New Story Posted!

The first story from our class at the Superior Alliance for Independent Living (SAIL) has been posted on our Many Faces One Voice web site.

Featured Storyteller!

"Will You Choose to Make A Difference?"

Interview with Daniel Burke, Storyteller

1. Why did you tell this story?
   
   
   I decided to tell this story because I felt that it had two very important messages, first about overcoming disability to be able to make a difference and secondly the importance of public transportation.



2. What do you want people to learn or question after seeing your story?
   
   I would like people to come away with the understanding that just because an individual is disabled, it does not limit the impact of the contribution that they can make in their lives and the lives of others.



3. How will or have you used this story for advocacy?
   
   I have used this video to advocate for public transportation showing it to city and township officials, as well as transportation agencies in order to gain support for public transportation.This video was also shown to a group of individuals in the Arc Shiawassee's summer program to inspire them to get involved and make a difference.



4. Tell us a little about the experience of creating a digital story. (Would you do it again?, was it worth it?)
   
   The experience of creating a digital story was a little intimidating, considering the limited computer skills that I came into this project with. I have chosen to do it again, I am currently working on a second video as part of a project that is taking place here in Shiawassee County. As frustrating as the whole process is, when I see what the first idea turned out like, I say it was very much worth it.

Free Technology Toolkit for UDL in All Classrooms

A very large number of tools, including stuff for digital story telling. More than you might htink.

Michigan Disability Rights Coalition Board meeting

The next meeting of the MDRC governing board is July 24, 2008 from 4 pm to 6 pm.  The meeting will be held at the MDRC office at 3498 East Lake Lansing Rd., Suite 100, East Lansing, Michigan 48823.  Interested parties may attend.  Please let us know you are coming by calling 1-800-760-4600.

Featured Story!

Becoming Proud and Powerful

Interview with Alicia Rouse, Storyteller

Why did you decide to tell this story?

I decided to tell this story because I finally felt comfortable stating out loud that I have a disability and I am proud. I felt comfortable enough because of the welcoming that I have received from the disability community.

What do you want people to learn or question after seeing your story?

I want people to stop perceiving PWD’s as broken, weird, scary, etc., I felt ashamed for a long time that I had a disability and I never should have felt bad about myself. But it is b/c society views having a disability as being a bad thing. Why would that be? Is it bad to have red hair? No it is just different than the norm. People with disabilities are not special, or god’s children, we are just human beings. Don’t pity people with disabilities!!

How will or have you used this story for advocacy?

I am not sure how I am going to use this story, I know Glenn talked about having the DD Council see it, maybe if I get up enough courage I will share it with staff [at her workplace]. I need to brainstorm how and in what environment it would be appropriate.

Tell us a little about the experience of creating a digital story. (Would you do it again? Was it worth it?)

I really enjoyed the experience of creating my story. I wish there had been more one on one time, or half day workshops because it was left up to us to do things on our own time and that was difficult to manage with schedules already being full. I would love to do another story about transportation or current discrimination against PWD’s or something along civil rights, and show it to legislators and representatives at the capitol. I think that would make a huge impact on them if they could actually see what PWD’s have to face in a supposed inclusive society. It was totally worth it!!! it gave me the courage to own up to having a disability and be proud about who I am.

Stories available!

We finished the class and have moved on to new groups! Finished videos can be viewed at the Many Faces, One Voice web site Some people are still struggling with uploading their captions. This should be resolved within the next weeks. We'll be featuring a story on this blog periodically, more often as we have more stories to share of course!

During the Summer of 2008, we'll build on UCP of Michigan's "Life in Focus" project in working with The Shiawassee Transportation Advocacy Coalition in Owosso, MI. We will also hold a class for staff members at the Superior Alliance for Independent Living (SAIL), a Center for Independent Living in Marquette, MI.

Some things I've learned after the first session in Marquette is to remember to bring tissue, as we look at stories to learn about the 7 elements of a digital story. Also, I am so strongly reminded of why the hard work in doing this is worth it. The stories I heard are so incredibly powerful. Once again, I can hardly wait to show them to you!

We need to find additional funding to continue our efforts. We are working with SAIL in Marquette on a mini grant application and hope to offer a class there over the next year. The Disability Network/Michigan is interested in working with us to find funding to develop a "train the trainer" for Center for Independent Living staff. Let us know if you have ideas for us!

Our Last Session is Planned

Our last class is being held in two sessions, June 6 and June 11. We had to add a session. Though we had 4 hours scheduled for the last session, several people needed more time to complete videos. We did watch the final drafts (as of the end of the session). Powerful stuff!!

We added a class because the 4 hours wasn't enough time to get people through the captioning. One problem was the need to upload the video to Google video. It can take up to a day for the video to be available we found out, so even if we did this first thing in the session, we still couldn't do captions using the on-line overstream.net.

We've asked participants to have their videos uploaded to Google and to sign up for accounts on Overstream prior to the last class. We showed a short tutorial video (with screen shots, using Camtasia) on how to upload the videos at the last class.

We do still have a barrier with Google, to get an account, people have to go through a captcha. Even with an audio alternative, this still presents problems. The audio is so garbled, it's nearly impossible to get, especially if you have any type of audio processing issue. Many people have both visual and audio processing issues. We'll need to provide assistance for now.

We passed out a release form at the last session and everyone signed it. Some with restrictions (like notifying them first). We based the form on one we downloaded from Stories for Change (check the resource section).

Both Glenn and I have met individually with some people in between. Some will not completely be done even with the last class but we anticipate most will. Can't wait to link to their videos!

I made a video tutorial (using Camtasia) but the audio was so bad. It sounds like I am in a cave on Mars with dripping water! I don't have time now to redo this. I don't know what the problem was, spent hours checking audio settings. I know I had just downloaded and installed Skype. Suspect that had something to do with this, but even after removing the program, the problem persisted. We'll try to use this anyway but I hope to redo them soon.

Stay tuned! The video stories will blow you away. I am so impressed with the talent in this group!