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[Music]
Center for Independence Fanning the Fire Within Video ~CC~
Narrator~: People with disabilities.. who are they?
Some have obvious disabilities, and others are hidden.
But they are among us everywhere.
The disabled population is the one minority anyone could join at any point in their lives
regardless of race, religion, age, or income.
Many people with disabilities experience struggles beyond most people's imaginations.
To simply live the happy, and independent life most Americans take for granted,
takes real strength of character.
Female voices: Got 10, 15, 16, 17, 18!
Narrator~: Their courage and enthusiasm is admirable.
But for many, succeeding in the simple American dream without resources,
or support, can be too much.
With so many hurdles in a community that simply doesn't understand them,
some people with disabilities become marginalized.
[ Back-round noise of a crowded room ]
[Door Chime]
Receptionist~: Hi, welcome to Center for Independence, How may I help you?
Female speaker~: Hi, um yeah, I was just wondering, kind of, what the Center for Independence actually does?
Narrator~: The Center for Independence has been working for people with disabilities since 1982,
helping them to achieve personal goals, community acceptance, and community integration.
Linda Taylor ~ CFI Director~: The mission for the Center for Independence is actually two-fold.
One is to empower individuals with disabilities in making the most of their life.
And that can be in every sector; recreation, employment, relationships.
It also is to create an atmosphere in the community where people with disabilities can participate.
So it's to remind the community that we need accommodations,
that we need consideration,
that we need to make the world a disability friendly place.
So, we do both things here.
Narrator~: The Center for Independence is a cross-disability, independent living center.
Meaning, people with all kinds of disabilities qualify for free services.
This includes disabilities from autism to cerebral palsy,
schizophrenia, to the hearing impaired.
The Center for Independence is an all inclusive place to grow.
[ Chatter ]
[ Chatter and back-round music ]
Female Voice~: (Signing and speaking) "A, N, N, What is Z? What is A?"
Narrator~: Having a vocational identity is extremely important in our society.
The first thing often asked in a conversation is what do you do?
For people with disabilities who are not working,
this question can bring feelings of inadequacy,
and further exclusion from the norm.
Linda Taylor~: Our vocational program, we started in 2008,
and it was a new service that we saw and needed in our community.
We have group activities, that are designed to help people develop work skills, and to be able to work together as a team.
The outcome of that is we, we do lunch three days a week.
It's our, it's our New Horizons Vocational Center cafe,
and the program, then has a product,
so people work towards a common goal, and in doing so, they learn to work.
Eric Blevens ~ Member~: I learned to, I learned to get along with others a lot more,
uh, a lot more better.
I always have a great attitude, don't always get mad, because I'm never mad at people.
I have a job at the Catholic Outreach as part, of their cooker
and I also have another job at the Haining Plumbing and Heating as their, janitor.
Linda Taylor~: The second part of it is that you develop resumes, and you spend time on computers,
and we help people gain some new technology skills,
so that they're prepared to be a better part of the work force.
We have staff who go out into the community and secure jobs and work with employers,
to make sure that they understand how to successfully integrate a person, with a disability, into their work force.
We want people to join the work force to better themselves--
and it's the program that's designed to try to bring them along.
Eric Blevens~: I enjoy having a job because I enjoy having my own thing,
about having my own thing for my,
the reason why I have it, because it's so that I have it for my own independence.
Linda Taylor~: Youth transition program, which we title in house as the Positive Access to Community Transition,
targets high school youth from the age of 14 to 24.
And this actually is a very critical time in an individual's movement from a school directed entitlement set of services,
to an adult eligible set of services.
We call it the funding cliff.
We try to make that connection and movement from one program to another with our weekly support group.
Heidi Kendall ~ Member~: I was in the youth transitional program.
I think, again I'm not too peachy on numbers but, I think I started when I was like 12, 13 years old.
My, well, my goal was to basically, believe it or not, to get out of my comfort zone,
meet some people, and uh, learn some advocacy skills at the same time.
Linda Taylor~: They get very intensive one-on-one peer group counseling.
They meet as a group, they talk as a group,
they share as a group. The group itself is its own training.
Heidi Kendall~: It taught me about the rights I had as an individual with a disability.
It um, it helped with advocacy, it helped again get me out in the community, make the connections with people.
I live with my parents and my two, lovely, little boys.
Being a mother with a disability to two little boys is an adventure.
It never, it never stops!
You get up in the morning, you run and so, you run until you go to bed.
Linda Taylor~ when I think of a youth that has successfully transformed themselves into a young adult,
I think of someone who's, who's launched,
who's not going to kind of fall into a trap of, subsistence living.
I think that's an extremely valid and important goal for our youth, especially our young people with disabilities.
Louise Poland – Member~: I had very good eyesight, good hearing,
the children said I could hear and see everything.
Of course that was because I had eyes in the back of my head too.
Arlene Denny – Member~: Anyway, then one night I was laying in bed and I seen this...
it looked like there was blood on my wall.
I got up and it looked like it was all over the floor and I went oh golly.
So I got up and called Dr. Waterhouse the next morning and I went in and my eye was bleeding,
and so he said eventually I'd be totally blind in it you know,
but he couldn't tell me when or how long or anything.
Linda Taylor~: Our Low Vision program is actually the root of our Center and was what started us.
Historically, the Center was started by Helen Campbell and some lady friends of hers around their kitchen table, her kitchen table,
because they didn't get services and they were blind.
So it was in 1982.
Since then, our low vision program has grown [from] low-tech magnifiers to high-tech, CC TVs.
We have a support group that we go and provide transportation to our Center every week,
and they come in and they meet as a group and they,
have social and educational interaction.
They get a set of, we get a sense of instilling them in the community.
Louise Poland~: I had the disability of uh losing my,
beginning to lose my eyesight with macular degeneration.
I was went to get my license and I couldn't pass my eye test.
I was very shocked at that, and I was angry.
These are our citizens, these are our friends,
not to be isolated and in their homes because they stopped driving,
they stopped working. It is to say we've given them a place to come,
a group to belong to, and a set of tools and technology that can help them extend their independent lifestyles.
Louise Poland~: Support one another, which is the whole thing is supporting one another.
We start out helpless and you gradually learn a lot.
Arlene Denny~: And we were in different stages of blindness and we are like stair steps almost, going down,
so it was really neat because I would say something sometimes "well I don't know how to do this,"
and one of the other people would say, "well this is what I do."
And, it was like, oh, and then I would talk to them and the more I got to know 'em, these were,
they were in steps that I was coming up on.
But they were already through 'em, but yet you know like again they were,
they were learning too and it was, we just became more and more, helpful to one another.
I know that if the Center and this group was not here for me, tomorrow, that I could go on, but Lord knows I don't want to.
Louise Poland~: We learn how to take care of many problems that we have,
and it makes us have hope, so we are learning to have hope as we go, and I know everyone of us has felt hope.
Not that we're maybe growing in our eyesight,
but we're learning how to work with our poor eyesight.
And that's the best thing.
Did I convince you?
Linda Taylor~: The system is [just] that, it's a system.
It is not a user friendly, hand-holding, walk in a park.
It is a complex, finite, set of rules and regulations, that you either qualify for, or you don't.
And you have to go through many layers to get to what you need.
Steven Lee ~ Member I had a stroke five years ago.
Man, they've, man, every thing, this, I would do this, one day, this.
One year! I can nothing... nothing...
Linda Taylor~: Many of the people that receive services here lack strong,
academic skills in reading and writing,
which is going to make it difficult for them to fill out complex forms.
They also, many times, relate to a disability or let's say a mental health issue, get confused.
So they're going to have a hard time actually tracking through a multi-page document.
The third problem is that communication,
is flawed in terms of how does that person hear/receive information,
and process and understand that information, so any one of these traps can have a person with a disability fall off the, path.
Steven Lee~: I can do this, I just can't talk.
Valorie Castle~: "Hi Steven." Steven~:"Hi Buddy."
Valorie~:"How you doing?" Steven~: "I'm ok, and you?" Valorie~:"So good to see you! I'm good too." Steven~: "Thanks."
Valorie~: "You come on in and we'll get busy." Steven~:"Alright."
Steven Lee~: I love Valerie, so much. I cry then too but it's ok, you know. I'm ok today, I know this.
Tomorrow I'm a little better.
Valorie Castle~: "Once we file for social security it'll take six months before we get a decision normally." Steven~: "Oh."
Linda Taylor~: Our efforts help people navigate quicker, [have] more success in the end,
and actually achieve better outcomes without having to retread the same applications over and over again.
Gary Sasser – Member They were, pretty instrumental, in my actually becoming independent.
Yeah cause, you know, they kinda help me, kinda walk me through all the, you know... [Garry playing the piano]
It'll determine whether I was eligible for low income housing, and you know, actually filling out all the proper paperwork.
Narrator~: Our recreation, health and wellness program targets the body, mind, and soul.
It is the final service here at the Center for Independence,
and it's an energetic, fun-filled, and community bound facet of the Center.
Linda Taylor~: Our recreation program is a recognition that all work and no play makes everybody a dull person.
Noleta Golden ~ Member~: My schizophrenia started when I was 9.
And when I was growing up the other kids in my class thought I was really weird,
and they didn't want to have much to do with me.
And so it was hard because I wanted to be friends with other people,
Linda Taylor~: We have activities for our people with disabilities that can be in the community,
they can be part of any community activity.
It's to give our, our consumers, our members, a place to belong.
It is also to build their skills.
It's, to flex their social muscles so that they learn by playing.
Noleta Golden~: I like to be a part of the recreation department because I get to be with people who do have disabilities,
and understand what it's like to have disabilities.
And they're people who are friendly and and it's fun to be around them,
and it's fun to get to know different people and, and to just be doing things for fun.
Pat Garland and Group~: "10, 11, and 12."
Dixie Arnette - Member~: I saw an ad in the newspaper about exercise classes that were done sitting down.
And I felt like I needed to do exercises, but because of some physical difficulties I couldn't go to a gym.
Well I had both knees replaced, and I've got three degenerative discs in my back that were creating a constant pain
and difficulty with my legs and I was on prescription pain medication for 24/7.
And since I've been doing the exercise classes within a month I was totally off of the prescription pain medicine.
I have very little pain now, and it's just been wonderful.
Narrator~: With stronger legs and balance, falls are less frequent.
With added strength and flexibility, chronic pain can be reduced,
and with dedication and practice,
mobility is greatly enhanced in even the most limited individuals.
Noleta Golden~: Being part of the community means to me that I am not like in an institution,
like I used to be in the past, where I was in the state hospital at Pueblo, [Colorado].
It's like you're actually being with other people,
and you're not just isolated and feeling miserable like I used to be.
And I'm actually... I actually want to be part of the community because there's so many things to be doing and drawing.
Narrator~: Whether it is painting pottery, line dancing, exercise or the ever popular bowling,
the programs in our health and recreation department allow everyone the possibility to develop a social life.
These are the unquantifiable things that greatly improve everyones quality of life.
Male singer~: "We all begin, with wide open eyes..."
Linda Taylor~: The community that the Center itself provides, is one of acceptance and inclusion.
It is not uncommon to see a group made up of a person in a wheelchair,
a person with low vision, and a person using a service animal,
all relating as members of our community.
I think that this is a safe place for people to allow their personalities to show,
because the people who are here are people who've lived with disabilities,
and who've accepted it as a normal function of life,
and all of us have certain challenges.
Some certainly much greater than others,
so this kind of safe haven allows people to grow.
It challenges them to be better.
It also removes the myth that because they have a disability,
they don't have any obligation to try,
and that is part of our message.
It's very hard to look at yourself as challenged,
when the person who's talking to you, is equally challenged,
and has managed to successfully navigate that disability.
Narrator~: For the past thirty years the Center for Independence carries with it a story of triumph,
a story of potential found, and of lives enhanced.
Never a hand out, but always a hand up.
The Center for Independence is about support,
individual growth,
a belonging once more to a community,
and the realization of the American dream.