Selena Gomez, the newly 18 year old Selena Gomez that is, appeared on Lopez Tonight last night. Unfortunately she had lost her voice and was not permitted to speak so she used technology to help her out. George Lopez explained to the audience what the situation was and that he had provided Selena some questions so she could prepare her answers on a DynaVox – a computerized speech assistance tool. What followed was one of the most odd and awkward interviews I have seen. I give her credit for showing up, but couldn’t they have rescheduled her in a couple of weeks to make things a bit easier?
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I agree with Ann Marie. She took something that are so important for so many people and made it…well…acceptable. I think she and George Lopez handled it with grace and dignity. And from what I heard…the audience thought it was pretty cool.
It’s nice to know that she seems to be a girl that is pretty on the outside AND the inside.
Sure, she COULD have rescheduled, but there are so many people every day who don’t have that option, and use these regularly to communicate. She’s put a human face on something that we’re faced with every day. Now when my son uses one — he’s in elementary school — and it is just a little bit cooler because someone that kids love used the same thing he does. Kudos for making it ok to talk with a device like that and showing that you can still do what you have to do, instead of waiting for things to be ‘easier’. (This is also not the only device out there, and so many non verbal families do not even know they exist. Maybe more people will be given a voice now that they know they are accessible.)