Disability
Tactile Artist, Harriet Kaufman, Opens Cincinnati Exhibit
There is a unique new exhibit in Cincinnati where visitors are encouraged to appreciate art through their sense of touch.
The tactile ‘Hands on Art’ exhibit at the Willoughby Art Gallery at the Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired features the wonderful work of Harriet 
Kaufman. Over the past 16 years Harriet has sculpted limestone, walnut, birch, steel, duct tape and fabric. Her work is featured in private collections throughout the United States and abroad…including at our Cincinnati Art Academy, Baker-Hunt, Harriett Beecher Stowe House, Kennedy Heights Arts Center, and the YWCA.
Ruth’s exhibit will run from September 5 to 26, 2014 with an opening reception this Friday from 6 to 9 pm. The Willoughby Art Gallery features art by people who are blind or visually impaired and art that is tactile. Gallery hours are 8 am to 5 pm Monday to Friday, or by appointment. It is located in the Proctor Center at 7000 Hamilton Ave, College Hill in Cincinnati.
Celebrating Differences Is What ReelAbilities Is About
I was reminded the other day of how great it has been knowing that my public relations career has been focused on bringing awareness and relationships to some truly impactful causes and organization.
And a client about which I was so passionate and miss the most was an organization called the Inclusion Network. For eight years I worked with them year round promoting the message that everyone has gifts and abilities, and that bringing those unique gifts together we strengthen each other. We strengthen our community.
I was one of the lead producers of the Inclusion Leadership Awards Event responsible for the strategic messaging including hiring and working with speakers to keep their speech on target, writing the script and the videos, working on all facets of the program portion, coordinating the media relations and more. And I saw that event grow to where it was hosting more than 900 people at the end.
Business and community leaders, professionals, housewives, students, volunteers, people who walk and people who use wheelchairs, people who benefit from large print programs and open captioned video screens, sign language interpreters or cups with handles instead of glassware all came together for a two and a half hour event that was designed to somehow change the world as they knew it. They heard about stories of organizations that instinctively know how to uncover talent, and of people, whose abilities are no longer obscurities. Acceptance was no longer an abstract. Inclusion, they learned, was not about THEM, but about ME.
Actor Danny Woodburn continues to stand out to me as the speaker whose message I will always remember. Danny shared his story of an actor, comedian and activist whose talents were born in the hardships of a world unaccepting of a medical condition known as dwarfism. All too well, he knows the sting of rejection and ridicule because he has lived it his entire life. But Danny told our vast audience that through his work, he has had the ability to influence attitudes. Offensive words, he has found, are generally rooted in 
misunderstanding and he openly corrects producers, directors and other actors.
At the end of Danny’s speech I remember he told us, “Even though every script is a battle to see how much I will comprise, it is worth it as long as there is dialogue.” Then he looked into the audience and added, “It is inspiring to me as I look out at all of your faces and see that there are comrades in this battlefield.”
To this day, Danny’s words and character continue to impact me. Sure, I love the fact that every time we talk he can always make me laugh but what I love even more is Danny’s true depth of humanity. He is truly one of those unique gifts and someone who I feel so blessed to be able to call a friend.
And the reason I am bringing this all up is because it is all leading up to a new client that is allowing me to continue this path of bringing communities together through the differences that make people uniquely great.
Organized by Cincinnati nonprofit LADD (Living Arrangements for the Developmentally Disabled), the Cincinnati ReelAbilities Film Festival is our region’s largest film festival that explores the world as experienced by people with disabilities. It will include a a star studded awards premiere luncheon, gala, and 30 film and speaking events throughout Greater Cincinnati. All of the film screenings benefit local nonprofit organizations that enhance the lives of people with disabilities.
The Festival will be February 27 to March 7, 2015 and next week I invite you to join us at our big red carpet unveiling party at the eloquent Obscura cocktail lounge in downtown Cincinnati from 7 to 9 pm. The films and venues will be announced before hundreds 
of guests by actor John Lawson and Q102’s Jenn Jordan.
Here is a link to register for the free event.
The ReelAbilities Film Festival was founded in 2007 in New York City by the Manhattan JCC and has grown to become the largest film festival in the country dedicated to sharing the stories, lives and art of people who experience disability. It is now headquartered in Cincinnati and is a division of LADD. It includes a total of 13 Festivals across the country. Cincinnati holds the second largest one.
Danny, who most recently plays the voice of Splinter in the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, was recently interviewed in Soapbox Media about ReelAbilities.
“Actors with disabilities are 90 percent less likely to be seen, and many characters with disabilities aren’t actually played by actors with disabilities,” he said. “It’s important for work like this to be done, and if I have the chance to speak out and be heard because I’m recognizable from being in the public eye, then I feel it’s my responsibility to do so.”
“But this isn’t just about actors getting work,” Woodburn continues. “Two-thirds of people with disabilities are unemployed; we need to raise awareness of that fact. If we want that to change, we as a society have to create an environment for change.”
After Boston Marathon Bombing, Mery Daniel Is Living
Mery Daniel was in the right place at the wrong time.
On a beautiful day that should have been marked by victorious emotions, shouts of joy, and celebratory hugs from those
Mery Daniel
who came to participate and those who came to watch the Boston Marathon, Mery, like so many others, came to learn time is a precious gift.
The bombing spared her life, but the blast ripped apart her legs, shearing off her right calf and forcing doctors to amputate her left leg above the knee.
In a Boston Globe article, Erik Moskowitz told of Mery’s childhood dream of becoming the first physician in her family. She was 17 when she moved from Haiti to Brockton with her father whom she had not seen since childhood. She was a stand out student and role model to others. Later she went on to attend medical school, marry and have a daughter. She was preparing for her final medical licensing exams when she attended the Boston Marathon that fateful May morning. And, in one brief moment, her life as knew it would never be the same.
The next six weeks were spent in surgeries and hospitals. She was only able to see her terrified five-year-old daughter three times. Her life journey had taken a sharp turn. Extraordinary challenges faced her ahead.
Bills were mounting. She needed to learn a new way of getting around, and needed to find a new place to call home that was accessible for her new lifestyle. There were times when she forgot she was minus a leg except for the fact that her phantom pains were almost constant.
Mery craved mobility. She desperately wanted her life back. She was determined. People around her had equal resilience. She learned to get around with a prosthetic and hand-cycle. Bonnie St. John, an African-American amputee and paralympic skiing medalist helped created a fund raising site to help ease some of the burden. The day after Mery’s first steps, chi
ldren who rode the school bus her father drove participated in a walkathon to raise $8,275 for her.
Mery’s next goal? To enter an athletic race. It had been on her To Do list for a very long time but just was something she hadn’t gotten to yet. That needed to change.
And change it did. Mery recently completed her fourth race riding her hand-cycle, the longest being a 27-mile ride to help veterans…longer than the Boston Marathon.
People Working Cooperatively Raising Money For Veterans
In her 98 years, Anna has seen great sacrifice. She has also seen great heroism. During World War II, the woman who now lives in a modest home in Bond Hill was known as a trailblazer. She was a member of one of two units of African American Army nurses in Atlantic City serving amputees returning from the European Theater.
“It was interesting work,” she said. “Some of the men were so sad that they couldn’t go back into action. They wanted to fight. They felt that they had failed because they were wounded.”
Those are memories Anna will never forget. Today, as her own health is waning, she is cared after by her 57 year old daughter. Still, with her mobility an issue, getting around isn’t as easy as it once was. And home repair bills can be costly.
People Working Cooperatively, a Cincinnati nonprofit that provides professional home repairs and modifications to low income older adults and homeowners with disabilities in the Greater Cincinnati area, has fixed a like in Anna’s ceiling. PWC also installed a ramp and handrails, new flooring and other work.
Running through November 11, People Working Cooperatively’s Ramp It Up for Veterans’ campaign is trying to raise $500,000 to assist the 400 plus veterans in the Cincinnati area on its waiting list for critical home repairs. You can text-to-donate a $10 donation by texting the letters PWC to 80888 or give online at www.pwchomerepairs.org.
Dance With My Daddy Hosts Dads And Kids With Disabilities
I met Mark Walker over a year ago when he began coming to a nonprofit marketing group I lead for the American Marketing Association. I recognized him as a quiet man with a large, passionate heart. Mark told me he is a father to a wonderful little girl who he loves very much. She has a developmental disorder affecting many parts of her body, and so does things differently from many of her peers. He started attending my meetings because he was startin
g a nonprofit where other dads like himself could get together with their children for a fun, social, supportive gathering. His nonprofit – Dance With My Daddy – also offers access to other community resources.
Mark’s next dance for dads and their children is coming up this Friday, October 4 and will be held at The Centennial Barn (110 Compton Rd, Cincinnati, Ohio 45215) from 7 to 11 pm. It is free to families.
I asked Mark about his organization.
Tell me about your inspiration for the dances:
My inspiration comes from my awareness of how I am treated as a father of a child with a disability. I have noticed over the years that when nurses and doctors come in to a room to talk to me or my daughter’s mother they immediately talk to my daughter’s mother while I sit in the corner unacknowledged. Because of that I was inspired to do something special that my daughter and I could share.
What is your child’s disability?
My daughter was diagnosed with Cornelia de Lange
Cornelia de Lange syndrome is a developmental disorder that affects many parts of the body. The features of this disorder vary widely among affected individuals and range from relatively mild to severe.
Cornelia de Lange syndrome is characterized by slow growth before and after birth, intellectual disability that is usually severe to profound, skeletal abnormalities involving the arms and hands, and distinctive facial features. The facial differences include arched eyebrows that often grow together in the middle; long eyelashes; low-set ears; small, widely spaced teeth; and a small, upturned nose. Many affected individuals also have behavior problems similar to autism, a developmental condition that affects communication and social interaction.
Tell me about your child’s strengths/qualities that are not disability related:
My daughter is a fun child. She is always smiling and loves to play with her brothers and sister. Her greatest attribute is her compassion for other children. She will often cry when she sees another child crying.
How often do you hold the dances:
We hold the dances annually. They are usually held in the fall.
