Life without limbs

Last week I wrote about people who working together with God to bring wheelchairs to people around the world who had need. This week here's someone who sometimes uses a wheelchair who is bringing hope to all people around the world: Nick Vujicic.

Nick Vujicic - born with no arms or legs. simply amazing

I heard about Nick Vujicic from Paul Grabill. Here's what Nick said during a 20/20 interview: "You know, I believe in a God who can do all things, but if he chooses not to give me arms and legs I know it's for the better, and you know what there is nothing greater than knowing that my life can be used to save a soul from giving up."

People like Nick remind me to stop looking at people based on merely my perceptions, and to see them as people who are (or can be) relating to Jesus.
He also turns the label of "consumer" upside down. He's a "contributer" of hope.

Wheelchair freedom

I work with a handful of people who use wheelchairs to get around; the nifty electric kind. I know they're glad for a good chair to use, and a few of them have a sense of humor about it that I enjoy. Case in point, two of my wheelchair using friends went on a trail with me on a nice day in Southwest Philly, and when the trail got bumpy, boy was it bumpy, we all laughed.

What you might not know is that there are one-hundred million people in the world who are waiting for a wheelchair to use. And here's a team that's doing something about it, for God. Check out these videos.

Ron Schoenberger and friends in California have a goal to send 20 million wheelchairs around the world. They're doing it to show people that God doesn't hate them and won't leave them unhelped. This is their way to begin to show people that Jesus loves them, one $50 wheelchair at a time. I love the creativity in this project.

Activities

One thing I hear consistently from people in this field is the ongoing desire to get people involved in “activities”.

Usually by activities people mean they are reaching for ideas to help people get off their duffs and just do something. This is an important step, considering that many people with labels of developmental disabilities have been warehoused in facilities or shut in their homes and have limited experience with doing many things outside these spheres.

There’s some considerations here, we can’t just go do whatever comes to mind, obviously there’s budget constraints, supervision constraints, transportation might be an issue, in some instances accessibility is an issue (for wheelchairs and whatnot), but if you’re willing to tackle these barriers, there’s a world of doing out there.

Some advice to help get out and do something:

1) Kill the TV. If you can’t kill it, at least set boundaries for it (times of day, days of the week). TV is an attention stealer and is probably the most passive of activities I can think of, and in my opinion keeps people from doing more meaningful activities.

2) Look out your front door. So you can’t go to Disney world every day and be massively entertained. But what can you do that’s close by? How about right outside your front door? Plant a garden in your yard, go for a walk around the block, walk to the convenience store or in the local park.

3) Become a member. Get involved with a church. Hey, there’s people out there who want to do things with you, meaningful things, like pray and sing and build the kingdom of God with you. Membership with a library or in a garden group or civic associations and some clubs brings your gifts and talents to others. You can do more with others than you can alone.

4) Be willing to “fail”. I’ve had some experiences with people who felt very disrupted when they were going out on activities. The stress of getting out of their familiar and often very sedentary world was so great that they flipped out and made quite a scene. Sometimes it was the people around them who made the scene, they were surprised that someone didn’t know the unspoken rules of behavior for the given public setting and when someone with a label unknowingly violated the norm, some people flipped out and called security. At the end of a day like that, pat your friend on the back, “you tried, good job”, and pat yourself on the back , too. Tomorrow is another day. As a Supports Coordinator, I am much more likely to feel for someone who tried to do something worthwhile and had a disruption, than for someone who never tries.

I remember this advice from a past talk at Circle of Hope: "In order to be great at something, first you have to be just good at it. In order to be good at something, first you have to be bad at it. And in order to be bad at something, first you have to try. And in order to try something, you have to just do something."

So what is out there that worth doing? If it’s information your looking for, here’s a couple of pieces of information:

The Philly Official Visitor’s Guide

Visions for Equality Fun Guide

Still looking? Talk to me, talk to your friends. Do something together you both like doing, or do something for them that they like to do even if you don’t. I’ll go along if you need someone. Give me a call.

Music

Now I'm inclined to blog about music. After signing up for an iLike.com account, I want to share a rap artist who I think is just fabulous. Check out Clean Up the Game by Cam Lasley, alias Laz-D.

Laz D - Clean up the Game!


More about Laz D here. I want to use his example for a few reasons:

1. A disability is not disabling. Just because someone points out a disability in a person does not mean that person is disabled and without skills. We know that people with labels still have many dreams and skills. In some ways, people with labels can be in better shape than many people without.

2. Mockery is uninformed. Laz D played in concerts where some of the attendees openly made fun of him up until the point where he started singing. Then they listened and got into it. He didn't stop on the stage until he was fully heard, that's admirable. I hope you can get past jeering or people's automatic reactions of "no way, s/he can't do that" by remembering that the people who jeer and limit do not know you or what they are talking about, and their minds can be changed if you express yourself.

3. You can do. So maybe the prospect of becoming a published rap artist is daunting, and comparatively, you don't think what you have to do matches up. What can you do? As a supports coordinator, I know a few musicians and aspiring musicians who play drums, tamborines, and keyboard. Besides music, there are some wonderful artists, writers, singers, and talented others out there being creative in their own way. Going further, I know as a Christian relating to Jesus that what people do for him is important to him, and I don't underestimate what is important to Jesus and just how far he can carry the smallest faithful effort. We can each do something. So let's try.

4. Involve your friends. Cam Lasley got his handle "Laz D" in High School from friends Atlanta Hawk and Salim Stoudamire. Another friend Jack Gibson produced and recorded his record. Those relationships are valuable resources for him in many ways. Interdependence is a great achievement, in my opinion more so than achieving independence.

So thanks for letting me share Laz D's artistry with you. If you want to share your favorite artists feel free to do so, or join iLike and send me a friend request. Facebook users of iLike are automatic added as iLike friends.

Movies

I just got a Flixter account and wanted to highlight movies that I think do a fair job of portraying entertaining stories of people around the theme of disabilities. I'll admit, there's some decent movies with actors who do not have labels portraying characters who do: like Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump , and Dustin Hoffman does okay in Rain Man, and Michael Keaton does alright in The Dream Team, and I did like What's Eating Gilbert Grape despite the unusual movie combo of both Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp together, and I do want to see The Other Sister. But for the cream of the crop, the best of these films in my opinion are the ones where the actors are people in real life with labels of disabilities portraying characters with labels of disabilities. Have you ever seen Pascal Duquenne in The Eighth Day? Wow! I just love this movie. Here's a clip from Youtube (what is a blog without YouTube these days?)

Inspiring. I wasn't into the ending, this French director had a flare for an absurdly trajic ending that was supposed to be happy? Regardless, the movie was laudable for the character interactions throughout the movie that attempt to emphasize the parallels in the main characters lives despite the apparent difference of disability labels. Paula Sage does an equally magnificent performance in Afterlife, a movie about a woman whose brother returns home to look after her when their mother becomes ill. Lastly, there's Wu Jiang in Shower. I just don't know if he's someone with who has a label in real life or not. I like not knowing where his acting his coming from, the mystery makes me wonder even more about his character. In real life, I also like to think that a person's label is less significant than getting to know their story. Their label is not the sum of who they are, there's a whole lot more to people than that, and there's a whole lot about people to relate to regardless of what their label is. Isn't that one reason why we watch movies and cry or laugh? Because we can relate to some of the characters and what they are experiencing? Not in a very interactive way, but it's entertaining that way nonetheless.
This list is hardly exhaustive, I wonder if you've come across some movies around themes of disabilities that you'd like to share?

My heroes

I like to be surprised by hearing about what the Lord is doing through people who have been labeled with a diagnosis.
Last summer I had the opportunity to hear Daniel McMullen (page 3 of the link) speak to Supports Coordinators at a training in Center City Philadelphia. He played a video for us from his website (which I'm still searching for). In the video he gave a passionate message about Jesus keeping our feet from slipping (from Psalm 66:9). He trusted God enough to take risks for God and not be inhibited solely by his label. One of his motto's is "I have autism, but I am not disabled". Dan is active with his church and aspires to be a youth minister. He's also an advocate of Speaking for Ourselves.
I've heard of the works of half-a-dozen others so far who are living from the grace given them despite the labels given them. They are regularly worshippers and members with their congregations. One tells me he left a cult to be a part of his church. Another plays a tamborine during worship. One makes cards and sends them to friends. Others are ushers or have other roles in their church.
I am encouraged that they have decided to give of themselves even while others threaten to minimize their gifts because of their labels or outward appearance. It feels good to be alongside them routing them on and expecting that God will bring fruit to their works of faith. They're my heroes.

Trying something new

Last week something wonderful happened. I was on a visit with a woman who had a particular block: she didn't address people by their names. I'll call her Jane. Ironically, I'm not going to say her name on this blog because of privacy. Jane knew other people's names, and when they weren't in the room, she could even say their names, but in front of them, she didn't do this. She'd say "Hi". She had a reputation that way, people didn't expect her to say their names anymore, and as someone new came in, it was talked about in front of her that she couldn't do this.
I'd been practicing with her. I'd say "Hi, Jane!" , and asked her if she would say "Hi, Art!", mostly she laughed at me. I laughed, too, very funny. Then last week we were sitting together, and I said "Hi, Jane!", she smiled and said "Hi, Art!" Other people in the room gasped, then we all laughed and applauded her.
I like to test the reputation that other people give to people with labels of disabilities. "They can't", "they never do", and "they never will" are not words that I take for gospel. Yeah, I have assessments, and those are useful to a point for describing someone's needs and planning for their support. But that's not who they are. Who are they? Who am I? Who are you? Paul , in the Bible, wrote that "We are God's artistry, created for good works in Christ, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them (Ephesians 2:10)."
I like to find out who people are by seeing something good in them, and trying something good together. With Jane, we got started by calling each other by our names.