October 6 Disability Awareness Item

Hi Friends

Sometimes when one deals with leadings to do something NOW, one overlooks elements that it would be nice to have. For instance, it would have been nice to include in yesterday’s post, some kind of query about Friends’ reactions to the Dining in the Dark items. I mentioned that I had a bunch of different reactions, which Friends are welcome to ask about; that topic though seems contained enough that Friends also might have comments or observations. Do you?

Today’s topics are way more expansive, an event called Accessibility Camp, my experiences in various kinds of meetings, and as an aside, a link to a blog that looks really interesting about autism.

http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2011/06/say-word-accessibility.html

An item about a public participation meeting I attend regularly. A couple points stick out about my experience:

--I go there basically to get in people’s faces so I always have something to say.

--I am really not very good at visual cues about whether I have been
recognized and sometimes I just jump in without being recognized. To me it is interesting that the chair, a very bright manager of some kind from Vulcan who I would never otherwise expect to meet, ALWAYS says Thank you to members of the public who comment. He thanks me. He thanks people who make very passionate wandering contributions. Hethanks EVERYONE.

A link for volunteers at Accessibility Camp, the event referred to in
the post above.

http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2011/05/accessibility-camp-volunteers.html

The item interests me because of the roles listed and the services and
traits needed in each. The “must be comfortable being touched” item
stood out, especially after everyone introduced themselves at the
event. One of the blind people there asked everyone in their
introductions to please also identify their disability; as with many
gatherings of computer people, people with Asperger’s syndrome were
heavily represented. I myself was a greeter which meant meeting people
in front of the elevators in the downtown library and helping them
find the conference room on The Red Floor, the fourth floor where the
floor, walls, and ceilings of the hallways are ALL the same color of
red. A white cane is SO helpful there in places. It is amusing to
qualify as (comparatively) sighted guide.

A description of the Accessibility Camp “un-conference” format.
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2011/03/accessibility-camp-may-20-21.html

I find the un-conference concept really Quakerly in terms of getting people together to talk and listen and letting the content of the schedule take shape as those assembled are led. Well, that’s what I would call it anyway.

Two things stood out from this event that I do not think have gotten into any blog posts yet:

--A woman who introduced herself by saying “I’m from the IRS and I want a revolution!” Somehow that is just not something I expect to hear from the IRS.

--I threw a number of topics onto the wall. Several of them became the nuclei for different time slots on the grid including two scheduled at the same time, multilingual / multicultural and something else. The something else got grouped with a bunch of other items so I figured people would attend. Since I put the topic up I decided I should show up at the multilingual / multicultural slot. A number of people showed up and people mostly wanted to talk about people with different disabilities talking to each other across disabilities and the different service delivery silos that evolve for different populations.


On a completely different topic, this autism blog looks really
interesting with a whole range of links.
http://autistscorner.blogspot.com/


I think I was seasoning some additional comments but perhaps they can wait.

In the Light.
(RantWoman)

October 5 Disability Awareness Dialogue

Hi Friends

I am sure by now you are certain I have tunnel vision and have forgotten all about all sorts of mobility challenges, hidden disabilities, mental impairments, the entire autism spectrum. I have not forgotten, but decided instead to riff on “Blindness Tourism,” better than blindfolds ways to try one’s hand at blindness.

Today’s email brings news that an upcoming Dining in the Dark fundraiser locally is still looking for blind waiters. I have never, ever, not even once in my life ever held a job as a waitperson and really cannot imagine starting now. More to the point, I am otherwise occupied on the day they need. But I would not mind in the least hearing that the event is being catered by a local blind chef.

But never mind my capacity for ranting beyond obvious Light. Dining in the Dark events started in Germany and are usually fundraisers for some good cause or another. The Seattle one is for something called Global Explorers. Volunteer waitstaff will be given signed copies of a book by Erik Weihenmayer, a blind guy who climbed Mount Everest a few years ago. I personally am amused by a blind guy handing out signed copies of a book in print to other blind people. I am amused by other moments from the commentary below as well. But my amusement meter is set peculiarly.

Enjoy! ? !

http://www.blindness.org/index.php?view=article&catid=85%3Afundraising-events&id=558%3Adining-in-the-dark&option=com_content&Itemid=169



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d548Gqb4j7s&noredirect=1



http://blogs.sfweekly.com/foodie/2009/05/a_sighted_account_of_dining_in.php


http://www.bizbash.com/dining_in_the_dark_for_foundation_fighting_blindness_was_well_eye-opening/newyork/story/17642


(RantWoman)



Dear RantWoman

I did not follow up with the links you provided but did appreciate my awareness meter rising ever so slightly in tune with your comments in ... this email.

Blindfold Tourism Friend n or n+1


Dear Friend

I am not in charge. A bunch of different clerks of things are not in charge. God is in charge. I really do not expect everyone to interact with everything and it will not take much for BIG progress compared to a whole bunch of issues.

Enough different people are doing the same irritating and / or
uninformed things that I am in one way or another just tilling the
ground about a whole bunch of topics like the life with no vision /
messed up vision issue. It's not really like it's the most fun thing
to invite people to walk alongside about in the first place, but it
also matters that people have enough information to respond when I try
to speak to what is most important TO ME.

I also have ...different levels of convictions about how some of these issues relate to community life. So I am to be tru to the Light I am given, but I am TRYING to stay away from. say, flame throwers.

(RantWoman)

October 4 Disability Awareness

Dear Friends

This is like the SAT’s. Probably no one will interact with everything
here, but who says I know when to quit?

Today’s items:

An item I came across by following links off Twitter:
http://www.helpinghands4theblind.org/dos-and-donts/


An item about a different person’s experience of vision, lots of
assumptions about the blind, some do’s and don’ts from the article
cited and from me as well.

http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2010/08/oh-wow-she-eats-sandwiches.html

This item mentions several issues and behaviors spelled out in a
survey I did awhile ago about the experience of people with
disabilities and issues these people face in different contexts such
as transportation, shopping, school…. I could see from my answers that
I am comparatively well off, but I was also checking “would rather not
answer” a little too often for questions about my religious
congregation and a couple other highly important activities.

Two items from my blogs about lots and lots of people having the same
problems and the benefits of someone making a lot of noise to try to
address the situation.

If you think our Friend with the ministry of audible eye rolling is a
challenge, add a memorial:
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/07/agnes-schmoe.html


More RantWoman tells too much of the truth but the item about the
healthcare summit is what I am referring to.
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2009/01/death-by-powerpoint-part-n1.html

Those of you who read this item and my previous experience of purple
text on green background may be amused that my very own Quaker blog
now has purple text on a green background. Credit: high-index plastic
instead of glass in my current lasses, dramatically improved color
presentation and flat screen technology on the computer.


One more because it turned up while finding the items above.
Another staple of life with disabilities, the consent decree This
item is a lot of policy nerd content probably not of immediate
relevance for life at UFM. Sometimes access for people who need
language assistance is addressed in the same organizational processes
as access for people with disabilities. This item is interesting to me
because it ONLY cites legislation related to disabilities and only
addresses disabilities but does list an interesting list of kinds of
assistance.
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2010/01/effective-communications-for-people.html


In the Light

(RantWoman)

PS: a more or less serious question: I have a job posting from (large company) about accessibility sitting in my inbox. The RantWoman tendency to tell too much of the truth would kick in: Dear Potential Employer, I thought you deserved to get sued ... about accessibility… I am meditating about some other issues; it’s possible applying would be an interesting exercise even if I did not get the job. In any case, if Friends know anyone in a position to comment on what it’s like to work (at said company), I would be interested in talking…

October 3 Disabilities Awareness Item Exchange.

Dear Friends

Today’s topic is hearing loss. Hearing loss probably deserves several
days. No promises.

At Quarterly Meeting John Helding talked a lot about “vibrant
meetings.” There were various aspects of “vibrant.” A couple had to do
with sound. At first all I could think of was our worship room walls
covered in carpet and a lot of members aging and struggling with
hearing loss, but the words moveable microphone also keep wandering
into mind, for numerous situations.

I am amused about the following checklist:
http://www.homeaudiologyservices.com/hearing-loss-checklist.aspx


My mother complains all the time that she wishes people would mumble less.
Talking to Mom on the phone is regularly an adventure in
miscommunication. Come to think of it, maybe I should ask her about an
amplified telephone….

She has had the volume of her television far too loud for me for
years. Fortunately, when I come to dinner she says endearing things
like “Turn off the television. You’re more fun than oil spills.”

Last time I went to dinner, I got to hear all about Mom’s recent trip
to Utah to see her 3 surviving siblings. One of the things they did
was to go visit the college my grandmother attended in Salt Lake city.
They got a tour and got to look at old yearbooks. My mom said she even
got to see a picture of my grandmother’s roommate for whom my mother
was given her middle name.

The other thing Mom said when I prompted her about a favorite uncle
who was just miserable a few years ago with hearing issues when
everyone came to Seattle: this uncle now has hearing aids in both ears
and life is MUCH better. From what most hearing aid users tell me,
much better likely includes increased volume, but increased clarity is
less to be expected.

A couple more items from the top page of Google results.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hearing-loss/DS00172


http://www.asha.org/public/hearing/disorders/types.htm


http://www.hearingloss.org/


Amusing to see what DiversityInc serves up today, not particularly
about hearing loss
http://diversityinc.rsvp3.com/diversity-facts/disability-employment-awareness-month-facts-figures-2/


An obligatory RantWoman tells a little too much of the truth item:
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2009/03/why-rantwoman-is-one-who-needs-video.html


In the Light
(RantWoman)

PS.Reminder: Anyone who is displeased by the content, presentation,
length or any other attribute beyond mere existence of my daily
offerings is invited to cut ahead of me in line. If I receive an item
with disability-related content as opposed to grumbles about my
offerings, I am happy to take the day off.

Turrell Skyspace

RantWoman is filing this item for the appreciation of Quaker travellers and museum attenders:

http://www.henryart.org/exhibitions/show/14

RantWoman was led to do this one fine fall evening while waiting for a bus across the street from the Turrell skyspace. It was a clear fall evening. RantWoman had come from a fundraiser for the homeless group who sleep on the floors of our Meeting. The Turrell Skyspace was lit up a lovely shade of blue. RantWoman needed to say some prayers because of something else.

http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2011/10/car-vs-bicyclist.html


Is RantWoman inappropiately impeding her Meeting's path to spiritual perfection? Standing across the street, thinking about, several years ago, worshipping in the Turrell Skyspace with its wood-covered walls, oval shape, padded bench all the way around the room, RantWoman was led to think again of trying to convene a Meeting for Worship there sometime this fall.

RantWoman has now spoken to two people on Worship and Ministry about her leading to see whether more Friends are interested in holding worship in the Turrell Skyspace sometime this fall. Worship and Ministry committee would be the logical committee to ask. RantWoman is TRYING not to engage with every opportunity arising to foam at the mouth about that topic.

The other impeding her Meeting's path to spiritual perfection issue: RantWoman mentioned her leading to hold worship at the Skyspace; RantWoman so far has not mentioned the circumstance in the link above that made RantWoman feel especially blessed to think of the Skyspace at the moment her leading arose.

Let's just say, there is Quaker time and there is going to be RantWoman time. Stay tuned.

October 2 Disabilities Awareness Item

Dear Friends

Please at least hold the topic of this message in prayer and feel free to hit delete without reading. If you cannot at least hold the topic in prayer before deleting, WHY EVEN HAVE PASTORAL CARE COMMITTEES?

...

I have received two requests to be taken off the mailing list, both from members of Worship and Ministry committee. I am to be true to the Light I am given about wanting SOME kind of common community language for conversations. I also find it frustrating to hear Friends complain endlessly about limitations of energy and then trying to shoot down energy that emerges. Again, I mean to send something out every day. Any day someone else sends something to this list before I get around to it, I will be happy to take the day off.

It is not my experience that God shows up only between 9 and 9 by phone and only in nice seasoned non-distressing increments; sometimes all I can do when I see how God shows up for others is to count my
blessings and be grateful to have only my own problems; some of the time one has no way necessarily of knowing what matters most. I mean it when I try to speak to everyone mattering, but I also think it’s a
call to be open and witness to the workings of God in others’s lives AND in our community even when we ourselves might not even want to look.

The second Friend requesting to be taken off the mailing list is the clerk of Worship and Ministry. Previously, the Clerk’s approach to mentoring is “season yourself;” I apologize but that sounds to me like
a suggestion that I show up in Meeting for Worship with giant salt and pepper shakers. This Friend suggested in person that I try Facebook which I find very hard to deal with or my blog. I DO NOT consider all of the content of yesterday’s attachment suitable for a blog, but if
Friends disagree….

I do need to take responsibility for not calling him during spring nominations season, and I already know I need to find an appropriate venue to discuss some concerns with him. Also, so many people had
already done so many other concerning things that I did not call because it seemed like situations were going to be stuck no matter what.

That Friend and I were part of a lively discussion during Adult Ed this morning about a number of themes:

--a need in any community for many kinds of pastoral care and emotional care of each other functions, and respect for different life experience and ways to fulfill these functions even when there is no paid clergy who might have encountered some of these topics in their training.

--whether committee members needed to be compatible or just able to negotiate conflicts

--whether Friends should show up to Business Meeting expecting their minds to be changed (or even just show up) This Friend was not even at the June 12 Business Meeting where I said over and over, I cannot  ell whether my problem is a wacky circuit in my own brain or a lot of “shut up” messages. I continue to test that issue. At Adult Ed, I said I think it’s important for Friends to show up at Business Meeting expecting that their minds MIGHT be changed and spoke to my own needs for conversations with many voices where one is heard at a time and the result is something maybe no one expected at the beginning.

Today I was chaperoning (The Safest Sex Offender on the Planet) or Adult Education so I am going to write about a few things to do with knowing him. What I mostly mean to write about is maps and how different people decide where to go or not go.

I know I go lots of places many people do not even attempt. I feel very lucky to be able to do this, but I also put a lot of energy into the topic. I have to spend a lot of time sometimes figuring out how
different people are going to get places.

Do people walk, ride the bus, use Access or taxis? What happens if people with different needs and eligibilities want to go someplace together?

Are the routes level for people with bad knees and manual wheelchairs or are they so steep that even a person with a power wheelchair or scooter does not dare attempt them?

What about the sidewalks? Are there sidewalks? Are the sidewalks level or are the full of the kind of concrete vs tree route discontinuities that send people to the ER with a broken wrist or, together with other events from one’s life history cause the words “white cane” to wander across one’s mind?

Are there curb cuts?

Are the curb cuts installed correctly or will a wheelchair user risk tipping over onto their face into the path of oncoming traffic if  actually trying to use the curb cut?

Are there stoplights? Do the stoplights have audio signals? How likely am I to get killed if I rely only on audio signals?

Do the streetlights usually work or do I need to remember to call in and complain?

How far is it to the bus stop? How far is it from the bus stop to my destination? Is anyone in the party going to have trouble travelling that distance? What are people bringing in the way of canes, walkers, shopping carts, backpacks, strollers, mysterious encumbrances?

How far is it from the bus stop to the Light Rail entrance? Is the elevator at my nearest Light Rail station working after MONTHS of announcements that the southbound side is out of order?

What is the sonic environment like around my destination? Can I get enough information out of the din to cross streets safely?

With all that on my mind, forgive me if I cannot always tell you how to find a good parking place.

But back to (the Safest Sex Offender on the Planet). This Friend and I had not really talked more than saying Hi in passing for a long time until after the January Meeting for Business when he was given permission to come to Adult Education on First and Third Sundays of the month. The first time he came he asked at the end of the session for people willing to serve as a chaperone.

I filled out the required paperwork (from the Department of Corrections / his program) and reviewed the tasks: it seemed doable. Well, it seemed doable but as with a whole lot of things everything is an experiment. This item is not going to elaborate on the experiment and trial and error points in mind, but there are some.

I learned right away from (the Safest Sex Offender...), he has a REALLY different map of the city than Ido. He never goes near parks, playgrounds, even bus stops. Just avoiding the bus means his transportation costs and picture are really different from mine. In stores the first thing he does is to grab a shopping cart so there is always something between him and wandering children.

Even though the travel details this Friend and I have to manage are very different, I find it interesting that thinking about travel is such a big thing for both of us.

This Friend is also a big coffee drinker and that made me think of another map drawn as part of a mapping exercise at a workshop I led during one of my disaster preparedness projects. There were several adults with different learning disabilities at the workshop and one of the men made the best map: it was his hand on a coffee mug!

Below my name are a couple illustrative blog links.

In the Light.

(RantWoman)
An item from a couple years ago. Now my mom has two bionic knees which is an improvement. Perhaps Friends who need to think about how Meeting ministers to each other as we age will find this evocative.
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2009/08/adventure-travel-crossing-second-avenue.html


Confessions of nutritional sins too.
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2009/10/diner-food.html


Again, when Friends need even more help getting around, can you count on curb cuts if you need a wheeled mobility device?
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2009/07/who-says-curb-cuts-help.html

Happy Disabilities Awareness Month!

(RantWoman GUESSES she is relieved to be able to post this entire email unredacted. Now RantWoman is going to have to review the attachment that went with it and decide whether or not the blogosphere needs any of it. RantWoman is pretty sure the blogosphere is going to need some but not all of it. RantWoman expects it is entirely possible to hold her and her Meeting in the Light without wading immediately into ALL the details of why.)


Dear Friends

This email is an abbreviated version of the attached document.

October is National Disabilities Awareness Month. You have the following promo to thank for the opportunity to be reminded of this.
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2011/09/starbucks-card-in-braille-limited-time.html


What stands out most for you about this item?

What is your reaction to this item?

In observance of this month, I will be sending everyone in the TO: and
CC: fields some kind of email about one or more disabilities issues every day of October. I hope to spark conversations among all of us. I hope the conversations are not more uncomfortable than the ones I am already having. I will do the best I can to offer short intros, clear queries and to force you either to download something if I teem the content unsuitable for a blog or to click on something in order to
help you CHOOSE when to click further.

I expect to draw heavily but not exclusively from my own blogs partly because another focus is life of our Meeting. I apologize in advance because RantWoman, my blogosphere alter ego is a little too in love with her own puddles of purple prose and is not the least bit gracious about the entire topic of editing. I do not particularly expect that everyone will read every item. Trust your Light and trust that what you can do will matter.

Honestly, I would not mind NOT being the only person sending out email on this theme for October. I do not promise I will get my daily item sent out at any set time. On days when I receive something sent to the same list as I have used from someone else, I will be happy to take the day off.

In any case, I request that you hold all of this in prayer. You are welcome to ask me about the content of this and future email, but I do
not promise that I will automatically be prepared to respond. I particularly need to note that noise and clamor on Sunday mornings
sometimes get in the way of all but the most perfunctory conversations. As some of you who have hung in for tough phone conversations can attest, I do not make any promises about drama-free phone calls. I also really do value email for being able to think over people’s words more than once.

In the Light.

(RantWoman)