The cultural event that I chose to evaluate was the Special Olympics 2010 Summer Games. This event took place from Friday, April 29th until Sunday, May 2nd at Mesa Community College. The Special Olympic website estimated that there were over 1,000 athletes with a variety of challenges, competing in eight different events from track and field all the way to kayaking. The website also predicted that there would be over 500 coaches and more than700 volunteers, making this a sizeable event. The kayaking portion of the games was held at Tempe Town Lake in conjunction with the City of Tempe.
I, unfortunately, did not get a chance to see the Kayaking, of which our guests speakers from class are participating in. I attended the portion at Mesa Community College (MCC) where I got to see track and field competition, including the shot put and the softball throw. As I walked over to the area of the field designated for the softball toss, I was surprised to see someone I knew getting ready to compete. From 2002 to 2006, I worked at a summer camp for children and adults with a wide variety of physical and intellectual disabilities called Lion’s Camp Tatiyee. We typically served upwards of 500 campers a summer and I, personally, developed dozens of close friendships with people through this experience, one of which was Jennifer. Jennifer is approximately 30 years old and has a primary diagnosis of Downs Syndrome, as well as several secondary diagnoses, one of which I remember being Bi-polar disorder. Her coach also happened to be a friend of mine that worked with me at the summer camp and is now working as the Program Manager of a group home that Jennifer happens to be living in.
I went to the event thinking that it was kind of a copout that I would choose a Special Olympic event for this assignment given that I have previous experience with this population or culture. What I failed to realize, however, was the limited context in which I had contact with this population and the limited information this left me with. At a summer camp, I got to see people for six days a year, they lived in our dorms, and were involved in our activities. We had a great time, but it was not true sampling of what THEIR life looked like. This Special Olympics event was not Jennifer experiencing camp on my terms, it was me experience Jennifer’s life on her terms.
I said hello but Jen, as her friends call her (apparently), did not recognize me right away. Once her coach, Marisol, reminded her that I was from camp, her face lit up and she gave me a big hug. Right after that, she said that she could not talk because her event was coming up soon and she needed to focus. She put her IPOD earphones in and went back concentrating on her event. As I turned to Marisol, she said that nothing distracts her from her softball throw.
And this was the great revelation to me. As I looked around the track, I did not see a bunch of special needs individuals participating in an event in order to get a hug. What I saw was a group of athletes, who happened to have special needs, competing to win their event. I had packaged Special Olympics as a neat opportunity for Down syndrome kids to get ribbons. I was ignorant to the truth about what kind of competition was actually happening. My friend told me that Jen practices the softball throw three times a week and gets upset when her routine is thrown off. She has even received coaching from elite competitors who teach technique to improve results.
Professionally speaking, I believe that understanding people is the essential ingredient to being able to help in any real, substantial way. As a Non Profit major, this is my professional, as well as personal, imperative; to help people. As I saw the event through this new perspective, I feel like I got to see a side of my friend Jen, as well as the other athletes, in a new light. I was surprised, and embarrassed. I felt like I should have known better, seeing as how I had experience with this population. What I took away from this event was a better understanding, not only of the population of people with disabilities, but of how preconceived notions can skew how I see a given culture. My view of this culture, based on my limited interactions with these people, handicapped my ability to see the truth, which is all people are dynamic and have many nuances that make them who they are, which is special.
I know, the end was corny, but I believe it is true.
Monday, May 3, 2010
NLM Special Topic- Arizona Bridge to Independant Living
I feel I have learned a lot over the course of this class in the way of awareness of the diversity of people across all boundaries, class, culture, abilities, etc. When I went back and looked at the objectives of the lectures and assignments, I feel like they were appropriately designed to give us, as students, the opportunity to research, explore, and experience the related issues which are keys to the development of inclusive communities. When I looked back over my notes pick which lecture or topic I wanted to focus on for this assignment, the one that stood out to me the most was the panel of guests that Amina brought from Arizona’s Bridge to Independent Living.
I think this presentation was so impactful because it was able to put names and faces to the kind of diversity of needs we had been discussing in class. It is simple to talk about the thoughts and feelings of the broad and ambiguous, “people with disabilities” culture. However being able to hear Kerri, George, Eric, Wayne, and even Wayne’s wife Anne speak about their thoughts and feelings regarding a specific disability that they live with every day, or their struggles with the uninformed people they deal with routinely, it just put all of our theory into context.
And what I loved about the discussion was the variety of the responses to each question. I appreciated that Eric, when asked about the hardest thing about his disability, shared he struggles to be understood by people because of his speech impediment and that he’s not dumb, it just takes him a long time to get his thoughts out…but that he works at a sports arena where he encounters thousands of people a night in a loud, chaotic environment every night. I love that! I guess I assumed that people with disabilities would choose the path of least resistance and a guy like Eric would work at some quiet office building, something more conducive to his “situation”. Or that George, when met with an ignorant woman at the zoo, would choose to take the challenge of informing her of how “dangerous” he and his wheelchair really are by challenging her son to a race. The problems with my assumptions of people, disability or not, is that I often end up short changing someone.
I even liked that Wayne, apparently a new member to the panel, was able to be honest and say that he “couldn’t think of one good thing about having a disability” but then talk about how loving and supportive his wife is. It was honest, it was harsh, but it was a beautiful moment that couldn’t be scripted out or felt with the same kind of emotion if it were read from a text book.
I think this applies to inclusive communities because it exemplifies the benefits of having people with different experiences and perspectives, as apposed to a typical, insulated community to which, sadly, most of us belong to. I didn’t write down who shared this, but someone shared a quote from Temple Granden that says, “I am not less than, I am different.” This is the value I took away from this lecture that will apply to jobs I have in the future, working in Non Profits. Wanting to help people can only take a person so far. Truly helping someone involves understanding who they are and the value they bring to a community, regardless of whether or not their value is typically celebrated in the mainstream society. Amina brought this point home with her insistence for us to relay what we heard the panelists saying, rather then having us say what we thought about what they said. I think her point was in saying, what is the value that these individuals have brought to you today? What have you heard about who these people are? It is important for us to see all individuals, regardless of whether they have the same culture as us, ability as us, or look like us, as having value for our communities, not just as stories of inspiration, but as human beings with knowledge, from their differing experiences and perspectives, that we all benefit from.
I think this presentation was so impactful because it was able to put names and faces to the kind of diversity of needs we had been discussing in class. It is simple to talk about the thoughts and feelings of the broad and ambiguous, “people with disabilities” culture. However being able to hear Kerri, George, Eric, Wayne, and even Wayne’s wife Anne speak about their thoughts and feelings regarding a specific disability that they live with every day, or their struggles with the uninformed people they deal with routinely, it just put all of our theory into context.
And what I loved about the discussion was the variety of the responses to each question. I appreciated that Eric, when asked about the hardest thing about his disability, shared he struggles to be understood by people because of his speech impediment and that he’s not dumb, it just takes him a long time to get his thoughts out…but that he works at a sports arena where he encounters thousands of people a night in a loud, chaotic environment every night. I love that! I guess I assumed that people with disabilities would choose the path of least resistance and a guy like Eric would work at some quiet office building, something more conducive to his “situation”. Or that George, when met with an ignorant woman at the zoo, would choose to take the challenge of informing her of how “dangerous” he and his wheelchair really are by challenging her son to a race. The problems with my assumptions of people, disability or not, is that I often end up short changing someone.
I even liked that Wayne, apparently a new member to the panel, was able to be honest and say that he “couldn’t think of one good thing about having a disability” but then talk about how loving and supportive his wife is. It was honest, it was harsh, but it was a beautiful moment that couldn’t be scripted out or felt with the same kind of emotion if it were read from a text book.
I think this applies to inclusive communities because it exemplifies the benefits of having people with different experiences and perspectives, as apposed to a typical, insulated community to which, sadly, most of us belong to. I didn’t write down who shared this, but someone shared a quote from Temple Granden that says, “I am not less than, I am different.” This is the value I took away from this lecture that will apply to jobs I have in the future, working in Non Profits. Wanting to help people can only take a person so far. Truly helping someone involves understanding who they are and the value they bring to a community, regardless of whether or not their value is typically celebrated in the mainstream society. Amina brought this point home with her insistence for us to relay what we heard the panelists saying, rather then having us say what we thought about what they said. I think her point was in saying, what is the value that these individuals have brought to you today? What have you heard about who these people are? It is important for us to see all individuals, regardless of whether they have the same culture as us, ability as us, or look like us, as having value for our communities, not just as stories of inspiration, but as human beings with knowledge, from their differing experiences and perspectives, that we all benefit from.
Blog # 3 Pictures
Entrance to The Tempe Public Library
Handicapped Parking directly outside of the entrance
No curb or lip between the asphault and the sidewalk
Tempe Public Library Accessibility
For my facilities assessment, I chose to evaluate the Tempe Public Library because my work’s office, Kidzone Enrichment Program, is located there and I wanted to know how we stacked up as far as ADA requirements. The choice of venue, it would appear, was the easiest part. Getting started on this blog was a bit daunting. After looking through the 20 pages of the ADA accessibility checklist I felt like 700 to 1000 words wouldn’t cover the first five sections of considerations. However, Once I reviewed the assignment outline again, it pointed out the “How to use this checklist” portion of the survey, it made more sense. I decided to categorize my observations into the four priorities recommended by the Title III regulations for planning readily achievable barrier removal projects:
1. Accessible Entrance into the Facility
2. Access to the Goods and Services
3. Access to the Restrooms
4. Any Other Measures Necessary
1. Accessible Entrance into the Facility- The library has taken significant steps to assure that the entrance to its facilities is accessible, starting in the parking lot. There is no curb, not even a lip, leading from the street into the main walkway of the library. This creates a very wide (approximately 20 feet wide) path to the front door. At this point patrons are greeted by a motion-censored, double wide doorway, again, providing ample room for people to come and go without having to rub elbows with other bookworms. I would rate this portion of the library very highly in its accessibility.
2. Access to Goods and Services- The libraries accessibility of its goods and services was not quite as cut and dry as its entrance. It did have some great features. Even despite its ongoing renovations that have caused them to display all of its materials in a smaller then normal area, there was at least 36” for most all of the walkways. There was only one area, the Adult Non-Fiction section that had been relegated to a downstairs room intended to be a small conference room, in which the aisles were less then 36” in width. Whereas the width of aisles was generally good, the height of the shelving units posed a considerable challenge to any person in a wheel chair looking for a book on a shelf higher then the fourth. The top shelf posed a difficult reach for me, an able-bodied person, without the use of a step stool. This led to another issue in that there were step stools on nearly every aisle. These were very convenient for reaching the top shelf, however they also posed reoccurring obstacles for people in chairs. At the very least they would be inconvenient; at the very worst they would make it impossible to navigate down virtually any aisle in the whole library. One feature that I thought was a great accommodation was the self checkout scanners that had voice commands for people with vision troubles. They required you to read Braille in order find the appropriate buttons, but they gave audible commands for which step was required next in the process.
3. Access to Restrooms- The bathrooms came equipped with easy-to-press automatic door openers and, at least the men’s room, had enough space to move a wheelchair through and the necessary handrails on two sides of the handicapped stall. Also, the sink levels were at approximately 30” and were within the appropriate range.
4. Any Other Measures Necessary- Obviously, this could encompass any number of things, but I wrote down a few observations I had made as I walked the facility with a vigilant eye. Outside, I noted a large, outdoor amphitheater that lead to the downstairs entrance of the library and provided a beautiful rest area, especially on a beautiful day like the one I was experiencing. It is accessible for people in wheelchairs through an indoor elevator, but that fact was not displayed at the outdoor entrance. If a person was not familiar with the library they may not know that the elevators inside lead to this area and may believe that the outside stairway was the only access. Also, I do not think that the library is in any sort of violation with this fact, but I noticed that the stairs leading to the bottom floor of the library were located directly in front of the entrance, approximately 20’ a way. If a person with vision impairment were to enter the library, I fear that there is nothing to deter them from walking straight ahead and falling down these stairs. I thought a simple solution would be placing a kiosk in between, or even changing the surface of the area right in front of the stairs that would cause a person with a cane to take notice.
Overall, I thought that the Tempe Public Library was well designed to be accessible, and only had a few implementation issues, most of which will be cleared up once construction is complete and they are able to fully utilize the space they are used to. The library has a good selection of books on tape, as well as a moderate selection of books in Braille. I would definitely recommend this facility as an inclusive and accessible resource for all.
I could not figure out how to add pictures in the way I wanted, so I will attempt to post them in a seperate blog, titled "Blog # 3- Pictures"
1. Accessible Entrance into the Facility
2. Access to the Goods and Services
3. Access to the Restrooms
4. Any Other Measures Necessary
1. Accessible Entrance into the Facility- The library has taken significant steps to assure that the entrance to its facilities is accessible, starting in the parking lot. There is no curb, not even a lip, leading from the street into the main walkway of the library. This creates a very wide (approximately 20 feet wide) path to the front door. At this point patrons are greeted by a motion-censored, double wide doorway, again, providing ample room for people to come and go without having to rub elbows with other bookworms. I would rate this portion of the library very highly in its accessibility.
2. Access to Goods and Services- The libraries accessibility of its goods and services was not quite as cut and dry as its entrance. It did have some great features. Even despite its ongoing renovations that have caused them to display all of its materials in a smaller then normal area, there was at least 36” for most all of the walkways. There was only one area, the Adult Non-Fiction section that had been relegated to a downstairs room intended to be a small conference room, in which the aisles were less then 36” in width. Whereas the width of aisles was generally good, the height of the shelving units posed a considerable challenge to any person in a wheel chair looking for a book on a shelf higher then the fourth. The top shelf posed a difficult reach for me, an able-bodied person, without the use of a step stool. This led to another issue in that there were step stools on nearly every aisle. These were very convenient for reaching the top shelf, however they also posed reoccurring obstacles for people in chairs. At the very least they would be inconvenient; at the very worst they would make it impossible to navigate down virtually any aisle in the whole library. One feature that I thought was a great accommodation was the self checkout scanners that had voice commands for people with vision troubles. They required you to read Braille in order find the appropriate buttons, but they gave audible commands for which step was required next in the process.
3. Access to Restrooms- The bathrooms came equipped with easy-to-press automatic door openers and, at least the men’s room, had enough space to move a wheelchair through and the necessary handrails on two sides of the handicapped stall. Also, the sink levels were at approximately 30” and were within the appropriate range.
4. Any Other Measures Necessary- Obviously, this could encompass any number of things, but I wrote down a few observations I had made as I walked the facility with a vigilant eye. Outside, I noted a large, outdoor amphitheater that lead to the downstairs entrance of the library and provided a beautiful rest area, especially on a beautiful day like the one I was experiencing. It is accessible for people in wheelchairs through an indoor elevator, but that fact was not displayed at the outdoor entrance. If a person was not familiar with the library they may not know that the elevators inside lead to this area and may believe that the outside stairway was the only access. Also, I do not think that the library is in any sort of violation with this fact, but I noticed that the stairs leading to the bottom floor of the library were located directly in front of the entrance, approximately 20’ a way. If a person with vision impairment were to enter the library, I fear that there is nothing to deter them from walking straight ahead and falling down these stairs. I thought a simple solution would be placing a kiosk in between, or even changing the surface of the area right in front of the stairs that would cause a person with a cane to take notice.
Overall, I thought that the Tempe Public Library was well designed to be accessible, and only had a few implementation issues, most of which will be cleared up once construction is complete and they are able to fully utilize the space they are used to. The library has a good selection of books on tape, as well as a moderate selection of books in Braille. I would definitely recommend this facility as an inclusive and accessible resource for all.
I could not figure out how to add pictures in the way I wanted, so I will attempt to post them in a seperate blog, titled "Blog # 3- Pictures"
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