Disability is Natural Free Press

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Get Out the Vote for THUMBS DOWN TO PITY !

My 19-year-old son, Benjamin, loves movies! He hopes to become a film critic ("the next Roger Ebert"), so he was excited to learn about the "Film Your Issue" contest---an opportunity for 18- to 26-year-olds to submit a 30- to 60-second film about their passions! He wrote, starred in, and directed THUMBS DOWN TO PITY---a powerful and passionate short film on why he believes the "pity portrayals" of people with disabilities in Hollywood productions need to stop!

Out of 300 entries, Benjamin's film made it to the semi-finals! At the end of May, the general public was invited to vote on the 35 semi-finalists, and THUMBS DOWN TO PITY has remained in the top five. But a couple of other contestants are doing a great job of getting out the vote for their entries, and I hope you'll help us do the same for Benjamin's film!

As a person who cares about disability issues, I hope you'll visit the voting site---www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12721177. If you agree Benjamin's message is an important one, I hope you'll vote for THUMBS DOWN TO PITY. Your support will mean a great deal to Benjamin, personally (top prizes include trips to the United Nations and the Sundance Film Festival and other goodies), and it will also send a strong grassroots message that confirms the critical need for dignified, respectful, and realistic portrayals of individuals with disabilities in movies and TV. The multitude of votes that support THUMBS DOWN TO PITY will send a powerful and unified message for change! Winners will be determined by the public voting, as well as the votes of the Film Your Issue jury, which includes Walter Cronkite, George Clooney, Senator Barack Obama, Brian Williams of NBC News, Anderson Cooper of CNN, and other leaders from the fields of art, government, business, and entertainment.

It only takes a moment, and the last day to vote is Wednesday, June 7th! Visit www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12721177. The films are in alphabetical order, so THUMBS DOWN TO PITY is toward the bottom of the page on the right. You can view any or all of the films (although this is difficult for some Apple/Macintosh users, like me!). Voting takes two easy steps: first, click on the button next to the picture of the film, then scroll to the bottom of the page and click the "vote" button. Some folks have been able to vote more than once---on different days, on different computers, and/or on different Internet browsers.

And will you help get the vote out for THUMBS DOWN TO PITY by sharing this with others who may be interested in disability issues? You could forward this entire newsletter or simply copy and paste this section into an Email---and ask others to send it on, as well! Together, we're making a difference, and this proud and grateful mother says, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" for your help!

P.S. Several people who have seen the film have asked how they could get a copy to use in trainings and presentations---we're honored! And we will be able to make this available as a DVD or VHS video format. Since this is Benjamin's film, we're turning this project over to him, so you can write to him with your request at heroman87@msn.com. This is not a profit-making venture, so the charge for the DVD or video will be the cost of duplication and shipping (which we haven't yet figured out, but it shouldn't be too much). And Benjamin, and his parents, thank you for your interest and willingness to share his message!

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Summer Sale on T-Shirts

Now's the time to get your summer tees---on sale for a limited time! Choose from 25 different positive, colorful designs that promote new ways of thinking about disability! Regular price for adult tees, sizes Small-X-Large is $15.00; sale price is $12.00. Regular price for adult XXL is $16.00; sale price is $13.00. Regular price for youth sizes Small-Large is $12.00; sale price is $10.00. Visit the Disability is Natural Online Store to see the T-shirts, posters, wristbands, tote bags, note cards, bookmarks, and the other goodies, including the one-of-a-kind Disability is Natural book and the life-changing Disability is Natural video/DVD!

While you're visiting the Disability is Natural website, I hope you'll take a moment to read the articles on the Revolutionary Common Sense page, and check out the Presentations page to see if I'll be presenting in your neck of the woods anytime soon!

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Featured Article: Our Actions---Their Futures

Copyright 2006, Kathie Snow, www.disabilityisnatural.com

The nation's unemployment rate remains very low (4.6 percent as of May 2006). Immigrants (legal or not) who choose to come here can easily find work. The government says our economy is doing great. And the estimated unemployment rate of people with disabilities remains shamelessly high at 70-75 percent!

Adding insult to injury, consider the birth-to-death services for individuals with disabilities: early intervention for babies, special ed for children, vocational services for adults, and therapies and interventions for all ages. Billions of dollars are spent on these services and we end up with what? A 70-75 percent "failure rate"!

What we're doing is not working! We continue to focus on helping people acquire "developmentally appropriate functional skills" (the able-bodied standard), based on the mistaken notion that unless and until a person with a disability can "do" this-or-that, he won't be able to be in regular ed classes, be included in the community, go to college, get a job, and on and on. We keep focusing on what we think their bodies or minds can or should do, instead of helping a person be and become who she wants to be!

For example, a teacher in a life-skills class is still trying to teach her sixth- and seventh-graders to tie their shoes! Who cares if they can tie their shoes, and how will this help them get jobs in the future? They can wear slip-ons, pull-on boots, or shoes with Velcro, or they can walk around with their laces untied like other middle-schoolers! While the teacher spends time on this functional skill, students are not learning the academics they really need. This dismal situation is repeated in the lives of millions of others, when the focus is on skills of dubious value at the expense of what's really important.

If you treat an individual as he is, he will stay as he is, but if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be. Goethe

Targeting short-term goals, like functional skills, represents a dangerous level of short-sightedness, and the system encourages this bad habit. Early intervention focuses on birth-to-three, and seldom looks beyond. Special ed preschools serve three- and four-year-olds, and seldom look beyond---ditto special ed in elementary, middle, and high schools. There's little or no continuity as children are moved up the ladder of services---few of us see the "whole person" across the lifespan. Within the different levels of services, we focus on functional skills---for the sake of achieving those skills---with little thought of whether these skills are really important for the child's long-term success.

Oh, we think we're thinking about the future, when we believe a child must learn to walk or talk or have "appropriate behavior" in order to be successful. I did, at one time. But when I met adults with disabilities whose power wheelchairs, service dogs, communication devices, and other supports helped them lead successful lives, I realized my then five-year-old son did not need to walk to have a good life! What he needed was a good academic education, and he also needed to learn how to live in the real world. Being pulled out of class for therapy and missing academics would not help him in the long run. But having power mobility so he could become more self-reliant and being able to play with other kids and make friends at recess made a difference in his life at the time and laid a strong foundation for his success as a young adult---he's now in college.

The artificial standards imposed by the service system (including special ed) may be important within that system, but they're relatively unimportant in the Big Picture of life. What is important? Believing in yourself; having what you need so you can do what's important to you (such as an education, as well as assistive technology, accommodations, etc.); and being around people who support your hopes and dreams. Think about your own life and what's helped you achieve success.

When will we reject the status quo---the conventional wisdom (which is not very wise) that ultimately leads to the incarceration of people with disabilities in the gulag of second-class citizenship, lost dreams, and hopelessness?

What if our work was focused on their work in the future? What if---starting with babies---everything we did was guided by the presumption that children with disabilities will grow into adults who can and should go on to college and/or enter the workforce, and live the lives of their dreams? How would our actions be different?

We would toss out developmental scales once and for all, and recognize the value of assistive technology, supports, and accommodations. We would provide children (even little ones) with power wheelchairs, communication devices, and other tools so they can get on with their lives instead of spending years in therapy! And therapists would move from being hands-on providers to consultants who could help parents, teachers, and others learn how to help a child be who he wants to be and do what's really important to him.

Educators and parents would realize that school-aged children with disabilities need a real academic education so they can move on to vocational school, college, and/or enter the workforce (including starting their own businesses). They may learn differently than other students, but all children are natural born learners! We can modify the curriculum and/or provide the supports they need to ensure they'll receive the education they need for later success.

Children who are treated as if they are uneducable almost invariably become uneducable. Kenneth B. Clark

We will recognize the absolute necessity of children with disabilities being included in general ed classrooms and in the community so they can learn how to get along in the world. Being in segregated, self-contained classrooms or in "special" (segregated) activities is not preparation for life in the real world as an adult!

We won't worry so much about "appropriate social skills." We'll realize, for example, that a child who prefers his own company can be a successful adult via self-employment or in a job where there's little interaction with others. There are people without disabilities who prefer their own company, and they choose jobs where they work more-or-less alone. This is more of a "personal preference" than a "disability issue"!

We'll expect children with disabilities to take responsibility for their lives and make decisions as early as possible. We can no longer afford to keep children in a perpetual state of infancy and, again, we'll give them the assistive technology, supports, and other tools they need to live self-determined lives.

Perhaps most importantly, we'll spend lots of time talking to our children about their lives as adults, just as parents do with their children who don't have disabilities. Sitting around the dinner table, moms and dads will say things like, "When you grow up and live on your own...(or go to college, get married, drive a car, or a myriad of other things)," so our children will know we have big dreams and high expectations for them. It doesn't matter whether we "know" these things will really happen---our parents didn't know what we would achieve as adults, but hopefully they dreamed for us so we could learn to dream for ourselves!

Our belief system---not a person's disability---is the most important predictor of a person's success. For if we believe she can and should enjoy successful employment as an adult, we'll do what it takes to make that dream a reality! On the flip side, if we don't believe it can happen, it won't---not because of the person's diagnosis, but because of our actions or inactions! How can we live with ourselves---as parents, teachers, or professionals---knowing our work has contributed to preparing a child for nothing more than unemployment, helplessness, and dependence?

There are many more ways to do things differently, so put your thinking cap on! And it's never too late to make changes in how we work with adults. Again, we can move beyond the status quo, and focus on what the person really needs so he can get the job he wants, live in the home of his choice with the supports he wants, and more.

Parents of children with disabilities and adults with disabilities can and should take the lead in this action. We can check everything we do by asking, "Are my actions going to lead to employment, or are they focused on meeting the artificial goals of the service system and wasting time?" And we can hope professionals get on board. But if they don't, we need to move on, even if that means getting out of the system, and go our own way---on our own or with the support of family, friends, and people in our communities.

So far, the practices of the service system have not lived up to the promises, as evidenced by the 70-75 percent unemployment rate. How much longer will we keep going down the path to nowhere?

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Copyright 2006 Kathie Snow, www.disabilityisnatural.com. If you'd like the handout version (PDF) of this article, click here. You may share and/or distribute this E-Newsletter or the PDF version of this article (in their entirety and unedited) to other individuals and list serves (non-commercial use only). As a courtesy, please let me know how/when you use it - kathie@disabilityisnatural.com. Do not violate copyright laws---request permission before republishing this article in newsletters, on websites, in chat rooms, etc.

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Employment Expertise

Lisa Kooper (likooper@aol.com) of Lynbrook, New York, wrote to me recently to share employment expertise which she hopes will be helpful and of interest to Disability is Natural E-newsletter subscribers. And her Email came at the perfect time, considering the article above! Lisa wrote:

When I graduated from high school and then college, I wondered how, as a person with a disability, I would face the job market. Through my job-hunting experiences, I learned many valuable lessons---some the hard way.

Among the most important tips I can offer involves networking---a term that may outlive its usefulness for many job seekers with and without disabilities! Family members and friends may claim to have contacts who can help you land a job. They may promise to put in a good word or talk to others who might be able to help. And while their intentions may be good, people have their own lives and priorities, and they may forget about their promises or let things slide! Once someone has promised us help, we tend to stand idly by and wait until someone comes through, but waiting costs valuable time. So, be appreciative of people's promises, but do what you must do on your own, as if no promises have been made. Realistically, you are not a priority in anyone's agenda, and only you can look out for yourself.

The same advice applies regarding employment agencies, even those which claim to cater to people with disabilities. Do not wait for them to come through---they have plenty of other "clients," and their perceptions about you and/or your disability may narrow your possibilities. In my experience, many of these specialized agencies talk about job possibilities that may not really exist or they may send job-hunters to dead-end interviews. When I asked one agency about the possibilities they had previously mentioned to me, they admitted they were speaking "theoretically"---no jobs really existed.

I graduated from college before the advantages that are available today. There was no Internet where I could post my resume, and very little computer software was available. Today, things are different and better! So people should make good use of all that's available via computers and the Internet. People who are computer literate have the best opportunities in today's job market, so it's important to learn word processing and use whatever software and/or devices you need to become computer-savvy.

Many local libraries and other community agencies teach computer skills for free or at a reasonable cost. Internet4classrooms.com can be a helpful website for online learning, and there are many other Internet sources, as well as libraries and other community organizations where you can get help with interviewing tips, resume writing, and more.

Post your resume on monster.com and on other employment sites, and follow the route of successful people who do not have disabilities! I applied to and worked for the Federal government for nine years with no "affirmative action" or other type of special provisions. I later went to graduate school and worked for the Queens (NY) Library System---no one helped me get in the door. Much of the "red tape" involved in "disability employment assistance" can slow the employment process considerably. If you're qualified for a job and follow good job-hunting practices, you don't need "special help" to get a job.

Even if you begin on the bottom rung in a new job, rejoice! Once employed, you'll have the same training and promotional opportunities as anyone else, and you can rise in your field, just like other successful employees! Good luck in your job-hunting!

My thanks to Lisa, for sharing her experiences! Many adults with disabilities have shared a strategy in line with Lisa's recommendations about posting your resume online. Specifically, people who have visible disabilities have been more successful when they've posted their resumes online or mailed them to a potential employer, rather than making "first contact" in person. They're aware that prejudice and discrimination still exist, and many employers may take one look at a person with a visible disability and make an instantaneous decision to not even offer an interview! However, if employers first get a look at the person's qualifications in a resume—a resume in which the disability is not mentioned—they may be suitably impressed, and when the time comes for a face-to-face interview and the disability is noticed, the person's job qualifications become "more important" than the disability!

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News and Tips

• Dennis McNulty of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio, is launching a website that will contain Catholic teachings and pastoral suggestions to enable people with disabilities to participate more fully in worship, and he's also offering a Disability Services and Ministries E-Newsletter. Visit www.catholicdisabilityteachings.com to learn more!

• T.J. Sutcliffe, Director of Advocacy and Public Policy at the Arc of the District of Columbia, shared news about People First Language legislation. The Arc of DC was instrumental in helping draft a respectful language bill in the District of Columbia. Two bills were introduced in March 2006, which would remove outdated, offensive terms from the DC Code; require use of People First Language; and bring existing government publications up-to-date within six months. The bills also require a study with recommendations on what term the DC government should use to replace "mental retardation" in laws and official documents. T.J. reports that a hearing was held on the bills on May 30th, and they received enthusiastic support. In the process of drafting the DC bills, the Arc of DC researched what was happening in other states, and there's good news in T.J.'s report: 13 states have current or pending laws, policies, or positions in support of using People First Language for legislative, operational and/or business matters! Visit www.arcdc.net to learn more and to read the report entitled, "People First Language (PFL) Legislation: A Review."

• This has nothing to do with disability issues, specifically, but I wanted to share it, anyway! I love the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Several years ago, our family took a trip to New England, and we loved visiting Walden, Massachusetts---the Walden in Thoreau's "Walden Pond." While there, my husband and I bought matching T-shirts that say, "Simplify, Simplify,"---Thoreau's mantra, and one that I try to live by. Life is better when we simplify! So I was delighted when I found a product at a big box store that made life simpler for all of us: a 3-in-1 product that's a body wash, shampoo/conditioner, and bubble bath all in one! And it's inexpensive, which makes it even better!  No longer do we have to use a shampoo, and a conditioner, and a body wash---and I no longer have to buy a separate bottle of bubble bath! But this product really makes showering easier for our son, Benjamin, who has cerebral palsy. We pour the 3-in-1 product into an easy-to-hold squeeze bottle for him and---voila---he no longer has to figure out which bottle to use first, and on which body part! Since my initial discovery, I've found another manufacturer---so now there are two choices: Village Naturals or Lander Essentials. And both brands come in a variety of "flavors"---I just bought "caramel," and my husband doesn't know whether to wash with it or drink it! The 3-in-1 products got me thinking, so I did a little experimenting with what was left in the bottles of the "regular" shampoo and the "regular" hair conditioner. Guess what I discovered? (And this is really for the ladies who are reading this.) Hair conditioner makes a great make-up remover! Men, you may not know that we ladies might not want to use body wash on our faces, or that mascara doesn't always wash off so easily with soap and water. But hair conditioner works great! It's more like "cleansing cream" than sudsy soap, and mascara just slides right off! Be careful though---some conditioners are better than others! I tried this while on a trip, using a hotel's "fancy lime conditioner" and it had a sting! Ouch!!!

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Thanks for your interest in new ways of thinking! Feel free to print and share this E-Newsletter and/or forward to other individuals and list serves (non-commercial only). But, as mentioned previously, please request permission before reproducing any portion of this newsletter in any newsletter or other publication, on websites, in chat rooms, etc.

Also, please contact us with your comments and ideas about this E-Newsletter, the Disability is Natural website, or anything else of interest. If you received this E-Newsletter from a friend and would like to subscribe, visit www.disabilityisnatural.com and sign up at the bottom of any page, or send an Email to kathie@disabilityisnatural.com with your request.

And thanks for all you do to create an inclusive society where everyone belongs!