The place that I reviewed for my ADA assessment was a non profit. I reviewed Cornerstone Church to see how they did following the ADA guidelines. It was weird for me because I had never looked around to see what it would be like to be disabled and try to navigate our world. As with most of the assignments in this class I was surprised by what I found and not always in a good way.

Upon entering the parking lot I looked around to see how the parking was. It turns out there were fifteen handicapped parking spaces and eight of them were able to fit a van with a ramp for a disabled person to exit. From there, there was a ramp followed by a huge wide path that leads up to the church doors. There was a ramp that would allow them to make their way from the parking lot to the entrance.
When we reach the entrance is when we run into our first problem. The doors were pull out only. I had never noticed, but they are really heavy. I brought my electronic fishing scale and the pull measured at seven pounds, two more than the ADA guidelines recommend. All you need to do to lighten the load on the door is install smaller springs in the door and it will lighten the pull on the door. All the pathways, doorways and door handles were of acceptable width to allow a wheelchair to pass everywhere accept for one.

The café had those movable rope guides to funnel people through a line and up to the counter for the order. They were only twenty-four inches apart and therefore were too thin to allow a wheelchair access to the counter via the line. Also when they reached the counter it was extremely high and was in no way allowing for someone to order from a wheel chair or to take anything off the counter. A way to remedy this would be to provide a shorter counter for the handicapped and would require some remodeling. To allow for a wider route to the counter they would only need to space the guides a little farther apart.

On the signs to all the classrooms there was Braille to allow the blind to find the rooms that they were looking for. There are also two handicap restrooms to accommodate the disabled. There were bars to provide balance as well as plenty of space to maneuver a wheel chair in them. The lights and sink were low enough to allow for all access. The doors to the entry way for the auditorium were of a light enough pull to allow for easy opening. Also there were ramps down the rows that were wide enough for a car practically to drive up them. There were also ramps to and from the stage to allow for access to the stage. All in all, there were a few improvements needed to allow for better handicap access but I thought that they had done a decent job getting things up to par. With a few small changes the place would be completely able to allow for excellent disabled access.

RA 5

I attended a theater performance by the Improbable Theater Company, which was presented by Herberger Theater Center in their Lunchtime Theater series. The troupe is composed of various people who either are disabled or are closely associated with the disabled community. There were six people in the play with two of the six being married to people with disabilities and the other four having disabilities ranging from muscular dystrophy to cerebral palsy.

Before I went to the play I honestly didn’t know or realize exactly what the performance would entail. I knew it was a play that had a cast made up of people with disabilities and other than the title of “Cause for Celebration” I knew nothing about the play.

This play was an incredible experience that was definitely eye opening. The play comprised of each member of the cast taking a turn with a monologue that outlined their life story and their disability. There were two men one of whom was married to a woman with spinal bifida and told his story on how they met. The other man was a mentor for a man who was in a hit and run and lost the ability to use any of his limbs as well as speech. One lady was born with muscular dystrophy and her sister died when she turned 12 from the same thing. So her whole childhood she was terrified that she would die when she turned 12. She went to high school before the ADA was passed and because there was no elevator she was forced to take her lunches in the classroom because she could not make it down to lunch and back before the bell rang. This is when she said that she first knew she was different. One of the actresses got arthritis when she was nine. It has been getting worse ever since she first got it. Now, 75% of her limbs are bionic and she was constantly cracking jokes about how she is glad she is different because it would suck to be like us and be all the same. She also said that she loves all the attentions she gets at airports when she goes through the scanner. She was very lighthearted and showed me how to make the best of a tough situation.

The third lady had what she called a hidden disability. She had memory problems and read her lines from her script, as she explained, because she had no short term memory. She said she was constantly being judges because she had very bad balance problems that caused people to look down on her for being drunk. The final monologue was done by the lady with cerebral palsy. She could not talk at all and humorously tried to speak with her voice and then proceeded to talk with her computer. Finally she had the director of the play, D’lores Goldsmith come out and tell her story. The highlights of her life were publishing her book as well as speaking at the ASU graduation and receiving her first ever standing ovation by thousands of people for her accomplishments.

It was amazing to me the trials and tribulations these people had to go through in order to just try and do some of the things the rest of us do without thinking. They were all so happy and content in their life station that it made me think how ungrateful I am when I cannot have the things I want and when I have to work extra hours to make rent. Things like that get me all bent out of shape and now when I stop and realize how stupid it is for me to act like that when they are always smiling and always moving forward in their life and their hurdles are so much more than anything I will ever have to deal with.

This play, and not necessarily the acting, effects or the script, but their stories told in a dramatic way absolutely floored me. I knew there were people out there who were disadvantaged but seeing them in front of me and hearing their stories motivated me to take advantage of the blessings I have in my own life such as being able to walk, remember what I had for breakfast and the ability to speak. Professionally as well as personally I feel like I have been given a gift. Even though I have had it my whole life I have definitely taken it for granted and need to learn to use it to help others. After the performance I spoke with D’lores about got her involved in working with people who have disabilities because through this play and this class I have been motivated to try and get involved with the disabled community. D’lores said that she knew someone who became disabled through a car accident and that is what motivated her to transfer her acting talents from traditional theater to improbable theater.

RA 4

The thing that really resonated with me over the course of this semester was the guest speakers Tom and Brian Lamkey. My first thought when told the story about how he found out his son had down syndrome was man that would suck. Over the course of his explanation and story of his life I came to totally do a one-eighty in my thought on having a child with downs. The story about taking a trip to Italy and getting off the plane and realizing your in Holland really resonated with me. A couple of lines that really stuck to me were how you will always wish you went to Italy but you are enjoying your time in Holland a lot. His son competed in the Special Olympics. The entire lecture was riveting and entertaining. The other part of it that stuck to me was the first time they went into the cafeteria with their fourth place ribbon. The tradition was that if you medaled during the day you could wear it to the dining hall and the entire hall would rise and give you a standing ovation for your accomplishments. I vividly remember him saying that he really wanted his son to experience that. He wanted him to be able to experience that feeling of recognition and pride for his accomplishments. Two days later they won gold in the individual bowling event. When they walked into the cafeteria that night he said he got goose bumps on his arms. He had never felt so proud of his son then he did in that moment when hundreds of people stopped eating and rose to give them a standing ovation for their great accomplishment.

Now, the need that I am identifying is that of providing athletes and special needs people with a way to feel a sense of pride and accomplishment that they can take home with them and use to boost their self esteem and moral. Most of us tend to overlook people with special needs or to baby them to the point of enabling. I think that it is crucial to allow them to work hard and earn something that will provide them with a sense of accomplishment and pride in what they have done. I am not even talking about something as huge as a Special Olympics. To use an example from the speaker, when Adam was younger he was socially not at the same place as his peers so they taught him general social guidelines such as opening the door for woman and such. They rewarded him with words and affirmation. Now, Adam is performing in areas of politeness at a level far beyond his peers, constantly looking for ways to open doors for people and to help any chance he can get.

Recreation and non profit programs for people with special needs can work hard to provide that affirmation and sense of accomplishment to their students. This could be accomplished through programs that could introduce them to the sports of the Special Olympics. Having recreation programs that can introduce children to these sports will open a whole new world of competition and excitement for them. I know there are Special Olympics chapters throughout the world, but there are very few recreation programs out there that introduce the children to the world of Special Olympics. I did some research and I also spoke to Adams’s father after class and I found the city of Phoenix has an Adaptive Recreation Program. This program provides people with disabilities an opportunity to river raft, camp and play golf among other things. They do not train or provide an opportunity to get involved in the Special Olympics but they do have a link to the Arizona chapter of the Special Olympics. There are other programs in the valley that help disabled people in sports and outdoor activities but I want to focus on a specific program that helps train interested athletes for the Special Olympics. Most people get into it by contacting their local chapter and getting involved in it with their parents. The place I am envisioning would be almost like a youth center that you could use as a jumping of point for access and learning about the Special Olympics. The activities that would be available there would be sports that are played in the Special Olympics such as bowling and gymnastics