Lynda Steele: Reflections on the past, present & future

 

Lynda Steele, Executive Director of Abilities United
 and Linda Vargas, parent & volunteer, celebrate at the
Abilities United 50th Anniversary Recognition party.

The following is Lynda Steele's speech at the Abilities United 50th Anniversary Recognition party held on April 25, 2013.

When Abilities United was founded in 1963, life was very different for people with disabilities and their families. In California, 13,400 people were living in institutions and 3,000 more were on the waiting list for admission. Families with children with disabilities had few, if any services. They were faced with the tough choice of their child living in an institution miles away, or leading an isolated life at home.
The 12 founding families of Abilities United wanted their children to have the same rights and resources as everyone else – to share in community life and not be shut away from it. At the same time, Betty Wright was teaching children to swim in her backyard pool.  Betty realized that water was the great equalizer and leveled the playing field for children with and without disabilities.With these visionary founders, the community was mobilized and Abilities United was born.  The organization leased land from Santa Clara County and raised donations to build its first pre-school on Middlefield Road so that early childhood support services could begin.  This was quickly followed with a recreational program in 1966, then aquatics and respite services in 1969, all as a response to the needs of families in the community.
At the same time, significant public policies changed.  The state of California passed the Lanterman Act in 1969, creating a right to services for people with developmental disabilities. This was coupled with the civil rights movement led by Ed Roberts to create Centers for Independent Living across the country. Mass transportation, education and employment were made more accessible.  When the Americans with Disabilities Act was finally passed in 1990 President, George H.W. Bush said “Let the shameful wall of exclusion come tumbling down”.
Now, 50 years later, less than 3,000 people in California are living in institutions and over 240,000 receive services in the community. Abilities United is proud to be a part of this revolution.  We have grown from serving 12 children in 1963 to serving over 62,000 people with disabilities in our 50 years of service to the community. Our impact reaches far and wide because of all you have each done to help us fulfill our founders dream. I am sure our founders would be proud today to know that many of our children are getting a fast start on life with our help.  They would be pleased to know that many of our adults are employed in businesses you patronize; many more are living independently throughout our neighborhoods.
In our past 50 years, we, and the people we serve have demonstrated the significant contribution that people with disabilities can make in their community. Based on their needs to be the best they can be, they used the opportunities, resources and supports we created together. The dark ages of institutional care and exclusion from society are nearly over.
 
We now want to build on this solid foundation.  Help us work side by side with other organizations and individuals to ensure a future of full inclusion, where people with and without disabilities live, learn, work and play together.  So just take a moment to imagine the future with me….

• Imagine Abilities United working with even more pre-schools, child care centers and school districts so that they can be fully equipped to ensure all children get the best start in life regardless of their disability.
• Imagine Abilities United partnering with City Parks and Recreation departments so that afterschool programs are available for all children and parks are accessible to everyone.
• Imagine a community where every employer is like Safeway and calls Abilities United first for qualified job applicants to fill their vacancies.
• Imagine Abilities United becoming the regional or national training center for aquatics professionals so that many more swimming  pools have the capacity and skills to serve people with disabilities.
• Imagine a community where  technology is available to everyone to help minimize the effect of a disability.
• Imagine a community where people who are still bullying people with disabilities are required to report to our very powerful Abilities United self advocacy group to explain their behavior and change it.
• Imagine people being defined for their abilities and not their disabilities.
• Imagine no more excuses to justify segregation.
• Imagine no more barriers.
• Just imagine no SPECIAL anything any MORE!

With your continued help this future is within our grasp. Thank you.


Presented by Lynda Steele at the Abilities United 50th Anniversary Recognition party  on April 25, 2013.

Niels Smaby and Tina Hendrickson: volunteer experience changed their lives

 

Niels Smaby, his wife Tina Hendrickson, & their children:
their connection to Abilities United changed their lives.

Abilities United can change people’s lives, whether it’s for the lives of participants, their families, or even  volunteers. Just ask Niels Smaby and his wife Tina Hendrickson.  

Niels and Tina first became involved with what is now Abilities United when they were at Stanford in the late 1980s. “We happened to both take a class called ‘Understanding The Handicapped,’ and through this we came to volunteer at the pool at Abilities United,” says Tina. Little did either of them know that the next few months would have an enormous impact on the rest of their lives.  

First, through working together, Niels and Tina became close, and before long they were married. “Many of our co-workers and clients from Abilities United came to the wedding,” says Tina as she fondly recalls the memory.  

Second, the experience at Abilities United was to shape their life perspective and Niels' career.  

“The pool was a great place to be and a great experience,” says Niels. “After I graduated I worked two jobs for a while, as a physical therapy aide in downtown Palo Alto, and at Abilities United Betty Wright Swim Center. At my physical therapy job, I was struck at how people would complain about how their injuries impacted things like their tennis game or their golf swing. Then I’d go to the pool and work with people who had more significant disabilities, and they didn’t complain at all.”  

“One of the men I worked with has cerebral palsy. His therapy includes walking in the pool,” says Niels. “We spent a lot of time together in the water, walking and talking, and we became good friends. I eventually went over to his house to help him get his home computer work area set-up, as he has some unique needs because of his disability.”
Niels became increasingly interested in assistive technology. In the coming years he designed custom devices to aid people with disabilities in their jobs. He also worked at the Veteran’s Administration helping improve reconstructive surgical processes to give vets with spinal cord injuries better use of their hands. Today Niels is an engineer at Intuitive Surgical, which designs and manufactures surgical robots used in laparoscopic surgical procedures.

Niels' and Tina's early experience at Abilities United also impacts their family's next generation.  Their two daughters learned to swim at the Abilities United Betty Wright Swim Center. “They were in the pool when they were a couple months old,” says Tina. “The warm water was perfect for infants. They’ve continued swimming at Abilities United ever since.”  

 “Volunteering at Abilities United was an amazing life experience,” says Neils. Tina then adds “The people we worked with were so appreciative, but I think I got even more out of the experience than they did.”

Based on a 2013 interview with Niels Smaby & Tina Hendrickson.  Written by Bob Thomas, edited by  Niels Smaby, Tina Hendrickson and Wendy Kuehnl

Champ Pederson: I've grown and learned how to be an adult with a disability

Champ Pederson lives independently in Palo Alto and
utilizes Abilities United Independent Living Skills.

My name is Champ Pederson and I am a 25-year-old man with Down Syndrome.  

I was living independently in Palo Alto in 2010, and I had my own place. I was using services from another agency, but I wanted something better. 

I wanted to major in communications. I wanted to have a career in public speaking. I want to be an advocate for people with Down syndrome.

After I graduated from Taft College in 2010, I came to Abilities United. At Abilities United I learned how to be a professional, and how to be an adult with a disability. I have learned new things like grocery shopping, meal prep, keeping a budget, and time management. 

Abilities United helps me out no matter what I do in life. I have Down Syndrome and its going to be with me all my life. I used to be frustrated. I lashed out at people and I told people off. I got very mad. I cursed. I cried. Now, I can control my anger by walking it off, going to my room, and finding fun things to do. Abilities United has done a lot for me, and it’s hard to explain how much it means to me. I am happy. This is MY story to tell, and it’s such a beautiful thing that it makes me want to cry. 

My family supports me in what I do. My family has seen me grow up and be a good son to my mother. My Mom is my strongest advocate. She helps me whenever I need her. I have faith and hope in my brothers.  I am a sensitive, emotional, fun loving, cheerful man. I know I have problems. We all have problems, but there are people here at Abilities United to help me. 

I believe in the quote on the Abilities United web site: “If you want to be happy for an hour, take a nap. If you want to be happy for a day, go fishing. If you want to be happy for a month, go on a honeymoon. If you want to be happy for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want to be happy for a lifetime, help children with disabilities.” 

Written by Champ Pederson. Edited by Bob Thomas and Champ Pederson.

Abilities United Betty Wright Swim Center Director to Present Findings at the Society of Public Health Education’s 64th Annual Conference

Abilities United Betty Wright Swim Center’s Managing Director, Rho Henry Olaisen, will share the findings and lessons learned from a 2012 post-stroke training course held at the Betty Wright Swim Center, at the Society of Public Health Education’s 64^th annual meeting “The Magic of Health Education: Vision, Imagination & Transformation”. Held in Orlando, Florida, the conference caters to more than 400 of the nation’s leading community health leaders from business, industry, and academia.

Rho Henry Olaisen, M.P., who also teaches Healthcare Organization and Administration, and Health Promotion, Planning and Evaluation at San Jose State University’s Department of Health Sciences, will present “Transforming and Strengthening Health Promotion via Interdisciplinary Educational Collaborative: Lessons Learned from a Pilot Program.” The Pilot Program intervention, sponsored by the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, recruited 20 aquatic practitioners, most of them employees of Abilities United, and trained them in core principles of stroke health promotion guidelines and techniques during a four-day course. Focus of the program was to expand knowledge and understanding of the underlying condition, refine skills for communicating with post-stroke patients, address safety concerns, learn precautionary protocols for working with post-stroke survivors and gain awareness of environmental factors – such as healthcare costs, transportation, caregiver support– affecting clinical outcomes and progress. The course was led by an interprofessional faculty with backgrounds in nursing as well as physical, occupational, speech and recreational therapy. This group of experts delivered education in both traditional and non-traditional formats, including lectures, problem-based learning, integrated reflection, and teamwork.

Contributing to the success of the program were community collaborators-- Pacific Stroke Association, El Camino Hospital, Hydro Institute, and REACH Fitnee—and patients and their caregivers, who actively participated in every in-water session.

“The level of community-based collaboration, from its infancy through successful completion, that this project embraced illustrates the vast potential of this approach with regard to a new model of delivery of care to those recovering from stroke," commented Alissa Shaw, project collaborator with the Peninsula Stroke Association.

Patient volunteers were instrumental in conveying to the student practitioners their needs and desired outcomes for an interactive and dynamic aquatic program. They helped enlighten students on the value and importance of working collaboratively with patients and participants for the most holistic long-term health outcomes.

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke[1]  in the United States more than 700,000 people have a stroke each year, and approximately two-thirds of these individuals survive and require rehabilitation. Typical rehabilitation goals include regaining independence and achieving long-term quality of life. These goals can be attained by relearning skills such as leg movement, coordination, and ability to complete complex tasks. Practicing skills repetition in a comfortable environment such as warm water, with the guidance of trained therapists, is a critical step on the path to recovering function and independence.

To reach the goal of being a “National Health & Wellness Aquatic Therapy Leader by 2014”, the Betty Wright Swim Center at Abilities United delivers an ongoing program of evidence-based aquatic therapy trainings for health and fitness professionals.

In January 2013 the Betty Wright Swim Center delivered a second intervention, building upon lessons learned in the 2012 course, during a week-long training program in Adapted Aquatics for children with disabilities. In August 2013, the center–again in collaboration with community alliances and partners–will offer a four-day interprofessional workshop about advancing competency in working effectively with patients who have Parkinson’s disease.

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[1] Source: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/stroke/poststrokerehab.htm

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Written by Lucia Panini, Marketing and Communications Manager, Abilities United Aquatic Services. 

Ellen Ehrlich: early family experiences bring her to Abilities United

 

Ellen Ehrlich, with Liz from the Adult Day Activities Program,
who surprised Ellen with a  "Make My Day" thank you

My journey to Abilities United began over six decades ago when my parents of beloved memory had a baby boy, my brother. Shortly before he turned one, he was diagnosed with congenital brain damage--a fluke of nature, the doctors explained.

Two years later another baby boy arrived and, sadly, nature repeated itself. The boys lived short lives, succumbing to pneumonia at ages two and four. Happily, an adopted son later joined our family.

After many intervening years of academic wanderings, my husband Tom and I finally settled back into our Palo Alto home that had been rented for 21 years. At that time my college classmate Rosemary Enthoven was the president of what is now Abilities United. She swiftly recruited me. Luckily for me I joined Board of Directors. It was a perfect opportunity for me to honor my parents.

Little did Tom and I know then that when our first grandchild was born three months prematurely he would swim early on at the Betty Wright Swim Center at Abilities United. Now he is a strapping college junior!

As is so often the case with volunteering, I have received far more from this superb agency than I have given. Looking back, I cannot imagine how my mother and father managed in Chicago without the warm embrace and skilled services of Abilities United staff. May all in our community benefit from another 50 years of such excellence.

Written by Ellen Ehrlich. Edited by Ellen Ehrlich and Bob Thomas.

Pamela Newman: 22 years of continued progress to inclusion

 

Pamela Newman has been employee at Abilities United
since 1990 and has seen a lot of change and progress.

Pamela Newman is one of the many staff members who has long maintained a deep commitment to the cause of Abilities United. It all started in 1990, when a friend who had extolled the virtues of the agency brought Pamela to the Aquatic Center.

“I came in and saw Aquatics Services, where there were children and teens with physical impairments, as well as adults with therapeutic needs stemming from things like arthritis or stroke,” says Pamela. “It was great to see how people who struggled on land could enjoy such a wonderful freedom of movement in the water. That day, right on the spot, I decided that I wanted to work here, and all these years later I’m still here!”

Pamela has been involved in various roles at Abilities United. Currently she manages the Computer Education program, teaching participants how to use email, Facebook, Microsoft Office, digital art, and computer-based training for skills such as reading and language comprehension. In this role she helps to bridge the digital divide and educate people of all ages in computer, academic, and life skills.

A lot has changed in the 22 years Pamela has been with the agency. “When I first started, the adults I worked with had been excluded from the educational system. It was terrible: even if they had the same cognitive skills as other children, someone might have decided that they didn’t belong in a public school and they were never given a chance,” Pamela says as she sadly shakes her head. “Now though, the schools, and the community in general, are doing a dramatically better job of including people with disabilities and enabling all to reach their potential, which of course aligns with our goals at Abilities United.”

Looking to the future, Pamela hopes to see continued progress on the path of inclusion. “It’s a two-way path. We of course want to enable  participants to get out and be part of the community, but we also want to get more people from the community to come and participate here at Abilities United. We currently have excellent services for people with or without disabilities: a great Milestones Preschool, our aquatic services, and our computer education program are a few examples. We also have the potential to expand some of our other current services such as Independent Living Skills - where we help develop life skills and job skills - to anyone in the community who can benefit from these services.  We all need to open our arms and our minds and be truly inclusive.”

Based on a 2012 interview with Pamela Newman. Written by Bob Thomas. edited by Pamela Newman and Wendy Kuehnl.

Bob Thomas: high school experience brings him back to Abilities United

Bob Thomas volunteered at Abilities United in 1978 and
vowed to return. He did so in 2012 as our volunteer story teller!

I first became aware of and volunteered at Abilities United over 30 years ago, but the experience made such a lasting impression on me that in 2012 I came back to volunteer again.

In the spring of 1978 I was in high school in Menlo Park. A classmate was volunteering at Abilities United (then CAR) with school-aged children. She asked several of us on the basketball team to come over and work with some of the children who would be participating in Special Olympics that coming weekend. Three or four of us volunteered, showed off a little, and then took the kids to the local basketball court to work a bit on their basketball skills.

I was an 18-year old jock at the time and pretty full of myself, but I was touched by these kids who were so happy, and so full of love and appreciation. It meant so much to them to get a high five (actually it was a low five at that time…), or to get a hug. A couple of the kids wanted to hold my hand as we all walked back from the basketball court, and instantly this cocky teenager was choking back a few tears. That was 35 years ago but it’s still a very vivid memory.

I then went off to college, got busy with family and a career in high tech, but always remembered that special day in 1978. For years I had a vague intention of someday getting involved again at what is now Abilities United. Finally in early 2012 I called, introduced myself, and was invited in for a tour. First I was introduced to a few participants who were around at lunch, when a middle-aged man came up to me and shook my hand. I later found out that he had just learned how to shake hands, and I was both humbled and excited at his progress. Then at the pool I was amazed to hear how several people who were told they could never walk again have been through rehabilitation with aquatics and are now walking. I was overwhelmed how this is a place where miracles can happen!

Since then I’ve been volunteering at Abilities Untied, helping the marketing department with social media and doing interviews in support of the organization’s 50th anniversary celebration. Volunteering here is immensely rewarding. Often I’ll drive over to Abilities United on my lunch break, preoccupied with the ebbs and flows of various topics of my workday. However, after spending just a bit of time at with the people I am interviewing,  I’m in a very different state of mind, amazed with the quality and dedication of people at Abilities United, and inspired by the incredible spirit of their participants.

Abilities United is an exceptional organization doing fantastic work with special people, and I’m excited to have the opportunity to help and be a part of this wonderful group.

Written by Bob Thomas. Edited by Wendy Kuehnl.