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by Lucy Bayard

People with disabilities volunteer for the same reasons that anyone else does–to give back to their communities, to improve their surroundings, and to be active and engaged in life. Some national service participants who have disabilities volunteer with organizations that serve other people with disabilities, while others focus their efforts on helping to meet a wide range of critical community needs. The individuals profiled here represent a small sampling of the many people with disabilities involved in the Corporation for National and Community Service’s Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs.

AMERICORPS STATE AND NATIONAL
Michael Tada
AmeriCorps Alumnus 2001, Oahu, HI
Disability: Developmental Disabilities
Michael Tada served in AmeriCorps for a year in 2001 at Goodwill
Industries as a mentor. Serving in AmeriCorps gave him an opportunity to let people know that just because he has a disability does not mean that he cannot do it. “I can do anything anyone else can do! I want to give back to the community that has given me so much,” explains Michael. Serving in national service was also a stepping stone to gain part-time employment. Since October 2006, Michael has worked part-time at the Hawaii Center for Independent Living as an advocate and is president of the Self-Advocacy Advisory Council (SAAC). He is currently the SAAC liaison to the APPLAUD project, a National Service Inclusion Project. Michael also helps with fundraising needs at Easter Seals on an ongoing basis.

SENIOR CORPS
Millie Rusk
Foster Grandparent since 1999, Laramie,WY
Disability: Blindness
Millie Rusk volunteers as a Foster Grandparent for Cathedral Home for Children. She is legally blind. Although she has no grandchildren of her own, she is affectionately called Grandma Millie, which makes her very proud. Grandma Millie volunteers in elementary schools in Laramie. She has an Atlas 600 Reading Machine that allows her to tutor children in reading and writing at the Thayer and Beitel schools. The children love to have the help of Grandma Millie and look at her special reading machine. She has received many accolades from the school where she has volunteered. In fact, when one school celebrated reading more than 2,000 books, the Cat in the Hat made an appearance and read a short poem that included a sentence about Grandma Millie. Everyone over the past eight years has felt the love, dedication, and compassion that Grandma Millie brings to the classrooms.

Please visit the National Service Inclusion Project (NSIP) website and share success stories of members and volunteers with disabilities in service.

Lucy Bayard is a Senior Training Coordinator of the National Service Inclusion Project at the Institute for Community Inclusion in Boston. She is a guest blogger.

The National Service Inclusion Project (NSIP) is a training and technical assistance provider on disability inclusion, under a cooperative agreement from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). NSIP strives to increase the participation of people with disabilities in national service and volunteerism. In collaboration with the Association on University Centers on Disability, National Council on Independent Living, Association on Higher Education and Disability and National Down Syndrome Congress, NSIP builds and sustains partnerships among disability organizations and all CNCS grantees. Services include national, state, and program training to all CNCS grantees including AmeriCorps, Senior Corps and Learn and Serve programs; technical assistance and resources to support members and volunteers with disabilities including recruitment and retention, accommodations, accessibility, management, and ensuring Section 504 and ADA compliance.

By Melissa Boyd

Last Friday, I presented at the 4th annual Southern Maine Council on Transition Youth Conference entitled “Be Your Own Superhero…the sky’s the limit!!” which was a professional conference for high school students with disabilities and others regarding employment and training options available after high school.

My presentation was about my experience as an AmeriCorps member and a person with learning disabilities. I wanted to tell my story about my AmeriCorps experience while encouraging these young people to consider becoming a member themselves.

As a student in elementary, middle and high school I was placed in special classes as I had trouble understanding what I was reading. My math and reading scores were extremely low and my grades were less than average. I can remember my high school guidance counselor telling me to just work at the local grocery store or stay in the field of hospitality and continue to waitress. Deep inside, I knew that I had always wanted to go to college even though my grades were poor. I was accepted into Berkshire Community College and after my first semester, one of my Professors, Karen Border pulled me aside after she had read one of my essays.

“I want to talk with you about something very important” she told me. She helped me understand that I was dyslexic.

I was so relived to find out that I had the ability to retain information. Over the next six months, I learned more about my learning disability and how to work with it. Even today almost twenty years after I was diagnosed, I still struggle at times.

This leads me to my first year of service with AmeriCorps. I was living in Portland at the time and my service placement was half in Portland at the Muskie School and half in Biddeford with Pathways a school for kids who were considered at risk for a variety of reasons, many because of learning disabilities. When I arrived at Pathways, part way by bus and at least ten miles on my bike, the students were amazed that I put in the effort to come every day rain or shine. Our small old parks and recreation building in Biddeford, lacked books, supplies and the resources normal classrooms enjoyed.

One thing that AmeriCorps has taught me is that creativity is indeed the mother of all invention. I worked with the two staff and assistants at the center and we came up with a plan. We needed to teach these students, who had been kicked out of classes, put down and given up on that learning was fun and they could achieve great things. This was no small task and our plan to educate them in a new way was nothing short of inspiring. Our little building sat below the Saco River and the head teacher had experience in boat building. We worked with the students and had them call Home Depot to get supplies for a boat donated and together we built a boat. The art of boat building requires reading, collaboration, math, science and a lot of hard work.

After we finished the boat we had University of New England Environmental students visit our center and teach the kids how to test the water on the Saco River. Our efforts garnered media and political attention. After one year, Pathways was upgraded with a new building, more supplies and more teachers and became a place where students wanted to learn in an alternative way.

I’m happy to report that I am finishing my Masters degree at the Muskie School at the University of Southern Maine in May thanks to Professor Karen Border being my hero!

Service has taught me that everyone can be a hero in their own way. Our life experience not only shapes who we are, it shapes who we become. Consider joining AmeriCorps, a year of service can change your life and benefit others!

Melissa Boyd is a 2 year AmeriCorps Alum, Graduate Student, and Commissioner for the Maine Commission for Community Service.