×‰?×B!™×‘C‘×˜š ÍV ÍVÍ€u×‰œ”×‰	Ú 7cassandra://Ob56dGnkM4B2VQqAkNqF_idUty4Da3aTc4ciE6FgVXQÎ mNÍ`ÍµÍ×‰	Ú 7cassandra://wjyLQHwMofKPLTmeY3pfBpV_C2zQm7jgYW0GrE91e38Í‚àÍ`ÍUÍß×‰	Ú 7cassandra://D3hCd_6RoeoEviFCXr95EeS4FFQ7JoI-y8s0g-UUsBQÍ+ÊÍ`Ì¶Í ×‰	Ú 7cassandra://iJU5UuVPL-CjeY0kJbEjDyGTE3-1WZ_q30CwzdCGRvgÎ ¾UÍ ÍïÍñ×c<J…yÎ½g›×ˆE×c<J…yÎ½g‰×‰EÚYTOLEDO
STREETS
NEW SP APER
October-Issue 126
$1
One Dollar suggested donation.
Your donation directly benefi ts the vendor.
Please only buy from badged vendors.
Stuart James and The Ability Center:
Transforming Toledo into the Most
Disability-Friendly City in America
Photo credit: Scott Carpenter- Metroparks Toledo
Toledo Streets Scenes Annual Art
Exhibition and Fundraiser
Each year, Toledo Streets Newspaper
vendors present new and striking ways
to discover beauty and meaning in
our community. View and purchase
the gallery of images October 20th,
2022 6pm-9pm @ Lowertown Barrel
House
Page 3
Toledo Streets is a member of the International Network of Street Newspapers
A Review of Deinstitutionalization
TSA Senior, Raiden Browning,
examines the failures of the
system that put hundreds
of thousands of mentally ill
individuals on the streets.
Page 6
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STREETS
NEW SP APER
3
4
Toledo Streets Scenes Annual Art
Exhibition and Fundraiser
Each year, Toledo Streets Newspaper
vendors present new and striking
ways to discover beauty and
meaning in our community. View
and purchase the gallery of images
October 20th, 2022 6pm-9pm @
Lowertown Barrel House
Getting Involved and Trying
Something New Breaking patterns
of isolation and socialization are
essential to mental health recovery.
Thomas M. Wernert Center (TMWC)
encourages members to get involved
and try something new.
Serving a World with
Exceptionalities Julia Hage with
Anne Grady Services explores the
beauty of the world of people with
exceptionalities.
5
6
Interview with
Jim Ferris
P 12
8
7
Success Stories at The Ability
Center P 8
Deinstitutionalization by
Raiden Browning P 6
12
14
Page 2
Homelessness/Mental Health/Work
TSN Vendor Joe Taylor takes us on a
first person journey of people experiencing
homelessness and dealing
with mental health issues.
A Review of Deinstitutionalization
TSA Senior, Raiden Browning, examines
the failures of the system that
put hundreds of thousands of mentally
ill individuals on the streets.
Read Widely â€“ Disability in Fiction
Abby Byers from the Toledo Lucas
County Library celebrates disability
representation in all types of literature.
Stuart
James and The Ability
Center: How the "Think Differently"
Campaign will Help Make Toledo
the Most Disability-Friendly City
in America Creative Director Ed
Conn interviews Stuart James and
discusses the Think Differently then
Act! Campaign.
Interview with Jim Ferris Tom
Fletcher meets with the author of
The Hospital Poems and Slouching
Toward Guantanamo.
Puzzle Page
×‰	Ú 7cassandra://IrpYY29aYL78cS3oeK4WaLRhocpR7-1HrDkFRJ8JKzoÍ$cÍ`Ì¶Í ×c<J…yÎ½g‹×‰EÚïToledo Streets Scenes
Annual Art Exhibition & Fundraiser
By Bryce Roberts, TSN Board Chair
Imagine being given a disposable camera and taking to the
streets of our Toledo community in search of images that encapsulate
beauty, the Toledo aesthetic, or areas of meaning in
your life. Where would you journey? What would catch your
eye?
Each year at TSN we provide an opportunity for our vendors
to take on this very task, and each year they discover new and
striking ways to see beauty and meaning in our community.
Once collected, these photos are developed into our annual
calendar. Through this calendar we hope to display our vendors
artwork and provide an avenue for our community to better appreciate
the myriad of ways beauty and meaning can be found
throughout NW Ohio.
How can you see this artwork for yourself and have the opportunity
to purchase photographs that will inspire you? The
answer is our annual art exhibit and fundraiser, Toledo Streets
Scenes. Through this event we showcase our vendors artwork
and give you the opportunity to engage with our TSN community.
You will also fi nd numerous avenues to support the work
of TSN and to become more involved in our vision to inspire
hope, foster community, and cultivate change. By attending
this event we promise you will fi nd inspiration and discover
more about what makes TSN such an incredible resource within
the Toledo community.
The Buck Starts Here
Toledo Streets and its vendors are a powerful, community driven solution
to the problem of homelessness. Our vendors earn their way out of their
individual situations through a collaboration of journalism, local business
partners and their own hard work. Use these four steps to be a part of the
solution.
Meet
Vendors
Buy a
Paper
Get
Informed
Take
Action
â€¢ Vendors -- the people who sell the paper -- are at the
core of Toledo Streets' mission. Each year more than
70 indiviuals work as vendors with Toledo Streets. At
any given time, more than 25 vendors are at work, in
the rain, snow, or heat. Vendors play an active role in
the management of TS, meeting regularly to discuss
issues of concern and even serving on our board.
â€¢ With the money made selling the newspaper, vendors
are able to secure basic needs, independence
and dignity, and work toward obtaining housing.
Vendors buy papers for a quarter and sell them for a
$1, keeping all income and tips for each sale.
Toledo Streets tries to tie its editorial to three basic
principals:
â€¢ Inspiring Hope, Fostering Community, and Cultivating
Change. We are a member of INSP, our global
organization of street papers around the world
which provides us with content relevent to social
justice, homelessness, and street community around
the world.
â€¢ Donate to the organization and give vendors experiencing
homelessness and poverty a hand up. It
supports not only the paper but also issues throughout
NW Ohio.
â€¢ Volunteer your time and expertise and help the
organization grow.
â€¢ Share Toledo Streets with your network, and tell
people about the organization.
Page 3
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Trying Something
New
Breaking patterns of isolation and
socialization are essential to mental
health recovery. Thomas M. Wernert
Center (TMWC) encourages members
to get involved and try something new.
TMWC is a peer support center
that offers a variety of programs and
activities to support adults living with
mental illness. The center, located at
208 W. Woodruff Ave. is open Monday
through Friday from 9 am to 4 pm.
Each week, members of TMWC
connect in the large clubroom area,
conversing over card games, puzzles,
or just hanging out. Daily activities
include Peer Enrichment Program
(PEP) classes and support meetings,
group activities, and outings in the
community. TMWC campus also has a
fi tness room, art studio, and computer
lab for peers interested in art, exercise,
and technology. Each department is
instructed by a specialized peer coordinator.
Members are encouraged to be
active in everything of interest.
The Frank W. Lynch and Roberta
Jane Lynch, MSW Art Studio is a creative
space to express yourself through
a variety of art forms. The computer
lab offers more than 15 computers to
help members improve basic computer
skills, access the internet for research
and resources, or just browse the web.
The Eigensee Family Fitness Room
has cardio machines, strength training
and stretching equipment, and a
SMARTfi t machine.
Those looking to learn more about
wellness and recovery may be interested
in the Peer Enrichment Program
(PEP). All members are welcome to
participate in any of the support groups
offered, including Dual Recovery
Anonymous (DRA) and Emotions
Photo Credit: Anne Grady Group
Serving a
World with
Exceptionalities
By Julia Hage
There is a beautiful thing to the
world of individuals with exceptionalities.
It can be very easy to encounter
someone with a disability and immediately
make assumptions about
them and their abilities. When you sit
in the thought that each human deserves
space to be themselves, that is
where society can move biases aside
and allow the individual to fl ourish. I
have had the wonderful opportunity
to work with individuals with exceptionalities
my entire life. From both
my parents working in the fi eld of
special education, to having an Aunt
with cognitive disabilities living with
us as I grew up, I have had exposure
and immersive experiences allowing
me to learn about the incredible
abilities of individuals with exceptionalities.
Some of the most intelligent,
funny, personable people Iâ€™ve
ever known have been individuals
that society puts into the category of
being disabled. It is easy for society
to see their unique qualities and see
those as a disadvantage. As each
individualâ€™s accommodations are
different, society has been quick to
label this as an annoyance, nuisance,
or inconvenience. If we looked at
individuals with exceptionalities as
humans, we might begin to see that
in fact every human has needs and
accommodations to live their life to
the fullest. Creating an equitable life
for all should be our societal goal.
Recently, I have had the opportunity
to begin work at Anne Grady
Services. I made this move in my
career as I could see the immediate
impact my work could have on the
lives of our individuals. Anne Grady
has been serving individuals with
intellectual disabilities with dignity
and respect since 1982. As the organization
is in its 40th
year of service,
the continuous work to expand
opportunities for individuals and
provide the highest quality of life
has stayed a priority. When thinking
about the individuals served at Anne
Grady, I think about one of my newest
friends. Tom Rich, an individual
who has cerebral palsy, has been a
client of Anne Gradyâ€™s for 6 years.
With this, Tom is also an employee
of Anne Gradyâ€™s as our Ambassador.
Tom has spoken at multiple community
events, has sang the National
Anthem at a Toledo Mud Hens game,
and has recently written a book about
his life titled â€œLive Life Richâ€. Tom
is a perfect example of appropriate
accommodations creating space for
him to utilize his natural talents and
thrive. In his book, Tom mentions
â€œMy disability is real. But donâ€™t
think I am not a full person. Everyone
has a disability, some you see,
some you donâ€™tâ€. When asked about
the hardest thing about his disability
he stated that the acceptance of or
from others is extremely diffi cult.
â€œPeople miss out if they do not know
someone with a disability. Some
people donâ€™t know how to interact
with us. They think they must sugar
coat everythingâ€. Tom is a brilliant
Photo Credit:Thomas M. Wernert Center
Page 4
and kind individual, he notes in his
book â€œtreat people with respect and
dignity. Let people into your lifeâ€.
Notice that in this statement, Tom
never says treat individuals with
exceptionalities, he says treat people.
Individuals who live their lives with
exceptionalities are just people living
their lives. When we give every
individual in our life the individualized
keys for success, we give them
power, we give them a voice, and we
create equity. As Tom says â€œMy goal
is to make people aware that people
who have disabilities are productive,
equal, and strongâ€ â€“ â€œDo not look at
me, do not look at us like we donâ€™t
matter. Even though we may be
in a wheelchairâ€¦ we matterâ€ â€“ â€œI
have no limitations. This chair does
not defi ne me or confi ne meâ€. Tom
agrees that people who have disabilities
need help but his answer to
this is that everyone needs help. â€œIf
someone says they donâ€™t need help,
that are not being honestâ€.
Individuals like Tom are a good
reminder to everyone that a person
is a person, no matter their abilities,
their disabilities, or their exceptionalities.
Be a human, always. Be kind,
be thoughtful, be understanding. You
just might have your life changed for
the better if you do.
Matter. Peer support staff teach classes
on topics such as Mental Health
Literacy, Wellness Management,
Diabetes Support, and more. Classes
are once a week, for two hours, and
are usually an 8 to 10 week commitment.
Different groups and courses
encourage and expand all walks of
recovery.
To be a member at TMWC, you
must be 18 years or older, live in
Lucas County, have a mental health
diagnosis, and are receiving mental
health services.
Are you or someone you know
ready to begin or expand your mental
health recovery? To learn more, call
419-242-3000 and ask about membership.
Photo
Credit: Ed Conn
Julia Hage is the Mission
Advancement Associate at Anne
Grady Services
×‰	Ú 7cassandra://N5UjzeYQQ0xAp2XUuK9JDh-P2FyQiHfZ8knDzTv75YMÍ%|Í`Ì¶Í ×c<J…yÎ½g×‰EÚbosses and co-workers to the point it
became physical. He gave up trying
to be a productive member of society.
Some of Johnâ€™s everyday struggles are
but not limited to: homelessness, hunger,
loneliness, trust issues, and getting
into daily fights.
By Joe Taylor
You may be asking yourself how
the 3 words in the title of this article
fit together. Let me explain why I
have grouped them together. The most
recent count of homeless people I can
find is 600 to 800 in Toledo. With a
good portion of them having either
a mental and or physical disability.
Which played a big part in their present
situation. From not being able to
hold a job to not being able to get a job
because of a disability. Which in turn
is a big factor in how homelessness
starts.
I have sat down with some of the
homeless that were willing to elaborate
about their life and how they got where
they are. I will not be using real names
as they have requested of me. Some
of their stories even overwhelmed me
emotionally. As I listened, I felt the
struggles and pain. It was almost too
much to take in at times. Each person
unique, but somewhat the same If that
makes sense.
Jane as we will call her was born
with seizures & tourettes. From the
time she could remember her family
was ashamed of her. To the point when
they had company outside of family,
they would lock her in her room or the
basement like an unwanted animal.
She remembers like it was yesterday.
She was homeschooled so as not to
embarrass her parents. Which makes
it almost impossible to function in
todayâ€™s society.
When she turned 18 she was kicked
out into the street with nothing but the
clothes on her back. With a diploma
and no job or social skills made it almost
impossible to survive. She tried a
variety of workplaces. From fast food
to the factory. Nothing was comfortable
for her. Jane faced many challenges.
To the point she would only last a
few days at each job. The end result
being no income, except what she
would make panhandling. Her emotional
state was very distraught and
hollow while talking with me.
Jane got help with hesitation to
get ssi benefits 2 years ago. As of 6
months ago she became approved. She
tells me now she is so used to being
homeless, she will live the rest of her
life this way. I asked her if there was
anything I could help with. Janes reply
â€œ love 1 another no matter whatâ€. Jane
is rite, so many of us are fixated on
appearance and material things.
We forget to look past these things to
see the true beauty of a person. Next I
spoke with who we will call John. John
is a 44 year old man who has been in
and out of prison since the age of 22.
He suffers from bi-polar 2. He had
loving parents who did everything they
could to support him. He was kicked
out of school nonstop, from kindergarten
to senior high school.
Johnâ€™s parents died in a car accident
when he was 25. He explained that he
gave up on life after they passed. He
was convicted of crimes from robbery
to attempted murder. He does not
receive any government assistance at
this time. Since the last time he was released
from prison in 2017 he has been
homeless. The way he talked about his
disability is â€œa fight in your brainâ€.
One side of his brain says yes and
the other side says no.
Which in his head creates confusion.â€It
is a war within your head that
drives you to angerâ€ he stated. Every
job he held ended with him assaulting
customers or non stop arguments, with
Page 5
Now he asks for spare change or
food to survive. He made it clear he
prefers to be homeless. This way he
doesnâ€™t have to worry about affection
or dealing with people too much on a
daily basis. The few times he has asked
for help he was admitted to different
mental facilities. Which seems to only
make him madder. Let me be clear
when I first approached him he was
very standoffish with me. I was a little
distrusting with his demeanor at the
time I met him.
I explained to him I just wanted to
tell a story. He kinda was hesitant, but
decided to give me a chance. After
talking with John I felt a heaviness
in my heart. How does 1 live with no
companionship or love in their lives?
So many thoughts going through my
head. I had to walk away from this
story for a couple days. We take life
for granted on a regular basis.
I personally suffer from seizures and
bi-polar 1 w/ self destructive tendencies.
I can relate to mental and physical
disabilities. It is hard to hold a job
and function daily. Which is a big part
of selling papers for TSN. They help
me to grow constantly. We are a very
judgemental world in many ways. I
believe Lucas County needs more avenueâ€™s
for people with disabilities.
More places to fit their needs in
the work industry, so they can be
productive in a positive way and feel
somewhat normal. It is hard to function
when it feels like you are destined
to fail. Another lady just became
homeless in the last few months. We
will call her Mary. She lost a child 4
months ago. Her fiance blamed her
for the loss and left Mary. She was
devastated by the loss of her 1st child
as well as the loss of her high school
sweetheart.
The impact of the two together was
too much for her to fathom. She suffers
from manic depression and dual personalities.
Once her life long love left
she was lost. No support from family,
mentally or financially. So just surviving
on ssi she became homeless. So we
cried together and bonded. She was so
thankful for a shoulder to cry on and
an ear to listen.
Little did she know she was helping
me heal by letting me open up about
my life. We ended our time together
by a huge emotional hug. As I walked
away from mary I stopped and said
â€œ you inspire meâ€! Mary replied
â€œwhyâ€ to the statement? â€œ Because
you my friend are a survivorâ€ Was my
reply. She smiled ear to ear and walked
away. There are so many people homeless
or Not that struggle everyday of
their life with disabilities.
Honestly in my opinion the system
that is in place has failed many people.
As a society we must learn to be more
accepting of those with disabilities.
90% of the disabled homeless or just
disabled people that I talk to on a
regular basis feel that the world forgot
them. That they are worthless. Like
they are not wanted or needed. Just
recently I saw 1 of these situations in
person. A close friend of mine volunteered
to be a part of a certain venue.
Which was to help a great organization.
Once she showed up to start, she
was turned down. Due to her physical
disability that she suffered from. It
was not at the fault of the venue or the
organization, It was due to not being
able to compensate for her needs at the
time. Whether we are disabled mentally,
physically, or emotionally we
should not have to feel like an outsider.
I could see the hurt and disappointment
in my friendâ€™s eyes.
I was so bothered by it I almost
cried. A lot of good people get passed
up because of their shortcomings. I
hope this article brings light to a sad
subject. In the near future we have to
be more diligent about other peopleâ€™s
situations and needs. I am not used to
writing articles about other peopleâ€™s
lives. So many more stories that need
to be told. If we all would take 30 minutes
out of our day to just listen, would
mean the world to them.
Open your eyes to the people
around us. Listen for a minute, you
would be surprised by how much they
have been through and going through.
Feel blessed for who we are and what
we have.
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â€œThose numbers are not a coincidence.â€
She also agreed with the
notion that the stigma surrounding
psychotic disorders in particular
contributed largely to the lack of
needs being met for the homeless
population.
A Review of
Deinstitutionalization
By Raiden Browning, TSA
According to BioMed Central
Psychiatry, up to 28% of the
American population suffers from
a mental illness in any given year,
with only one percent of them
being diagnosed with a psychotic
illness, such as schizophrenia,
bipolar, which may involve symptoms
such as hallucinations, delusions,
or catatonia. Despite this,
92% of the homeless population
suffers from a mental illness, 21%
of them being psychotic.
60 years ago, those statistics
would have been unthinkable. At
that time, individuals who suffered
from mental illness and who could
not provide for themselves, professionally
termed the severely and
persistently mentally ill (SPMI),
werenâ€™t as commonly found on the
Page 6
streets as they were in psychiatric
wards, then called asylums. These
asylums were often horrendous
places, being overcrowded, underfunded,
and inconducive to the
wellbeing of their patients.
Beginning in the 1960s, a process
known as â€œdeinstitutionalization,â€
which was intended to
move SPMI patients out of these
asylums and into spaces where
they could care for themselves,
was set into motion, and its method
was twofold: reducing the size
of the patient population in mental
hospitals and reforming the psychiatric
system to make patients
more independent.
Deinstitutionalization has failed
in its primary endeavor - making
patients more self-reliant and
liberated - and should be reversed.
From the established correlation
between homelessness and mental
illness, we can draw two conclusions,
not necessarily mutually
exclusive: one, that mental illness
at least contributes to a personâ€™s
propensity to become homeless,
and two, that the condition of
homelessness and its accompanying
trauma can cause an individual
to develop mental illness or become
more mentally ill than they
were when housed. According to
Carlyn Campbell-Johannes, MA,
LPC, LPSC, a licensed therapist
and high school counselor working
at Toledo School for the Arts, it
is likely that both are true. Commenting
on the numbers evidencing
the correlation between mental
Homelessness is not only a
difficult condition; it is a condition
incompatible with the natural state
of man. It is a condition that no decent
or prosperous society would
allow to exist within its borders;
not only this, but it is a condition
that is largely preventable through
state action. An obvious key to this
government intervention in the
homelessness crisis is government
action regarding mental health.
Mental illnesses are diseases just
like any other; they require serious
medical intervention, which
in the United States is normally
so expensive that even the middle
classes canâ€™t afford it. A solution
to the issue which needs to be considered
is publicly funded healthcare.
State-provided mental health
services would not be something
completely new to the United
States; according to Loren Mosher,
MD, a psychiatrist and expert on
schizophrenia, the care for SPMI
individuals before the 1970s fell
largely upon state-run asylums and
was only delegated to privately
run psychiatric wards afterward as
a conservative effort to cut government
spending. Again quoting Ms.
Campbell-Johannes, â€œIt is possible
for the government to provide for
those needs, and right now that is
obviously not happening.â€
This does not mean that the solution
is returning to the previous
system of widespread involuntary
committal to dilapidated asylums.
It means that once a person has
proven themselves incapable of
providing for their own basic
needs due to psychological disorder,
in particular psychotic illness,
the state or federal government
has a responsibility to make up the
difference and end its more than
six decades of neglect. While the
process of deinstitutionalization
was built off of a dream of personal
responsibility, it may be wise for
us to reconsider just how realistic
that dream may have been.
×‰	Ú 7cassandra://0VKqQIm_DWlq3S7fsCa_Vy2tQ6SKdV8TNGUGTyw88u0Í$WÍ`Ì¶Í ×c<J…yÎ½g×‰EÚÁRead Widely-Disability in Fiction
By
Abby Byers
Over time, the perception of persons
with disabilities have changed signifi -
cantly, especially after the passing of
the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA) in 1990. Situations that at
one point in history were considered
justifi cation for institutionalization,
are now celebrated as differences
that highlight individual uniqueness.
While October is National Disability
Employment Awareness Month, it is
important to celebrate disability representation
in all types of literature,
not just biographies or history books.
The following list of fi ction feature
disabled characters that are more than
their disabilities. All these books are
available at Toledo Lucas County
Public Library- donâ€™t forget to check
out toledolibrary.org for 24/7 access
to materials!
One Two Three
by Laurie Frankel
In the tiny town of Bourne, nothing
ever happens. Until, suddenly,
everything changes. Seventeen years
ago, the town made national headlines
when its water suddenly turned green.
Factory chemical pollution poisoned
the townâ€™s water supply, which made
the residents and animals sick. Nora
Mitchell has been fi ghting for justice
for her deceased husband and disabled
triplet daughters since the water
turned green. Frankel weaves a story
of wonder that celebrates the differences
of each triplet, the accessibility
of the town, and will keep you turning
the pages.
The Bergman Brothers
Series by Chloe Liese
Chloe Lieseâ€™s #OwnVoices romance
series pulls out all the stops. This
series will make you laugh, cry, and
blush, all while featuring characters
that are neurodivergent and have
disabilities. With classic romance
tropes like enemies to lovers, grumpy/
sunshine, and marriage in crisis, donâ€™t
miss this heart warming series.
Into the Drowning Deep
by Mira Grant
Seven years ago, a ship from production
company Imagine sets off to
fi lm in the Mariana Trench. The ship
was lost at sea, but not before leaving
behind some gruesome footage. Now,
Imagine is sending out another ship
to uncover that really happened seven
years ago. This thrilling horror novel
is inclusive and #OwnVoices. Mira
Grant writes characters that are deaf,
have autism spectrum disorder, and
experience chronic pain from nerve
damage.
The Brown Sisters
Trilogy
by Talia Hibbert
In this fabulous and fun trilogy, three
sisters with various interests and
abilities fi nd true love in the most
unexpected of places. Each sisterâ€™s
journey to love follows a new trope,
including enemies-to-lovers, co-workers
romance, and fake relationships.
Author Talia Hibbert writes characters
that live with autism, chronic illness,
anxiety, and depression and shows the
world that everyone is deserving of a
happy ending. If you love the Brown
sisters, try Chloe Lieseâ€™s disability
#OwnVoices series, The Bergman
Brothers.
The Unbroken
by C.L. Clark
Solider Touraine has been raised
to kill and die for her empire as an
indentured servant. After all sheâ€™s
been through, she is set to return to
her home country and rise in the ranks
Page 7
So Lucky
by Nicola Griffi th
Successful CEO Mara Tagarelli faces
two crises at once: her wife leaves
her and she receives a diagnosis of
of power. When princess Luca, who
walks with the assistance of a cane,
comes to Touraine with a plan to
overthrow her uncle and unite with a
rebel clan, Touraine canâ€™t say no. This
richly woven fantasy story has its
roots in the history North Africa and
its colonization.
Girl Gone Viral
by Alisha Rai
Katrina King is a former model who
escaped an abusive household at a
young age. After a traumatic experience
in her mid-20s, Katrina has
panic disorder and barely leaves
her house. When a seemingly meetcute
moment between Katrina and a
stranger is fi lmed and goes viral, she
fears for her life. Her bodyguard Jas
Singh, an Iraqi war veteran who has
PTSD, swoops in to take Katrina to
safety. This slow-burn romance is
sweet and steamy all in one.
multiple sclerosis. In the wake of her
diagnosis, Mara is astonished by the
ableism in the world, especially at
her own workplace. She opens a new
nonprofi t to help disabled people gain
independence in a world that wants
to pretend they donâ€™t exist. Author
Nicola Griffi th wrote this novel after
her own multiple sclerosis diagnosis.
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à¦Í ÍïÍñ×c<J†yÎ½gª×˜š ÍV ÍVÍ€u×‰œ”×‰	Ú 7cassandra://ATUfXn585AqkAvuBJQNIdEiKyYAZ4RhN-9JpifD-9S0Î MÍ`ÍµÍ×‰	Ú 7cassandra://2OuW02JGlFR4VapxrXQ1szy8Bo2i4rzpfP8kzgxW3IoÍuÀÍ`ÍUÍß×‰	Ú 7cassandra://-DHlDE8tSNutVW1Jgva9y3b3yohNKmjZiMxiJEI5ZOsÍ$ÕÍ`Ì¶Í ×‰	Ú 7cassandra://6N8ESZY9G52WKpfITw6_Y5W_6SwMITgj0sESIxwp9FMÎ ö`Ì Í ÍïÍñ×c<J†yÎ½g«×‰EÚÎCenter. â€œWe have one man who has spinal bifi da,
he wanted to be a mechanic. He is in a wheelchair.
We ended up giving him a scholarship to BGSU in
engineering. We are working hard with various contacts
we have in his specialty to see if we can make
a connection for him.â€
Stuart said his approach to aspirational growth
has been more receptive here in Toledo than it was
in Berkeley. There, he was constantly pushed to
provide more social services and getting his clients
benefi ts. Stuart did not disagree but said if that is
his primary focus than this program never solves
itself. He had to ask, â€œIs this a numbers game or is
it an outcome game?â€
â€œIf I provide services for 300 people, and they
keep coming back for the same services am I really
helping them or just checking off the boxes on
some government form? Or do I focus on 20, 30,
40, 50 people like Jose Rivera and really get them
off the street?â€
Stuart James and The Ability Center: How the
"Think Differently Then Act!" Campaign will Help
Make Toledo the Most Disability-Friendly City in
America
By Ed Conn
I fi rst met Stuart James, Executive Director
of The Ability Center, when he was the keynote
speaker at a Maumee Chamber of Commerce luncheon
in the spring. In 20 minutes, his thoughtful
fi rst-person accounts and storytelling introduced
us to a concept which has now become the Think
Differently then Act! Campaign.
Stuart joined The Ability Center at the end of
2021, after serving as Executive Director for The
Center for Independent Learning in Berkeley for
seven years. During his tenure there, he renewed
TheCILâ€™s commitment and vision for a truly inclusive
world and nearly tripled the organizationâ€™s
endowment.
â€œMy approach to independent living is to be very
aspirational. We can give you these services, we
can give you the assistance, but if you donâ€™t know
what direction you are going you may never get
anywhere. It becomes quite a quagmire. So we need
to set goals for individuals, realistic enough so they
understand if we are going to go this way we fi gure
out together what you will need to get there, so that
we donâ€™t spend a lot of time doing things that are
not helping you.â€
â€œOne of the people we helped in Berkeley is
a guy named Jose Rivera. Jose was as smart as
you can get. He speaks 7 languages, he graduated
Georgetown, MBA from Wharton, executive for
Microsoft. He had it all. Wonderful wife, big house,
nice car. The recession of 2008 hit, and Jose went
upside down fi nancially. He had an epic meltdown.
He went from a luxury lifestyle to basically eating
out of dumpsters.â€
Eric Rine
Page 8
Photo credit: The Ability Center
Wheelchair ramp Mother and Daughter Photo credit: The Ability Center
His wife divorced him; would not let him see the
kids. He tried to commit suicide, but his brother
found him and got him into a mental health facility.
He went through electroshock therapy and fi nally
ended back on the streets. He came to TheCIL
because as smart as he was, he could not fi gure out
how to get out of the system. He was $8 million in
debt; his wife was calling him a deadbeat dad.
Stuart said the fi rst order of business with Jose
was to get him stable. They then asked him,
â€œWhere do you want to go?â€ He said he wanted
to get a PhD in Language and go teach. â€œOnce his
goal was set, we knew we had to get funding for
his schooling. We helped him get into the school
he wanted. He reestablished his relationship with
his oldest daughter. He graduated with his degree a
year early. He has been published 3 or 4 times and
now he has become a big advocate for changing
social service systems.â€
Locally, Stuart said there have been numerous
success stories that have come through The Ability
We pivoted our discussion to the launch of the
Think Diffferently then Act! Campaign. Stuart likened
it to his presentations to government agencies.
â€œSometimes when I talk to them, they get my words
but they donâ€™t really understand what I am talking
about. Part of the Think Differently Campaign is to
get people to have the same picture on people with
disabilities that I do.â€
â€œI have four year old twins. Once I was shopping
at one of the bigs and my kids were running around
like four year olds do. A few concerned shoppers
noticed this and went to get store personnel because
they thought the kids were unsupervised. It did not
occur to them that I was their dad. It is these types
of prejudices that the Think Differently Campaign
is trying to resolve.â€
One of the misconceptions is that all people with
×‰	Ú 7cassandra://2bbxYjCI_mqjXye6XhEFZ2IkjWwCCwuP2kFKmREJUZ8Í&ÀÍ`Ì¶Í ×c<J…yÎ½g‘×‰EÚ¹disabilities are poor. There is a disproportional
amount that are poor. This is not always the case.
â€œThere are a great number of people with disabilities
with a high share of wealth and when I talk to
businesses about accessibilities, I say if you want
my money to be your money you better make your
shop accessible.â€
Sometimes change is slow. The City of Toledo
just passed an ordinance requiring restaurants and
bars to use closed caption when television set are
on. The chamber however pushed back on this and
did not want to agree to this even though the cost
was nothing. It made very little sense to Stuart and
to many in the community.
In looking at other cities that have a higher level
of accessibilities, Stuart points to places like Austin,
Texas and Eugene, Oregon as cities that are doing a
good job in several areas. Newer cities as well are
building out accessibility from the beginning which
is far easier and cheaper than retrofi tting older
urban areas like New York City.
Advocacy is a key pillar to The Ability Centerâ€™s
mission. Besides individual advocacy, public and
government advocacy plays a signifi cant role in the
work of The Ability Center staff. The staff assists
private and public partners in their efforts to comply
with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA),
fair housing, Medicare, and other disability rights
legislation.
Partnerships are critical to the success of The
Ability Center. Metroparks Toledo and their effort
to work with ACT to solve accessibility issues
throughout the park system is one example of a
successful partnership. â€œI was at the ribbon cutting
for the Maumee River Walk. That project is fantastic.
They provided a huge swath of pavement which
makes it wheelchair accessible as well as removal
of the river bank growth so that the view is unencumbered.â€
Another
example is how the incredible staff
at Metroparks worked to set up an inclusive tree
climbing event where anyone who wanted to could
have a tree climbing experience.
You cannot change a city or attitude if you donâ€™t
have community partners. The Ability Center is
fortunate to have a lot of them. Whether it is the Toledo
Museum of Art, Toledo Zoo & Aquarium, the
Toledo Symphony Orchestra, Imagination Station,
the partners here are key to The Ability Center's
goal of making Toledo one of the most disability-friendly
cities in America.
Socialization through recreation is another concept
at The Ability Center encouraging people to
participate in outdoor and indoor activities. Besides
the park program, The Ability Center is working
with schools and other facilities to create sports
leagues and venues for wheelchair basketball and
hockey, as well as lacrosse which is a sport Stuart
played and coached.
The Ability Center will continue to expand the
work with the homeless through the Cherry Street
Mission, and Toledo Streets. â€œThe homeless represent
one segment of our community and if you
are on the street we have to help you because you
More often than not, we see the world in absolutes.
All or nothing, good or bad, true or false
- things we consistently reinforce to ourselves and
others. We are born into a culture and how we perceive
it is entirely up to us.
It began in January 2020, The Ability Center
announced its audacious goal to become the most
disability-friendly community in the country. This
movement sparked thoughtful conversations and
initiatives from community partners invested in
becoming more inclusive.
The Re-Launch: With fresh leadership and a new
perspective, it was announced in July 2022, the second
chapter of the campaign was here. A box crafted
with branded items was delivered to members of
the media and community partners as an invitation
to the event at Glass City Metropark.
The Message: Challenging people to think differently
about disability and what people with disabilities
think about themselves â€“ a lawyer you hired
who is in a wheelchair, a family with a child at a
Metropark with a sensory disability, your accountant
who is hearing impaired. Public spaces and
community activities will naturally become accessible
and inclusive for people with disabilities when
we think differently about whatâ€™s possible for them.
The Reason: Toledoâ€™s physical spaces have a long
way to go to be determined as â€œcompletely accessible.â€
We are confi dent the second chapter of
the campaign, Think Differently Then ACT!, will
naturally bridge authentic conversations and make
accessibility and inclusion top of mind for business
owners, community members, and regional government.
Continued
on Page 11
are like a family. We just have to fi gure out how
to make that happen and I donâ€™t think we have an
answer yet.â€
Think Differently Then ACT!, the next chapter
of the Disability-Friendly Movement.
Page 9
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recovery
we believe in your recovery
At the Thomas M. Wernert Center, we help people on their journey toward
mental health recovery and wellness through peer-to-peer programs and
services. Who knows better what youâ€™re feeling than those of us who have
lived experience with mental illness and recovery.
At TMWC, we promote individual empowerment and well-being as you
journey toward health and wellness. Our Peer Supporters are here to
provide you with hope, encouragement, and support. Stop in and meet us.
Weâ€™re in this together!
For more information contact:
208 W Woodruff Avenue | Toledo, Ohio 43604
419.242.3000 | info@wernertcenter.org | WernertCenter.org
Page 10
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Activation
Authentic Authors (Video Series)
Hosted by Chrys Peterson, the goal of the series is
to rewrite the story of disability told by the people
who live it. Aiming to transform what the community
believes and redefi ne what people with disabilities
believe about themselves. The program will
feature regional advocates and those empowering
people with and without disabilities.
68 Words (Podcast)
Hosted by radio personality Eric Chase, 68 Words
captures people, places, and spaces doing disability
differently, sharing fi rst-hand experience in a
monthly podcast. A number of inclusive events and
accessible attractions can be highlighted, as well as
the stories of guests with disabilities.
On the Menu (Lunch and Learn Series)
Diving into a broad range of topics impacting people
with disabilities, The Ability Center will bring
in subject matter experts and community members
to gain tactical knowledge and network with peers
in the space. Lunch and Learns will occur monthly
at The Ability Centerâ€™s campus.
Jupmode (Apparel Line)
Capitalizing on the success of the Toledo is for Everyone
community shirt, a new line of apparel will
be available for purchase at Jupmodesupply.com.
Disability Awareness Experience (New Training
Offering)
Gaining knowledge about disabilities and connecting
over shared experiences, participants meet new
people and learn about disabilities. Training available
for groups of 30 or less per session.
The Ability Center has also launched a new website:
abilitycenter.org.
The grant to the Metroparks Toledo Foundation
will be used to purchase two pieces
of equipment to expand Metroparks adapted
program offerings:
An Action Trackchair, (photo below) which
uses tracks rather than wheels so people with
disabilities can venture over various terrain, not
just paved paths. The chair will be available by
reservation for personal use in the Metroparks,
and by request at nature walks and other programs.
A
portable, 32-by-22-foot pool that will be
used to introduce people to kayaking and stand
up paddleboard at community events. The pool
will also allow the Metroparks program staff to
provide programs adapted for people of varying
abilities.
â€œNature belongs to everyone, and one of our
main objectives is to make the Metroparks
accessible and welcoming to all,â€ said Dave
Zenk, executive director of Metroparks Toledo.
â€œWith this grant, we will be able to expand our
existing services to people with disabilities and
introduce people to new ways of enjoying the
outdoors.â€
The Christopher & Dana Reeves FoundaChristopher
& Dana Reeve
Foundation Grant Will Help
Make Metroparks Programs
Accessible
A $24,700 grant from The Christopher &
Dana Reeve Foundation National Paralysis
Resource Center will help Metroparks Toledo
purchase equipment to provide adaptive outdoors
experiences for people with disabilities.
tion awarded 67 Direct Effect Quality of Life
grants totaling $1.4 million from its Quality of
Life Grants Program, which supports nonprofi t
organizations that empower individuals living
with paralysis. Since the Quality of Life Grants
Programâ€™s inception, more than 3,490 grants
totaling over $36 million have been awarded.
Funding for this program was made possible
through a cooperative agreement with the Administration
for Community Living.
â€œThis cycle of Direct Effect grant projects
offers a robust and impactful addition to our
Quality of Life grants program,â€ said Mark
Bogosian, Director, Quality of Life Grants
Program, Reeve Foundation. â€œGrant funds are
supporting wide-ranging projects including
accessible community areas, adaptive sports,
fi tness and wellness, consumer education, peer
mentoring and support, and transportation.
These projects represent the true essence of our
Quality of Life grants program by fostering
inclusion, involvement and community engagement,
and promoting health and wellness for
those affected by paralysis.â€
About the Reeve Foundation:
The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is dedicated
to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative
research and improving the quality of life
for individuals and families impacted by paralysis.
By uniting the brightest minds in the fi eld, we are
working tirelessly to accelerate scientifi c discovery
across the fi eld of spinal cord research by investing
in labs across the globe. Additionally, through a
cooperative agreement with the Administration for
Community Living, the Reeve Foundationâ€™s National
Paralysis Resource Center (NPRC) promotes
the health, well-being, and independence of people
living with paralysis, providing comprehensive
information, resources, and referral services assisting
over 100,000 individuals and families since its
launch in 2002. The Reeve Foundation is committed
to elevating our communityâ€™s voices and needs
to achieve greater representation and independence.
We meet all 20 of the Better Business Bureauâ€™s
standards for charity accountability and hold the
BBBâ€™s Charity Seal. For more information, please
visit our website at www.ChristopherReeve.org or
call 800-225-0292.
There is no
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Page 11
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Interviewed by Tom Fletcher
Jim Ferris is the author of two poetry
collections The Hospital Poems (2004),
and Slouching Towards Guantanamo
(2011). Ferrisâ€™s first poetry collection was
winner of the International Main Street
Rag Poetry Book Award, and its subsequent
success made him widely known as
a so-called â€œpoet of cripples.â€ His articles
â€œThe Enjambed Body: A Step Towards a
Crippled Poeticsâ€ (2004), and his 2007
essay â€œCrip Poetry, Or How I learned to
Love the Limp,â€ are recognised as seminal
works in developing a critical theory
of disability poetry. Ferris is employed as
a Professor and Ability Center Endowed
Chair in Disability Studies at University
of Toledo. In this interview, Ferris outlines
the progress made since he first wrote
these essays. He also considers how the
COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic shows
disabled people are still all too easily
marginalised by government policies and
societal attitudes.
TF: Your landmark essay â€œCrip Poetry,
or How I Learned to Love the Limpâ€
(2006) has been widely acclaimed for its
initiation of the debate on the function of
disability poetry and its potential agency
in challenging conceptions of disabled
individuals. What progress do you see
having been made 14 years on from the
original points made on how disabled
individuals are perceived by society?
JF: Some progress has been made, to be
sure, though disabled people around the
world continue to be subjected to oppression,
ranging from violence and abuse to
the â€œsofterâ€ oppression of low expectations
and limited opportunities. Disabled
people have been able to claim more of
a place in many societies: more than a
hundred countries now have national
organizations of disabled people, disabled
people are somewhat less likely to be
restricted to back rooms and institutions,
and somewhat more opportunities for
education are available. Real progress has
been made; at the same time, there is so
much more to be done.
Disability culture is ignored at best,
misunderstood or maligned. If we just
look at how people are being positioned
during the current coronavirus pandemic,
disabled people are again among the last
to be considered. The current reassurances
that are being offered: â€œBe careful but
donâ€™t worry, old and sick people are at
most risk.â€ Disabled people is what they
mean. â€œDonâ€™t worry, it is most likely to
kill the people we are least interested in
saving anyway.â€ This is not to overlook
the work that many nondisabled as well
as disabled people are doing to safeguard
vulnerable disabled and chronically ill
people, but to the society at large we
Page 12
are still easily overlooked, a nuisance
or worse. I told my Disability Studies
students this week â€œThis is not a drill.
Situations like thisâ€”life and death situations
like thisâ€”are all about disability,
and they are exactly why the work we do
in Disability Studies is so important. I was
speaking with a friend yesterday who suspects
that with her compromised immune
system she will not survive this pandemic.
I know that when it comes to deploying
resources (like who gets to use a ventilator
and who doesnâ€™t), I donâ€™t want those
decisions made by people who think that
the lives of people with disabilities are not
worth living. I want those decisions made
by people like you, people who are committed
to recognizing the value of every
life, who are committed to learning and
doing the work to maintain the systems
that disabled people and everyone else
need to live a full life.â€ As I noted above,
I do think weâ€™ve made some progress, but
there is so much more that is needed.
Maybe this is the heart of the problem:
nondisabled people donâ€™t recognize that
disabled people are the most creative people
on the planet, because we have to be.
When the water rises, when the electricity
goes off, disabled people have to be creative
and determined and imaginative and
help each other out, and then do it again
tomorrow, because we live in an ableist
world that isnâ€™t even perceptive and
imaginative enough to recognize the huge
contributions disabled people make just by
living every day. If you want to figure out
how to get something done, how to solve
a problem, how to work around barriers,
ask a crip. They think the blind leading the
blind is a bad idea, but who knows better
how to negotiate the world as a blind person?
To quote the great Mr. T from â€œThe A
Team,â€ â€œI pity the foolsâ€â€”but I also know
to be wary around them.
TF: In the essay you add that crip
poetry has â€œthe potential to transform the
world, to make the world in which we live
roomier.â€ Can you indicate the different
ways you consider your poetry achieves
this aim and/or communicate this process?
JF:
I hope that my poems help to create
a space in the social consciousness for disabled
people to beâ€”and be recognizedâ€”
as full, whole human beings. I hope my
poems assert the rich and fruitful presence
of a wide range of ways of moving
through the world. Some of my poems advance
an explicitly disabled persona using
language to engage with complex world.
An example is â€œHow We Swim,â€ which is
on one level an elegy for the late scholar
and activist Paul Longmore, while on
another level it is about disability activism
and the disability rights movementâ€”about
crips insisting that we belong in the world.
Other poems may seek to poke holes in
the tissue of attitudes, assumptions and
practices that serve to otherize and impinge
on the humanity of disabled people.
Still other poems are not â€œabout disabilityâ€
in any overt external sense, but the
simple presence of poems by a disabled
poet helps to claim space in the world for
disabled people and their rich and varied
perspectives.
I also recognize that my disability experience
deeply informs how I encounter
the world, how I think and feel as I inhabit
each day in whatever place I am in on this
complex planet. I am using that disability
experience whether I write â€œabout disabilityâ€
overtly or not.
TF: Your essay also discusses how your
writing aims to â€œvalidate the lived experience
of moving through the world with
a disability.â€ Can you elaborate on your
choice of imagery and your use of spatial
motifs in general? Perhaps you can also
touch on how the typography and verse
form of your poetry is used to replicate the
negotiation of different types of real and
imagined spaces?
JF: What the poem looks like on the
page, and what it feels like in the speaking,
hearing, and reading are all part of the
music of the poem. And music is always
different from space to space, from the
shower to the living room to the concert
stage to the recording studio. I hope my
poems create the opportunity for some
space in the readerâ€™s or listenerâ€™s mind,
which is not separate from the body.
Opening space for experience, making a
bit of space for this moment, as fleeting
and precious and irreplaceable as it is. I
think more consciously about voice than
about space in a poem, usually, but sometimes
a poem just has to have room for the
air to get under its wings.
Typography, line breaks, stanza breaks,
indentations, columnsâ€”I try to make use
of all the tools available to createâ€”to
open, to allow, to engenderâ€”the effect I
seek. Or some effect. The word is not the
thing, the map is not the territoryâ€”but
each word is a thing, the words together
are both things and a thing, each poem
is a territory. I hope my poems create or
allow room for people to move around in.
Everything is a happy accident; nothing is
by mistake. Except for mistakes, which I
will realize later.
TF: So, for example, the poem â€œExercise
of Powerâ€ describes how visible
forms of â€œGodâ€™s mistakesâ€ need to be
fixed. Which poetic techniques do you
most consciously employ to convey the
visibility of your disability?
JF: Line lengths and the deployment of
white space on the page are the chief techniques
I use to reflect something of my
atypical perspective. There is an interesting
conflict between conforming to the generic
expectations of what a poem should
look like and trying to create for the reader
and listener an experience that reflects
what Iâ€™m seeking to engender. In a real
way the poems are not about me. They
may draw heavily on my lived experience;
they are certainly shaped by my thinking
and feeling and sense of language; but for
a poem to really work, it has to in some
way not only be accessible to the audience
but also to be in some unexpected
way about the audience. I hope my poems
create an experience for the audience. And
when my poems are really working, they
stop being mine and they become yours
and ours. There may be times when I need
the audience to read a poem with my impaired
body in mind, but mostly I hope to
push past that, maybe, ideally, somehow
with their own once and future impaired
body in mind. Or in bodymind. Itâ€™s always
good to remember that bodies and minds
are not separate things, however much
we yearn to give in to the restrictions and
narrownesses we have been taught.
TF: Your wonderful poem â€œPoet of
Cripples,â€ refers to how crip poetry enables
readers to reconsider the â€œspace to
grow in ways/unimaginable to the straight/
and the narrow, the small and similar.â€
Can you indicate more about how you
see poetry as an aid to this process? How
might your poetry be thought to be an expression
of embodiment as a varied, fluid
shape, allowing individuals to expand
their notion of different bodies?
JF: Poetry offers readers and listeners
new opportunities to feel, think, experience
something in this world that we
share. When weâ€™re lucky, poems give us
not only new opportunities but new ways
of feeling/thinking/experiencing. Itâ€™s impossible
to truly engage with a good poem
and not be changed a little, and not have
a new sense of how someone else feels in
the world. And each of those experiences
add to our sense of what is possible in this
world of pain and promise. Iâ€™m probably
mangling someone elseâ€™s concept, but
I think of the cultural imaginary as this
giant storehouse of all the images and
associations that are available within a
particular culture.
Each poem, as well as each other form
of art, has the potential to contribute to
that great cultural storehouse of possible
imagesâ€”which includes possible ways of
being in the world. Each time we contribute
to that great storehouse, we have the
potential to enlarge the range of what is
possible to imagine in that culture. Poems
can help make the world more possible.
What could be a greater gift than that?
TF: I love your poem â€œReturn to the
Wardâ€ where the persona experiences a
sense of dislocation: patients navigate the
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with exposure to life outside. In what ways
do you consider your poetry helps us to
understand how we exist in public and
private spaces? How do you use poetry to
challenge our thinking about how spaces
operate and are designed?
JF: Thanks for nudging me to reread
â€œReturn to the Ward.â€ I wonder what has
become of the guys I came to know well
during my many stays on the ward. I also
find myself thinking about the distancing
we experienced, that was a central part of
that experience â€“ especially in light of the
direction for social distancing as I write
this in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
And I wonder how different they
are. Distancing at the charity hospital was
in part about infection control, ostensibly,
but it may also have been about sheltering
us or quarantining us away from a society
that was afraid of us, even though it might
not want to realize let alone admit it. And
now social distancing to control the spread
of the contagion. I donâ€™t resist that distancing,
because it seems like an important
part of controlling the viral menace.
And yet we are once again being taught
to fear our fellows, carriers may not even
know they are infected. You may already
have wonâ€”or lost.
The way poems lay out on the page
can be a challenge to the conventional
ways spaces are designed and operate, not
unlike the exciting dance that Alice Sheppard
and her collaborators are doing. What
else can we do with this space, with this
page? It can be fun to find out. Generic
expectations give us boundaries to lean on
as well as to push against. When does a
piece of writing cross from poem to prose
or monologue? Or visual art, painting,
sculpture? Interesting question, even if it
is ultimately constricting. But constriction
is how the boa eats. Feed me.
TF: The poems in your second collection
Slouching Towards Guantanamo
(2011) can be interpreted as documenting
the establishment of an imagined disabled
nation space. 30 years after the ADA, in
what ways do you still think the accessible
nation is an achievable reality or a
distant utopia? How do you think your
own crip poetry has to evolve in the next
two decades in order to continue to help
make the case for society to be made more
accessible for disabled people?
JF: I think the accessible nation is
achievable, but I think continuing to that
goal will require something akin to a
change in paradigm: the recognition that
access is not about some of us but about
all of us. This feels comparable to me to
the people who may recognize that climate
change is happening but who think
that itâ€™s really somebody elseâ€™s problem.
Itâ€™s really all of our problem, and access is
all our problem and opportunity as well.
How does my own poetry have to
evolve? Iâ€™m not sure evolution is best
planned; and I am leery of attempts to
engineer a better poemâ€”or poetics.
Progressive ideals gave us eugenics and
prohibition along with woman suffrage
and educational reforms. Greater access
and opportunity for disabled people is a
crucial goal, but for poems to work they
canâ€™t be propaganda. And we have to be
careful about being too directive with
these delicate but powerful things.
TF: Your poem, â€œManifest Destiny,â€ for
example, cites many political and cultural
references from various people and periods
of American history. I was wondering
if you could share your thoughts on
representing the shift in societal representation
of embodiment through historical
citation?
JF: I wrote â€œManifest Destinyâ€ in
response to an unvoiced challenge from
the Iraqi poet Saadi Youssef. I was reading
Khaled Mattawaâ€™s translation of Youssefâ€™s
poem â€œAmerica, Americaâ€ on the eve
of the US invasion of Iraq. I had joined
thousands in marching to the state capitol
in Madison to tell the US government not
to start another war, not to indulge the
blood lust that we too often are pulled
by. While reading Youssefâ€™s poem I was
struck by his embrace of my country and
its ideals while not holding back for a moment
from his clear-eyed critique of our
failures to live up to those ideals. I was
also struck by his use of a refrain drawn
from patriotic song, which led me to the
idea of drawing upon American commonplaces,
images and phrases so central
to the American mythos that they would
require no citation. I think I was wrong
about the 1968 quotation from Chicago
Mayor Daley, by the way (â€œthe policeman
isnâ€™t there to create disorder, heâ€™s there
to preserve disorderâ€). But the power of
those commonplaces, at least for those of
us who grew up on themâ€”and maybe for
Youssefâ€”is compelling. I read that poem
at a poetry reading at a university in the
American South just a couple weeks ago,
and it still has power for me: at one point
toward the end of the poem, I always feel
like crying. Recognizing both our recurrent,
deep, pervasive failures to live up to
our ideals, while still asserting the hope
in the idealsâ€”that was the challenge from
Youssef. Maybe someday I will get to
show him the poem.
TF: Are there any particular philosophers,
disability studies theorists or
perception phenomenologists who have
consciously influenced your work; and
how have they influenced your thinking?
JF: Consciously? No, not really. I find
myself using ideas and language from
existential phenomenologists like Merleau-Ponty,
but Iâ€™m leery of too explicitly
committing to any theoristâ€™s ideasâ€”I
think Iâ€™m afraid that will inhibit the poem
from jumping wherever the hell it needs
to go.
Disability studies theorists present another
question, I think. Disability studies
is still something of a cottage industry.
The field has grown by leaps and bounds
(running with the jumping metaphor in the
paragraph above), but it is still relatively
small. It was never quite true that we all
know each other, and less true now, but
the ideas that constitute disability studies
theory developed in community and
collaboration among a bunch of people
trying to puzzle our ways through thorny
questions. I think itâ€™s fair to say that most
everybody who might qualify as a disability
studies theorist has helped to shape and
enrich my thinking; I hope Iâ€™ve given as
good as Iâ€™ve gotten.
TF: Can you comment on the ways
your recent poetry engages with issues of
disability, race/ethnicity and social justice
in America today?
JF: I was raised to think of myself and
my family as white, which at that time
meant to think of ourselves as not really
even having a race: race was something
other people had. Trying to learn how to
be a good parent to my African-American
stepdaughters made me start to confront
some of the ways their experience would
be contextualized by the usually implicit
but seldom if ever absent racializing that
is standard in U.S. society. I wish I had
been quicker off the mark to recognize
how my own experience had been no less
contextualized by raceâ€”contextualized
very differently, but race was no less part
of my experience than of theirs. As we
were trying to be a multiracial family,
as I was learning far too slowly to think
about what I had only partially glimpsed
before, I learned something else: that my
maternal grandparents, who I thought I
knew well, were categorized black and
only began passing for white less than a
hundred years ago. Much of what I have
written the last several years has been
in part probing the fabrication of race in
actual lives, thinking about how I have
been implicated in this system, pondering
the interleavings of race with disability,
and wondering how my familyâ€™s hidden
black history shaped our experience for all
its unspoken-ness.
The past few years I have been working
on a performance project around these
questions. Itâ€™s called â€œIs Your Mama
White?â€, which comes from a question
one of my ex-wifeâ€™s young cousins asked
me as she was trying to figure out where
I fit in the larger and more clearly black
family. It was a good question; still is.
Where did my mother fit in the nationâ€™s
race scheme? Where do I? How did my
familyâ€™s particular racialized standing influence
my disability experience? How do
we talk about charged topics in productive
ways? The performance asks more questions
than it answers, and it changes every
time I do it, but it always includes at least
a few of these poems.
At an artistsâ€™ residency some years ago
I met a painter whose project during the
residency was a series of self-portraits.
That series, in particular one close-up of
him peering at his face in a mirror, has
stuck with me for years. As the pandemic
lockdown was having its way this spring,
it occurred to me that it might be an interesting
project to write a series of self-portraits,
myself. A conversation with the
dancer and choreographer Alice Sheppard
got me thinking about how the self-portrait
poems could continue to probe my
occluded family history and the ways that
I and my family have been racializedâ€”
and have participated in racializingâ€”in a
profoundly racist society. Portraits, including
Riva Lehrerâ€™s compelling portrait of
Alice, have played an important role in the
development of disability culture in the
U.S.; disabled bodies, however they are
racialized, have seldom been considered
fit subjects for portraiture.
And portraits, whether they are made
with paint or words, are always about
society at least as much as they are about
a person. Audience is an essential element
of a poem or any work of artâ€”the circuit
is incomplete without that connection,
even if the initial audience is conceptualized
to be the self, a seemingly inanimate
object, or the void of the universe. I think
this is true: there is no art without an
other.
As I work to educate myself and to oppose
racist structures and practices in the
community where I live, I hope my poems
reflect what I learn and what I perceive
in the complex and uneven world around
me. A poem is not propaganda, but it can
make a claim in and on a tough world. I
hope my poems do that.
Page 13
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THEME: FINISH THE LYRICS
ACROSS
1. Fake deal
5. Dashboard acronym
8. Oxen connector
12. Guesstimate phrase (2 words)
13. Give a darn
14. Exhibitionist
15. Itâ€™s OTAN in French
16. Carbon monoxide lacks this
17. Geometry class prop
18. *Lou Reed: â€œShe says, â€œHey babe, take a walk on the
____ ____â€
20. European â€œcurtainâ€
21. Mustangs, e.g.
22. Campaign pro
23. Cause of wheezing
26. Menâ€™s Colonial headgear
30. Fib
31. *Bon Jovi: â€œTake my hand, weâ€™ll make it I swear.
Woah, livinâ€™ on a ____â€
34. The only thing to fear?
35. Small and round, eyes description
37. Future fish
38. Alabama civil rights site
39. Tangelo
40. Shape clay, e.g.
42. James Cordenâ€™s network
43. Awaited deliverer
45. Same as lathees
47. 0 meridian acronym
48. World-weary
50. Prefix with legal
52. *Aerosmith: â€œSing with me, sing for the year. Sing for
the ____â€
55. Siberian prison
56. Pakistani language
57. *Dionne Warwick: â€œI think Iâ€™m going out of my ____â€
59. Rapidly
60. Cheese app
61. â€œCogito, ____ sumâ€
62. Diamondâ€™s corner
63. European Economic Community
64. Whiskey grain, pl.
DOWN
1. *Kansas: â€œCarry on, my wayward ____â€
2. â€œStick in oneâ€™s ____â€
3. Italian wine region
4. Dough
5. *The Buggles: â€œVideo killed the ____â€
6. Cattle controls
7. BÃˆbÃˆâ€™s mother
8. *Elton John: â€œAnd it seems to me you
lived ____ ____â€
9. Capital of Norway
10. Hiking sandals brand
11. Mess up
13. Showâ€™s other star
14. Rap sheet listing
19. Negative house description
22. p in #5 Across
23. Michael Jacksonâ€™s â€œThrillerâ€, e.g.
24. Military blockade
25. Bluish greens
26. Banana leftover
27. ____â€™s, grape jelly brand
28. Many iambs
29. *Guns Nâ€™ Roses: â€œTake me down to the
paradise city where the ____â€
32. Missouri capital tourist attraction
33. *ABBA: â€œWaterloo - knowing my fate is
to be with ____â€
36. *Queen: â€œYou got mud on your face,
you big ____â€
38. Hiding place
40. Aptitude test acronym
41. Black Death
44. Picture
46. Restraint
48. Ballet rail
49. Playful
50. Immature butterfly
51. Unfortunately, exclamation
52. Jiffyâ€™s grease
53. Spooky
54. Uncontrollable anger
55. Loquacious personâ€™s gift
58. Not donâ€™ts
Finish the Lyrics
Page14
Solutions
×‰	Ú 7cassandra://Gy6OnWL4FwXz3VGcfIUvZ--6sYIaRZVjgRo9KsE8DO8Í)]Í`Ì¶Í ×c<J…yÎ½g—×‰EÚ)TOLEDO
STREETS
NEW SP APER
Mail: 1216 Madison Avenue
Toledo, OHIO 43604
TOLEDO STREETS WORKFORCE
DEVELOPMENT, CORP.
Board of Directors â€“ 2022
Board Chair - Bryce Roberts
Treasurer - Lauren Webber
Vendor Representative -
Wanda Boudrie
Amy Saylor
Candace Bishop
Val Vetter
Karen Plocek
Jen Seibel
Keri Semiac
Arika Michaelis
Shannon Nowak
Laura Genalo
Toledo Streets is a monthly publication called a street paper. We
are part of a worldwide movement of street papers that seeks to
provide simple economic opportunities to homeless individuals
and those experiencing poverty.
Our vendors purchase each paper for $.25 and ask for a dollar
donation. In exchange for their time and effort in selling the
paper, they keep the difference. They are asking for a hand up, not
a hand out. By purchasing the paper, you have helped someone
struggling to make it. Not just in terms of money, but also in
dignity of doing something for themselves. We thank you.
FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
Crystal Jankowski
Our Staff
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
John Keegan
WRITING TEAM LEADER
Jonie McIntire
ART DIRECTOR
Ed Conn
Our Mission
Toledo Streets seeks to empower individuals struggling with
extreme poverty to participate on a new level in the community
through self-employment, job training, and contributorship.
Toledo Streets is a registered nonprofi t corporation in Ohio.
While your gifts to the vendors, who are independent contractors,
are not taxed deductible, any donations you make directly to
our organization are deductible. These monies go to supporting
programming, which includes job training and skills development.
Our vendors purchase each paper for $.25 and ask for a dollar
donation. In exchange for their time and effort in selling the
paper, they keep the difference. They are asking for a hand up, not
a hand out. By purchasing the paper, you have helped someone
struggling to make it. Not just in terms of money, but also in
dignity of doing something for themselves. We thank you.
Toledo Streets is a monthly publication called a street paper. We
are part of a worldwide movemment of street papers that seeks to
provide simple economic opportunities to homeless individuals
and those experiencing poverty.
Toledo Streets is a registered nonprofi t corporation in Ohio.
While your gifts to the vendors, who are independent contractors,
are not tax deductible, any donations you make directly to our
organization are deductible. These monies go to supporting
programming, which includes job training and skills development.
Our Mission
Toledo Streets seeks to empower individuals struggling with
extreme poverty to participate on a new level in the community
through self-employment, job training, and contributorship.
Our Staff
a new job, because he lost his old job because of
presiding judge, Leonie Mengel, as he summed up
the case after the two-day trial.
Michael P. has said that he wants to fi nd
attack. â€œI was drunk,â€ he admitted in the courtroom.
â€œOtherwise I wouldnâ€™t have done such a stupid
thing.â€ P. seemed depressed as he described in
court how he felt that his life had been slipping
through his fi ngers. He has suffered for many years
from a rare nerve disease: problems with walking
and balance are consequences of the disease and
sometimes he is unable to leave the house despite
using medication. The fact that he could only calm
his nerves with alcohol was confi rmed by an expert.
Did the combination of alcohol and pills make him
aggressive? This possibility cannot be excluded,
according to the expert. However, â€œhow [the attack]
actually
happened
remains
unclear,â€
said
the
his sentence, mainly as a result of his behaviour after
the attack. While it is true that he ran away on the
night of the attack, shortly afterwards he apologised
to the victim in person on several occasions. And,
although the victim told him that he didnâ€™t need to go
to the police, P. did so a little while later. â€œI wanted to
take responsibility for what I did,â€ he said in court.
Sven, his victim, did not appear in court, but later
said in a conversation with Hinz&Kunzt that, â€œif he
hadnâ€™t contacted the police then they never would
have found him, so he has my respect for that.â€
Michael P. only vaguely remembers the
The 27-year-old got off so lightly, in terms of
Seifert, the coroner, in the court proceedings that
were held nearly seven months after the attack. Sven,
a homeless man, had to be taken by ambulance for
treatment in hospital. The sentence for the attacker
was rather mild: he was sentenced to one year and
three months in custody for causing grievous bodily
harm and given a further two years on probation.
This was just what the prosecution asked for. After
he completes his sentence, Michael P. will be a free
man.
â€œHe was incredibly lucky,â€ said Dragane
he could sleep deeply. It was 6.20pm when a dark
fi gure suddenly appeared in front of him at the
Ohlsdorf station in Hamburg, where he had settled
down to sleep. Then things kicked off. â€œI was
only just able to prop myself up,â€ the 45-year-old
remembers. Then came the pain as a 12-centimetrelong
cut was slashed across Svenâ€™s throat. It could
have been fatal.
Vendor Representative
Marthia Russell
Julie M. McKinnon
Ken Leslie
Chris Csonka
Deb Morris
Zobaida Falah
â€¢
Kristy Lee Czyzewskiâ€¢
â€¢
Treasurer
Lauren M. Webber
Secretary
â€¢
Vice-Chair
Tom Kroma
For Sven, the attack came out of nowhere.
In the evening, he had some drinks so that
By Benjamin Laufer and Jonas FÃ¼llner
Ohlsdorf station in Hamburg when he was slashed
across the neck in an unprovoked attack that could
have cost him his life. His life-threatening injuries
were infl icted on him by a 27-year-old, who admitted
that he was drunk at the time of the attack and who
later handed himself into police after running away
from the scene of the crime. Hinz&Kunzt learns
more about the attack and its repercussions.
Translated from German by Hazel Alton
Courtesy of Hinz&Kunzt / INSP.ngo
â€¢
â€¢
â€¢
â€¢
Bryce Roberts
Chair
respect the space of other vendors, particularly the space of vendors who have been at a spot longer, and will position myself at least two blocks away from a working vendor unless
otherwise approved;
45-year-old Sven was sleeping outside
â€¢
â€œI get scared by
every little noiseâ€:
The aftermath of
a violent attack
â€¢
Board of Directors â€“ 2018
Mail: 913 Madison Street
Toledo, OHIO 43604
CONTINUED FROM P 3TOLEDO STREETS WORKFORCE
DEVELOPMENT, CORP.
OUR GLOBAL INSP COMMUNITYOur Global INSP Community Page 19
understand I am not a legal employee of Toledo Streets but a contracted worker responsible for my own well-being and income;
â€¢
not buy/sell Toledo Streets under the infl uence of drugs or alcohol;
agree to sell no additional goods or products when selling the paper;
his illness. â€œI want to get my life back on track,â€ he
said, after four months in custody. Svenâ€™s life has
been unsettled since the attack last winter. â€œSleeping
has changed,â€ he explains, â€œI get scared by every
little noise.â€ Sven would most like to have his own
apartment, or at least a room of his own. When
you have your own place, he says, â€œyou can sleep
properly again.â€
agree to treat others- customers, staff and other vendors - respectfully, and I will not â€œhard sellâ€, threaten or pressure customers;
only purchase the paper from Toledo Streets staff or volunteers and will not sell papers to other vendors;
agree not to ask for more than a dollar or solicit donations for Toledo Streets by any other means;
All vendors must agree to the following code of conduct to:
The following list is our Vendor Code of Conduct, which every vendor reads through and signs before receiving a badge and papers. We request that if you discover a vendor violating any
tenets of the Code, please contact us and provide as many details as possible. Our paper and our vendors should positively impact the city.
While Toledo Streets is a non-profi t program, and its vendors are independent contractors, we still have expectations of how vendors should conduct themselves while selling and representing
the paper.
Vendor Code of Conduct
understand Toledo Streets strives to be a paper that covers homelessness and poverty issues while providing a source of income for the unhoused and underprivileged. I will try to help
in this effort and spread the word.
understand my badge is the property of Toledo Streets and will not deface it. I will present my badge when purchasing the papers and display my badge when selling papers. I realize
badges cost $1 to replace when lost or damaged;
always have in my possession the following when selling Toledo Streets: my Toledo Streets badge, a Toledo Streets sign, a vendorâ€™s license waiver from the mayor, and Toledo Streets
papers;
agree to only use professional signs provided by Toledo Streets;
BOARD LIASON FOR EDITORIAL TEAM
Arika Michaelis
VENDOR MANAGER
Ben Stalets
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Ed Conn
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Trinity Episcopal Church
Vendor Code of Conduct
As a vendor representing Toledo Streets Newspaper , I:
â€¢
â€¢
â€¢
â€¢
â€¢
â€¢
â€¢
â€¢
â€¢
â€¢
â€¢
â€¢
agree not to ask for more than a dollar or solicit donations for Toledo
agree to treat all othersâ€”customers, staff,
pressure customers.
agree to stay off
other
private
Toledo
property
and
highway
understand I am not a legal employee of
for my own well-being and income.
Streets Newspaper
vendorsâ€”respectfully,
exit
Toledo
under
and
ramps when selling
Streets Newspaper
agree to sell no additional goods or products when selling the paper.
will not buy/sell
the
in luence
agree to only use professional signs provided by Toledo
Toledo
Streets badge, a
Streets
sign,
and
of
but
drugs
will always have in my possession the following when selling Toledo
Toledo
Streets
papers.
understand my badge, vest, and sign are the property of Toledo
them in any way.
Toledo
I
Streets
will
Toledo
a
or
Streets Newspaper.
Streets Newspaper
agree that badges and signs are $5 to replace and vests are $10 to replace.
understand that when you are wearing your vest you are representing Toledo
inappropriate behavior while representing
Streets Newspaper may result
in
Streets Newspaper : my Toledo
will
and
Streets Newspaper,
disciplinary
not alter
thus
action
any
by any
not
contracted
alcohol.
will respect the space of other vendors and will position myself at least two blocks away from a working
vendor unless otherwise approved.
other means.
â€œhard sell,â€
threaten
Streets Newspaper.
worker responsible
or
Page15
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RAIN OR SHINE
To the grocery store or to the doctor
TARTA can take you there.
Plan your trip at
tarta.com/routes.
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