Eric Wilson is a young man with Down Syndrome who has a passion for photography. He has been part of our AbleVoices Photography Club for the past three years, since its inception. "When I asked Eric if he would take portraits of me we both agreed that Radnor Lake was the perfect backdrop," Jen Vogus says. "Not only do Eric and I both love photography, but Radnor Lake is one of our favorite places in Nashville. Eric especially loves nature photography and always comes away with some great shots!"
Jen Vogus of AbleVoices
Opening the doors to self-expression, empowerment and advocacy BY JOHN MCBRYDE
W
hen her son was old enough to start kindergarten at Kenrose Elementary School, Jen Vogus was concerned about a disability he had developed not long after birth. Aiden Vogus, now 19, was born a healthy baby boy but began to show signs of physical and intellectual disabilities due to a novel chromosomal deletion (STXBP1). Most telling was his inability to communicate verbally. He had a lot of interests, but had no way to share those with his teachers or classmates, and in turn couldn’t tell his parents about his day at school.
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GUIDE TO WILLIAMSON COUNTY
So Vogus came up with the idea to share her son’s stories through photographs. She had scores of pictures of Aiden doing what most kids his age were doing, and teachers made sure plenty of photos from his day at school were being shared at home. “The idea just came to me,” Vogus says. “I told myself I’m going to take pictures of Aiden horseback riding, swimming, riding roller coasters, and I sent them to school with him. That really opened up his world. It allowed him to communicate through the day and allowed other teachers to see what he’s capable of doing, and it also allowed his peers to see that he’s more like them than he is different.” Vogus later reasoned that if photography helped open up her son’s world, it could do the same for other students with disabilities. Through her experience as a former high school science teacher, a newfound interest in photography and a good bit of research, Vogus started the program known as AbleVoices in January 2018. “If you asked me 10 years ago if I would be a photographer or founder of a nonprofit organization, never in a million years would I have
guessed,” Vogus says. “But now it’s really neat to me to see how all of my interests have come together and have culminated in AbleVoices, which is what I absolutely love. It really has combined all my passions into one.” AbleVoices provides photography programs for individuals with disabilities as a means for self-expression, empowerment and advocacy. The ultimate goal of a project is to provide the tools and training for individuals to create pictures that communicate their interests, strengths and goals for the future as well as foster the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in their communities. Vogus works with special education programs in the high schools within the Williamson County Schools district, beginning with Centennial High in the spring 2018 semester. She has also taken AbleVoices to Franklin, Ravenwood and Page high schools, and is at Brentwood High for the 2021 fall semester and will be at Summit High in spring 2022. Vogus has also started a photography club for those students who have received a special-education diploma and are enrolled in a transitional program at their respective high school.
ERIC WILSON, ABLEVOICES
