Chapter Transcript
Chapter 5: Access to School
13:10:40:04 - 13:13:35:06
Lisa: What was it like to go to the public schools for the first time?
Nancy: Well, as I said, the principal was not in favor of us, but he accepted us because it is more money in his pocket. We had an excellent teacher who was trained, Howard Jennings, who was marvelous with the kids. In fact, for the first month, I was an aide who went in there, until they got an aide to come in on a permanent basis. He was always soft-spoken, he was very kind, he knew what he was doing.
The children all had different abilities, physical disabilities, were incontinent in several ways. He thought nothing of changing a dirty diaper, and was always very gentle. I know of one case where he got this young man to walk with a walker, who had been crawling all the time.
So he went on, sad to say, to become -- what is it now, the next level -- supervisor, because he'd done so well. But then he couldn't -- when you're a supervisor, you have to do what you're told. Couldn't make any waves. So he finally left and went to Connecticut with his crew. So I heard he was then on a state level.
But he was -- I'll never forget -- one summer, he had a summer program in Mount Airy, where Temple has a football field, athletic field. It was a summer camp, and Robbie went there, and when it was in bad weather, then there was a church close by, I think about a half a block away, and they had the basement there where they had a piano and his wife helped out with that.
So that was a wonderful experience. That's what I'm saying is that I was very fortunate, some of the people that I met, really grew myself. And each time, there was -- it was just a wonderful experience.
And with Leona Fialkowski, I learned to advocate. It was like good cop/bad cop. I was supposed to be the good one, you know. She was the more aggressive person. She had been fighting all these years, and I hadn't been doing that. I had been looking for services, but I hadn't gone to see legislators or personnel or anything like that. So I learned from her how to speak out. When it comes to yourself, you may not speak out; when it comes to your child, you will do just about anything, and you will go visit anybody, to try to get services for them. So that's where I learned how to advocate.
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About Nancy Greenstein
Born: 1929
Parent, Advocate, Chairperson of the Board, PATH
Philadelphia, PA
Keywords
Community Collaborative, Education, Embreeville, Employment, Institutionalization, Longfellow School, PATH, Patterning, Pennhurst, Philadelphia Council of Concerned Families, Siblings
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."
Core funding for the Disability and Change Symposium is through a grant from the Center for the Humanities at Temple University (CHAT)
We extend our appreciation to Disability Resources and Services for providing Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) and American Sign Language services for the day.
The Institute on Disabilities, Temple University College of Education is pleased to recognize some of our 2020 Symposium Partners/Sponsors from Temple University:
- Center for Bioethics, Urban Health, and Policy (CBHUP), Lewis Katz School of Medicine
- Center for Humanities at Temple (CHAT), College of Liberal Arts
- Dean of Libraries
- Dean of Students
- Delta Alpha Pi International Honor Society
- Disability Resources and Services (DRS), Student Affairs
- Division of Student Affairs
- Faculty Senate Committee on Disability Concerns
- First Year Writing
- Intellectual Heritage
- Interdisciplinary Faculty Council on Disabilities
- Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, Advocacy and Leadership (IDEAL)
- School of Sport, Tourism, and Hospitality Management
This year we also want to recognize the contributions of students (Associate Professor Deb Blair, STHM 2114 - Leisure & Tourism in a Diverse Society), who contributed to shaping and supporting this symposium:
- 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)
- Hallie Ingrim, School of Sport, Tourism, and Hospitality Management Bachelor of Science: Tourism and Hospitality Management
- Thomas Leonard, School of Sport, Tourism, and Hospitality Management Bachelor of Science: Tourism and Hospitality Management (est. 08/2021)
- Bryan McCurdy, School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management, Bachelor of Science: Tourism and Hospitality Management (est. 05/2022)
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