2012 Southwest Conference on Disability in Albuquerque, New Mexico

The Southwest Conference on Disability 2012

In Albuquerque

What we  learned:

The Gene and Dave Show learned that Albuquerque, New Mexico was a beautiful setting for this conference on disability.  We learned that the Southwest region of the USA has much to offer by and for its residents with disability.  Many of service providers focused on employment while there were plenty of artists booths as well.  Art was evident in many forms including painting, pottery, dance and film.

The conference Co-chairs, Dr. Tony Cahill and Jim Parker, did a fine job of recruiting presenters and participants from 35 states and at least 3 foreign countries.  We thank everyone that helped us capture this conference on video.

Conference Participants, Presenters, Providers and Vendors

Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah

Emmanuel tells his story about being born with a disability and raised in Ghana, West Africa.  Born with only one functional leg, he bicycled across Ghana.  A movie, Emmanuel’s Gift, was made about his experience.

Linda Pedro

Linda explains how she was the first person with a disability in New Mexico to get the government to pay for her home health service.

Kris Jorgensen and his mother Jackie

Kris is known as the Picasso of pottery.  His mother Jackie relates the challenges Kris, diagnosed with asperger syndrome, had growing up.  Now he is a prodigious potter and is teaching ceramics at Texas A&M in Corpus Christi.

Greg with ExerPlay

Greg told us all about accessible playgrounds.   You can find plenty of information on ExerPlay at www.exerplay.com and on this subject at www.accessibleplayground.net and http://www.shanesinspiration.org

Marian from Cloud Dancers

Miriam tells us about this program that provides equine-assisted experiences for individuals who are mentally, physically, emotionally or socially challenged.  Find more information at www.clouddancersofthesouthwest.org

Celia Hughes from VSA

Celia tells us about audio description, explains that it is an access feature for films and videos, for use by folks with visual impairments.  http://www.vsatx.org

Neil

Neil is another conference participant that was diagnosed with asperger syndrome.  He is looking for a job as a computer programmer.  This conference was a great place for people with disabilities to meet potential employers.

Denise with Yes We Can New Mexico

Yes We Can is a non-profit member organization of artists, artisans, craftspeople, counselors, consultants, therapists, accountants, educators, and other entrepreneurs with disabilities. We are a group of small business owners who come together to support each other in the goal of owning profitable businesses.

Find more info at http://www.yeswecannewmexico.com

Arminda with the US Forest Service and Cindy, who is blind, tells their story of Cindy came to work for the Forrest Service and how Arminda needed to learn about Cindy’s assistive technology in order to train her for her job.

Kevin with Automatic Sync Technologies

Kevin is old time associate of The Gene And Dave Show.  Our hour long shows are captioned by Automatic Sync Technologies www.automaticsync.com/captionsync/ , while we caption our own shorter clips using captioning software from http://www.synchrimedia.com

Deborah with Dionysus Theatre

Deborah told us that Dionysus Theatre is the only Texas inclusive theatre.  She told us about the wonderful work they do there, the plays they’ve done and film with which they are associated.  See more at www.dionysustheatre.org

John Bramblitt

John is a blind painter and author who dazzled us with his paintings, techniques and personal story.  Learn more about John at http://bramblitt.net  He’s also on Youtube.