Day 4: Going Deeper into Our Emersion

Today at HighPointe I was in the Enrichment and Engagement room. I spent a lot of time with two clients who both had Cerebral Palsy and are engaged. They told me a lot about their love story which opened my eyes to how people with IDDs and other disabilities are living their lives similarly to our own. Many of the clients I was working with today are high school graduates, and some were even college graduates. Many live with more independence than most people would ever imagine. It is often ignored, but people with disabilities deal with all the same things everyone else in America lives through. One of the clients today spent a while telling me how she has a YouTube channel and other methods of spreading awareness of this simple but tragically overlooked fact. She said that she would rather have people ask her questions, just like they would for anyone else, than just stare at her and assume she had never gone to school or fell in love.

However, returning to the couple that was engaged, this opened my eyes to a tragic reality. They are planning a wedding ceremony but will not be legally married. This is because if they are legally married, they would have the Medicaid benefits they need to get treatments collectively reduced.  In today's gospel Jesus opened the eyes of a blind man, and reflecting on the gospel and this couple's situation, my eyes were opened. I realized how even though there is legislation in place that guarantees disabled people the same rights and freedoms as everyone else, they still face so much more of a challenge in seemingly simple things like getting married. So even though laws have been passed, there is still work that needs to be done to make sure there is truly, in effect, equality of opportunity for all people. 

 Today, at HighPointe I was immensely touched by the HighPointe community more specifically the staff, and the admirable way they take care of the clients. Watching how the staff uniquely relates to each client shows how much they truly care for each individual person there. Being surrounded by such a genuine group of people these last few days has really been a blessing and as opened up my view to disabled community. The staff at HighPointe have such a huge gift, a gift that has allowed them to provide the clients with joy, hope and love and compassion. Each client there feels that they are loved and accepted due to the fact that they have found a family in the community and staff. The first day I stepped foot into HighPointe I instantly felt the warm, welcoming energy. I received so many smiles and laughs from people who had no idea who I was but were more than happy to welcome more people into their community.   

 Later in the evening, we watched a very educational documentary regarding the ADA movement and how hard it was to experience the kind of freedom that the disabled community now experiences today. The film started off by introducing a camp that was specifically for those within the disabled community, creating a space for them to comfortable in a world that doesn't see them as deserving of equal rights. This camp created a new beginning for the disabled community and gave them a voice that they never thought would be heard. The film demonstrated the long and grueling timeline showing how one thing led to the next, whether that was protesting, spending nights outside of authority's homes and sacrificing meals. The community was willing to put everything on the line for equal rights paving the way for many generations to come. As someone with little to no knowledge concerning this topic, I found this documentary very educational and necessary. Living in today's world and seeing how everything has evolved for the disabled community has made me more aware and more considerate those accommodations and from now on, I hope to be more open to fighting for the voiceless and not taking anything for granted. There is still a lot to be done, and I believe more people need to join in the fight.