Simply put, Lex Hendrix is a deeply caring human being. I've never met anyone, young or old, who is as able to connect with others as Lex does. He's autistic, transgender, and loving. This Sandbox Story has life lessons in it for every one of us.
Lex is a student at Northern Kentucky University, where he is studying to become an elementary education teacher. He entered my life as a friend of my daughter while they were both in the Disney College Program.
In our conversation, you will learn about his experiences in Orlando, along with stories about his neurodiversity being an autistic person. He has strong advice about how a health care professional might think about the needs of autistic people.
Furthermore he offers an interesting perspective on the language used around disabled people, with a keen insight on the value of identity-first language, instead of person-first representations. Even more impactful is Lex’s point of view about how he’s received health care as a transgender person.
Many of Lex’s life’s lessons came from his learning from the television personality, Mister Rogers (we even discuss the episode in which Mister Rogers visits an optometrist - link below.) You will appreciate his notion of us all being able to be conscious about our childhood experiences and how they impact our ability to respect and love ourselves and others.
His ability to demonstrate love to his fellow humans is useful to anyone from age 5 to 105. To find his blog, called Love Like Lex, visit: https://lovelikelex.wordpress.com/blog/
The Stories within the Story include:
1:11 The Disney College Program Story
3:33 The Kentucky Upbringing Story
5:05 The Being Autistic Story
9:12 The Power of Identity-First Language Story
14:36 The Transgender Person Story
21:49 The Future Educator Story
24:07 The Mister Rogers Story
29:42 The #LoveLikeLex Story
Runtime: 43 min.
Check it out:
YouTube video podcast: https://youtu.be/6vlBsfsufaw
Audio Podcast Apps: search for "Sandbox Stories" on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon, Pandora and more!
Downloadable Podcast (mp3): https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/gq734g/Sandbox_Interview_-_Lex_AUDIObvti5.mp3
IMPORTANT LINKS:
Mister Rogers Episode about an eye examination: http://www.neighborhoodarchive.com/mrn/episodes/1728/index.html
Lex's Blog: https://lovelikelex.wordpress.com/blog/