ABILITY House - volunteer: help others, help yourself and showcase employability...

[Music]

One out of five people in the United

States has a disability. Most

disabilities are hidden. What we find is

that people that have not experienced

disabilities in their own life

feel that they need to

um stay away as much as they can

because of the uncomfortable, unfamiliar.

What we're looking to do is make people

more familiar with with the concept of

disabilities. There's been a a big push

nationally um to create some resources

to to help organizations that use

volunteers understand um and and be able

to have some tools to um to be inclusive

to let everybody be able to come and

volunteer and use whatever talents he or

she has.

What people in need

should understand is that if

there's assistance,

it's about helping, not about

the person. It's about the process. It's

about the hope that things will get

better or easier for those in need,

despite whatever they are that are the

people who are helping out. Uh just as

you have disabled individuals building

houses for disabled individuals, how much

better can that be? It's important about

giving and taking both ways not about

the person the disability. Whatever it is

I'm doing uh to assist in terms of the

time that I that I give, I know that I

get back uh the gratitude, the thanks

from those who are in need and those who

are helped and that's enough for me, so

each experience is important. One of the

things we know about volunteering is

that the the coming together with the

community that it provides, that sense of

social connection, and the opportunity to

give back is so beneficial for everyone,

not just psychologically and spiritually,

but physically as well. People live

longer when they join with their

communities in activities like

volunteering. They are healthier, they

have less pain, they have less disability.

We're here we made it alive, beautiful,

sunny Hawaii, and I'm ready to pound, I'm

ready to hammer, and I'm ready to work. I

find that uh a lot of times people are

apprehensive uh approaching me and

talking to me because of my

disability. Uh I think people don't mean

to be. Sometimes people um will talk to

if I'm out with my wife they'll talk to

my wife instead of me and something just

uh happened to me uh when I was at the

airport uh getting getting ticketed. The

guy would never hand me back my tickets

he always handed them to my wife and

would always ask my wife questions about

me and I'm like "I'm right here I'm right

here I can hear you I know what you're

saying". You know I think we all get kind

of caught up in doing our own thing and

kind of step outside

and volunteer our time and you know give

back to the community. You know people

think maybe if you have a disability you

can't really contribute to the to the

volunteer movement or whatever it is, you

know? And I think it's important. I just

think it's really important to to

society that you know people with

disabilities are out there making a

difference in the world. I got pulled

over and the policeman instead of coming

up to my door like they usually do and

saying oh how do you drive and do you

have a license and wow Isn't that cool

instead he got on his speaker and said I

need to see your hands out the window

right now and when I

shouted I don't have any arms, he pulled

his gun out and I could see him in my

rearview mirror behind his door he was

ready to shoot. The one thing in the

world he was asking of me was the very

one thing that I could not comply

with as much as I wanted to. I think

anytime a person with a disability goes

out and lives their life unashamed and

unafraid, then they are in a sense giving

a message. I find that as people get

older in terms of social stigmas,

they're less uh willing

to understand diversity and differences

in people. Historically um there have

been misconceptions as any Civil Rights

Movement, people with disabilities

have, in large, been one of the last

frontiers that still exist. I think

because of the fear that people have the

that they're unfamiliar with certain

situations. The more familiar we are with

every aspect of life that seems to be

uncomfortable, then we become more

understanding and more

compassionate. When I was first asked to

help with Nancy, I kind of I was thinking

of what a blind person could really do.

If you ask them what they need to do a

job once you describe what that job is,

they will tell you what they need to do

it or if that's not a good match. Uh so

it's not it's not rocket science. You

need to deal directly with the person

you're trying to engage in a particular

task and they will tell you uh if they

need an accommodation. I was very nervous

I didn't know what to expect, uh I

had never hammered nails,

especially building a house and I

found that with with the guidance from

people who knew what was going on, they

could help line me up. Everybody was so

wonderful. Being able to work with

somebody with that disability has opened

my mind on what people with disabilities

can really do. Since I do a lot of work

in Corporate America, if they have someone

in their workforce that has a

disability, how should they treat them? My

response is: No differently than you

treat anybody else. People are are are

much more um alike than they are

different. When you look at somebody who

has a visible disability, you may have

preconceived ideas of what they will be

able to accomplish. What I would say is,

try to take those preconceived notions

away and look at the possibilities they

may bring. We can take disability and

turn it into possibility. Differences in

life doesn't mean

deficit, it just means different. If I

volunteer to help or to do something

it's because I want to be a part of the

solution or a part of the team or and

and I actually want to

help. When somebody

who doesn't know you very well,

hasn't lived in your skin for your

entire life sort of assumes that they

have a better idea of what you're

capable of than you do is a very common

misconception. Some people have made

assumptions when I do try to do do some

type of of work and they assume that

that maybe I'm not capable of doing that

because of my disability. The

straightforward questions are always the

best way, then you can kind of take away

as much awkwardness as possible.

Accommodating volunteers with

disabilities um you usually means just

thinking a little bit more creatively

about the tasks that need to be done.

Approach the volunteers the way you

would approach any volunteer saying this

is what we need to be done um how do you

think you could do that? If we can be

open to um suggestions for other ways

something can be done then people can

come up with um amazingly creative and

effective solutions. We hope um people

will realize when they're outreaching to

to people to volunteer in their programs

is to remember

maybe not even the word

remember, but to think about outreaching

to volunteers with disabilities in any

of their programs. It is disappointing if

somebody says "I don't think you should

do that. I don't think you can do this or

that". For example,

to assume that a person who uses

a wheelchair could only do

a job on a computer is just false, and

and to assume that I would be a

professional soccer player instead of

guitar player

is is just it's just a false assumption.

We we can't judge a book by its cover. We

shouldn't pick our dreams based on what

a perceived limitation is. We should

decide what we want to do and then find

a way to do it, and that goes I think

across the board for all of us.

We need to open

up our perceptions a little bit more.

[Music]

You walk on by in high to rise. Sympathize

but you don't know who I am. Who are

you? Where do you come from and where do

you go. And if I send an

invitation to my world, would you come

and stay? And if I had a chance to sing

my song, this is what I'd say.

We are more the

same then you may think, yeah you and me

we are the same. Does anybody really have

to take the blame?

We are the same. We are more the same

than you may think, said you and me we

are the same and it's a shame to be

ashamed. You hide your head, don't hide

your heart. You turn it off so you don't

fall apart. When you see that man walk by,

got his whole life in a shopping cart so

you side, you don't

cry. Then you wonder why you're so alone.

We are more the same than you may think,

yeah you and me we are the same.

It doesn't anybody

have to take the blame, no, we are

the same. We are more the same you

may think, said

you me we are the same. It's a shame

to be ashamed.

I don't want you to look the other way,

fumble around thinking of what to

say. Wouldn't want to be anybody else and

I'm okay with myself.

Cuz we are more the same

then you may think [Music]

[scatting]