voiceability

 Sandy Schroeder and Debbie Wilde A Non-Profit Makes Good on Its Promise By Annie Uyehara             This reporter was on a roll, finding more stories to write about for the Inclusion Campaign for Valley Life For All. Having learned so much about people with challenges and disabilities, I wasn’t ready to give it up.              But Debbie Wilde, Executive Director, and Sandy Schroeder, Vice President of the Board of Directors, are happy see the conclusion of Valley Life For All, for it is a success story, a book where the reader has come to the last page and is satisfied.              And, like finishing a good book, there’s a sense of the bittersweet, says Wilde. “It was a wonderful ride with amazing people. I’m delighted to be a part of a nonprofit that met its mission. That’s the ultimate goal of a nonpro...

Celebrating the ADA in Glenwood Springs By Annie Uyehara             Jimena De La Cruz was being wheeled around by her parents, Andrea Ramos and Mario De La Cruz. The sights and sounds were exciting; Glenwood Springs had its first annual American with Disabilities Act (ADA) celebration at Two Rivers Park this July. It was also disability pride month. There was a small and diverse crowd, but one in which all had a commonality: They either supported those with disabilities or were a person with a disability, some of whom prefer to call a challenge or an ability.             For Jimena’s parents, the celebration-complete with speakers, live music and some vendors-was an opportunity to be a part of a community. Jimena, 9, has cerebral palsy. “I do feel alone sometimes,” being a parent of a child with disabilities said her father, Mario. “It would be nice to have community.”  ...

(Photo by Annie Uyehara)   Gail Morning Garners Gold at the Colorado Special Olympics   By Annie Uyehara           She holds onto three glimmering medals around her neck and grins. Gail Morning is adding this metal hardware to her some 100 medals gathering space at her home. She is a Special Olympics champion. Having recently moved here from Pennsylvania to the Western Slope, Morning joined the Vail Barracudas, a team focused on persons with disabilities of all ages. This summer, the Vail Barracudas traveled to Grand Junction for the Special Olympic Colorado State Summer Games, and Morning swam her way to two gold medals and one bronze medal, in the 400 and 100 freestyle events.           Morning is somewhat of a professional Special Olympian, having begun competing in them at age five. The vivacious 38-year-old, who has a learning disability, has won medals in all 16 Special Olympics (S.O.) in sw...

 Photo by Annie Uyehara You Have the I.D.E.A. workshop By Annie Uyehara             It may feel easier to negotiate a maze than it is for a parent to obtain the rights for their child with disabilities.           Sandy Schroeder is hoping to make this an easier journey. In August, she’s launching “You Have the I.D.E.A.” which is a series of 12 workshops that will allow parents of children with disabilities to connect while also teaching them how to make an education plan for their child that is informed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The IDEA is a law that makes available a free appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities throughout the nation and ensures special education and related services to those children.           Schroeder was inspired to do the workshop after completi...

(Photo by Annie Uyehara)  Meet Alice Everyday Technology Helps Those with Challenges By Annie Uyehara How many times have we seen an ad for Alexa: “Alexa, turn on the lights!” It’s such a convenient device.  But few of us have considered how this popular household product and other everyday technology can be a game-changer for those with physical and cognitive challenges, or for those who want to age independently.  Alice Brouhard has an adult daughter with cognitive disabilities due to a ski accident at age five which left her partially paralyzed and with significant vision loss and no sense of time. Brouhard is a self-professed technology geek, so when she heard about Amazon’s Alexa device, she was intrigued about how it could help her daughter, Kara, become more independent. Because of Alexa and computer applications, Kara has lived on her own for 15 years.  Brouhard, who gave a TEDX talk about how apps gave her daughter a voice, says technology has “cha...

ASPEN DEAF CAMP SKILL CAMP   By Annie Uyehara  This story is brought to you by:  Steve and Christy Nilsson               The sound of hammers and hand drills compete with the sing-song rippling of Snowmass Creek which wends its way through the Aspen Camp for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Other than that, there is silence.             The young people constructing benches and a stage for an amphitheater, are not using their voices, but their hands and facial expressions to communicate about where to drill in screws, where to lay boards on the stage, and how to follow the teachers’ instructions.             The Aspen Camp for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (ACDHH)  held its first Tri-State Job SkillsTraining Camp the first week of May. Eighteen students from Utah, New Mexico and Colorado gathered...

  Rae Henson, photo provided When Movies Speak By Annie Uyehara             There was a poignant moment for Rae Henson in the movie, “CODA,” when the father asks his daughter to sing for him. He’s deaf and she can hear. He puts his hand to her throat so he can feel the vibrations of her voice.             “I have two CODA daughters,” explains Henson, who teaches deaf and hard of hearing children and is deaf herself. “One of my daughters sings and I’d say to her, will you sing for me, too?” Her daughters can hear, which makes them both CODA, which is an acronym for Children Of Deaf Adults. “So I could really relate to that scene in the movie.”             The movie, “CODA”, made history for the deaf community by winning three Academy Awards this year, including  Best Supporting Actor by deaf actor Troy Kotsur and Be...

  Norma Stanton photo by Annie Uyehara Norma Stanton: A Profile in Optimism and Hope By Annie Uyehara If you envision an 84 year old woman who lives alone as frail, lonely, and dependent on others, throw that thought away. At least when we're talking about Norma Stanton. She just had a double total knee replacement a few months ago. Who does that at any age? And she's walking around doing errands on her own. Norma has held tubas up long enough to roll the dents out of them; she still drives her lawnmower around in her big yard in the mountains, and cleans her large home by herself and drives 2-1/2 hours to see her daughter. "I'm a good old country gal," says the gregarious Norma, whose husband died 8 years ago. "I can pretty much do anything." She doesn't care if people call her a senior, elderly, an older adult. "The phrasing matters not a bit to me. I am what I am." She considers herself nothing special but she's a picture of resilien...

Chad Federwitz, Manager Senior Services for Pitkin County Judy Martin, Manager for Senior Programs for Garfield County Carly Rietmann, Healthy Aging Manger for Eagle County Seniors Services of Eagle, Garfield & Pitkin Counties are Honoring the Senior Population Story and Photos by Annie Uyehara Depending on the society one lives in, the elderly population can be seen as wise and honored family members or they’re seen as a burden to society and a stress on the health system. But if we choose to get to know them better we’ll find a population in our mountain towns that has a rich history, amazing stories of challenges and victories, and that has a wealth of resources and at the same time a great lack of them.   The best way to introduce our elderly population is to begin with the foundation of what resources are available to older adults.   There are generally five programs counties provide: transportation, meal programs, nutrition, information and referral, health and welln...

  Dana Bohannan and Charlie photo by Annie Uyehara The Gift of Independence Can Come in Unusual Packages By Annie Uyehara Dana Bohannan wasn't ready to get another dog. She lost her beloved Bandit, a chihuahua, just two weeks earlier. But ain't it running the way things work out? Bohannan was dropping off Bandit's leftover meds at an animal rescue shelter and was asked if she'd foster Charlie, a mutt who had been in the kennel too long, unadopted. She agreed to take Charlie for 72 hours. Bohannan has Cerebral Palsy (CP) on one side of her body. When the challenges of CP loomed large she had a supportive family to help her face them. She'd never had a service dog before and she never expected Charlie to be that dog. "Charlie protected me from the start, he acted like a shield for me," Bohannan recalls. "When it was time to return him to the shelter, he wouldn't get out of the car, he refused!" While she was there, she developed a migraine head...

Anavey Vigil photo by Annie Uyehara Anavey Vigil is Finding Confidence Among Challenges By Annie Uyehara “Yialsexd” is what Anavey Vigil might see when she reads the word, “dyslexia,” which is the challenge she’s faced since she began to read at the age of six.   Dyslexia affects 1 in every 5 people and is a disorder that involves difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols, but that doesn’t affect general intelligence. Vigil explains there’s many variations of dyslexics. “Mine is pretty rare. When I read, the lines on the paper go sideways or letters turn into numbers or the letters will be wavy.” When Anavey was diagnosed in kindergarten, her mother, Christine Demers, was scared and knew little about dyslexia. “My biggest focus was to keep her confident. It’s a lifelong challenge that you have to adapt to.” Christine quickly learned that Anavey could learn through touch. “I’d write a letter on her hand or draw it on her back, or with play dough, ...

Amy Schuster & Debbie Wilde of Valley Life For All photo by Annie Uyehara Disability Employment Awareness Month By Annie Uyehara Amy Schuster is a whirlwind of vivacity and laughter. It's only when she mentions she may move slower than others when she works, that one notices she has two prosthetic legs and that she looks a bit different. Schuster has Moebius syndrome, a rare congenital condition that results from underdevelopment of the facial nerves that control some of the eye movements and facial expressions. The condition can also affect the nerves responsible for speech. She is quick to say, "My disability isn't all of who I am." The demystification of what "disability" is – Schuster's goal – is highlighted October, which is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. The focus is inclusion in the workplace. Inclusion is what Valley Life For All (VLFA), a nonprofit, is all about. Executive Director, Debbie Wilde, emphasizes the need to exclu...