In This Issue:
For most of my adult life, people have asked me this complicated question. Now, everyone can get a little taste of blindness at the new Dialogue in the Dark exhibit in midtown Atlanta. For one hour, small groups of visitors explore five rooms in the total dark. Guides who are visually impaired lead the tours, assisting and encouraging the participants to search for interesting items. The purpose is not so much to experience blindness, but to have fun using one’s other senses. A city park, a grocery store, a boat house and boat, a city street and a little café are all simulated on this fun tour. This innovative exhibit has been very successful across Europe and in Israel, Mexico, and Japan. It playfully moves everyone outside his or her normal comfort level, but without any real danger. I have written down a few of my own thoughts on my visit to Dialog. I would love to hear your own experience at the exhibit.
How Dialogue is like being blind:
How dialogue is different from being blind:
Learning by Doing: A Participatory Research Story
Imagine that a group of older, white, male professors from a
Boston University were the sole researchers for a study of the
attitudes of young African-American women in South Georgia. The
accuracy of their findings would be dubious at best, since a genuine
participation on the part of the young women could be easily
questioned. The pushback among both the South Georgia and academic
communities would likely be significant. Now, think about the fact
that, for the entire history of social science, people with
disabilities have been studied primarily by people without
disabilities. Would you imagine that the latter scenario would be
somehow different?
This spring, the staff of Disability Resource Group (DRG) was asked to
participate in a pilot Participatory Action Research Project, working with
researchers at the Burton Blatt Institute
at Syracuse University. Nancy Duncan, Executive Director of DRG (who is
herself completely blind) was asked to be team-leader for a project
examining access for person’s with disabilities to civic facilities and
programs in two Georgia cities. Two teams conducted the research, each
consisting of two researchers without disabilities and three
researchers with disabilities - blindness, mobility impairment and
hearing loss. The hope was that the leadership and participation of
persons with disabilities would provide a more accurate assessment of
the quality of accessibility in these communities.
Each participant used objective standards to rate accessibility for
people with his or her disability at six sites in each city: the civic
center, library, city hall, one park, the public transit system and the
police department. Each team member visited each site in person,
checked the respective websites, called for particular information
about accessible services and e-mailed for answers to specific
disability related issues. Team members with a disability had unlimited
access to personal assistance and both initial and ongoing training and
support during the research work. The academic researchers and the team
leader compiled the research questions and sorted them for
appropriateness for the communities and the participants conducting the
research. The findings are being coded now and they will be compiled
into documents that can be used to empirically document lingering
barriers to community participation for people with disabilities. The
carefully collected data may also serve as a basis for justification
for grants for service providers and requests for funding from local
governments to improve public access.
Over the next two years, DRG will be training and supporting other
southeastern state affiliates in carrying out similar research in their
own communities. Our next newsletter will describe some of the specific
findings of this innovative Participatory Action Research.
DRG received a call from an older woman with mobility impairment who lives at a Continual Care Retirement Center. “Grace” wanted to know if the retirement center was required to provide designated, accessible parking spaces assigned individually to persons with disabilities who live there. We told her that the Fair Housing Amendment of 1988 does indeed require that accessible spaces be designated for residents who qualify for them. We sent her the proper legal information, which she passed on to the center’s management. Nothing happened. She contacted us again and we agreed to call the manager of the facility. We called him daily, leaving pleasant messages describing the reason for our call but not revealing the name of the woman who called us. After one week of calling, we finally reached the manager. We explained the law to him and faxed him the relevant regulations. He agreed to take action immediately. “Grace” has since called us to say that the spaces have now been assigned and made accessible. A few simple actions on our part made life much easier for over twenty people at this center!
Sara, one of our Immigrant/Refugee Outreach Coordinators, recently helped a family from Eritrea, Africa obtain a Medicaid waiver for their fifteen year old son with autism. The family’s minimal knowledge of English, combined with their total inexperience working with service systems, would have made this accomplishment impossible without frequent assistance from this dedicated staff member. Sara helped this family understand the resources available for their son, helped them obtain and file the necessary forms, assisted them in following up on the progress of the application and interpreted for them at each step along the way. They are now working on selecting the best option for their son’s future.
“Mary” told one of our Komen Education Coordinators that she couldn’t get a mammogram because at any given time she was too tired from her disabling conditions, too busy going to doctors for her MS or had too little money. However, she did agree to get a clinical exam and with the coordinator’s help found a nearby hospital that gives free mammograms to women without any insurance. The same hospital also has an accessible mammogram machine. Because this coordinator had already taken the time to speak with a nurse at the hospital breast screening center, “Mary” was warmly welcomed and made to feel at ease.
This year five thousand women in Georgia will be diagnosed with breast cancer. One thousand will die because their cancer will not have been discovered soon enough. During the last six months, DRG staff provided educational seminars/parties for over 271 women with disabilities and assisted 13 women in getting potentially life-saving mammograms. This project is particularly poignant as October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. As you “think pink” remember that women with disabilities need breast screening, too!
News Briefs: ADA Restoration Update
September 25, 2008
President Bush Signs ADA Amendments Act of 2008 Into Law.
Ever wonder what keeps us busy here at DRG? In October, we talked with:
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Disability Headlines from Around the Country
New York: Blind Attorney Proves He’s Made of Iron
New Jersey:
Jury Awards $400,000 to Deaf Patient for Denial of Interpreter Services
Washington D.C: High Court Declines to Review FedEx Disability Discrimination Case
Feel FREE to Handle the Merchandise!
How stores are getting savvy to consumers with disabilities
All in One access is a store specifically designed for accessible home environments. Recently Nancy and her husband Joe took a trip to their showroom to checkout accessible bathtubs, showers and other home features that more Americans will be taking advantage of as the population ages.
Assistive and accessible devices are no longer for the rich and famous or well-connected, more and more businesses are GETTING IT...and want you to try out their merchandise!
The visABILITY store at the Center for the Visually Impaired is choc-full of assistive technology, toys, and practical home products for people with visual impairments. And, of course, they welcome patrons to test the merchandise as well.
Here are some other sources for assistive technology here in Atlanta:
NEW at DRG
STAFF NEWS:
Rick Welch has joined the DRG team as a Resource Specialist. Since our very own Amanda Neiman has picked up an internship, Rick is helping with grant-writing, editing, and other needed office functions.
Nancy Duncan continues to stay busy with ADA and Disability training throughout the state. This fall she will be working with Intercontinental Hotels Group, the Gap, the Department of Public Health and the Global Universal Design Commission.
PROJECTS:
DRG participated in a pilot research project,
funded by Syracuse University. (see article "Participatory Research").
We are now advising head researchers as they look to spread the project
to 3 other states next year. Nancy and the research team will have an
important role in this multiplication process.
As I watched Music Within I gained a keener
understanding for the plight of the many Vietnam Veterans who returned
home from the war with disabilities that prevented them from getting
jobs and even entering public places. I was struck by the struggles
that the movie’s main character, Richard Pimentel, and his friends
encountered. The film chronicles Richard’s journey from
hearing-impaired veteran to one of the nation’s premier advocates for
people with disabilities. Were that I were so bold and driven in the
face of struggle and injustice. I think Music Within should be required
viewing for folks that I know who wonder why I’m doing what I do.
– Katie Weaver
Music Within gave me the same nostalgic feeling as Forrest Gump.
It is more realistic and the disability piece is head on. The movie
powerfully illustrates my core belief that out of terrible events, good
things can happen. We would have probably not had an ADA without the
War in Vietnam. Without Richard’s Pimentel’s experience of
discrimination, we would not have had such a dynamic leader for change.
The movie was good enough to appeal to everyone but sensitive enough to
be very meaningful to me as a person with a disability. I highly
recommend it to everyone.
– Nancy Duncan
I was impacted by the portrayal of the truth that one cannot build a
life of meaning and purpose around oneself. If any of us are going to
experience a life worth living, it is going to have to be about
something bigger than ourselves, about someone other than ourselves.
There is no true fulfillment in seeking personal glory alone. It’s just
not big enough to sate our longing for meaning. We need something more.
In the crucible of his pain, Richard stumbles upon this key to a
meaningful life.
- Rick Welch
Music Within is available for sale in our Amazon Store!
Researcher spotlight: Danielle Nelson — Athens Team
Danielle was born in Miami and adopted when she was 3 days old. When their house was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew, her family was forced to move to Georgia where she has lived ever since.
Danielle has her B.S. in Psychology and has always had a keen interested in people with disabilities. Danielle has volunteered with “Best Buddies,” a program which paired her with an older gentleman with autism, and most recently, she has worked for Georgia Options, an Independent Living center in Athens. Danielle works with Nancy’s son Daniel and they have developed a very special friendship.
Regarding her interest in working with this population, Danielle says:
I've always been interested in people with disabilities. I guess I'm just curious as to how people with various disabilities experience life. I feel that people with physical and mental disabilities are truly amazing and it saddens me that people and places are discriminatory. A child in a wheelchair should be able to enjoy a day at the park as any other child... A person who is visually impaired should be able to walk into a government building and be able to ask questions as a sighted person would.
Danielle experienced the disappointment that many other researchers did during her experience with our team in Athens. She recounts, “I learned that most places are not equipped for people who have disabilities.” From cracked, uneven pavement at parks to stairs without handrails in government buildings, Danielle’s research experience with Nancy was eye-opening. We are so thankful for her contribution to this project.
Our deepest thanks to these corporate sponsors who make Disability Resource Group’s work, including this newsletter, possible:
Additional Funding Provided By: