HBO celebrates Veterans Day with The Concert of Valor

by Jim Williams

Starbucks, HBO and Chase are recognizing 16 veteran service organizations (VSOs) this Veterans Day on November 11th — and we are delighted to announce Easter Seals Dixon Center is included in this group! These VSOs are being highlighted for outstanding service and support of veterans and their families and will benefit from a very special THE CONCERT FOR VALOR.

This free event will honor the courage and sacrifice of America’s veterans and their families on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and will be presented live, free, and open to non-subscribers on HBO this Veterans Day, Tuesday, November 11th (7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT). The concert will feature a talented line-up of musicians including The Black Keys, Bruce Springsteen, Carrie Underwood, Dave Grohl, Eminem, Metallica, Rihanna and the Zac Brown Band, all for the purpose of creating awareness and engaging Americans to learn more, get involved and share with others.

It’s like Colonel David Sutherland, U.S. Army (ret.), Chairman, Easter Seals Dixon Center and Chief Strategist, Easter Seals Military and Veterans Services says: “It’s time to break down the barriers that clog up the prospects for our veterans. That’s why we’re standing side-by-side this Veterans Day with the organizers and performers at THE CONCERT FOR VALOR. It’s not about charity. It’s about opportunity – the opportunity to ensure that veterans and military families succeed where they live.”

At Easter Seals, we believe veterans and military families make valuable, long-lasting contributions to our community. We established Easter Seals Dixon Center as a way to support veterans’ transition back to civilian life through our network of resources and services. We invite you to:

• Watch or host a concert watch party of the concert on November 11th.
• Refer a veteran or loved one needing support to Easter Seals Dixon Center or the Community OneSource hotline (866) 423-4981 veterans@easterseals.com).

Easter Seals Dixon Center encourages the American public, and especially employers, to gain a new appreciation for the value of veterans in the workforce and society as a whole, something THE CONCERT FOR VALOR will undoubtedly shine a spotlight upon.

Thank you for all that you do to support our veterans and their families, and please join us in tuning in to salute them!

Easter Seals to host the Chicago Glen Campbell movie premiere

by Elsa Remak

Get your cowboy boots ready, Chicago! This Friday evening Easter Seals is hosting the Chicago premiere of “Glen Campbell…I’ll be Me”. The film follows country music legend Glen Campbell on his farewell tour after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2011.

I was lucky enough to get a sneak preview of the film earlier this year, and it’s a must-see! The documentary is a thought-provoking story that pays homage to the power of music and family. Director James Keach, a Golden Globe winner for his work on “Walk the Line,” captures the emotional impact this tragic disease has on the Campbell family.

I’m not the only one singing the praises for the film–Richard Roeper recently proclaimed “Glen Campbell…I’ll be Me” as “one of the most remarkable documentaries in recent years.” The film has been a success in the film festival circuit and won the grand jury prize after premiering at the Nashville Film Festival.

Now you may be thinking, “What does Easter Seals have to do with Glen Campbell, or Alzheimer’s for that matter?” From the moment Glen gets his tragic diagnosis, his loving family steps in as his primary caregivers. Glen’s wife, Kim, handles Glen’s deteriorating health with grace. Glen’s talented children accompany him on tour as his bandmates. Glen holds on to his good-humor and incredible musical gift, thanks to his compassionate caregivers.

When it comes to caregivers and caregiving, that’s what Easter Seals is all about. Easter Seals provides services and support for all types of caregivers, whether these hidden heroes are caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s, for a returning veteran, for an adult with an intellectual disability or for a child with special needs. Easter Seals wants to show the 66 million caregivers nationwide that they’re not alone.

Beyond caregivers, this is a film that will resonate with all generations. Whether you grew up singing along to “Rhinestone Cowboy” or you count Taylor Swift as your peer, you will find this film to be both entertaining and educational.

I especially encourage my millennial peers to view the film. As a 22-year-old blessed with two healthy parents, I haven’t really thought much about my own eventual role as a caregiver. We grow up to believe our parents are invincible and that their primary responsibility is to care for us. All too often, this role reverses before we’re prepared.

An increase in average lifespan has led more people into the caregiver role at a younger age. Glen’s daughter Ashley, an up-and-coming country musician, is only 27. Gen X and Y must prepare themselves as the next generation of caregivers.

Early next year, MassMutual is releasing a study based on this new face of caregiving. In the meantime, I hope my fellow Chicagoans will join me and register for the November 7 premiere. For those not in the Chicago area, check out the official “Glen Campbell…I’ll be Me” website to see when it’s coming by a theater near you.

Plus, share your love and admiration for a caregiver in your life with a photo or message on www.loveisagift.com and our friends at Mass Mutual will donate $5 to Easter Seals for every post!

Accessible voting machines and voting hotlines

by Beth Finke

Elections are tomorrow. That means it’s time to let readers know about hotlines available to people with disabilities who run into trouble when they try to vote independently at polling places. I’ve had issues accessing the talking voting machines in previous elections, and it’s comforting to know voting specialists  — and the poll workers – are there to help me resolve these problems. The National Federation of the Blind’s toll-free hotline (877-632-1940) has always been a big help. Other hotlines are ready to help people with disabilities who have problems voting, too:

• U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Voting Section: for complaints related to ballot access, call 800-253-3931, or 202-307-2767. TTY: 877-267-8971
• Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law: for questions about competency of voters/mental Illness issues, call 202-467-5730 ext. 122
• Lawyers’ Committee on Civil Rights under Law Election Protection Hotline: For help with disability/access issues, call 866-OURVOTE.

During the last election, my issue with the voting machine couldn’t be resolved, and my husband, who can see, had to sign an affidavit to be able to help me with a written ballot. Voting specialists on the National Federation of the Blind hotline recorded details and referred my issue “to the proper authorities for follow-up action.” My hope is that the follow-up worked, and things go smoothly at the polling places tomorrow — not only for me, but for all of us.

Happy Halloween! Check out super-cute Scooby!

by Beth Finke

At Halloween last year we gathered photos of kids in their Halloween costumes from different Easter Seals affiliate’s and posted them on our social media sites. The response to the pictures on Facebook and Twitter was so great that we decided to do it again, and this year we’re including pictures of our great staff, too.

Hope everyone had a happy Halloween, and if you’re sad it’s all over, don’t despair — you can still see more fun, creative Halloween costumes on our Facebook page. We also have trick-or-treating tips for children with sensory issues.

Peter Dinklage’s impressive way of choosing roles

by Beth Finke

Peter Dinklage is probably most well-known as Tyrion Lannister on the smash hit HBO series “Game of Thrones.” However, what has always impressed me most about his work is his precision with choosing roles. Throughout his career, the four-foot-five actor has gone out of his way to choose roles that upend stereotypes about the parts usually offered to those his height — he says his role as Tyrion “does address the size issue, but it doesn’t knock you over the head with it. Because you don’t really need to.”

I first saw Dinklage in 2003 in the film “The Station Agent.” In the film, he plays Finn, a man who moves to rural New Jersey after his only friend dies. Finn wants to live in solitude, but he is befriended by two locals. One thing that I absolutely loved about the movie was that, while Finn’s disability is implied as the reason for his self-induced loneliness, as Dinklage said about his Game of Thrones role “It doesn’t knock you over the head with it.”

The befriending of Finn by the locals In “The Station Agent” does not feel like anything close to pity, either, and that’s something I’ve noticed in other films where a main character has a disability. In fact, Dinklage’s dwarfism is rarely spoken about in The Station Agent.

“Game of Thrones” takes an approach to disability that is similar to “The Station Agent.” Tyrion’s disability is spoken of negatively to a certain extent in “Game of Thrones” (it’s implied that it has negatively impacted his relationship with his family) but it by no means overshadows his character.

Dinklage has shared that he initially had concerns about accepting the role as Tyrion because “dwarves in these genres always have a certain look.” He said his guard was up until he realized the “Game of Thrones” role had “no beard, no pointy shoes” and was “a romantic, real human being.” Dinklage himself wasn’t always as comfortable with his disability as he is now – he says that as an adolescent he was bitter and angry, and that he put walls up around himself. “But the older you get, you realize you just have to have a sense of humor,” he says. “You just know that it’s not your problem. It’s theirs.”

This refreshing viewpoint shows in both his remarkable acting and in his choice of roles. I, for one, am extremely excited to see what Dinklage chooses next, and I know I’ll be following his career for many years to come.

Getting a good job without losing benefits

by Ben Trockman

Ben Trockman

In my last post I promised you I’d be back to explain how I found the M.E.D. Works program offered in Indiana and how that program allowed me to start my career at Old National Bank while continuing to receive Medicaid benefits.

Well, here you go: soon after I graduated from the University of Southern Indiana with a degree in Public Relations, Old National Bank in Evansville offered me a position as a Community Outreach & Employment Specialist. A job offer right out of college — amazing, right?

The purpose of my role at Old National is to help make our community become a better place for hiring people with disabilities (PWD). This includes educating employers and making them more comfortable with those individuals with disabilities. I am also challenged with learning the never-ending list of resources available (people and programs) and helping those PWD with building their resumes and their job readiness skills.

Over the past few months, my boss and I have already helped three individuals network in our community, mend their resumes, and improve their understanding and attitude of the hiring process. The ultimate goal of our work is to match these individuals strengths with a caring employer that will not only give them a job, but start them on a path to a prosperous career.

I’ve also been meeting with numerous providers for PWD, including vocational rehab professionals and multiple passionate advocates. I’ve even met up with the disability coordinator at my alma mater, the University of Southern Indiana. I want to learn as much as I can about all the resources available for PWD in our community so that I may be able to direct a person with a certain problem to the right resource. Let’s get it right the first time!

One example of the programs available is the M.E.D. Works program I mentioned earlier. The “M.E.D.” stands for Medicaid for Employees with Disabilities, and after enrolling, it allows a person with a disability in Indiana to increase their income without losing the valuable resources offered by Medicaid.

Finding this M.E.D. Works program was very difficult for me, and I had to work with an attorney to understand the rules, and how to appropriately sign up for M.E.D. Works. It took me about three months to research and finally enroll in this program.

Now that I know how to sign up for the program and I’ve experienced the process myself, I will be able to help other individuals sign up for M.E.D. Works, too, so they won’t have to worry about losing their benefits. Believe me, before I enrolled in MED Works, the idea of losing my benefits was keeping me awake at night! I don’t want anyone to have to go through that!

I give you that example as just one of the many things I am starting to learn so that I can share them with others and help them be successful in their lives. Old National Bank and I are dedicated to helping individuals in our community, and I couldn’t be more grateful to be a part of this organization. I don’t think there are many businesses out there that would hire a guy like me to help their community in this fashion. I can only keep smiling about all of the tremendous change and positive outcomes that we are going to accomplish along the way.

Get advice from pros on how to launch a career when you have a disability.

Can Ben’s “23 Blast” movie review convince you to see it?

by Beth Finke

I am not a football fan. Any sport with a 100% injury rate is too much for me. And if you read the comments to my post earlier this month about actors with disabilities, you know that while I’d like to see (okay, hear!) more films with people who have disabilities in them, I prefer we just be part of the fabric of the movie, not necessarily the heroic central figure.

So when I heard a movie called 23 Blast is opening in theatres nationwide today, I wasn’t particularly interested. 23 Blast is a movie based on the real-life story of Travis Freeman, a teenager who grew up in a small town in Kentucky and lost his sight overnight when an unusual infection destroys his optic nerve. His parents love him, his physical therapist challenges him, and a high school football coach inspires him to compete on the gridiron. In the end, of course, his Corbin High School team advances to the state playoffs.

I wouldn’t have given this movie a second glance, ahem, until colleagues told me that my fellow blogger Ben Trockman got to see it in advance of today’s opening.

Ben said Blast 23 is actually a pretty good film. “It’s not a documentary in any way,” he said. “But they portrayed the disability pretty well, and they also included a good amount of entertainment and humor in the film.”

Ben said 23 Blast was inspirational, and that most anyone could watch it. “No cursing or offensive actions,” he said. “It was put together to tell a real person story, and it communicated a real message on a bond between friends, family, and a football team.”

The film’s release today includes a descriptive audio channel, which means people who are blind or have visual impairments can use headphones in theaters to take it all in. Who knows –maybe I’ll give it a listen.

If you see this movie, let us know what you think kin the comments below!

What’s it feel like to have Autism Spectrum Disorder as an adult?

by Beth Finke

I am pleased to introduce Aaron Likens as a guest blogger today. Aaron was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome (now Autism Spectrum Disorder) at age 20 and is now the Autism Ambassador for Easter Seals Midwest. This guest post was originally published on Aaron’s personal blog, Life on the Other Side of the Wall.

The island problem

by Aaron Likens

I’m sure at some point in time I’m made a metaphor or two involving an island and, once again, I’m coming up with yet another island metaphor. It’s going to get difficult to remember all these islands I’m creating….

In the midst of this period of feeling down I’ve done a lot of thinking, too much probably, but I’ve noticed an unique pattern that I can only explain using an island as an example. I don’t know about others with Asperger’s, but for myself I feel like I’m on an island. I used to say a deserted island but I have come to learn that this island actually has two bridges connected to two mainlands.

These two mainlands represent two different worlds. On the bridge leading to the right we have normal. Now remember I don’t believe anyone is normal, however wanting to be more normal is something I feel and there is an illusion of normal, all of which are on that island.

As we turn to the left and see that bridge, it leads to a place that is rather uninhabited. It’s a place that often times I feel I want to be and herein lies the problem; both mainlands don’t feel right and I spend my time on the island in the middle always thinking that the place I came from isn’t as good as what lies on the other side of the bridge.

This island in the middle is a place of deep thought. When I spend too much time in the land of normal I get tired with the constant conversing, socializing, and random encounters so I look across the sea and think back to the mainland that is empty and yearn for it. I mean, how great is it to go through life without interactions? When I’ve spent too much time on the land of normal this is how I feel.

When I get frazzled from normal, or not fitting in within the land of normal, I make the trek across the bridge and get to the island where I quickly cross the second bridge to the land of emptiness where I am sure I will find happiness. Each time though the happiness is fleeting and I look back across the bridges from which I came and think about how great it would be to be a part of the land of normal.

After a while this journey across the bridges gets tiring and this island in the middle feels like home. I’m not on either land and yet I’m a part of both. It becomes difficult to decide if staying on the island is the surest bet or if I want to venture out into the world of normal.

When I think about how great the land of emptiness would be I think about how much I would have missed had I stayed there. I certainly wouldn’t be presenting, I wouldn’t have met such wonderful people within the SKUSA and USAC series, and my life wouldn’t extend much outside the walls of my house.

However, when I get exhausted, when life gets overwhelming, or when a major social disaster happens I think about how safe the other place would be. Hence why there is this island problem and staying on the island often times isn’t so much a choice rather a necessity.

This metaphor has been made in so many different ways, but as I was thinking last night about a new way to present it. I came up with this and I could visually see this island in the middle and it felt perfect, and writing this — I hope I did a good job of writing it because it sure made sense as I thought about it — has just confirmed just how apt this is.

For others I’m sure it is different but for myself this is the best way I can describe to you the feelings that go through my body and how I see the way my life is.

A great way one school recognized Disability Employment Awareness Month

by Beth Finke

An elementary school in the Chicago suburbs celebrates Disability Employment Awareness Month every year by asking people with disabilities to come talk about their jobs. Last week my Seeing Eye dog and I went to Wilmot Elementary to talk about my job moderating the blog here at Easter Seals Headquarters, and the kids there had already enjoyed a special guest before Whitney and I showed up. Melissa Stockwell, a three-time Paratriathlon World Champion and decorated U.S. Army veteran, had been at Wilmot the day before us.

Melissa was serving in Baghdad in 2004 when a roadside bomb hit the HUMVEE she was traveling in, resulting in the amputation of her left leg above the knee. She was the first female to lose a limb in active combat, and four years later, she was the first Iraqi War veteran to qualify for the Paralympics: she represented the United States on the swim team.

After Beijing, Melissa took to triathlons. She is currently a three-time World Champion, and when she isn’t running, swimming or bicycling, she works as a certified prosthetist at Scheck and Siress Prosthetics in Chicago, fitting people who have had amputations with artificial limbs.

Whit’s always up for a class visit.

When my talks at Wilmot were over, I took Whitney’s harness off and let any of the interested kids come by and pet her. As Whitney flipped over and over again for belly rubs, one of the school volunteers there told me that after the presentation the day before, Melissa Stockwell had the kids come up and touch the prosthetics she works with.

How cool. “I want to go to this school!” I exclaimed to the gaggle of kids at my feet, all of them reaching out to pet Whitney. “I know,” one of them said. “We’re lucky.”

Best and worst cities for people with disabilities

by Beth Finke

I’m a Chicago baseball fan, but with the way the Royals have been playing during the 2014 post-season, I’m starting to wish I lived closer to Kansas City. And now, a new ranking of the best American cities for people with disabilities gives me even more reason to move there: the Kansas City, Missouri, suburb of Overland Park was named #1.

The consumer finance website WalletHub says it based its rankings on economic environment, health care, and accessibility:

We analyzed the 150 most populated cities across 23 key metrics, ranging from the number of physicians per capita to the rate of employed people with disabilities to park accessibility. By doing so, we aim to ease the process of finding the best place to live while managing a disability.

Lists like these can be fun, and a ton of folks (including me) get sucked into reading them. I don’t think this one holds much value, though.

In Chicago, the red line subway gets us to 2 major league ballparks!

The term “people with disabilities” (PWD) is pretty vague. A PWD can be someone with age-related disabilities, a person who uses a wheelchair, a child with a developmental disability, a returning veteran with a traumatic brain injury – we all have very different needs. A very quick bit of research on Overland Park shows it has a strong public school system, (ideal if you have a child with a disability) and a weak public transportation system (difficult if you’re like me, and your disability prevents you from driving). Three cities in Arizona made the top five, and while people using wheelchairs wouldn’t have to deal with snow and ice in the winter there, those of us who use service dogs would have a hard time keeping them hydrated in the summer.

Chicago ranked way down at 141 on the list, but at least we weren’t last: that honor went to Providence, Rhode Island, at #150. For now, at least, I’m staying here in the Windy City and will settle for watching the Kansas City Royals on TV. The availability of public transportation here lets me live more independently; I know my way around already; and my Seeing Eye dog loves the cold. It’s My Kind of Town.

Get more information on accessible transportation from Easter Seals Project Action website.