snapping my fingers or pointing, as a way to try to trigger my brain into recalling the word or phrase I’m searching for.
Another difficulty is my social anxiety, which makes being in crowds extremely taxing. Eye contact, which most people take for granted, feels like a minefield to navigate. It can be hard to track conversations, and this means I often don’t remember many of the names or faces of people I interact with in large groups. This disconnect sometimes causes others to misunderstand me.
Autism adds another layer to these challenges. I have to constantly monitor myself to ensure I’m pacing my speech correctly, using an appropriate tone, smiling when I should, and not coming across as angry or disengaged. Connecting details to personal events helps me focus, but these adjustments take significant effort. And while I’ve developed strategies to manage these aspects of public speaking, the reality is I haven’t “overcome” them—they are simply part of my experience, part of how I engage with the world.
What many people don’t realize is that just because I’m standing on a stage, speaking clearly, or sharing my story doesn’t mean the challenges don’t exist. They are always there, but I’ve learned to navigate them in a way that allows me to still show up, share my message, and connect with others—even when it’s hard.
Those experiences laid the groundwork for my future role as a teacher and parent. The same strategies I used in mentoring—like adapting to different learning styles and finding creative ways to explain concepts—became the tools I relied on when teaching my children.
These experiences, and many others like them, are part of the journey I share in my upcoming book, But…GOD Gave Me a Pencil, which releases on October 28, 2024. In the book, I explore how I’ve navigated my learning disabilities, autism, and personal struggles to become a teacher, mother, and advocate. I dive into the real challenges I’ve faced with communication, public speaking, and teaching—just like what I experienced in the Elevate program—and share the specific strategies that helped me turn those struggles into strengths. Whether it’s the mentoring techniques I learned through Elevate, the personalized strategies I developed to help my children succeed in school, or the skills I use today as a special education teacher, the book offers insights for anyone looking to support students or children with learning disabilities.
