Chapter Transcript
Chapter 7: Tom Returns to Community, Finds Employment, Becomes Active Volunteer, Presents on Pennhurst at Meetings and Conferences
21:08:57:04 - 21:09:13:22
Lisa: I knew you were saying that when you left Allentown you began working with providers. I think was Pan Am the first provider you worked with?
Tom: Yeah.
Lisa: So how did your services or life improve when you started working with Pan Am?
Tom: Yeah, they were working with me.
21:09:15:15 - 21:09:44:10
Lisa: And how did things change in your life?
Tom: I moved up very quickly.
Lisa: And what does that mean, to move up very quickly?
Tom: It means I went from point A to point B.
Lisa: So what was point A? Was point A choosing a place to live?
Tom: Yeah.
Lisa: And where did you choose?
Tom: Wherever they put me; that's what I got.
21:09:44:20 - 21:10:11:19
Lisa: Did you get to choose your own roommates?
Tom: Yes.
21:10:13:22 - 21:10:35:00
Lisa: So you had your house, and you had your roommates; different roommates over the years of course...
Tom: Yeah.
Lisa: Were you able to find a job in the community?
Tom: Yeah I'm working with the newspaper delivering. I do my newspaper on Wednesday then I take them.
21:10:56:20 - 21:11:13:07
Lisa: I'm wondering if you were able to tell the people who were supporting you, your providers, what you wanted from life and if they helped you get it?
Tom: I'm not too sure. I don't know.
21:11:17:20 - 21:11:51:09
Lisa: I understand that you were working in a workshop for a while.
Tom: Yeah.
Lisa: What did you think about that kind of work?
Tom: It was - it was like relatively quick. You know you get an object, you just sit there or stand there, and you get that object and someone else will - will do something by saying you got to get it - got to get it ready and get it out of here like they need to ship it right away.
21:11:54:00 - 21:12:21:16
Lisa: And did that kind of work appeal to you?
Tom: When I first started working at Course Training Center I was shown one time to put the object together and turn around. Then when they brought more stuff in, then I had to put that together or package it or whatever.
21:13:09:28 - 21:14:25:02
Lisa: Tom, I understand you do a lot of volunteer work. Can you tell me a little about that?
Tom: Work history: Morning Call - direct marketing / newspaper; volunteer history: [Bethlehem] Music Fest; Bethlehem Cancer Society; Kindlemart, Allentown; March of Dimes, Allentown; Bethlehem Recycle[ing] Center; LifePath, Pennhurst training; Celtic Classic Festival, Bethlehem; Second Harvest [Food Bank] packing food; Salvation Army organizing clothes; and Mayfair [Festival of the Arts] Allentown.
21:14:28:12 - 21:14:37:23
Lisa: Thank you. So you were just reading from your resume?
Tom: Yeah.
Lisa: That's a pretty full resume.
Tom: You can hand it back to Paul.
Lisa: Thank you.
21:14:40:07 - 21:15:14:13
Lisa: Why do you like to do so much volunteer work?
Tom: See that way, that way I would like to learn more about the community.
Lisa: And what do you learn about the community by doing volunteer work?
Tom: That I'm... that I know that if I do it I would be well prepared for that.
Lisa: Are you hoping it'll prepare you for other kind of work?
Tom: Right now I do have a job and...
21:15:20:06 - 21:16:08:17
Lisa: Okay. I'm wondering, Tom, and I don't know if you ever would have had time between work and volunteer work...
Tom: Well volunteer work is after, before hours and when I do regular work I start around 8 o'clock in the morning to deliver paper to 11. Then I call my paper route and then after I do that then I have time to go to McDonald's to either get iced tea or lunch.
21:16:11:05 - 21:16:28:28
Lisa: Tom by doing all this volunteer work you're getting to meet so many people in the community.
Tom: Yeah.
Lisa: Have you found that the community has always been welcoming to you?
Tom: Sort of.
Lisa: Why sort of?
Tom: That I'm getting used to it. Pardon me.
21:16:31:00 - 21:17:06:18
Lisa: So I'm wondering if you ever became involved in any self-advocacy groups like Speaking...
Tom: Yeah I used to be in Self... I forget the name of it.
Lisa: There are a few. Speaking for Ourselves was a good...
Tom: Yeah, Speaking for Ourselves; I didn't care for that too much...
Lisa: Why did...
Tom: ...because they wanted me to know why institutions should be closed [and I wasn't really into letting them know why that is].
21:17:09:24 - 21:17:18:12
Lisa: But you have told people about your experiences at Pennhurst?
Tom: Yeah.
Lisa: And you give presentations about that sometimes...
Tom: Yeah.
21:17:18:17 - 21:17:58:17
Lisa: So why is it important for you to share those experiences?
Tom: It is that I... that I want people to know if they ever had a person that is coming around as a new person, and if they ever open them up again they're going to end up by having problems like any other one that used to be at Pennhurst. I mean it's just like if you throw a yo-yo down it's going to come back up.
More Interview Chapters
- Tom's Childhood
- Tom's Experience at Pennhurst; Buildings, Residents, Staff
- Mistreatment at Pennhurst
- Working at Pennhurst
- Conditions at Pennhurst Exposed in the Media, Talk of Closure
- Tom Moves to the Community, Faces Challenges, Moves Temporarily to Allentown State Hospital
- YOU ARE HERE: Tom Returns to Community, Finds Employment, Becomes Active Volunteer, Presents on Pennhurst at Meetings and Conferences
- Tom Reflects on Life
About Tom Delmastro
Born: 1950
Advocate, Newspaper Delivery, Volunteer Work
Keywords
Employment, Home and Community, Institutions, Pennhurst, Volunteer
The Disability and Change Symposium is available as a free online learning module.
Combating Implicit Bias: Employment
About this year's theme
Employment statistics for persons with disabilities continue to be disappointing, ~19% compared to ~66% of peers without disabilities. (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018). We ask ourselves, "is there something beyond overt discrimination and access that perhaps we need to address? Are there silent barriers such as those created by implicit bias?"
Most of us believe that we are fair and equitable, and evaluate others based on objective facts. However, all of us, even the most egalitarian, have implicit biases – triggered automatically, in about a tenth of a second, without our conscious awareness or intention, and cause us to have attitudes about and preferences for people based on characteristics such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, and religion. These implicit biases often do not reflect or align with our conscious, declared beliefs.(American Bar Association, Commission on Disability Rights, "Implicit Bias Guide," 2019)
This year's theme challenges us to each ask ourselves "What implicit bias(es) do we have and encounter, and how do we recognize them and move beyond them to create opportunities, welcome, and full participation for all?"
As always, this Symposium privileges first-person voices and experiences.
About the Disability and Change Symposium
The stated goal of the annual Symposium is "to create conversation that transcends any one-dimensional depiction of people with disabilities, and foregrounds the multidimensional lives of our speakers - as writers, educators, performers, and advocates."
The Disability and Change Symposium is a one-day, interdisciplinary conference focusing on cultural equity and disability. The event is free, accessible and open to the public.
Acknowledgments
Organized by the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University, the Symposium is an outcome of collaboration with the Interdisciplinary Faculty Council on Disability whose mission is "to foster collaboration across Temple University on disability-related projects including research, teaching, programming, publication, and grant-seeking. By connecting with one another, Council members help build community among the growing number of people at Temple whose work engages with disability."
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- Madeline Culbert, School of Sport, Tourism, and Hospitality Management; Bachelor of Science: Tourism and Hospitality Management (est. 08/2021)
- Jair Guardia, School of Sport, Tourism, and Hospitality Management, Bachelor of Science: Tourism and Hospitality Management. (est. 08/2021)
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