ACCESS QUARTERLY SUMMER 2017
Also In This Issue Leadership Camp High School High Tech Celebrating Independence Don’t Dis My Ability Are You Ready For Hurricane Season?
CHANGING LIVES
CIL Partners with David Weekley Homes to build life-changing ramps across Central Florida.
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Changing Lives
Upcoming Events
David Weekley teams up with CIL’s RAMPAGE to construct 6 additional ramps in June.
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Celebrating Independence July 22, 2017
Leadership Camp
Stroll ‘n’ Roll October 21, 2017
CIL’s second annual Summer Leadership Camp kicks off in June.
Silent Night December 14, 2017
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Don’t Dis My Ability! Hector is back! Read his interview with Amanda Perla of Next Step Orlando, and how she turned her disability into a passion to help others.
High School High Tech The 2017 High School High Tech class celebrates the completion of another successful year.
Celebrating Independence CIL’s annual celebration of inclusion is back! Learn what’s changing and how you can be a part of the excitement!
Are You Ready for Hurricane Season? The 2017 hurricane season is predicted to be extremely active, are you prepared for a large storm?
ACCESS QUARTERLY | SUMMER EDITION
“I’ve always done my best to work towards my goal of being able to walk again. We aren’t stagnant, we’re active, we’re out, we’re living life, and having fun.”
Amanda Perla -Next Step Orlando
MISSION “CIL, in partnership with the community, promotes inclusion of people with disabilities by eliminating architectural, communication and attitudinal barriers. CIL provides education, resources and training to enhance self-determination through informed choice.”
Board of Directors Chair Kim Byerly Darden Restaurants
Secretary Cheryl Stone Retired Microbiologist
Treasurer Mellissa Slover-Athey Centerstate Bank
Members Ahmed Albitar Hector Del Valle, MSW Rollins College NSCIA of Central Florida MBA Program Maxine Moul Alexis Kubart South Seminole Hospital Pearson Online Learning Services Charles Polk Advance Diversity Consulting
Director’s Voice We take for granted the ways in which we enter and exit our homes on a daily basis. For many of CIL’s clients, their independence is limited by the physical structure of their homes, hindering their ability to access their doctors,employment, family, friends, neighbors, and their community. Thanks to the generous support and volunteers from David Weekley Homes CARE project, in the month of June, six wheelchair ramps will be built to enabling these Orange and Seminole county residents to be able to enter and exit their homes safely and at will, ultimately allowing them greater access to the community.
Charlotte Merritt Operations Director www.cilorlando.org | ACCESS QUARTERLY
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CHANGIN
A row of trucks and cars park on the side of the road in front of a manufactured home on an overcast Monday morning. People emerge from the vehicles carrying water, tools, donuts, and coffee and walk towards the side of the home where a network of string crisscrosses between an outline of wooden beams. As the group arrives, they quickly fill out some papers and get to work digging. The group of volunteers are from David Weekely Homes Orlando and are participating in David Weekley’s CARE Build Month. A month of service projects across Central Florida aimed at helping people with disabilities regain their independence.
LIVES
Starting in 2016, David Weekley designed the CARE project to engage their branches across the United States in their respective communities by volunteering with projects that could make the best use of their expertise.This year, Center for Independent Living in Central Florida was chosen as the beneficiary organization of the project. Partner firms Cuhaci & Peterson and Phil Kean Architects donated plans for the accessible ramps to be constructed, while David Weekley Homes provides the volunteers to bring the projects to life. CIL staff guide the construction efforts and materials logistics to ensure the timely completion of the projects. The ramp builds are scheduled to run through the end of June, leaving 6 families with easy access in and out of their homes.
LEADERSHIP CAMP
June is the start of summer and that means it’s time for CIL’s Youth Leadership camp. This year’s camp is serving students between the ages of 15 and 21 and not currently receiving services from Vocational Rehabilitation. Each student must have a 504 or IEP to confirm their status as a student with a disability. Students participating in the twoweek course will participate in career exploration to explore the benefits of competitive integrated employment and options at every level of education available. After several days of classroom training, the camp travelled to Publix for hands on training in different departments of the supermarket including the bakery, customer service, and check out. Most importantly, CIL’s Summer Leadership Camp will teach students how to advocate on their own behalf, develop rapport with colleagues, work towards desired outcomes. Additionally, students will learn techniques such as active listening and conflict resolution that they can use in practical ways after completion. Once students complete the twoweek course, they are awarded a $100 stipend for participating.
www.cilorlando.org | ACCESS QUARTERLY
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Don’t DIS My
ABILITY
I sat with Amanda Perla at the Center for Independent Living (CIL) in Winter Park Florida to discuss her past, her present and her “next step” in life. We started with her past... On April 21, 2007 at the age of 18 and two months shy of her high school graduation and in her eleventh year as a competitive dancer, Amanda Perla came to a crossroads in life between living or dying when the automobile she was a passenger in crashed, leaving Amanda paralyzed from the neck down with a fractured C6 spinal cord injury. After surgery at Orlando Regional Medical Center, Amanda was flown to Shepard’s Rehabilitation in Atlanta, Georgia. Amanda began the road to recovery at Shepherd’s Rehabiliatation where she regained the use of her arms and learned how to live life again from a wheelchair. She is very grateful, but once she came home from Atlanta and started outpatient physical and occupational therapy something still didn’t sit well with Amanda and her mom Liza. Amanda and Liza began this journey together as an amazing partnership of love and support seeking a rehab program more challenging than the standard programs of physical and occupational therapy offered. Amanda and Liza were looking for therapy that worked with the whole body and not just what she could move herself. 6
ACCESS QUARTERLY | SUMMER EDITION
“I’ve always done my best to work towards my goal of being able to walk again. We aren’t stagnant, we’re active, we’re out, we’re living life, and having fun.” The Perlas did their homework and researched and investigated other physical rehab options and practices, eventually travelling out to California to visit “Project Walk.” They knew this was what they wanted to build here in Central Florida. Finally, in 2009 the Perlas founded Project Walk Orlando and they have been helping people recover ever since. Today Project Walk Orlando is known as NEXTSTEP ORLANDO. http://www.nextstepfitness.org/about-nextstep-orl/ I met Liza and Amanda in 2013 when we met at Project Walk to discuss a community partnership with the National Spinal Cord Injury Association - Central Florida Chapter (NSCIA - CFL) and other national and local community partners to come together and create a shirt for the NSCIA-CFL Chapter to take to Washington D.C. for Florida advocates to attend and participate in “ROLL ON CAPITAL HILL” hosted by National Spinal Cord Injury Association aka United Spinal Association (USA). An event that’s put on every year by USA Who invites advocates from all around the country to come and visit with and talk with their state representative congressman’s and senators about the present issues that are affecting people with disabilities. The shirt continues to be used today to promote and support the Accessible Icon Project with the words “DONT DIS MY ABILITY” to bring awareness and education on adopting this new Accessible icon which allows others to begin the dialogue of how people with disabilities would like to be perceived and how they perceive themselves. Some of us feel it is time for the old 1964 wheelchair logo that represents accessibility to be updated to reflect the times of today. www.cilorlando.org | ACCESS QUARTERLY
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High School High Tech is made possible by a grant from the George Jenkins Fund, part of the GiveWell Community Foundation
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ACCESS QUARTERLY | SUMMER EDITION
The 2017 High School High Tech class has completed in Bartow and George Jenkins High Schools. The 2017 program included 19 students across George Jenkins and Bartow High Schools. This year’s class focused on STEM careers based in Manufacturing and Agriculture in Polk County. With funding provided by the George Jenkins fund, High School High Tech helps students each year explore careers, higher education, and resources available to them in the community. We are extremely proud of this year’s graduating class, and thanks to a grant from the Harper Family Foundation they were able to take a trip to Universal Studios for a day of fun. Starting in September, students, both new and returning, will begin the 2017-2018 High School High Tech school year with a focus on Entrepreneurship and business skills. High School High Tech is focused on showing students that their disabilities do not prevent them from being successful, and that they can achieve their goals with the proper tools.
www.cilorlando.org | ACCESS QUARTERLY
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CELEBRATING
INDEPENDENCE
On July 22nd, Leu Gardens will host the Center for Independent Living in Central Florida’s second annual Celebrating Independence event. In 2016, Celebrating Independence helped to raise nearly $20,000 to help people with disabilities live independently in Central Florida. The money funded programs to help with employment services, accessible home modifications, youth transition services, and services to help the deaf community more easily navigate and take advantage of the resources available to them. This year, CIL is trying to raise $35,000 to help even more people achieve their goals. By participating in this year’s event, you are a part of making disability inclusion a reality for thousands of people with disabilities Celebrating Independence is CIL’s annual gala celebrating inclusion, opportunity, and access for people with disabilities.This year, we will be honoring Andy Gardiner with the Beverly Chapman Legacy Award. Andy Gardiner has dedicated his 16-year career in the Florida House and Senate to improving education, training, resources, employment services, and opportunities for people with unique abilities. Andy Gardiner was involved in the creation, then expansion of “personal learning scholarship accounts,” which provide parents of children with unique abilities with about $10,000 a year to enhance opportunities and education for their children, including saving money for college education.The scholarship program was named after Gardiner’s family in 2016. In the last few years, Gardiner has focused on creating new college and university opportunities for students with unique abilities. Gardiner also helped create the Florida Center for Students with Unique Abilities at the University of Central Florida, which provides a statewide database of information on higher-education programs for prospective students with unique abilities.
REGISTER AT CELEBRATE.CILORLANDO.ORG
www.cilorlando.org | ACCESS QUARTERLY
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Join the walk for inclusion!
Saturday, October 21 Crane’s Roost Park
STROLL.CILORLANDO.ORG
ARE YOU READY FOR A
HURRICANE?
In October of 2016 Hurricane Matthew developed into a strong Category 5 hurricane with wind upwards of 165 miles per hour. In the United States alone 47 people lost their lives, including 12 in Florida. When the storm subsided, nearly $10 billion in damage had been inflicted and left millions without power. Prior to the storm, many Central Florida residents with disabilities evacuated to local special needs shelters for safety. However many more people with disabilities were unable to take shelter due to not having registered in time. As of June 1, 2017, the hurricane season has opened bringing with it the potential for above average activity. According to The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, this year will be above average in activity due to atmospheric conditions and the absence of El Niño this year. “For 2017, my team and I are predicting that an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season is most likely,” Dr. Gerry Bell of the NOAA states. “The Atlantic hurricane season will likely produce a range of 11 to 17 tropical storms of which five to nine are expected to become hurricanes — two to four of those are expected to become major hurricanes of category 3 or higher.” For this reason it is important now, more than ever, to be prepared for a major storm prior to it’s arrival. Preparation is key as many fatalities occur after a major storm has passed through an area. We have compiled a to do list for you in order to be prepared for this year’s season. 14
ACCESS QUARTERLY | SUMMER EDITION
1. Register for your county’s special needs registry at https:// snr.floridadisaster.org. This list will provide you with important information about where special needs shelters are, how you can access them, and when they are available.You must register to be on the special needs registry annually in your county of residence. 2. Prepare a hurricane disaster kit that includes Flashlights & extra bulbs Battery-operated radio Battery-operated lanterns Batteries (in different sizes!) Matches First aid kit Duct tape Rain gear Bottled water(1gal/person/day) Bottled juice Two coolers: One for drinks & one for food Over-the-counter medication Children’s medicine Bandages Adhesive tape Antiseptic solution Thermometer Tweezers
Clock (wind-up or battery) Plastic garbage bags Fire extinguisher Scissors Can Opener Clean clothes Extra blankets Heavy gloves Canned foods Manual can opener Dry pet food Medic-alert tags Insect-repellent sprays Feminine hygiene items Sunscreen Soap First aid kit Prescription medication
3. Create an emergency communication plan to let friends and family know you are safe should a hurricane arrive. For more information on creating your disaster preparedness plan visit https://www.ready.gov/hurricanes www.cilorlando.org | ACCESS QUARTERLY
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VISIT www.cilorlando.org to learn more
WINTER PARK OFFICE 720 N DENNING DRIVE WINTER PARK, FL 32789 PHONE: 407-623-1070
LAKELAND OFFICE 5125 S. LAKELAND DRIVE, SUITE 4 LAKELAND, FL 33814 PHONE: 863-413-2722
INFO@CILORLANDO.ORG