April 11, 2017 - 02:15
My interactions with the kids at ACLAMO and the artists at CCW have been generally really fun and have been a great learning experience. I have been able to overcome a lot of the apprehension that I felt at the idea of working with kids and with people with intellectual disabilities. I believe that CCW's culture and atmosphere really contributed to that. I had worked with intellectually disabled people before, but it was in a setting that treated them less like adults, and was less like a partnership than a volunteer opportunity. By treating the artists like the adults that they are, CCW created an environment where it was easier for me to build respect and foster real connections with the people there -- and I feel that I can take that attitude outside of CCW and apply it in other interactions with people with intellectual disabilities (including at the group home in my home town).
This partnership has also made me more curious about how people with intellectual disabilities perceive themselves, because the CCW participants, for the most part, do not self-identify as disabled. Would it be beneficial for them to understand this label? I am inclined to think that it would: my own experience with that label informs this inclination, as do the writings of Simi Linton and Georgina Kleege and some of the other authors we read this semester, who have discovered so much about themselves and the world around them because of their exploration of the label of "disability." However, I have been very privileged as a disabled person to have parents who worked very hard to let me and my brothers know that our disabilities didn't make us any "less" than anyone else. I have had the privilege of growing up in a community that was, for the most part, accepting of mental disabilities. I also have the privileges of being "high-functioning," which make it easier for me to pass and avoid discrimination. CCW participants may not have had all of these privileges. I think that this is a question that should be explored.
At ACLAMO, I enjoyed the fact that the CCW artists ran the show, so that we got to sort of sit back and observe. I was nervous at first that the kids would already be too old to have their minds changed about disability, and would act uncomfortable around or mock the CCW artists, but the kids seemed not to care about ability as long as they got to make their clocks and eat some ice cream. It was a really nice experience overall, and I am interested in connecting with these organizations again.