Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Join OMOD

Greetings Everyone!

This is Eric, your friendly OMOD project coordinator, here with my top five reasons why you should join the OMOD team. We are constantly seeking new self-advocates to participate in OMOD, so I encourage you all to read this and see if OMOD is the right program for you or for one of your friends or family members. Feel free to email me at eric@vsatx.org for an application or more information.

Here are the top five reasons:

1. Face your fears. Writing and public speaking are among people’s greatest fears. In OMOD, you will have the opportunity to face these fears head-on in a supportive environment and with a great team of sidekicks backing you up. As star OMOD speaker Jessica Guerrero often says, “Feel the fear and do it anyway!” Facing your fears will give you a great confidence boost and reveal strengths you didn’t know you have.

2. Reach a new level of independence. Do you want to travel out of town, experience new places, and meet new people, but you get bogged down by the stress of needing an attendant, finding accessible lodging, or getting a ride? Then look no further! OMOD offers a safe and supportive setting for you to test the waters of the unknown. As you travel to conferences across the state, we will be at your side helping you to secure your needs and solve the problems that may pop up along the way.

3. Make new friends and learn about other people with disabilities. Think the only thing you have in common with other people with disabilities is a disability? Think again! In OMOD, we write and share stories that run the gamut of human experience. No mopey, stay-at-home couch potatoes here – only the most wildly entertaining, stereotype-crushing, creative storytellers this side of the Mississippi. In OMOD, you will learn more about where you fit in the world and make lasting friendships with passionate people just like you.

OMOD star speakers Jessica and Dave pose in front
of the VSA Texas banner.

4. Tell your story. Everyone has an important story to tell. Yes, even you. And OMOD is the place for you to tell it. In the OMOD workshop, you will write, edit, and share your story under the close guidance of a professional writing facilitator and with constructive feedback from a class of your peers. It’s a positive team process that isn’t finished until you have a story that everyone – and you, especially – can be proud of.

5. Change the way society views people with disabilities. Storytelling may be one of the most powerful tools available to advocates of any civil rights movement. Your personal story shows mainstream society that we are all human, and we all share more similarities than differences. You might even be the first person with a disability that some able-bodied people see, so show them a person of dignity, humor, and power. Not an object of pity. Not an inspirational hero. Show them someone real. Show them who you are.

OMOD speakers Danny, Kamand, and Ashley
present an ensemble piece entitled, "If I Had a Wish,"
at the 2nd Annual OMOD Speaker Showcase.

Creative Transitions Through Film

Do you remember when you were at that transitional age of 16-22? Enjoying the freedom of youth, while considering the endless possibilities for your future? It is an important time of life that we all experience.

Opportunities outside of home life and school life are an ideal way to stretch your wings and see where you fit in the world. That is one reason we created our VSA Texas Side by Side Internships. These are opportunities for young adults with disabilities to learn about a creative profession directly from someone working in that industry.

Our most recent Side by Side Internship was a great experience for sixteen youth and four local filmmakers. This three-week opportunity started with one week of a “film school” experience. The interns learned the basics of movie making and some specific techniques for fiction films, documentaries, and stop motion animation. The group then broke into three teams for two weeks, and the real fun began! Small groups of 5-6 interns met with their filmmakers to get hands-on experience making a movie.

The documentary film team
ready to scout locations for filming

While the technical skills of scriptwriting, storyboarding, filming, and editing were a big part of this experience, I think the real learning experience was in the relationship building, the teamwork, and the working environment. Being outside of the routine of school and home can be stressful for someone who has autism, as many of our interns do. Each had to learn how to manage these new relationships in a quick time period and in a new space. And they did a great job!

The animation team storyboarding

As one parent commented about her son, “He has matured and progressed these three weeks in a different and social way that he otherwise would not have acquired at home. Thank you for the opportunity and the learning and all the good relationships [he] made with his new friends.”

The fiction film team reviewing footage

We appreciate all of the hard work our interns have put into this project, spending three weeks of their summer enhancing skills for their future careers. Maybe careers in film!

You are all welcome to attend the premiere of these three short films and see for yourself the potential of these youth with disabilities. The event will be this Sunday, July 12, 2015, from 2-5 pm at Marchesa Hall and Theatre, 6226 Middle Fiskville Road, Austin, TX 78752. Check out the Facebook event here.

We hope you come away from the experience with excitement about the possibilities for transitioning age youth in your community. Consider mentoring a young adult with a disability! I guarantee it will expand their world and yours at the same time.

Marriage Equality for People with Disabilities

Hi Folks, Lynn here at VSA Texas. While many Americans celebrated the SCOTUS ruling, legalizing gay marriage in all 50 states, I saw many Facebook posts from my friends in the disability community, stating that nothing has changed for them. There are still legal barriers to marriage between two people with disabilities. In doing research for this blog, I looked up a few disability advocacy groups and found some interesting information. I wrote this blog to encourage dialogue about the marriage inequality still present in the disability community in hopes that we can progress forward in marriage equality for all people.

On Facebook, the organization Marriage Equality for People with Disabilities shared Larry Drain's post:

“Dear President Obama:

             “One of the quotes I heard in the last couple of days following the marriage equality case was something like ‘at last love can be love...’

            “It can't...

            “I write to you today about another marriage inequality, an inequality suffered by thousands and thousands, an inequality invisible and never talked about, an inequality no one fights to remedy, an inequality based on federal statute: the attack on marriage of the disabled and senior citizens.

            “Thousands and thousands of couples in this country find themselves unable to either get married or stay married because of the financial penalties imposed on them by federal law. It is unfair. It is wrong, and, whether it is legal or not, it is discrimination that hurts thousands of innocent American citizens.”

I also found the following information at http://www.1800lawfirm.com:

            “Getting married may affect your disability benefits in a variety of ways. This is largely dependent on what type of benefits you receive—Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).

            “If you receive SSI benefits, you likely already know that eligibility is determined based on your income and financial resources. Once you get married, the SSA will ‘deem’ a portion of your spouse’s income to your record. Essentially, this means that they will consider your future husband or wife’s income to be your income as well. This may significantly reduce your monthly payment or even cause the SSA to terminate your benefits altogether. This is just one financial aspect that people with disabilities face.”

For more detailed information, you can request a pamphlet for SSI and SSDI explaining in detail your benefits and what affects your benefits directly from the Social Security Administration’s website at http://ssa.gov/.

Last, here are some personal thoughts from Dave Chapple, a gentleman with a disability that we all know well here at VSA Texas:

Dave and Kate

at their Commitment Ceremony

            “Kate and I were under the understanding that we could not get legally married because it would negatively affect our SSDI and Medicaid. So instead of having a legal wedding ceremony we had a commitment ceremony in front of our families, friends, and God and we have been living as husband and wife ever since. However, according to the state of Texas, we are just roommates. 

            “One day we were looking on line at Medicaid income limits for our future employment and we came across something about married couples. To our surprise, the limits were just about exactly the same as we have now without being married. So we wanted to look farther into the possibility of becoming legally married and contacted a special needs consultant and in turn, she contacted a disability attorney. With their help, it was determined getting legally married would not affect our benefits but as we did before we have to make sure we stay under the income limit. 

            “Like I said before, on June 1, 2013, we had a ceremony where we got committed to each other in front of our families, friends, and in God's eyes. On every August 4, we go to Joe's Crab Shack to celebrate our anniversary, our first date, and the love we have for each other. However, on this August 4, 2015, we are still going to Joe’s Crab Shack, but before our dinner, we are going to have a little ceremony to legalize our marriage and invite 50 of our family and friends to celebrate with us.”

While Dave is finally now able to make his marriage official, many other people with disabilities still face impossible barriers to get married. What about you? Are you married, or are you still waiting for the laws to change? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below!

Guest Blog: Victor Martinez on the Opening Minds, Opening Doors Showcase!

            This was my second time attending a presentation of Opening Minds, Opening Doors, held at the Capital City Event Center. When I went last year, I had been on the board of directors for VSA Texas for only a month. VSA Texas sponsors events like this that feature art and people with disabilities. Their goal, in this case, is to combine storytelling and acting with public speaking so that the participants, or self-advocates, as they are commonly referred, can bring their stories to the general public. The disabilities include muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, limb loss, cerebral palsy, autism, dyslexia, and epilepsy. 

           The purpose of this event is to give the public an opportunity to participate as an audience in the creative and insightful speaking abilities of the participants. The delegations came from Austin and El Paso. The El Paso group members are affiliated with the Youth Leadership Forum, sponsored by Volar Center for Independent Living. "Volar" means to fly. This event, which took place on February 5, allowed the participants' voices to soar. The late morning performance began at around 11:45 AM, with an introduction by Eric Clow and an explanation about OMOD.

            The first speaker, Jamie Martinez, who hails from El Paso, began by telling a story entitled "Spring Break." This involved visiting her grandmother in San Diego. It was full of humor, especially the part about the dead cow they smelled, and eventually saw. The image was horribly funny, and it got Jamie and her grandmother giggling, picturing the cow's feet in the air and stinking to high heaven. That was the icebreaker for the event.

           Next up was Alina Arredondo who talked about her grandfather, and all he had done for her while he was alive, and how he was continuing to inspire her from the great beyond. She recounted his influence in a story called, "To My Heart in Heaven." Viejillo was his name. He had encouraged her to excel in high school, (and later after he passed) go on to college, and she recently got accepted to law school. It was a story about faith and doing what was expected of the heart.

           ROTC was the theme of the next speaker as he started off by barking, "Attention!" That got the audience's attention. Then, Paul Nathan told the story of how he entered ROTC as a freshman, but because of his disability could not participate fully. As circumstances would have it, he found a place for himself as a medic by attending to the injuries of the corps, acquiring a medic's certification, and earning respect from others. When graduation had become a viable cadet. He ended the speech by the order, "Dismissed!" Though we were not leaving, because it was far from over.

            An ensemble of four--David Chapple, Renee Lopez, Kaye Love, and Eric Clow--took over from there with a piece called "Close Encounters of the Public Kind." This episode was largely a tongue-in-cheek account of how the public views people with disabilities. Though funny, this presentation carried some right-on observations by the disabled on stage.

             Speaking about her bus trip to California in a piece called "Disneyland Here I Come," Roxela Confresi talked about her great adventure westward. Speaking with the aid of a Dynavox machine, she eloquently described her experiences which she couldn't have done without the loving support of her family.
            "Cell Phones" was the topic presented by Stephanie Gonzalez in which she explored the irony of a device that was probably intended to make us more connected, but in many regards, has left us isolated in our own little worlds. She left the audience with the image of the people we love staring down at their cell phones oblivious to the world around them, and denying themselves of human affection.

            Roxana Confresi, sister of Roxela, discussed returning to college in "Back to School 10 Years Later." It was another example of how people with disabilities can overcome obstacles of apprehension and new surroundings.

             Another highlight was this guy named Chuy Duarte. Ironically enough, he talked to God a lot, and guess what Chuy means? It's a Spanish nickname for Jesus. He talked about miracles, and how in spite of what the doctor said, he was determined to walk again. He told the story about his first physical therapy session when the therapist told him he would never walk again, but he was determined to start walking right away. Which he did! He took 10 steps that first day through sheer willpower and by the grace of God. The story was very inspirational, and it brought me back to the idea that prayer, hope, and determination play a large part in our recovery.

            The final presentation of the early afternoon was another ensemble consisting of five people--Ashley Butler, Kamand Alaghehband, Marielle Abrams, Danny Taylor, and Laurel Coppock. The premise for this final episode was that a fairy godmother was able to grant wishes to all the participants. They recounted their most far-out fantasies.

            All in all, the event was all that it was cracked up to be - entertaining, inspiring, and relevant. Entertaining because it had humor that tickled the audience; inspiring because of the courage and resilience displayed in the stories; relevant because the stories reflected what was important in the lives of the storytellers. I look forward to the next Opening Minds, Opening Doors event, and I invite the readers of this blog to attend an event of theirs, support a worthy endeavor, and be entertained by an inspirational group of people.

Disability in Cinema: A Discussion

Happy Tuesday everyone!

For my first blog entry in awhile (my colleagues just have so many wonderful things to say!), I thought I would jump into a discussion that is becoming more audible in recent months- that is, the use of able-bodied actors to portray people with disabilities on screen.  The recent success of “The Theory of Everything,” starring Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking, provides a pertinent vehicle to discuss a topic that has always troubled members of the disability community.

Eddie Redmayne as Steven Hawking in "The Theory of Everything"

Why is it that after we’ve long abandoned the time where women, not allowed on stage, were portrayed by men, and white actors mimicked those of other races by using tools such as ‘blackface,’ this trend of using able-bodied actors pretending to have disabilities is still commonplace?  Some people may point out that in certain films, such as “The Theory of Everything,” an able-bodied actor may be necessary to portray scenes prior to the character’s disability.  Our own Eric Clow, director of our Opening Minds, Opening Doors and resident creative insight, pointed out that artistic elements, such as dream sequences, might also be difficult to execute with an actor with disabilities.  However, these certain logistics seem to overshadow the more important discussion- even twenty-five years after the ADA, people with disabilities still struggle to be properly represented in the minds of the public.  

Marlon Brando in "The Teahouse of the August Moon,"
where he donned "yellowface" and a Japanese accent to portray the character of Sakini.
Is this any different than an able-bodied actor pretending to have a disability?

Where in the past, finding actors with disabilities may have been difficult, this is no longer the case. As the Executive Director of VSA Texas, Celia Hughes, aptly puts, “the time has come when characters with disabilities can be played by actors with disabilities. No longer do we need to have an able-bodied actor try to figure out how to be paralyzed, or blind, or intellectually challenged. We have talented people with disabilities who are eager to play these roles." She continues on to point out that this seems to be an American problem, as "they have been casting actors with disabilities in Europe for many years. It's time Hollywood came out from under the rock."

Why do you think this phenomenon of casting able-bodied actors in roles of people with disabilities is still the norm? Why has it not become as offensive as say, "blackface"? At the end of the day, there doesn't seem to be a difference; both are pretending to be something you aren't, where there are many capable individuals that don't have to pretend. It's an intentional exclusion of a whole group of people based on preconceived notions about their abilities. Isn't it time we put an end to this? Tell us how you feel in the comments section!