Connection
News and views promoting independence for people with disabilities
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DRS
Connection News and views promoting independence for people with disabilities |
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Gladys Russell is that rare phenomenon, a native of Northern Colorado! A graduate of Wellington High School, she lives north of Wellington, where she raises emus, llamas, pigmy goats, Navajo fleece sheep called churros (whose wool she spins and weaves) and exotic chickens. Gladys has a congenital hearing loss and belongs to what she calls the "smile and nod" generation—people who learned to get by, pretending they heard everything, covering up their invisible disability. Over time, her hearing worsened, leading to one hearing aid 25 years ago. Now she has twenty-five percent normal hearing "on a good day" and wears two hearing aids, with which she has a "love-hate relationship." |
Her abilities rather than her disability were important to Gladys as she found herself alone raising two daughters, both with disabilities. Angie had multiple disabilities but lived independently until her death in 1995. Cyndee had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and Gladys' medical bills, with meager insurance, were a constant worry.
Gladys worked in a variety of capacities for human service agencies. In 1981, as an employee of the Office on Aging, she attended a symposium on aging. There Gladys realized the speaker on hearing loss was talking about people like her; in fact, for the first time, Gladys realized she had a disability and that she probably knew as much as anyone about living with it.
From then on, Gladys focused on helping people with hearing impairments. She researched issues and coping strategies and acted as a peer counselor. She started a business that supplied assistive devices to people with hearing impairments, she took her "dog and pony show" to awareness days and senior organizations, and she trained professionals to understand the needs of and to interact effectively with hearing-impaired individuals. When she served on the ADA Task Force of Larimer County, she created the brochure "Two Dozen Tips for More Effective Communication With Hearing-Impaired People," which is now used by human service agencies and emergency response teams across the country. She has served on the Disabled Resource Services Board of Directors.
In 1996 she started Hear-N-Colorado, the support group for the hearing-impaired, which Linda Verona of DRS cofacilitates and which meets the fourth Thursday of every month, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at DRS. Currently Hear-N-Colorado is working to get captioning into movie theaters so that deaf people can enjoy films and follow the plots. After all, one in ten people has a significant hearing loss, as does one in three people over sixty-five—hardly a small number.
A true activist, Gladys strongly believes it is the responsibility of people with disabilities to educate businesses and the public about the facts, especially if their disabilities, such as hearing impairments, are invisible. "People are often not assertive enough," she said. "We must take responsibility for informing everyone what will assist us to function as normally and independently as everyone else."
In 1998, Gladys received the Mayor's Award for Volunteer of the Year from the City of Fort Collins and the Commission on Disability.
Vision deterioration looms on the horizon for Gladys, who is determined to meet those challenges as forcefully as she has her increasing hearing loss. She sums it up by saying, "We see things not as they are, but as we are."
People with hearing impairments will become a bigger percentage of the workforce as workers age over the next ten years, so employers must be prepared to make accommodations that help workers stay productive.
Accommodations can include providing simple equipment that amplifies sound (telephone handsets or headsets) or that clarifies sound by adjusting the frequency of the incoming telephone voice.
Other accommodations can include providing voice pagers or beepers that provide text format, providing an interpreter or real-time captioning to enable employees with hearing impairments to participate in meetings and installing visual smoke detectors to address safety issues. Last but not least, employers should provide sensitivity training for employees at all levels so that they understand the workplace needs and concerns of people with hearing impairments. For information visit http://ilr.cornell.edu/ped/accessforall.
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Linda Verona has been a case manager with DRS since June 1998. She came from Connections for Independent Living, the independent living center in Greeley. There she mostly worked with people who were deaf and hard of hearing, and she became proficient with American Sign Language. At DRS she provides general case management but continues to specialize in services for people with hearing losses. The last four-and-a-half years, Linda has cofacilitated an advocacy group for people with hearing loss. Members of the group have hearing losses ranging from mild to profound. Court stenographer Tammy Stoneberger donates time at the meetings, providing "real-time captioning" using a computer so people can read what is being said at the meetings. |
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Many of the group's activities involve community advocacy. Group participants are writing letters to movie theaters requesting that theaters provide captioning for people who can't hear. Guest speakers discuss topics such as hearing dogs, the latest technology in hearing aids, psychological aspects of hearing loss and assistive devices.
Linda also helped start a social group for children who are deaf. This group allows children to socialize, communicate using American Sign Language and just have fun swimming, bowling, roller skating and more.
If you have a hearing loss and could use some help from Linda, call 482-2700 (voice) or 407-7060 (TDD). She says of her time at DRS, "My work here has brought me to new levels of understanding and experience in working with people who have disabilities."
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Thanks to generous contributions, DRS celebrated an early Christmas
gift—a new Minolta CS Pro 3000 Copier for the Fort Collins office.
It arrived just in time, as the old copier quit working the Tuesday
before Thanksgiving.
Contributors are shown in photo below (left to right). First row: DRS Employment Program administrator Patricia L. Frisbie, DRS executive director Nancy R. Jackson and Ruth Ludwig. Second row: Minolta branch manager Tim Engelbart, La Mesa Controls, Inc. president Richard Robertson, past DRS board chairperson Loren Ludwig, DRS administrative assistant Jack Skjoldager, attorney and past DRS board member Elizabeth Kelly; Larry Frisbie of Frisbie's Common Sense Computer Coaching and Minolta sales associate Steve Owen. Contributors not shown: Past DRS board corresponding secretary Sandy Eddy, and Jackie and Ted Reindal of Reindal Ventures. |
Anonymous donors gave $10,000 in mutual funds to the Fort Collins Community Foundation and designated the funds be used to establish the Disabled Resource Services Endowment.
The endowment is open to donations from the public. Donations remain in the endowment, and only investment earnings may be distributed to DRS. Initially all earnings will be reinvested to help the endowment grow to an as yet to be announced target total. Only after this total is reached can the foundation begin to distribute funds to DRS.
To find out how to make a gift to this endowment call the Fort Collins Community Foundation at 970-224-3462.
Laura Burnett earned her bachelor's degree in social work from CSU. Busy though she is, Laura looks forward to more action on the DRS Board of Directors.
Laura is well known to people with disabilities in Fort Collins. She is the chairperson of the local chapter of the Brain Injury Association of Colorado and is active in the Northern Colorado Cross Disabilities Coalition.
She is vice-president of the Commission on Disability. In October she was honored by Fort Collins mayor Ray Martinez who presented her with the Dorothy Lasley Memorial Award. Laura also started "Lunch Out" and volunteers for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA).
John Bartos has been in Fort Collins for only a few months but seems to be already very involved in the community. He sustained a spinal cord injury at C6 just over five years ago in an automobile accident. He is an electrical engineer who, at the time, was installing high speed surveillance equipment for the government in Montana.
His main interests are his sons (Matthew and Cody), inventing and sports. John plays quad rugby with the Harlequins in Denver, hand cycles and flies. He loves water sports and snow skiing. He helps in developing snow sports equipment adapted for quadriplegics. As a board member, John hopes to be able to support DRS in various ways.
Ticket to Work, the newest part of the Work Incentives Legislation, began on January 1, 2001, and Colorado was named in the first round of "Ticket States," which means the program is being implemented here.
Local Social Security staff should be trained by the end of January. Details will be mailed to eligible people, and news media will carry announcements. The "Ticket" will be used to purchase employment services, vocational rehabilitation services and such things as assistive technology.
Watch for additional announcements!
A government web site designed to help employers hire workers with disabilities and the media do a better job of reporting on disability issues has some new features. These were added by the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities.
Check out the new sections at http://www.disAbility.gov.
President Clinton announced the web site on the tenth Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Only three out of ten people with disabilities are working full- or part-time.
