Jordan Segal, B.A.

Jordan Segal is a research assistant in the Transitions Lab at VUMC.  She received a double B.A. in Linguistics and Anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Throughout college, she worked as a direct support professional assisting a young man on the autism spectrum with socializing, daily activities, life planning, and preparing for the radio show they created and hosted together at the university station. Her linguistic studies focused on speaking patterns and language acquisition among autistic individuals, while her undergraduate thesis in anthropology explored sibling dynamics and autism. She examined themes of responsibility, identity, caregiving, and kinship by interviewing adult siblings of autistic individuals, as well as by facilitating focus groups with the young participants of the sibling support group she founded. As a sibling herself, she was honored to conduct this ethnographic study, and she feels grateful to continue to be able to serve the autism community under Dr. Taylor at the Transitions Lab.

Jordan hopes to pursue higher education possibly in the field of Occupational Therapy, with the ultimate goal of creating holistic, family-based interventions that bring families closer and empower autistic individuals.