Unlimited Voices, Vol. 27

UNLIMITED VOICES Reflections and Stories from the Members of Envision Unlimited

TABLE OF CONTENTS Happy Birthday, Unlimited Voices!

UNLIMITED VOICES TURNS 1

By Charles "Junior"

Developmental Disability Awareness Month

I've been a journalist for one year. I love when people read my articles. I hope they love them. It's special to me,

A Glance at Westtown

from my heart. I enjoy writing them. I love writing so much.

I'm glad I wrote about TV shows and movies because I enjoy watching them. I hope people love reading them all,

Working Hard at

from my heart. I'm proud to be a journalist. I want a trophy

Cottage Grove

for the articles I wrote.

U N L I M I T E D

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DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY AWARENESS MONTH

By Lucy P. I'm very independent. I know how to do certain things for myself. I like cleaning up my room. I can eat certain foods. I like my coffee every day.

If someone asked "Are you disabled?" I say, "Yeah, I'm disabled. I'm disabled and I'm qualified to do certain things." I can teach certain things. When I go to Kruger, I can teach yoga class. It's fun, you get up there and exercise. You get up there and go along with David and Jimmy and they teach yoga classes. I teach arts and crafts. I like doing town hall meetings when we have them. And I like to help with the calendar, planning stuff.

I can do things for myself. I go to church.

Plus I like different sports. I like tennis, lady basketball, volleyball, and I like to get my finger nails done. That's all I like to do.

I like helping. I like helping elderly people like Marcos' mother. I like working in the office, pay more money. I gotta find me a job for the weekend.

I like going on trips. I like working in the community, help the homeless. I like being in the singing group. I like being on my own. I want to buy me stuff, different clothes. I like to sew. I know how to sew by hand. I like to take needlepoint.

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WHAT PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT MY DISABILITY

By Jessica Hubbard I had surgery when I was a baby. When I was a baby, I had tubes in my nose. I had 7 surgeries. My last one was after I graduated. After that, I had to rest because they took the valves out of my heart. That was a tough surgery. Again after that, I had to rest at home. I had to do exercise at home after I had surgery. They had to do it at the hospital. My mom had to change my bandage to keep it from bleeding. I was born with a heart problem. I have dystonia - my feet are curled up so I have to wear comfortable shoes so they can relax my feet. I have asthma really bad. I was born with asthma.

My asthma acts up really badly whenever the weather changes. I have my inhaler and I also have a treatment at home. When I was a baby I had a lot of surgeries.

They transferred me to Hope Hospital where I had all my surgeries. My brother knows my condition. My mom told him. My dad doesn't really know I had a heart problem and all those surgeries. I can't do a lot of things because of my condition. I have to take it easy.

When I was in high school, I took the elevator because there was a lot of stairs and I couldn't walk up that many stairs. So I got permission to ride the elevator. And my friends, they got upset about it. They was like, "Why do she get to ride the elevator?" My teacher told them, "It's because she has a disability," and they got upset about it. It made me feel like they didn't care. The only people that cared was the teachers at the school.

They should understand me and shouldn't judge me before they get to know me before making fun of me. They should ask me questions or ask my mom questions. They should ask my mom before deciding to laugh at me.

I want people to know that I have a condition and that I'm okay, I just have to be careful. I have a lot of doctor's appointments and stuff.

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SPEAK OUT ABOUT DISABILITIES

By Jamie P.

I was kid, I was a baby, almost 2 months. My mom and my dad raised me. The doctor was telling my mom, "Your daughter has Down syndrome." My mom was worried about it.

When I grow up so fast, I went to school. When I was in 6th and 7th grade in school in Pilsen, my friends made fun of me. They were like, "Jamie has Down syndrome. Why is she here in the first place?" The principal say something to their parents about what they were saying about me.

They tease me, they bully and called my mom. I think to myself, "I don't know me, and I was crying. They put me downstairs what I want to do with myself and who I am, who I want to be. I love being myself."

u o y y t i l i b w o "Disa h n r a e l o t have t." i t c e p s e r o t

My teacher helped me with the alphabet, help me do work, teach me how to write and reading. I feel happy that they help me. I would show my friends from school my Zoom group because I want them to respect me.

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CLONITA'S DISABILITY LETTER

By Clonita B.

I think the people out in the community should treat us with respect - people on buses, trains, taxis, the Ubers. The PACE drivers, CTA drivers, they care, but I don't know how much they care.

When I see a lady with a bag or carrying something, I let them go ahead of me. I want to be that type of lady to let them go ahead of me. The CTA driver wait for me to get my bus card ready. They be patient. One time an elderly lady when me and William was standing at the bus stop, she came through without saying "excuse me." She could've said "excuse me" or something that she wanted to sit down. William's like, "She could've said, 'Pardon me' or 'Excuse me.'" That's when I was like, "Okay..." I just felt kind of disappointment. I felt upset a little. I think she would've done that to anybody, but I think because me and William were the only Black people, I think it was a race discrimination.

They should treat us, not make fun of us, not make fun of disability clients. Showing them good respect. They should treat us with respect, love, and care.

I love you. Thank you for reading my message. I hope this message get across to every disability people in the whole world.

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G N I T T LAY U C C E TH

By Vahid M. Cleaning the tiles. Monika showed me how to do it. Jessica, Christina, Jamie, and Anteneh. Change the color. Mix the color. The cup is broken in the cafeteria, and it was like accident. Cutting pieces of clay, cut them up and put it in water. Just a little bit of water, a little bit. Like, cup water.

Squeeze it, like lemonade, like put it in the refrigerator. Take it out and then drink. Put it in plate.

Like a thread and cut them up. And put it back in there, in the bag. After you finish, put a plate and let it dry. Keep it in bag, let it dry, them time to take it out. Slice it. Put water in the bag and tie. I going to clean up the table, because it so messed.

TRUE FRIENDS LOVE EACH OTHER

By Valerie J., Walter G., and Sophia F. We gotta love each other. We gotta get along with some people. Everybody, like your family, your friends. It's important to have friends. Friends will be there for you. Valerie says, "My dad makes me feel loved. When I don't feel like laughing, he make me laugh. My sister loves me."

Walter says, "I love everybody. Our community, in this place I love everybody. Would you like to help somebody out. Give them coffee or tea or something, lemonade. Make them happy, talk to them."

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I LOVE BEING A TOUR GUIDE

VOL.

27

GETTING A JOB

By Kenneth J.

By Valerie M.

Tiffany had me to sign up I love being a tour guide at the Cottage

with Job Placement. I work

Grove Center. I love showing the visitors

with a group of people. On

the program. I show it to people who

every other Tuesdays I work

want to enroll in the center. I show

at Meade cleaning the

people the Art Studio and introduce

building. On every other

them to everyone. I let people try out

Wednesdays I work at

the Sensory Room. So, people can feel

Madison Park. I follow

relaxed and calm. I tell them about the

directions. I must be on time.

Food Pantry where I volunteer. I like to

I am working on my skills. My

help. I tell people about the Community

dream job would be to work

outings I go on. I listen to music. I

in a grocery store. I want to

exercise. I get along with my peers and

make more money. I like

associates, but most of all I love it here

money, so I can go to the

at Envision Unlimited.

movies and take out my girlfriend. It is up to me to get a job and keep it.

WHAT DID I DO TODAY?

By Marcus W. Today, I work on the horses, legs, ears, and tails. We did morning meeting, talk about the news, and we did some exercise. Next month, we are talking about Westtown Games. The kids are doing some stretch. After that, we went to work on horses, and we take our break. After break, we did some exercises like twist, and all kinds of stuff. It's almost lunchtime. After lunch, I like to draw. After drawing a picture, we went to the room to do the talent show. Then we ready to go home.

The end.

MR. FREEZE

By Marcus P. Why I want to go to ice skating because I have not skating for awhile and you lose your balance, you kinda lose your skills. What was hard about it, was keeping my balance, what was fun about it was going around the ice skating rink. I could tell you what was fun about it, I seen a girl spin she was spinning in circles. They helped me, they said “Marcus use your right hand and use it against the wall and put your left arm out” and I was scared to do that.

I went with Janet, Josephine, Abdul, and Elvis at Robert Crown Community Center. Next time I want to go roller blading, and when you haven’t roller blade for a long time you lose your touch.