Does your disabled adult son or daughter have a resume?

Resumes can be used for a variety of purposes ranging from employment to volunteer opportunities. Lauren's resume may serve as an example.

Lauren

Address

Telephone

Email

Education

William T. Dwyer High School

West Palm Beach, Florida

Completed: 2008

Adult Day Program

Pathways to Independence

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Received speech, occupational and physical therapy.

Attended: 2009-2015

Els Foundation Bridge program

 (Learned work related skills; rolling utensils in napkins, wiping tables)

Attended: 2018

Volunteer Experience

Furry Friends Adoption clinic and ranch

Jupiter, Florida

2017-present

Responsibilities include providing playtime and socialization for cats and kittens.

House of Hope Thrift Store

Stuart, Florida

2017-present

Responsibilities include putting DVDs on shelves, cleaning tables and furniture, and greeting customers.

Sea Turtle Adventures

North Palm Beach, Florida

Responsibilities include getting mail, cleaning tables, feeding fish, taking out trash and watering mangrove plants.

2018-present

Emmanuel Deliverance Church of God Food Pantry

West Palm Beach, Florida

Responsibilities include unloading food from trucks, wiping tables and crossing out bar codes on donated food.

2019-present

Salvation Army Holiday Season Bell Ringer

West Palm Beach, Florida

2018-present

Memberships

United Methodist Church of the Palm Beaches

Member of the Amigos group.

2017-present

Exceptional Ensembell hand bell choir member

2018-present

Sea Turtle Adventures iCare nature, travel and volunteering clubs.

2018-present

Recognition

House of Hope, Annual volunteer recognition certificate.

Publications

Featured in an article about Sea Turtle Adventures by Jackie Kingston in the Florida Environmental Outreach magazine, April 2019.

References available on request.

Cheers!

Donna

Seriously, Is there a disability hierarchy?

As some know, another parent and I started a hand bell choir for adults with disabilities. I asked a person with significant physical disabilities to "like" the hand bell choir page on Facebook.

He asked, " Is it for people with autism?" I said, "no the bell choir includes people with a wide range of disabilities (cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, autism)."

He refused to "like" the page because the choir includes people with autism.

He went on to say, "I feel sorry for your daughter, autism is an embarrassing disability".

Is his response part of the hierarchy? Did he state what others think?

Keeping it real,

Donna

Hard to forget...: Why I hate bleach

 I picked Lauren up from elementary school every day. This day was different... Lauren was standing outside with her teacher. She was wearing a different shirt than she wore to school that day.

Use of "aversive techniques" was common in those days. Students in Lauren's class wore necklaces with tokens they earned for good behavior.

Lauren often put her tokens in her mouth. To stop Lauren from putting the tokens in her mouth, her teacher sprayed "vinegar" on the  tokens. A spray bottle of vinegar was readily available because it was used to spray in the mouth of another student when he screamed. A spray bottle of bleach was also available for cleaning....

The teacher picked up the wrong bottle and sprayed the tokens around Lauren's

 neck with the bleach bottle!! The "what if" possibilities are overwhelming.

We decided not to take legal action and opted to work toward change. I spent years collaborating with the school board to discontinue these practices. Attending meetings became a way of life for us.

Teachers, aides, administrators stared at us, and a speech therapist refused to work with Lauren. We were official "parents from hell". 

Years later, Lauren had a meltdown in the laundry room of her apartment. Details of the event remain incomplete. But somehow bleach was spilled on her pants and caused a "burn" on her leg.
 

Elementary school nightmares returned....not pretty.

Keeping it real,

Donna

Eating on $45.00 a month...$11.25 a week in food stamps!

Lauren receives food stamps every month. When her Social Security benefit increases, her food stamp (SNAP) allocation decreases.

So, here we are in 2019...Lauren just received notification that she will receive $45.00 a month....that is $11.25 dollars a week!

Lauren can't work....so without her aging, still hard working parents,.... who will help Lauren eat a nutritionally sound/life sustaining diet?

Should she count on the kindness of strangers? Soup kitchens? Food banks? Meals on Wheels?

Keeping it real!

Donna

Christmas tree lights...no joke!

One night during the holidays, Lauren's personal support person texted me and asked, "How do I turn the Christmas tree lights off"?

I replied, "pull the electrical plug out of the wall". 

She replied, "ok, I will try that".

Did you think this was a joke?

Keeping it real,

Donna

Should there be a designated sink area for staff teeth brushing?

One evening, I "called", Lauren on her Facebook Portal. I texted her aide to let her know that I would be calling before I called.

Lauren "answered" and we talked and sang some Christmas carols. 

In the kitchen, I could see her aide brushing her teeth. She was also talking to me while brushing!

Should there be a designated sink area for staff teeth brushing or is walking around the kitchen just fine?

Keeping it real!

Donna

Thoughts on disability rights and voter suppression

Lauren, now 32, has been voting via absentee/mail in ballot since she was the legal age to vote.

She signs her name LAUREN (not this clear)....but it is her signature on her voter ID, Florida License ID and on her bank accounts.

This year, a first happened!!!..Lauren's signature was called into question. 

We received a letter stating that before her ballot could be counted, she had to sign another document (and pay more postage) attesting to her signature. 

We returned the document return receipt requested....to date we have not received a response.

No matter what side of the fence you are on....does this give you pause????

Lauren's vote and the vote of every disabled person in America should count!!!


Keeping it real!

Donna