In my Aging Processes class, I underwent several “aging simulation” exercises intended to experience first-hand the effects of age-related sensory losses (vision, hearing, taste + smell, touch) on activities of daily living (ADL).
As a result, I learned to value my strengths in remaining senses (e.g., touch and smell to compensate for vision and hearing losses), go slow and pay more attention to navigating my environment, give up some independence and allow others to help me get around safely, appreciate Impressionism and the sound of silence, get motivated to learn Braille, be patient and adapt to taking a longer time to perform activities. (See fact sheet on Physical Changes of Aging, with suggestions on managing these changes, at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/he019.)
These exercises also further reinforced my advocacy efforts for universal design to make our environments accessible to people of all abilities. As we go through life, it seems a majority of us will experience sensory impairments, either temporarily or permanently, so we’re all in this together to improve the quality of life for everyone.
On April 16, 2012, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services created a new organization, Administration for Community Living (ACL), which consolidates three agencies for aging and disability services: Administration on Aging (AoA), the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, and the Office on Disability. The intent is to improve community supports for older Americans and people with disabilities to enjoy “the fullest inclusion in the life of our nation.” (http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2012pres/04/20120416a.html)
Golden Gate Park's Project Insight Garden is open to people of all abilities!(http://sfrecpark.org/Rec-ProjectInsightProgram.aspx)
This Ballerina Can Make the Most Disabled Dance
ReplyDeleteUki Goni
June 11, 2015
… “Can you dance life? Yes, you can,” says 93-year old María Fux. “As long as you can move, as long you can crawl, but you need a stimulus. I provide that stimulus. They’re waiting for me to give it, and I give.”
Born in 1922, dance therapist Fux has spent the best part of her life giving …the gift of dance. Before that, a brilliant career in the 1940s and 50s that included being prima ballerina for the Cólon opera house in Buenos Aires had already made her a national celebrity. But in the 1960s Fux turned her attention to helping the physically challenged to move.
In the decades since then, her studio in Buenos Aires has been attended by people who would not previously have been considered able to dance. Blind students, deaf students, teenagers with Down syndrome, persons dealing with psychological stress, all were made to dance by Fux.
It is a work of infinite patience that is replicated today by devoted followers outside Argentina who have opened dance therapy schools to teach the “Fux method,” primarily in Italy, where the method has been followed since the 1990s.
…Italian film director Ivan Gergolet, who was in Buenos Aires this week for screenings in Argentina of his feature-length documentary Dancing With Maria.
Gergolet’s 75-minute portrait of Fux and her miraculous work is a beautiful, emotional rollercoaster of a film that last month took the prestigious “Nastri d’Argento” documentary award in Italy…
… “Dance for me was something prohibited until I discovered Fux six years ago,” says Diana, 53. “Thanks to her I’ve been able to recover my femininty. Imagine, having had a rigid body for so long, to discover I could dance, it helped me overcome social prejudices and my own prejudices regarding what I could do.”
…Fux says that testing the limits of the human body is part of it. “I’m interested in limits, my limits and the limits of other people. I give that limit that says, “No, I can’t,” the chance of saying “Yes, I can.” It involves creativity…
Fux says the elasticity of limits was impressed upon her by her mother …caught an infection that required the removal of her kneecap, leaving her with a limp. “I became interested in limits because of my mother, I’ve never seen a woman with as much movement as she had,” Fux says. “She moved, she cooked delicious meals, she gave me and my sisters the chance to say “Yes, I can.” I saw how my mother stretched her limit through movement. I am my mother’s dancing leg.”
…“Maybe it’s not so surprising nowadays, but a few decades ago when I attended her studio it was completely shocking and unheard of to have physically and mentally challenged students at a dance class,” said a former student…
In one astounding scene in the film, Fux leads a group of blind students through a heart-wrenching dance in her studio. “Blind people need to feel they can move without bumping into anything,” she says in the film. “But we are also blind and deaf sometimes. There’s two ways to see life, the way people think you are and the way you actually are.”
…The film was born from the admiration of Gergolet’s wife, the Italian dancer Martina Serban, for Fux. “I met Fux in Italy in 2006. She has a charisma, a power, she transmits love. We are used to the idea that if someone has a limit, you have to help them. But she helps in a different way, by letting the student come up against their own limit and saying ‘I trust you can do it’ to them.”
… “When I started with Fux I felt very bad because I couldn’t dance on my feet,” says Diana. “But that’s because I was thinking. Now I no longer think about what I can’t do, I just move.” …
Fux’s thoughts are turned instead to the mystery of movement and the testing of limits through dance and music. “Music is like a string,” she says. “Sometimes it breaks, sometimes it continues. …It’s about becoming a better person. That’s what’s most important.”
http://time.com/3917423/maria-fux-ballerina-teacher/
Celebrating Two Historic Victories for the Disability and Aging Communities
ReplyDeleteYesterday, the Administration for Community Living and the HHS Office for Civil Rights hosted Community Living for All: Celebrating 25 Years of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Advocates and leaders provided a variety of perspectives on the progress of the last 25 years and the work that remains before a packed room of disability and aging advocates.
ACL and many members of the audience tweeted during the event, check out a few highlights below and a full recap of the discussion and reactions.
Though some tend to think of Olmstead and the ADA as disability rights victories, several speakers noted the tremendous impact these victories have had on the lives of older Americans and emphasized the need for the aging and disability communities to work together to address common barriers to inclusion, independence, and full participation.
The event kicks off more than a month of events celebrating the ADA and the historic disability rights movement that made its passage possible.
http://acl.gov/NewsRoom/blog/2015/2015_06_23.aspx
A message from Kathy Greenlee to our colleagues in the aging and disability networks
ReplyDeleteDear colleagues,
Earlier today, I shared the news with my staff that I will be leaving ACL at the end of July. Edwin Walker, who currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aging, will assume the roles of Acting Administrator of ACL and Acting Assistant Secretary for Aging.
This kind of announcement is really hard. On one hand, it’s no surprise to anyone. It’s an election year, and new administrations mean new administrators. This is how the system works—and it’s good that it does. It’s good to get a fresh perspective and new energy.
But it is still really hard to leave. This has been a wonderful experience and an extremely rewarding seven years. And as I told the ACL team, I am proud of what we have done together. We have brought our communities together in a way that gives us a larger voice and more influence, and ultimately makes us more successful as advocates.
Consolidating aging and disability work in one place raised some eyebrows. These seemed like very different groups of people. And they are. But there are a lot of similarities in the services and supports people need in order to live independently. So it made sense to bring the federal efforts to support community living together under one umbrella.
But it worked because you made the leap of faith with us. You worked with us to build the agency the right way from the beginning, and you’ve continued to work with us as the agency has grown. I want you to know how much I appreciate your advice, support, and even your tough assessments. We’re better because of it.
It has been my great honor and privilege to work with you. I am grateful to Edwin Walker for stepping into these roles. And I am looking forward to seeing ACL continue to build upon the foundation we’ve created together.
Kathy
6/29/2016
http://www.acl.gov/NewsRoom/NewsInfo/2016/2016_06_29.aspx