PRAIRIE INDEPENDENT LIVING RESOURCE CENTER, Inc.
The Voice Of PILR
Chris Owens, Editor
Heather Jones, Design Layout September 2010
Volume 9, Issue 3
WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?
By Chris Owens, Executive Director
“What’s wrong with your eyes?” was a questioned a small boy asked me on the 4th of July. Before I could reply his dad told him that wasn’t nice and not to ask questions. It seemed clear to me that a teaching moment had just landed in my lap, not just for the little boy, but for his dad as well.
I told both of them that I didn’t mind answering his question. I explained that when I was born my eyes didn’t work like most people’s do. Then I told his dad most people with disabilities don’t mind answering questions about our disabilities. It’s important for children to understand that disability is natural and it’s also natural for children and adults to be curious. This lead to a nice conversation and I believe father and son both felt as if they’d learned something.
It’s easy to forget that people, who aren’t around people with disabilities might have questions or be uncomfortable. At PILR we are so use to each other we forget about the disability of other staff. It often gives us a good laugh. There was the day Nanette’s husband wanted her to go with him somewhere and suggested I drive her car home. Nan told him, she’s not driving my car!”.
Although most folks don’t mind sharing, I realize there are those who are uncomfortable discussing their disability. I remember being very uncomfortable with questions when I was a young adult. I went to public school and there were some kids who were rather cruel. They enjoyed trying to trip me and laughed if I bumped into someone or something. It took years to overcome, but now I realize the best way to reach children and adults is to be open and honest about my disability. I’ve also learned that a sense of humor goes a long way. Hopefully through open communication people will learn that truly there’s nothing “wrong” with us, and that disability is natural. We’re all just people.
THE TRAIL RIDE OF MY LIFE
By David Farris
I was 53 years old and a free spirit. I could do the things I loved and wanted to. I rode bulls in rodeos, trained horses, gave riding lessons, coached little league baseball, fished and hunted turkey and deer. I had worked at a paying job since I was 8 years old. I made my own way and my own decisions.
November 6th of 2008 at 9:00 in the morning all of this came to a halt. An 80 mile an hour wind and a freak accident left me with a crushed pelvis and a liquefied right wrist. I spent the next 8 weeks in the hospital. And from there I was sent to an assistive living facility for 3 months. My private insurance had run out and with no income coming in, my only option was to apply for Social Security Disability, and Medicaid. I had always paid my own way in the world. And now I had to depend on others to take care of me. I then entered a full time nursing facility.
At the nursing facility they provided physical therapy, a roof over my head, and institutional food. I was no longer able to decide anything for myself. They controlled all areas of my life. No choices on what I wanted to eat, when I wanted to sleep, or where I wanted to go. They even controlled when you can take a shower, who you eat with and share your room with. At age 53 I had fewer choices than when I was a small child.
Finally after a year and a half I was approved for Social Security Disability. With the help of Prairie Independent Living staff and the Money Follows the Person demonstration grant I now live in my own apartment. I have my own food, what I like and choose to eat. I can come and go as I please. I can even take a shower when I want. Nap when I want. Go to bed whenever I want. Watch whatever TV when I want. No strangers sleeping in my room now. I am now totally independent making own decisions for my own life.
I want to thank all the staff at PILR. It’s great to be on my own again.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
September 2010
8th Job Club (Hutchinson) at PILR 2:30 PM- 3:30 PM, Youth Job Club 4-5 PM
9th Job Club (Kingman) 1:00pm in the basement of the Kingman Library at 455 N Main
9th Job Club (Anthony) 11:00AM at the Anthony Library
16th Job Club (Pratt) 1:00pm at the 1st Christian Church at 123 N. Ninnescahin Pratt
22nd Job Club (Hutchinson) at PILR 2:30 PM- 3:30 PM, Youth Job Club 4-5 PM
30th Invisible Voices 1:30PM & 7:00PM at Stringer Fine Arts Center, 600 East 11th, Hutchinson, KS
October 2010
1st Invisible Voices 9:00AM & 1:30PM at Stringer Fine Arts Center, 600 East 11th, Hutchinson, KS
2nd Invisible Voices 1:30PM at Stringer Fine Arts Center, 600 East 11th, Hutchinson, KS
3rd Invisible Voices 1:30PM at Stringer Fine Arts Center, 600 East 11th, Hutchinson, KS
5th Dinner & Jazz 5:00PM, Avenue A Park
14th Job Club (Kingman) 1:00pm in the basement of the Kingman Library at 455 N Main
14th Job Club (Anthony) 11:00AM at the Anthony Library
13th Job Club (Hutchinson) at PILR 2:30 PM- 3:30 PM, Youth Job Club 4-5 PM
20th Disability Mentoring Day (DMD)
21st Job Club (Pratt) 1:00pm at the 1st Christian Church at 123 N. Ninnescahin Pratt
27th Job Club (Hutchinson) at PILR 2:30 PM- 3:30 PM, Youth Job Club 4-5 PM
November 2010
10th Job Club (Hutchinson) at PILR 2:30 PM- 3:30 PM, Youth Job Club 4-5 PM
10th Job Club (Kingman) 1:00pm in the basement of the Kingman Library at 455 N Main
10th Job Club (Anthony) 11:00AM at the Anthony Library
11th Vetern’s Day – PILR is closed
18th Job Club (Pratt) 1:00pm at the 1st Christian Church at 123 N. Ninnescahin Pratt
24th Job Club (Hutchinson) at PILR 2:30 PM- 3:30 PM, Youth Job Club 4-5 PM
25-26th Thanksgiving – PILR is closed
December 2010
24-27th Christmas - PILR is closed
31st New Years Eve – PILR is closed
Thank You!
This is a special thank you to all of the businesses and individuals who have given donations to support the mission of Prairie Independent Living Resource Center.
FUNDRAISING NOW IN PROGRESS!
Prairie Independent Living Resource Center, Inc. is now accepting donations from individuals and businesses in our community who wish to support the mission of our center. We are currently in the process of planning many upcoming events. In addition to donations, you may include PILR in your will or estate planning.
If you would like to make a tax -deductible donation, please clip out the coupon and mail it to us. You may personally deliver it as well. Thanks for your support!
Name:______
Address:______
City:______State:_____Zip Code:______
Area code and telephone:______
Tax Deductible Donation: (check one)
___$25.00 ___$50.00 ___$100 ___$200
Other amount: $______
_____I would like to include Prairie Independent Living Resource Center in my will or estate. Please contact me at:
(Phone number):______.
Please mail/deliver to:
Prairie Independent Living Resource Center, Inc.
17 S. Main
Hutchinson, KS 67501
Attn: Chris Owens
Whose life is it anyway?
By Roger Frischenmeyer, ILS
I am standing in a ball room in the Grand Hyatt hotel in Washington DC at a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act listening to a band called flame. Flame is your average all American cover band doing songs from the 60’s 70’s and 80’s. What makes them different than most cover bands is that this band is made up entirely of people with disabilities. Not only are they people with disabilities, but they are what those who are “normal” would call people with significant disabilities such as autism, downs syndrome, blindness etc. As I continue to listen to their music, a thought keeps playing in the back of my mind. This is what can happen when people with disabilities are encouraged to follow their dreams. This is what can happen when we forget about what “reality” tells us is possible and try for something even better. Yet for many young people with disabilities that isn’t what happens. So often we, as people with disabilities, are told what we should and shouldn’t do not based on our abilities but based on perceptions of what others believe we can do. How many dreams have been crushed because we have listened to someone who claims to have our best interest at heart but encourages us to settle for less than what we want? How many times have we let a dream die because we listened to someone who told us that was too difficult for us to achieve?
How many times have we given up on a challenge because we listened to the “reality” that others see for us instead of the “reality” that we want for ourselves? Yet the more important question that needs to be answered is why? Why are we content to accept other people’s vision for us instead of dreaming one for ourselves? What makes someone else so much better at determining what reality is for us instead of us figuring that out for ourselves? Now don’t get me wrong, listening to advice from others can be a good thing.
Getting information from someone who has more knowledge than you do can almost always benefit you if it is one piece of the puzzle used to help make a decision. On the otherhand, selling oneself short because someone else decides what is best for you is never a good thing. After all, it is your life so you should be the one who decides how to live it. That being said, running your own life and following your dreams isn’t always going to be easy. It is going to take effort on your part and sometimes you are going to have to change what you are trying to achieve. You will try things and you will fail at things but without occasional failure, there can never be success.
If you want to be in charge of your future, begin preparing for it right now. Begin that preparation by finding someone who gives you unconditional encouragement. It can be a friend, a family member, a teacher, but the important part is that they support you in all that you are going to try. You will have days when you don’t feel like you can do anything right, and those people who question your abilities will still be their, but the support of someone who truly believes in you will get you through those times. Finally, plan, plan, plan, and then work to make those plans a reality. Set goals, and do everything you can to achieve them knowing that some of your goals will change as you change and that is ok.
As I said before you will have failure, but you will also have amazing success. The success of running your own life and choosing what you want for your future. Then when someone tells you how you should live your life, you can explain to them how you feel using the words of that old Billy Joel song, “I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life, Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone.”
PILR awards presented
As a part of our celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act PILR presented the 2010 friend of PILR and PILR accessibility awards. The friend of PILR award winner was Carlota Ponds, and the PILR accessibility award winner was Budget Rent-A-Car here in Hutchinson.
Carlota works for the Kansas Leadership Center but has collaborated with us at PILR as long as I have been here, first as an employee of the City of Hutchinson and then as the director of the Reno County Health Coalition. She has spoken at many of our events and is always willing to get involved when we ask her to. She further realizes that people with disabilities should be involved in community decision making and has let us know about opportunities for us to give input or get involved that might otherwise not have happened. Thanks Carlota for being a friend of PILR.
Budget rent-a-car was our accessibility winner this year because of their willingness to rent a car to a person who can’t drive but uses a driver. Though the law says that companies must make their programs accessible to people with disabilities renting a car is almost impossible if you can’t drive and use a driver. Budget, however, is different than most rental companies because they make renting a car in that situation very easy. PILR thanks our two award winners and recognizes them for all they do for the full inclusion of people with disabilities.
9th Annual Dinner & Jazz
Just Around the Bend
It would be safe to say that domestic violence has, at some point, touched all of our lives. According to Ending Violence Against Women – a report released in December 1999 - at least one in three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime. Additionally, the Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief in 2003 reports that on average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in this country every day. Unfortunately, for marginalized populations such as people with disabilities, people who are gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgender, people living in poverty and/or homeless, those statistics are even more staggering with existing rates of victimization ranging from two times the incidence to as high as 97%. While the numbers themselves may be daunting, the task before us as a society need not be.
For the ninth year, PILR and the Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence Center (SA/DVC) are joining together to promote awareness in our community. October has been designated nationally as Domestic Violence Awareness and Disability Employment Awareness Month and to begin that awareness, PILR and SA/DVC are co-sponsoring Dinner & Jazz. On October 5, 2010 beginning at 5:00 pm, we will begin serving dinner in the park at Avenue A Park located at the intersection of A and Main streets. Jazz musicians from the Hutchinson Community College Jazz Department under the direction of Daryl Batchelor will entertain the crowd throughout the evening. The event is free to all.