Elena Chambers is a disability advocate and writer from Ann Arbor, Michigan. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 2022, where she earned degrees in music and anthropology and was a two-time recipient of the James B. Angell Scholar award. Her writing has been published numerous times by Mentality Magazine and Steps Wellness. She maintains a disability advocacy blog called Dyscalculia Community and is active on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, where she posts about issues pertaining to disability justice, inclusion, and awareness. She has spoken at the 2023 Neurodivergent Lived Experience Summit and the 2022 World Unmasking Day, as well as being interviewed on the Beyond 6 Seconds Podcast. In addition to her disability advocacy, Elena has worked as a special education paraprofessional in the Ann Arbor Public Schools and is currently working on her Master of Social Work at the University of Michigan.
I first met Elena Chambers during my freshman year at SMTD. We were placed into a String Quartet together (Elena on violin and me on viola), where we played Rubinstein String Quartet No. 2 and came up with an incredibly detailed—though very odd—story to go along with it about a ghost rave in a graveyard.
Since then, Elena has embarked on a new creative journey outside of violin performance, pursuing a Master of Social Work and becoming a disability activist who crafts content that spreads awareness about learning disabilities. She is a fantastic writer, blogger, podcast co-host, and person, with a wealth of knowledge and experiences that everyone can learn from.
This week, I was privileged with the wonderful opportunity to reconnect with Elena and chat about her career path, her experience with dyscalculia, and what it looks like to navigate performing arts spaces with a learning disability.
What is your favorite form of self-care?
Hannah: Before we get into the more nitty gritty questions, I wanted to ask a simple, fun question: What is your favorite form of self-care?
Elena: This might be a little cliche, but I am a skincare girl, for sure. When I’m feeling stressed, a DIY facial is probably going to make me feel a little better.
Hannah: I love that! My self-care of choice is taking a very nice shower, with all the sugar scrubs and extras. Yes, it is a daily need, but it has also become a ritual for me.
What was your journey like from performing arts to social work and disability activism? Was it a gradual, natural progression or was there a pivotal moment that ignited your path?
Hannah: I love chatting with others who went to music school, but are now on a slightly different path instead of performing or teaching. I think that kind of representation can be inspiring and eye-opening to those in music school who may be interested in more paths outside of performing but might not yet feel comfortable exploring them.
When we first met at SMTD, you were studying violin performance. Now, you are at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. What has that journey been like for you? Was it a gradual progression, or was there a standout moment in your life that made you feel like yeah, I want to switch paths?
Elena: I think it was a very gradual kind of process.
As you said, I entered SMTD as a violin performance major, and I think if you had asked me when I was 18, I would have said, “I’m going to make performing my career.”
Then, the pandemic started during my junior year, and as you know, there weren’t a lot of opportunities for musicians during that time. That kind of forced me to reflect on my life and what I wanted from my career.
And, I think the other part of it was that for most of my undergrad, I was struggling with my mental health. In the time leading up to the pandemic, I was struggling with an eating disorder, and it took a turn for the worse during the pandemic. I think that when my health started to be affected, it was kind of this wake-up call that something needed to change.
So, around May 2020, I changed my major from violin performance to multidisciplinary studies—still within the music school. And, I added a minor in cultural anthropology. I ended up leaving school for a year between my Junior and Senior years because of the pandemic and my health, and then the next year, I graduated.
In terms of how I ended up in social work, I actually was not sure what I wanted to do after I graduated. But, I knew I loved working with children. So, I applied for a job as a paraprofessional, a special education teaching assistant in an elementary school, because I wanted to help kids with disabilities and be able to advocate for their needs in the classroom. At that point, I considered getting my Master’s degree in special education. But, I realized that one of my favorite parts of the job was talking to kids about their emotions and helping them work through conflicts. So, I applied to the School of Social Work here at Michigan, which is where I am now.
I would say it has been a more gradual process, but I am happy where I ended up.
Hannah: That’s awesome.
Is working with children with disabilities an end goal for you? What do you see as your focus during the program, or what do you want to gain and how do you want to direct those skills toward your future career?
Hannah: I assume it is too hard to decide right now because you still have a lot of time to grow, learn, and explore in your program, but I am wondering if working with children is a goal for you after the program. Where do you see the social work program leading you?
Elena: I definitely do want to work with children. I think it has been interesting because as I have been taking my classes, I’ve grown more and more interested in the adolescent and young adult age group as well. I was really interested in early elementary before, but I think now I’m gravitating more towards young adults.
And yes, I do want to work with people with disabilities. Although you know in social work, it is hard to have just one niche. I’m sure I will be working with all kinds of people, not just people with disabilities, but that is something I’m super interested in. And, I could see myself doing something in the mental health area of social work, but I am not totally sure what that will look like yet.
Hannah: That is amazing! And I appreciate your vulnerability and openness to share about your mental health struggles and how they shaped your path to social work.
My own path, and this blog, stem partially from some of my challenges with mental health, especially during the pandemic. Some of my first steps towards reflecting on what paths I could pursue outside of performing arts came from wondering how I could help other performing artists with similar mental health challenges. I knew there had to be other performers struggling with mental health, and it led me to wonder what more I could do to help and advocate for artists if I was in a leadership position. Which, led me to explore performing arts management.
So, I appreciate hearing your story and seeing those similarities. It is very validating. And I think the number of performing artists reflecting on diversifying their career paths has only grown since the pandemic.
Elena: Absolutely! Yeah.
You have been spreading awareness about dyscalculia and learning disabilities. How would you explain Dyscalculia to someone who has never heard of it?
Hannah: Your blog, Dyscalculia Community, and social media platforms spread awareness about learning disabilities, especially dyscalculia. However, there are a lot of people who have never heard of dyscalculia. I think it is more common for people to have heard of dyslexia than dyscalculia, even people with ADHD or those on the neurodivergent spectrum. I am sure many people out there might be experiencing dyscalculia but do not have the diagnosis to try to understand it better.
Can you explain dyscalculia in your own words to someone who has never heard of it before?
Elena: Yeah! A lot of people have not heard of dyscalculia before. I was diagnosed when I was 18, which is a little bit on the later side to be diagnosed with a learning disability. And, I had never heard of it before then. So, yeah, it is not super well-known.
Dyscalculia is categorized as a math and number-based disability. But in my experience, the definition barely scratches the surface. It affects so many things that aren’t math but might require similar kinds of thought processes.
I do struggle with math and working with numbers- don’t get me wrong! I’m truly awful at math, but there are a lot of things that are conceptualized or measured numerically that people wouldn’t always realize.
Someone with dyscalculia, for example, might struggle with driving, because you have to be able to make mental calculations about distance, speed, and time, which are all numerical values. That is something I’ve gotten much better with, but it was a huge struggle. I finally got my license when I was 24, but it took a while.
And, other things are still extremely difficult. I have a terrible sense of direction, with pretty much zero internal compass. So, I have to use Google Maps to go to places that I go to every day and I rely pretty much exclusively on visual cues. Also, having a sense of my physical orientation in space. I don’t exactly understand why it’s part of dyscalculia, other than it being related to the spatial component, but it is a well-documented shared experience among people with dyscalculia. There is something about mentally mapping things out on a spatial plane that is hard for us. It could be like a physical or mental map, an analog clock, a puzzle, or even a spreadsheet. It can be really confusing.
Hannah: Thanks for that explanation. It is very eye-opening hearing you talk about how it is much bigger than number challenges, like the challenges of understanding where you are spatially.
Elena: Right, right! Because those things are dimension-based, which require a certain innate understanding of numbers that people with dyscalculia generally don’t have.
What everyday challenges might a performing artist with dyscalculia experience in performing arts spaces?
Hannah: So, for performing artists or those interacting with performing arts spaces, what kind of challenges would dyscalculia bring? Would that be like rhythm challenges, or challenges counting the music? How would dyscalculia affect your life as a performing artist?
Elena: Rhythm is really, really difficult. Theory classes were also tricky because there were a lot of numbers involved and mapping things out.
I would also say even learning violin technique because it is all about—and for any string instrument—mapping the distances out and having an understanding of the orientation of your physical body and space.
It is obviously not impossible, people with dyscalculia play instruments all the time, but it definitely makes it harder.
Hannah: Right.
Elena: Also, so many things about a music school curriculum require us to learn music on very short timelines. In my case, figuring out rhythms, which is like you said, very number-based, could take hours in a practice room that I didn’t always have time for, because I was expected to learn an entire piece and be able to play it well in like three days.
What was learning violin like before your dyscalculia diagnosis?
Hannah: I am wondering since you didn’t have a diagnosis until you were 18, and were playing before that, what was your experience in lessons like? Did you ever have teachers get frustrated with you because of dyscalculia challenges? I know I have had a teacher in the past who would get very frustrated with me because I struggled with rhythm, and I don’t have dyscalculia or diagnosed learning disabilities. When you had struggles, such as with rhythm, when you were learning violin before your diagnosis, what did that feel like mentally and emotionally?
Elena: I think I was really lucky in that the violin teacher who I had for the majority of the time that I was learning was very understanding. And he cared about students’ well-being, which I think made a huge difference.
But, you know, I had other experiences outside of that, of people not understanding why it was taking me longer to get things. And, I think that was something I didn’t understand. I think it was the hardest part, not knowing why everything was harder for me than it seemed to be for other people. So that was tough when I was growing up.
Hannah: I could definitely see that.
What resources would you recommend to performing arts students who might be struggling with dyscalculia or a learning disability?
Hannah: I am sure there are other students out there in performing arts school with learning disabilities who struggle with things like those short performance timelines. What tools worked best to help you face dyscalculia-related challenges, such as counting rhythms or spatial awareness? What resources would you recommend to a performing arts student who might be struggling with dyscalculia?
Elena: First, listen to your music a lot. If you are having trouble figuring out how to count the rhythms, it can be helpful to get a sense of what it is supposed to sound like. Sometimes, putting the counting together with your knowledge of what it should sound like can create a better understanding of how to play the thing you’re trying to play.
Or, sometimes, when I listen to the music, then I can see oh, that is what it sounds like! I can hear where the beats are and now I can mark it in my music.
Another thing is subdividing constantly in my head when I play anything. It took me longer than I wish it did for me to figure out how important that is for someone who has a little trouble with counting. That was a total lifesaver for me.
Hannah: I agree. With my rhythm struggles, I sometimes would feel slightly embarrassed because I felt like I was subdividing everything on the page, while other musicians could just understand the big beats and how the rhythm naturally falls.
Elena: Exactly! Same.
What are the biggest mental health challenges students with learning disabilities face in performing arts school?
With all those negative thoughts, I have to wonder, are they our feelings, or are we being told we are inadequate in various ways because of inaccessible kinds of structure?
Hannah: So you have provided helpful suggestions to apply in the practice room. But, I was wondering more about your thoughts on the mental health challenges of students with dyscalculia or other learning disabilities in performing arts school. What do you think are the biggest mental health challenges that students with learning disabilities face in performing arts school?
Elena: I think it is different for everyone, probably depending on what your experience is. But, when I was an undergrad, I struggled a lot with depression and anxiety. And, I still do sometimes, to a degree.
But, I think that being in a competitive or a high-pressure environment can really reinforce some common cognitive distortions, such as thinking things like I’m not good enough or everyone is judging me. Sometimes the challenges and mindsets people in music school encounter are things they are being told, directly or indirectly. That they aren’t good enough, like at playing their instrument or learning music, or whatever it may be.
With all those negative thoughts, I have to wonder, are they our feelings, or are we being told we are inadequate in various ways because of inaccessible kinds of structure?
Hannah: Yeah. And, I am sure you might have seen some examples when working with children, but I think a teacher’s teaching style can influence a student’s thought patterns. Do they use positive reinforcement, or are they serving you your a** on a platter, and saying that you are not good enough or not working hard enough? I have experienced both and I believe both teaching styles exist at SMTD.
It is interesting to wonder if feelings of inadequacy are being self-generated or coming from external sources, like negative comments that keep building up in the psyche.
But overall, I do think that how a professor teaches and responds to challenges, like those from a learning disability, can influence a student’s mental health.
Elena: For sure.
Chatting with Elena has been enlightening, revealing how learning disabilities in performing arts spaces can lead to so many unique challenges, mentally and emotionally, for artists. It has also been incredibly inspiring to learn more about her journey from performing arts school to social work school.
However, there is even more of this important conversation to come! Stay tuned for part 2, where Elena and I will delve deeper into what improving accessibility and inclusivity in performing arts schools could look like.
Elena is an eloquent writer, blogger, podcast co-host, and social media content creator!
Check out Elena’s work, linked below!
Blog: dyscalculiacommunity.wordpress.com
Podcast: lilacdancepodcast.podbean.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elenachambers.advocacy/
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