Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [id] => 26
            [date] => 2021-03-18
            [status] => Active
            [new] => 
            [title] => Consumer Testimonial
            [author] => Anonymous
            [article] => 
My name is Ann and I am writing to tell you how deeply grateful I am to the Access Central Coast, Inc for first their loan of a Samsung Chromebook and now the gift of the same. Their generous loan and trust in me literally saved my life. It allowed me to reach out and stay connected with people and my long time Recovery 12 step meetings during the horrible loneliness and isolation of self quarantine for over a year. I am at high risk as a 72 and a half year old Lesbian with chronic PTSD  Survivor of multiple sexual assaults and a hate crime and still suffering from life long ramifications of the abuse along with blocked airway disease from being evacuated in the Woolsey Malibu fires in 2018. Having this Chromebook has empowered me to apply for emergency covid grants of food, help with dental bills, gas and drs bills. It also helped me to keep learning by attending zoom meetings in film theatre art and television. The ACC puts their efforts where their organization’s vision and goals are...helping persons with disabilities. They helped me stay alive and gave me hope.

God Bless Jaydon Gaines and her Associates.

I will forever be grateful for their kindness, support and generosity.

 

        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [id] => 8
            [date] => 2022-10-19
            [status] => Active
            [new] => 
            [title] => Can we make independence society's default setting?
            [author] => Jacob Lesner-Buxton
            [article] => 
It seems like every time I fly, I always run into one or two airport staff who are surprised I am traveling by myself. “Are you traveling with anyone?” is a question I get from many TSA agents. Once, a flight attendant asked me if I needed her to wait for my parents to pick me up. She was speechless when I told her I had lived alone for many years.

Due to heightened airport security, I am careful what I say when dealing with the airport staff. Sometimes I want to come back with a snappy retort like, yes, I am traveling with Leroy Moore. Leroy has done groundbreaking advocacy at the intersection of disability rights, racial justice, and hip hop. I would love for other people with disabilities to drop his name to TSA agents, too. That might just get them curious enough to look up his name on their next lunch break.

But instead of hoping the staff gets my sarcasm, there may be other ways to encourage staff at airports (and in other industries) to see those with disabilities as capable of being independent through education and training.

I often encounter situations where I am surprised that people don’t grasp that I make my own decisions. For instance, a government agency that assists me with living independently never fails to offer to invite my parents to meetings about my services. That agency also asks to speak to my parents when they wish to know the quality of their services.

After complaining for two years about the program and requesting to talk to my parents, I got a call from the person running the survey. He explained that several parents got mad at the researchers for talking to their offspring without their knowledge, so that is why they decided to ask for them.  

There’s a simple solution to the problem of asking to meet with a 39-year-old's parent that will appease both parties. Staff could be trained only to bring up the client's parents if they are A. a minor or B. under conservatorship.

Although it might sound like this issue is simply a pet peeve, I continue to feel the consequences of living in a society where some policymakers don’t view people with disabilities as independent. Recently California started a program that gives certain people with disabilities a budget to hire individuals to assist them with activities like daily living or teaching them yoga or how to use the computer. It used to be providers had to go through a lengthy approval process for the state to pay food their services.

While this program sounds great, California requires a person with a disability to pay $140 a month per service to a company to cut checks to the people assisting me. The money comes from the budget given to me by the state.  

While this requirement might help some, others should have the option to forgo working with the company and be able to issue checks directly. I would rather sit through a class to learn how to do payroll instead of paying $300 for a company to do HR for two or three employees.

Ironically, it's easy to make policymakers and others understand how independent I am. I can count on two fingers the number of people who didn’t acknowledge my independence when I asked them to do so. Making someone understand that I am capable is some of the easiest work I have ever done as an advocate.

Although I understand that being a cis-gendered white man plays a role in how people perceive me, if more people with disabilities are demanded to be seen as capable of making decisions, society may see independence as the norm rather than the expectation.

Each time we tell a server that we can order for ourselves or a doctor that we can make our own decision, we contribute to making independence the main characteristic people associate with those with disabilities.

Photo of Jacob Lesner-Buxton talking to his God Uncle, former State

Assemblyman and LBGTQ rights activist Tom Ammiano, in his office

in Sacramento.

        )

    [2] => Array
        (
            [id] => 9
            [date] => 2022-10-19
            [status] => Active
            [new] => 
            [title] => Want to offer help? Ask first (and keep asking)
            [author] => Jacob Lesner-Buxton
            [article] => 
For those who don’t know, an ally means someone who takes particular action to support a person or a group or both. For instance, if an able-bodied person complains about a building inaccessible to those with disabilities, a person might be considered an ally. No two people with disabilities agree on all the traits that make someone a good ally, but most of us agree that listening to us is an essential part.

 

Unfortunately, some people with good intentions forget to listen to our needs before trying to help us. This often results in awkward and unsafe situations. Recently, my fiance, who is legally blind, asked a movie theater employee, “where can I get the popcorn?” The employee answered by grabbing her cane and pulling her toward the concession stand, him on one end of the cane and her on the other. The experience led her to feel disoriented, and frustrated.

 

Checking in with a person before offering help is important. Asking how you can best be of help is also imperative to assure that the help is actually helpful. 

 

Remember, if a person doesn’t require assistance at the moment, they might appreciate your help at a later date. While walking with my friend one Halloween night, I tripped and fell. When I asked my friend why he didn’t offer to guide me through the darkness, he replied, “you said that you didn’t need assistance six months ago when I offered.”

 

Besides knowing that a person's need for assistance may vary from day to day. I suggest not offering assistance out of guilt. I have been assisted by people who are impatient with the task we are doing. What they saw as helping me was really them helping themselves save time. For someone already a bit ashamed about asking for so much assistance, having someone complaining about the errands we are running makes me feel guilty for asking in the first place.

 

However, I do believe it’s appropriate to be honest with the person asking for help before the task. Asking the person for things like gas money for a ride or telling them about your bad shoulder that prevents you from assisting them with moving is extremely helpful to me. Like I said before, most people want to feel like they are not being a burden on others. Honest communication is essential to creating a helping relationship in which one person doesn’t feel like a burden and the other doesn’t feel like a savior.

 

        )

)
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