Faithful Friday: My Interview with Elizabeth Bonker

Faithful Friday: My Interview with Elizabeth Bonker

by Debbie Waltz

Let me begin by saying this interview was a long time in the making. One of my fellow Hope Writers introduced me to the idea of interviewing Elizabeth last year. He suggested that it might be a great interview if I got in touch with Elizabeth and her crew at Communication4All.org. He was right.

If I’m being honest, this was the first time I had heard her story about being selected valedictorian and having autism. But after hearing her speech on YouTube, I knew I just had to try and reach out. So that’s what I did. I direct messaged her through her organization on Instagram and waited.

On August 3, 2022. I received an extraordinarily gracious response and was directed to continue the conversation by personal email. By then, I had researched Communications4ALL and finished reading Elizabeth’s book; I Am In Here. Although her mom wrote it. Elizabeth’s words were in there also. I must tell you, I’m impressed. To see how tirelessly they both worked to make sure her voice was seen and heard.

I know how hard it was for my mother to advocate on my behalf. I also remember how difficult it was when I learned to peck on my typewriter one letter at a time (this was before computers and voice recognition)

After much discussion, I decided to send Elizabeth the questions, and she would type out her answers into the voice synthesizer. However, once I got the files (which Elizabeth tirelessly worked on), I was unsure how to incorporate them with my intros.

This is where Becky comes in, she had some experience making videos on her own time, and I asked her to help. This was a team effort. I chose to move the interview to Faithful Friday because I believe Elizabeth has been faithful with the gifts God has given her to help other non-speakers gain their voice and independence.

So without further ado…