#aaronverse

On Tuesday, I read an article in the New York Times by Jim Dwyer about something that I actually talked about at my speech during Tumblr HQ- when people with disabilities are deprived of their needs.

46 year old, Banetta Grant appeared in court for stealing a bunch of gift cards from various stores around New York. She gets around in a wheelchair.

On a trip to court in 2013, Grant was held in a pen for many hours waiting to appear in front of the judge. There weren't any bathrooms big enough to fit her wheelchair in there nor grab bars to help her transfer from her wheelchair to the toilet.

She then requested that the officer escort her to the accessible bathrooms in the courthouse.

However, the officer denied her, and “Ms. Grant urinated on herself.”

I would like to make something very clear right now.

This goes for everyone no matter what.

NO ONE SHOULD EVER BE DENIED OF USING THE BATHROOM EVER. ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE DISABLED AND DON'T HAVE THE ABILITY TO GO BY YOURSELF.

This is a violation of human rights, everyone!

It doesn't matter if you've committed crimes or not.

This is unacceptable, everyone.

This should get more attention.

No one should ever have their rights stolen away from like this.

NOT EVER.

Ugh, this stuff sickens me.

I don't know if any of you have been reading The New York Times or The Daily News, but who would've known that my Kickstarter project would've caused such chaos among adults.

If only adults could act kinder to each other- the world would be a better place.

Hi guys and gals!

I read this article in the New York Times today & I found it really interesting.

According to this article, 70 percent of Google's staff are men.

1. WHERE ARE THE WOMEN?!

2. ARE THERE ANY PEOPLE WHO WORK AT GOOGLE WHO HAVE PHYSICAL DISABILITIES!?

3. ARE THERE ANY PEOPLE AT ALL WITH PHYSICAL DISABILITIES WHO WORK ANYWHERE (besides at Frost Valley, my summer camp)?!

I know that I'm being facetious because of course there are people with physical disabilities who work, but this is absolutely crazy!

Now that I think about it, I've probably been to a couple hundred stores since I arrived in America, and I haven't seen any people with physical disabilities working anywhere.

My dad said the same thing!

THIS BOTHERS ME.

If I apply for a job somewhere when I'm older, will I have what's necessary for me to get the job done? Would bias stop me from getting this position?

Though, the weird thing is that most of these businesses and companies don't mean to be this way.

What's going on here is called unconscious bias, whereby you don't know when you're being biased towards a certain group of people in a situation.

Unfortunately, this happens just about everywhere, from waiting in lines, to getting on the bus, it even happens at my school!

People have unconscious biases.

At our school assemblies, we have these diversity workshops where kids in my school learn to be better friends to kids who have physical disabilities. Even though we attend these workshops, nothing much comes out of them.

I often leave there feeling just as isolated and lonely, as if I never attended the workshop.

This New York Times article informed me that Google recently held a diversity workshop teaching their nearly 49,000 employees how to be more accepting to new ideas in the workplace.

I wonder if these workshops work better than the ones that we have in my school?

Freada Kapor Klein is an entrepreneur who has studied workplace diversity and is the co-chairwoman of the Kapor Center for Social Impact.

In the article, she said, "I think it’s terrific that they’re doing this. But it’s going to be important that Google not just give a lecture about the science, but that there be active strategies on how to mitigate bias. A one-shot intervention against a lifetime of biased messages is unlikely to be successful.”

I fully agree with this. Accepting new things presented to people takes eons and supportive practice. It'll never be a one shot plan.

The New York Times explained this phenomenon as "hidden, reflexive preferences that shape most people's worldviews, and that can profoundly affect how welcoming and open a workplace is to different people and ideas."

Now, I'm sending a message out to Google's human resources group, PEOPLE OPERATIONS, with "staff scientists who are constantly analyzing the company's internal operations."

A researcher there named Brian Welle came up "with a 90-minute lecture targeted specifically at skeptical, scientifically minded "Google employees."

I have a challenge for Brian Welle and his team at Google: I respectfully ask them if they could please calculate how many employees at Google have physical disabilities.

LET'S FIND OUT!

Hey everyone!

So, almost all of us take the train to go to work, school, etc.

The subway is a part of our daily lives, a routine, to be exact.

But, now, let me explain why this blog post is called "Train Problems".

***************************************************************************************

The NYC trains are sure to have some malfunctions here and there, but it really affects people in wheelchairs.

My dad and I have had many situations in which the subway elevator breaks down and we have to take more than 3 buses to get home.This actually happened this summer.

You know how hot the subway platforms are in the summer.

If you've seen my wheelchair before, it's ALL black. Black takes in heat, so the fabric and rubber covering my wheelchair was blazing hot this summer. MY wheelchair's joystick is black. It was so uncomfortable driving my wheelchair!

One hot summer day, I put my finger in my mouth and put the spit on the hard plastic part and it sizzled. That's how hot my wheelchair was.

I was reading The New York Times and I found an obituary about Terence Moakley, a disability advocate who did a lot about what I'm writing about today.

Terence Moakley didn't like the fact that people in wheelchairs across the city had such difficulty getting from place to place.

As president of The Spinal Association in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Mr. Moakley hired students to map out random street corners in the city that didn't have curb cuts and contacted city officials to make the curb cuts possible.

THAT'S AWESOME!

In the April of 2004, Mr. Moakley and 6 other people in wheelchairs demonstrated to able-bodied people how hard it is for them to get into taxis.

Ten years later, the Taxi & Limousine Commission decided to add 7,000 wheelchair accessible taxis into the NYC fleet. In the article, it said that this was one of the most significant acts of inclusion in the city since Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers.

This is fantastic and a momentous occasion, but why did this happen so late?

In my opinion, this should've happened so much earlier.

I can't imagine that it took ten years for this to happen.

This makes me really sad.

People with disabilities should've had this freedom a very long time ago.

Even though Mr. Moakley may have passed away, his mission and impact hasn't!

From now on, if the subway's not being built properly for people with disabilities, I'll call 311 or maybe even write letters like how Mr. Moakley did.

YOU GUYS SHOULD GET INVOLVED TOO!

Help this movement, guys and gals!

Saturday, June 28th, 2014 (the biggest hugs to everyone involved or/and supporting Pride Week and LGBT rights in general)

Hi guys and gals! I've been off of tumblr for an unacceptable amount of time. However, a major thing happened in my life recently.

In early June, one night, my father had a heart attack, and the next day he revealed to me that he had to undergo triple bypass surgery. It was one of the scariest experiences I've ever had, knowing that my father, one of the most important people in my life wasn't there. It was so unreal. However, tsunamis of support rained down on my little brother and me as more people heard about my father's situation. My brother and I stayed at 3 different households. The families that we stayed with gave us such care and hospitality that we felt like we were their own.

I actually had my art exhibit opening at The Children's Museum of The Arts in between the time that my father was having surgery. At the gallery showing, I saw my counselor from Frost Valley (whom I really missed), his sister, my kindergarten teachers, Dr. Laurette Olson of Mercy College, my best friend and a parent that my brother and I were soon going to stay with, because we couldn't stay by ourselves at our apartment in The Bronx.

The art exhibition was so unbelievably fun, yet I still missed my dad. He was really looking forward to seeing my work. I hated knowing that he couldn't be with us all.  

Through it all, I felt loved. Loved by the people I know and the people that I don't. Yet, either way, I just felt very, very loved. I have a wonderful community of people around me now.  Now, Aren and I are currently back home with our dad, who's recovering.

However, it's not the same as before whatsoever. My dad, my primary caretaker is... not my primary caretaker anymore.

Because of his heart surgery, my dad can't do the things that he used to do to help me. He can no longer lift me from my wheelchair to my bed, or get me in and out of the bathtub. Stuff like that. We had a routine, and now that routine is dead and gone.   

Now, I have personal aides/caretakers who take care of me. They're such lovely people, but now, it's scary to know that all my father can do... is direct us. Also, some of the amazing parents at my school raised  money to pay for these aides. What's going to happen when the money... runs out?

This is such a worrisome time for my family, friends and me.

I guess it's time for a brand new, crazy, wild adventure, everyone.

Hi everyone!

I haven't written for a very, very long time. I'm sorry about that- with school and writing my book and drawing frames for my animation, it's been tremendously hard to find time.

Today, I'm writing to share something very special with you guys.

The Children's Museum of the Arts is featuring my artwork in their next gallery show, and I'm going to be the only adolescent in the show!

I cannot express how thankful and grateful I am for this marvelous opportunity.

I have been going to an inclusive weekend program at The Children's Museum of the Arts for about 2.5 years. Going to that inclusive group makes me feel such sheer happiness and joy.

CMA is a place where kids get the opportunity to make art, see art and build a network of new friends, or sometimes even get closer to them.

I know this because I have experienced this personally. 

Kids with cerebral palsy and other physical disabilities in general don't normally have the right supports for creating art, don't get meaningful social opportunities, or get the chance to have a fun activity to do with  their siblings. 

However, CMA has broken the mold with the inclusive classes. These classes feed my friends and me with new learning and social opportunities and bonding moments. There hasn't been a class where I haven't seen a kid come out of the classroom smiling.

CMA gives children with physical disabilities a chance to express their talents, which make the disability fade away.

They truly embody, "This ability, not disability." 

Hi everyone. I'm sorry for being gone from Tumblr for so long. It's been eons! :(

Something very significant and special happened in my life a few days ago. Through some very nice people that I know, I met a very inspiring author and professor. The professor's name is Lori Carlson-Hijuelos. She teaches at Duke University. 

This past Friday, she came to meet with me and my occupational therapist.  It was super cold outside, and yet she came to my school despite the bad weather. Professor Carlson-Hijuelos recently lost her husband, the Pulitzer prize winning author Oscar Hijuelos. I was expecting her to still be in mourning, and she was.

But at the exact same time, she was extremely warm, pleasant and she even brought me sweets! Her knowledge on writing was most helpful.

She was just amazing, because of how expanded her knowledge on writing was, and how nice she was despite the difficult time she was going through.

 During the meeting, Professor Lori Carlson pulled out a copy of a book that her husband had written,"Dark Dude".

As she opened the book while she presented it to me, she pointed out the dedication that her husband had written to her.

This was such a special moment for me, because she was sharing a part of herself with me. This sort of boosted our friendship.

I started reading the book as soon as I got home that day. 

I love the book because of the intense realism it gives. I typically like to read fantasy and sci-fi books, but I was surprised by how much I enjoy it.

I really connected with Professor Lori Carlson. She seemed to understand what my life is like. We both experience the pain of loss, for Professor Carlson only lost her husband 4 months ago.

My loss has been with me for quite a while.

My loss is not being able to walk.

My loss is being in a wheelchair, and having cerebral palsy.

My loss is not being able to see my mom, who still resides in Antigua.

But, somehow, I try. I try smiling. I try being happy. 

And, eventually, trying slowly morphs into doing.

It's the doing that makes change, and helps people through trying times.