Month: April 2016

Don’t Dis My Abilities! Help Them Shine!

“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.”  – Georgia O’Keeffe

Artists have a special gift that often lies dormant until someone provides encouragement and opportunity, allowing it to fully blossom. Be it painting, dancing, writing or film-making, creativity needs inspiration and an outlet to release expression, regardless of a person’s physical voice.

DeAnna Pursai and Pam Lindsay have opened that door for adults with disabilities by founding the College of Adaptive Arts (CAA) in San Jose, CA. There students have a unique opportunity to express themselves like they never could before thanks to a dedicated team of professionals who are building a true college experience for people who don’t have a place in a traditional college classroom.

CAA hiphop

Professor Isabella Torres and dance student Renee show their hip-hop moves during the 2015 graduation ceremony. Photo courtesy of Linda Krakow Eaman.

A Better Option

“When people age out of the special education system as young adults, there aren’t many programs for them,” said DeAnna, who serves as executive director and is a public school teacher. “We wanted to provide an environment where they can explore and expand their abilities, not sit in a day program for the rest of their lives because of their disabilities.”

She hatched the idea while running a non-profit theater program for children with disabilities, called Angels on Stage, named for her sister, Angel, who has Down syndrome and acted in a similar troupe as a child in Indiana.

There she met Pam, whose daughter performed with the troupe. With a professional background in acting and other performing arts, she began directing the troupe. She soon saw the need for a similar program for disabled adults and began running an acting workshop for them.

Pam had also been homeschooling her daughter, Val, using theater and music to help Val learn, and was also completing a master’s degree in theater arts with a focus on how techniques used in teaching character acting can be effective in teaching social cognitive skills to autistic children.

CAA founders

CAA co-founders Pam Lindsay and DeAnna Pursai. Photo courtesy of Linda Krakow Eaman.

Going Live

With DeAnna’s experience in special education (she still teaches part-time) and running a non-profit, and Pam’s arts and education expertise, they launched CAA in 2009, renting a small space at a dance studio for their first 12 students. Seven years in, CAA has moved around a bit as discounted spaces are lost and new ones found, all the while growing to more than 70 students today.

They enjoy eight different courses of study, learning dance, vocal and instrumental performance, TV and film production, fine arts, and a variety of other courses in the arts and other educational disciplines and life skills.

And like traditional universities, CAA offers low-cost bachelor’s and master’s degree tracks in each discipline. The standards and accreditation are unique to CAA, but that fits its unique community perfectly. And so does the staff, more than half of whom also have a disability.

Life is a Stage

Performers and artists learn their craft in the classroom, then, like other professionals, take to the public stage, screen and gallery to share their art with the masses. Performance groups, such as the graduate theater troupe, perform for local children, while TV and film students produce a TV show and debut their short films at the annual Celebrating Differing Abilities Film Festival.

Several aspiring actors even had the opportunity to participate in a professional-style audition before some of the top professionals in Bay Area theater through a partnership with City Lights Theater in San Jose. Students experienced it all, from preparing their resumes, complete with professional photos, to rehearsing, performing and receiving feedback from the panel.

“It was really a great experience for the students to feel the pressure and excitement of a real audition,” said Pam. “But it was also a real revelation for the professional judges, who now view our actors as legitimate members of the theater community.”

CAA Carlos & Nathalie

Carlos and Nathalie keep the rhythm during one of many music classes at CAA.

Student Ambassadors

When it comes to selling the school, the students are the secret sauce. “Every time someone tours the college or the students go out and perform, we win at least one more heart,” said DeAnna. “We’re not a day care; our students want to be here to learn, create and contribute, and it shows in their enthusiasm.”

When it came time to find the space the college now occupies, it was a student who sold the property owner on providing the space at a discount. But with that discount comes the possibility that CAA will lose that space if someone else is willing to pay full price. “We’ve had times when we’ve lost our space and had to scramble to find places to hold our classes,” she said. “We’re very fortunate and thankful that we have this space, but we are always looking for a permanent place to call home.”

Growing on a Permanent Foundation

Their goal is to find an area college that will welcome CAA as a charter school on campus, providing a permanent home and giving students a real campus where they can utilize more resources and mingle with typical peers.

“Once we have a more permanent location, we’d like to grow into other markets to provide opportunity to adults with disabilities in other parts of the country,” said DeAnna. They have also submitted a grant application to fund the technology they need to provide distance learning for people who are physically unable to get to campus or live in other parts of the world.

Stay Tuned

The story of CAA is rich and evolving, with students, professors and volunteers all working to build a community where adults with special needs can learn, grow and express themselves as they want. It’s all too much to tell in a single post, so stay tuned to Special Ops for more stories of exceptional people at CAA!

About me: I am Pete Resler, a dad of two boys with special needs. I created this blog to tell stories of head and shouldersincredibly good people, including those with special needs and those who give of themselves to make life better for them. My hope is that these stories expose more people to what’s good in the special needs world and inspire them to give of themselves to make life better for those with special needs.

You can help:  I’m always looking for new ideas. If you know someone you think should be featured, shoot me a note at specialopstories@gmail.com.

Pigeon Holes are for Pigeons

Michael Criscione was destined to contribute to society as a vending machine attendant, or at least that’s what a government bureaucrat thought he should do. And maybe for others living with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) that would be just fine, but Michael is not typical.

“I wanted to do something that makes a difference,” said the 33-year-old when we met in Lafayette, CA, to chat and have a beer.

Allow me to put the scene in perspective: When I said we enjoyed a beer, we did, just in our own ways. I drank mine the usual way, while Michael’s attendant poured his directly into his stomach via a port in his abdomen.

Body breakdown

You see, Michael can’t swallow because the muscles that control that process no longer function properly, much like most of the voluntary muscles in his body, including those that help him breathe. SMA is a genetic disorder that results in muscular deterioration and impaired mobility. Michael has Type 2; Type 1 is the most severe. It is a progressive disorder that cripples more and more over time.

He’s in a wheel chair, his movement is very limited, and he has difficulty speaking clearly. His attendant, Christian, had to interpret much of what he said during our discussion. A BiPAP machine aids his breathing. Despite his physical limitations, Michael lives in his own place, but he does require assistance 24/7.

While his body is greatly affected, his brain and his motivation are fully functional. So when the bureaucrat pressed him to do the vending machine work, it’s understandable why Michael felt insulted.

Michael Criscione

Michael Criscione, flanked by Friends for Benefits Barrel Girls Savannah Gray (left) and Pilar Fox, with friend Kim Masdeo

Making his own way

After finishing high school, Michael studied film at the University of California at Berkeley. During that time he started an indie rock band called the Pied Paupers with some of his attendants who were musicians. Michael was the manager, booking shows and getting them some local radio play.

He took his first job as head of fundraising for a non-profit run by a high school friend. He tapped his music network to begin producing concerts for the charity, but the organization eventually folded.

He took that experience and started Friends for Benefits, a non-profit that helps other non-profits by producing fundraising events primarily in the San Francisco Bay area. “I found that most non-profits are great at whatever their mission is, but most of them have no idea how to fundraise,” he said. “There is definitely a need for what I’m doing.”

Since his first music benefit event under Friends for Benefits in 2012, he has organized more than 10 events, more recently focusing on other different genres that bring in more money for the charities. Michael is the organizer, and others help with the details, such as event operations and finance.

With a fully charged wheelchair and an attendant at his side, Michael is constantly prospecting for future events by meeting entertainers and other celebrities at public events around the Bay area, such as shows, fan conventions, and book signings.

Bigger and better

In January, comedian and character actor David Cross (Tobias Fünke on “Arrested Development”) performed his “Making America Great Again” stand-up show at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. Cross generously donated a portion of the proceeds from the evening to Friends for Benefits.

The next event will be “Call Me Lucky: An Evening with Bobcat Goldthwait” (yes, children of the ’80s, that Bobcat Goldthwait) on May 27, 2016, at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco. It will be a screening of “Call Me Lucky”, a documentary directed by Goldthwait about comedian Barry Crimmins, followed by a Q&A.

“We’re not fully established yet,” said Michael, “but we’re doing bigger and better things.” Several other events are being planned, but his dream is to create a week-long arts festival, with a variety of events benefitting several charities. “I want to get Friends for Benefits to a point where we are doing measurable good and I can be fully independent, with no assistance from the government.”

And how likely would that be if he was looking after vending machines?

About me: I am Pete Resler, a dad of two boys with special needs. I created this blog thead and shoulderso tell stories of incredibly good people, including those with special needs and those who give of themselves to make life better for them. My hope is that these stories expose more people to what’s good in the special needs world and inspire them to give of themselves to make life better for those with special needs.

You can help:  I’m always looking for new ideas. If you know someone you think should be featured, shoot me a note at specialopstories@gmail.com.