YES! I Feel Empowered

Upon opening a fortune cookie I read, "A different world cannot be made by indifferent people." I know one person that embodies this phrase more than any other individual I have ever met--Donna Fox.

I met her through the YES! Group Young Empowered Self Advocates, sponsored through Louisville Metro Arc and the Center for Accessible Living. She came on as my Co-leader. And it is through her that the group has most flourished and grown bigger than I could ever have dreamed. Her work with YES! is just one of her jobs, but it is wrong to call it a job--for Donna, YES! is a calling. She embraces our mission of educating and empowering young people with physical and developmental disabilities to see beyond any barriers, whether they are imposed by society or ourselves, and she sees no limit for YES!  I don't think the word "limit" exists in Donna's vocabulary. And she works tirelessly to see that world come to light with every waking moment.

This past Thursday, the YES! Group had its 2015 "YES! We Have Talent!" Talent show. For those reading the CAL Blog, if you were unable to attend, you missed an extraordinary show, which was mainly the production of my extraordinary Co-leader, Donna Fox. To see so many new members participating and to see young people who barely spoke when I first joined the group as a Mentor years ago perform (and with mountains of confidence) in front of a large crowd of family, friends, and YES! supporters, filled me with more emotion than I can express in words. And I will say again that the credit I can take for it is small in comparison to what Donna has done.

I suppose I could list Donna's jobs, likes and hobbies (She loves her dogs, her family, and is now a proud grandmother.), but I think it is more important to again emphasize how she does make the world different by being a person who refuses to be indifferent. Even as her Co-leader, she has helped me to see myself in a better light and approach the world with more optimism. I could write pages and pages of adjectives to describe Donna: buoyant, energetic, strong, fearless, passionate, but it has been and is seeing her through YES! that best describes her commitment to a world without barriers, a world in which we all see ourselves as the strong, capable, and exceptional human beings she has pushed us all to be.

I want to thank you, Donna Fox, on behalf of the YES! Group and on a personal note. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed. They are written concretely in the heart of every YES! member and YES! parent. And they are most certainly etched in my heart. I know I've thanked you before, but I wanted to put it words, how incredible I think you are and how blessed we all are to have you in our lives.

- By Stephanie Hickey

Let's stop talking about what Kanye did

...and talk more about WHY he did it.  

If you are angry because Kanye "picked on" a person with a disability or because he singled both of them out (there was also a lady with a prosthetic leg), you might be missing the bigger picture. 

We need to talk about the root of the problem. He stopped his concert for three minutes until the person was forced to "prove" that he was "disabled enough" to not obey the command. And while Kanye has been publicly chastised for it, that act of ableism seems okay to many, many people on a smaller scale in public settings every day. Disagree? Well, have you ever questioned (aloud or in your head) someone who "doesn't look disabled" in an accessible parking space? That's ableism. 

It's the self righteousness attitude of able-bodied people who think they're the "disability police." So many people with disabilities face never ending confrontations and challenges to their rights in their daily public lives: The person with fibromyalgia who gets hassled every time he legally parks in an accessible parking space; the person with the CP or Spina Bifida that can stand for very short periods of time out of their wheelchair who are challenged as "fakers" if they ever get out of that chair in public; the lady at Kanye's concert who had to detach her prosthetic leg and hold it in the air to prove she was allowed to sit down at a public event. 

Why does anyone feel they have the right to demand proof of disability from other people in public situations? AND what about the people at Kanye's concert who had invisible disabilities that might have stopped them from standing for long periods of times. Would they have been publicly shamed until they were forced to stand? 

This is an all too common public opinion that people with disabilities have an "onus of proof" on themselves in order to access the services or things that they need to function in the community. That attitude is more disabling than any disability. 

We as a society need to stop assuming that "everyone else can do everything that I can do" because we ALL have different abilities (disability or not) and not every disability is visible.

By Keith Hosey

Image used with permission. 

THIRTY YEARS WITH CAL

By Barbara Louise Davis

   I started at the Center for Accessible Living as a secretary on June 4, 1984. Since then my involvement with CAL has taken a lot of twists and turns: sometimes as paid staff, sometimes as a volunteer, and at other times as both a volunteer and a paid consultant. I’ve learned a lot during those thirty years. Below are some of the changes I’ve seen and things I’ve learned.

Many People Can Fit in a Very Tight Space

We were in the Interchange Building on 8^th and Jefferson in 1984.  There was a staff of 11 people. The bookkeeper’s office was in the closet, six people were almost on top of each other in one small room, and the peer support/counseling office was also the library. Despite the small staff and shortage of office space, programs and services provided were: housing, advocacy, ramp building, independent living skills training, individual and group counseling, peer support mentoring, loan closet and information and referral. There have been several moves since, as our office staff and range of programs and services have expanded.

It Takes a Village to Change a Law, But One Person’s Vote DOES Count

CAL has always had an active part in systems change. Its staff, volunteers and voting consumers have worked tirelessly to get the Attendant Care Program funded, to improve transportation services, to get more funding for ramp building, housing, and other programs, and to educate consumers on the fact that their one vote does make a difference. When I first started at CAL, I saw consumer groups that worked very hard and successfully to get a bill passed to fund the Attendant Care program. Through the years I have been a witness to how much a difference it can make when voters call in to their representative to voice their desire for passage or failure of a particular bill. There have been a number of instances in these campaigns where a bill passed or failed by one vote.

Accommodations Can Be Simple and Inexpensive

At CAL the majority of the staff is comprised of individuals with physical, mental and learning disabilities. Accommodations are a way of life here. I’ve seen them range from something as simple as a string across a door, a few blocks under the legs of a desk, a large font size on printed material and comfortable office chairs for those with back problems. As technology has advanced, it has been easier for CAL to provide accommodations such as televisions and telephones with close-captioning, video relay, telephones with built-in amplifiers, software programs for those who are blind and visually impaired, and other types of accommodations.

We Will Never Give Up

There have been many gains and losses in disability rights, program funding and community services throughout the years of my involvement with CAL. Often something we have fought hard to achieve has either been taken away or has come close to being taken away. At other times CAL staff, consumers and volunteer have worked to fight what appeared to be a losing battle but ended up being a winning one. Throughout it all, we have never given up. As a result, the disability community and CAL as a whole have come a long way in thirty years. We know, however, that there is still much room for improvement, and so will continue to advocate for change when needed.

Teamwork Gets More Done

When we had a staff of 11, we provided a lot of programs and services. About a year after I started, the staff was cut to 8, and we provided those same services. We did this by pulling together and doubling up. Since then, there have been a lot of times when funding ended for a program or programs, and staff has had to once again pull together and double up to continue providing services. I have worked in a lot of places before I came to CAL, and never have I seen an organization that has teamwork like CAL does.

Old Dogs Can Learn New Tricks

Consumers who become newly disabled frequently come to CAL thinking they could not adjust to life as a person with a disability “at my age.” The reality is, with a positive attitude, a willingness to embrace technology and ability to try some creative adaptations, it is possible for anyone at any age to live a full, satisfying life with a disability. Will it be perfect? Probably not; but then, life as an able-bodied person isn’t perfect, either.

    A lot of things have changed at CAL in thirty years. We’ve gone from a small office in Louisville to a much larger office in Louisville, a satellite office in Murray, and a new satellite office in Northern KY. There was no First Impressions Suit Closet, employment program or consumer resource room.

    Technological advances have had a huge impact on how things are done at CAL now. We didn’t have a fax machine, paper folder and a computer at every staff member’s desk in 1984. We couldn’t apply for grants through the Internet or help consumers apply for jobs via Internet then, either. There was no web site, blog or electronic mailings, and nobody on the staff had cell phones.

    Staff members have come and gone since June 1984. We remember many of them with a fond heart. Most of all, we remember Elaine Zwicker and Angela Casey, who left this world way too soon.

     The last thirty years with CAL has been a wild ride. The next thirty years should bring about even more wonderful changes for CAL and the disability community. Thanks to all of our supporters & consumers for making us what we are today!

Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74159755@N00/4093225806/ 

What We Need from Our Allies

Allies

Allies are people who consider themselves to be not disabled and who want to help us to achieve our liberation ourselves and not on our behalf. A special group of allies are the parents, children, friends, lovers, and spouses of people with disabilities who themselves suffer much of the oppression by "connection." Also our allies are people who have chosen a professional interest in disability. Historically some of these people have been put into roles, which are oppressive to us. This does not negate their alliance or potential alliance. Our natural allies include all members of other oppressed groups.

What We Need from Our Allies

1. We need people who consider themselves non-disabled to explore their feelings about their bodies, (the ways they learn and think differently), their experiences of being ill, of being made to feel "different" in any way, of their reactions to people with disabilities, and of their fear of becoming physically less able themselves.

 2. We need listening while we express our hopelessness, pain and frustrations. (Only when we have thoroughly discharged these feelings will we be able to move successfully to a thorough celebration of ourselves and our lives.)

*Remember that the expression of feelings is not the "hurt", it is simply the expression of the hurt. We have all felt hurt and never showed it to anyone. Part of humans' natural healing ability is expressing feelings to another who listens with respect and patience, not needing to "fix" us or hurry us off our feelings. It is a powerful gift to let someone be honest about how they are feeling without judgment, in confidence, knowing the sharing is the healing. 

3. We need our internalized oppression interrupted. This may mean recognizing it when we do not.

*(Interrupt us if we speak degrading about ourselves or expect too little accommodation for our disabilities. Remind us that it is the oppression talking or preventing us from taking action. Encourage us to "act outside the oppression" by speaking well about ourselves and each other, by acting boldly and powerfully, by taking ourselves seriously.) 

4. We need support to love and encourage each other to tackle our own goals, ideas, and dreams; i.e., our counselors, family, and friends must not collude with any patterned divisiveness between us or act on their own feelings of being "left out."

5. We need to be touched lovingly and with awareness in order to contradict the massive invalidations we have been given of our bodies.

6. We need to have the highest expectations made of us.

7. We need to have our allies join with us in our demand to be included in all events which at present means solving the problem of access (for example):

A. By making all venues accessible to people with mobility-impairments;

B. By the provision of sign-language interpreters whenever necessary;

C. By making literature and important information available to people with visual disabilities; and

D. By not wearing strongly scented perfumes, deodorants, hair sprays, after- shave, etc.

Liberation 

Our liberation will require the challenging of all facets of our oppression, and in particular the resulting internalized oppression, i.e., coming together, noticing how we feel about it and expressing that to others; and overcoming any divisiveness between us; recognizing the cause of our mistreatment as oppression; recognizing our right to exist, to have feelings, to be loved and to love; to participate fully in society and particularly in controlling our own lives, making allies and being allies to all other oppressed groups.

- Excerpt Taken from Arizona Bridges for Indepenent Living (ABIL) Peer Mentor Training Manual

Bullying the Disability Community

- By Rene Thompson - 

I'm sure that in recent weeks you have seen somewhere, on the Internet, on the TV some pundit claiming that people with disabilities are merely scamming the system, "takers" who CHOOSE to live on SSDI, as though living below the poverty level with severely limited resource and the fear of homelessness is something everyone would look forward to.

Keep in mind, these are the same people who blamed the long term unemployed as though they liked being without a job for months, years at a time.

These pundits are looking for scape-goats and we happen to be the latest target.  They are hoping that people will take the bait and not pay attention to companies out-sourcing jobs, or getting corporate welfare while giving their executives massive bonuses or legislators who claimed they would work on bringing back jobs who instead futz around doing anything but work on jobs.

But we don't have to accept the role of scape-goat.  We don't have to sit mutely while they claim that we are lazy, shiftless and criminal.  We can and should speak out against these media pundits when they denigrate and slander the disability community.  The disability community makes up 19% of the US population.  That's enough to have an effect on the media, businesses and politics.

Those who attack the disability community do so because they assume we will not or cannot stand up for ourselves. I suggest we prove them wrong.

Having a Baby with a Disability

If you’re not Family or know us personally, you may not have heard: my wife, Shannon, is pregnant! Yes, I’ll be a father for the first time later this year and we're both really excited.

At one time in my life, I was worried about having a child with a disability. My congenital disability is hereditary and, for a long time in my younger years, I worried about passing that gene along. I obsessed about it, really. Now, I understand that it's a pretty correctable condition thanks to our most modern medicine. But at one point, I worried that my child might have to go through childhood being picked last for sports or possibly teased by other children for being different. Ironically, all the things that I now attribute to building character in my own life.

The day after I had found out that I was having a baby, I was at an event where a speaker was talking about her child with a disability. I listened to her experiences and had an epiphany. It was like a weight lifted from my shoulders. Unlike many people, I’m not worried IF my baby has a disability. Of all my encounters with people with disabilities, I am not worried that a child with a disability couldn't live a full, happy life. I know he or she could and would. It should be no surprise that I’m not ashamed of my congenital disability (but I will correct you if you call it a “birth defect”). In fact, I take pride in being part of the disability community.

If we had a kid with a disability, they would be lucky to get me and my wife as parents. Some of the greatest parents I've ever known have worked in the Independent Living Movement, too. As a result, we're less worried about our baby being "whole" or "healthy" and more focused on providing a meaningful life for our child, disability or not.

No, I’m not worried IF my baby has a disability. Instead, I’m worried FOR my baby if it has a disability. I'm scared for my child's feelings being hurt because of the perception of others. I worry about how society currently views and treats people with disabilities. I am scared to death that he or she won’t have true equality or equal opportunity in our society. If it's a severe disability, I worry about lack of community based services, that to get the services we need, we would have to lock our child up in an institution. I worry about a staggering unemployment rate.

I have no problem if my kid has a disability. If she or he happens to end up with a disability, then the work I've been doing for the last ten years for disability equality and accessibility just becomes that much more real to me. And if you're inaccessible for whatever reason, watch out. Actually, either way, watch out. Because for everyone's child who could have been mine, I'm working even harder now for equal access. 

- Keith Hosey

Ten Ways To Advocate For Change

- By Barbara Davis -

In today’s economy it is likely that many of us are feeling frustrated over budget cuts, lack of jobs and reduction in services. We may feel that our politicians are letting us down in the laws they enact or don’t. It is easy to become complacent and think there is nothing we can do. Fortunately, this is not true. Below are ten ways we can advocate for change on both the local and federal level.
 
Vote.
Presidential, state and local elections are equal in importance. The mayor, city council members, state legislators and other officials write or enforce laws that impact our daily lives, while the President and Congress work on similar issues on the federal level.

Join support groups, councils and coalitions.
Some groups provide advocacy and support. Councils and coalitions offer opportunities to advocate for improvements in transportation, housing, education, etc. If you do not know of any specific groups, councils or coalitions in your area that advocate for your particular interest, search the internet for this information.

Call or write your legislators.
Legislators know who can hire and fire them, and they pay attention to these voices. If there is an issue important to you, let your legislator know. Participate in calling and writing campaigns when asked to do so. Better yet, visit them when they’re in their local office if you can.

Don’t take “no” for an answer.
Find out who else you can talk to or what appeal process is in place, and proceed accordingly.

Don’t assume a problem can’t be fixed, or a law can’t be changed.
If you want sidewalks in your neighborhood, find out where to start and go from there. It may take time and require a variety of methods, but if it is important to you, there are likely others who feel the same way. Start writing or calling campaigns, get a petition going, or join a council that is already working on the issue. If you gather enough support, the sidewalks will come.

Attend rallies and public meetings. 
Officials of schools, transportation and other service providers pay attention at packed public meetings. If you want more services, increased funding or improved neighborhoods, go to these meetings and have your say. Large rallies can have the same affect. When legislators realize a large number of their constituents have certain views, they take notice, and vote on impending legislation accordingly.

Participate in surveys, focus groups and questionnaires.
Companies who produce technology and provide services want our input. Changes in healthcare, transportation, assistive technology and education have all come about due to surveys and focus group participation.

Google it.
Google can tell you where to write your legislators, how to start a support group, and who to talk to about the neighborhood sidewalks.

Go public with your issue.
Utilize social media to post videos or voice an opinion. Write articles online, address a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, start a petition on Change.org, or contact your local TV station with a story idea.

Photo Credit: Flickr

NCIL 2011

- By Keith Hosey –

Washington DC: National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) 2011 Conference.

This is my second year in a row at the NCIL conference. It’s invigorating and energizing to be around so many advocates who have literally changed the course of civil rights and inclusion for people with disabilities in America. It’s empowering to see so many people with disabilities gather and organize to advocate in our Nation’s Capital. Revolutionaries, radicals & general rabble rousers from all over the country who are fighting for the same thing that we are in Kentucky: independence, choice, equality, our fair share of the American dream.

It’s a reminder for me. It’s a reminder that we are in a fight, a fight against ignorance, intolerance and indifference towards people with disabilities. It’s also a wonderful reminder of what we’re fighting for, of what’s at stake, of what’s possible. Throughout the year, we in the movement – I – sometimes forget what it’s all about. I forget the big picture: there’s a nationwide independent living movement out there, a civil rights movement for people with disabilities, “nothing about us without us”, “free our people”, “our home our choice”.

Then I get here. The energy is palpable and everyone feeds off of each other’s excitement. We take over a hotel, a multi-block radius, with wheelchairs, scooters, walkers, crutches, white canes, service animals. There are little people, amputees, people who limp, stutter, stagger, swagger, and move in mannerisms that are different, people who talk with their hands and fingers. I often wonder what other guests and people on the streets think about us. But by the 2^nd day, we’re part of the natural mosaic, people don’t give second looks, they don’t stare, they don’t bat an eye. The other guests stand in the lobby with us like it’s any other Thursday. To me, that’s what we’re fighting for, what’s at stake, what’s possible. It’s an amazing conference and I wish everyone with a disability could experience it once to experience the energy.

Image Property of Independence First of Milwaukee, WI.

New Year's Resolution

By Keith Hosey

A new year means new promises to ourselves. Like many people, I often make new years resolutions and try to stick to it for more than two months. This year’s resolutions are probably similar to those many other people make, I want to eat healthier, exercise more, try to simplify my crazy life a little. As we start a new decade, I ask those whose lives or loved ones’ lives are touched by disability to make a resolution with me.

That resolution is: Make your voice heard.

Our federal representatives are currently debating a health reform bill in Washington that will affect people with disabilities, for the better hopefully. The Kentucky legislature 2010 session just started and among other important pieces of legislature, they will be debating how to fill a gaping hole in the state budget. Kentuckians with disabilities will be affected by what they decide. People with disabilities represent the largest political minority in America and Kentucky. Historically, this is a group that doesn’t necessarily flex that political power.

So, please make your voice heard! Here is a good guide for keeping up with and contacting your legislators: http://www.calky.org/news.html#Legislative

Also, here’s a message I received from Kentucky’s LRC this week:

The Legislative Research Commission (LRC), invites members of the public to attend legislative committee meetings and floor sessions while lawmakers are at the State Capitol for the General Assembly's 2010 session, however, there are ways for citizens to stay in touch with the legislative process even if they can't make the trip to Frankfort.

The Kentucky Legislature Web Page is updated daily to give citizens the latest updates, bill summaries, amendments, and resolutions as well as each bill's status and the next day's committee-meeting schedule and agendas.

The site also provides Kentucky's senators' and representatives' phone numbers, addresses, and legislative committee assignments. Toll-free phone lines help citizens across the state follow legislative action and offer their input.

People who want to give lawmakers feedback can do so by calling the Legislative Message Line at (800) 372-7181. A Spanish Line is (866) 840-6574, and anyone with a hearing impairment can use the TTY Message Line at (800) 896-0305.

A taped message containing information on the daily schedule for legislative committee meetings is available by calling the Legislative Calendar Line at (800) 633-9650. Information on the status of each bill being considered is available on the Bill Status Line, (866) 840-2835 or by signing up for Bill Watch.