Volume 13 / Number 4 /
EDITOR: Randy Alexander
MCIL is a community based non-profit organization whose primary mission is to facilitate the full integration of persons with disabilities into all aspects of civic life.
By Randy Alexander
Since 1992 MCIL has used its aptly named Underground Railroad to help sixteen Memphians find freedom in Colorado. Many of these sixteen escaped nursing homes here in Memphis to live lives free from an institution in Colorado. Until very recently, if you needed assistance, as many of us with disabilities do, our state only paid for those services in segregated institutions and nursing homes.
So MCIL teamed up with several organizations in Denver, primarily Atlantis and PASCO, and the individual seeking freedom. MCIL worked with our brothers and sisters here in Tennessee in or facing institutionalization and assisted them in getting ready to move to freedom. Remember, most of the people MCIL worked with were in nursing homes, the ONLY place they could receive the assistance they needed in order to survive.
“If I was still in the nursing home I’d probably be dead. I had no hope. Living on my own, I’ve had to fight for every bit of service I needed, appeal after appeal, but living in my own home I have hope.” M. Taylor, Freed May 2007
After MCIL and the individual had everything in place, housing, services etc., the person would escape Tennessee’s oppressive system and land in a state where people with disabilities had viable options to live in their own homes, not a nursing home. Literally, our compatriot would escape a nursing home in Memphis, ON THE SAME DAY, upon landing in Denver their new personal assistant would meet them at the airport, drive them to their new apartment and a life of freedom would spring forth.
That’s sixteen of our brothers and sisters who chose to leave everyone and everything they had here in Memphis in order to lead a life of freedom. While the Underground Railroad is still an option, due to recent changes in Tennessee, many are finding freedom without having to leave Tennessee.
Since February 2007, MCIL has assisted ten individuals in escaping a nursing home and moving into their own home here in Tennessee. Last year Tennessee’s Statewide Aging and Disability Waiver expanded, increasing the hours and types of services available. The primary goal in the Bureau of TennCare was to provide an opportunity for some individuals to stay out of a nursing home. We at MCIL saw this as an opportunity to free our brothers and sisters who want to move out of institutions.
So we started our Emancipation Team!
The Emancipation Team works one-on-one with each person seeking freedom, putting in many hours coordinating housing, services and everything else a person might need in order to find freedom from the nursing home. Christina Clift, Joel Grissom and Bobbie Fields have done an amazing job putting in on average about forty hours per person fighting for that individual’s freedom.
Typically, when an individual is fighting for their freedom, not only are they having to learn about their disability, their rights to services and supports, how to manage attendant services, how to survive on a limited budget, but also they have start a home with nothing. The Emancipation Team spends a lot of time not only working with these freedom fighters transitioning out of the nursing home with personal empowerment but also finding all the things a person needs to make a home.
While imprisoned in the nursing home, individuals must purchase any personal stuff on a $30 a month budget. This is part of the very system that keeps individuals stuck in the institution. Without money how do you pay for deposits, furniture, household items or services? Unlike other states Tennessee does not fund or provide any assistance in freeing its citizens from nursing homes. Because of this, our Emancipation Team working with these freedom fighters search for deals, donations and any support from the community with each transition.
While MCIL staff and volunteers have done well, let us not forget that the risk and the celebration belongs to these ten Tennesseans who have fought the good fight, and won! Under a system of segregation here in Tennessee these ten Freedom Fighters had to do that every step of the way, fight for their freedom, prove themselves to others, defy the “rules” and some have even moved out—heaven forbid!—“against medical advice”!
So let us ALL celebrate the freedom of our ten brothers and sisters. Let us come together and continue the fight to change attitudes and end discrimination towards all!
Back before internet blogs became our source for non-traditional news sources, MCIL had its Journal. Long before I started here at MCIL, the Journal at mcil.org was a constant source for ideas, attitude and information. It was and still is a great location to get the truth! The MCIL Journal will continue to publish information, local and national stories and more concerning issues facing people with disabilities unlike what you’ll read or hear from traditional news sources.
MCIL Journal and Declaration located in the News link, same great info and articles! Plus other great MCIL News related links!
Calendar: More Events, More Info then what is available in the Declaration, and always updated.
What’s New: Quick headlines updated every two days.
Plus, we are hoping that the addition of a What’s New on the home page, a direct link to an MCIL events list, a new look and other new items.
When the Memphis weather turns back to warmer temps, we’ll have a new place to hang out, MCIL’s back patio! Thanks to the FedEx Day Of Caring volunteers; Kathy Gregory, Trudi Griffin, Michelle Follis, Remco De Jong, Juliet Waddell, Susie Peele, Paul Maynard, Becky, DeGroff, Jennie Packard, and Ran Carney, the back patio has much more room and a wonderful shade tree we all can’t wait to enjoy it
By Sandi Klink
In the past few years the “Friends of MCIL” have sent letters, cooked spaghetti and grown one of the best silent auctions in Memphis; however, the need for unrestricted money we can spend on rent and utilities has grown even as local funding takes another cut. MCIL does not charge anyone for the services they receive, the information, the referrals, the friendly listening ear, the workshops and the seen and unseen service we provide through all our advocacy efforts with MATA, MHA, even Medicaid, so that the services you receive in the community provide you what you need. How can you on your fixed and limited income help? If you and everyone receiving this newsletter sent in just $1.00 that would be about $3,000.00 and if you got one or two friends or family members to send in $5.00 that would provide MCIL $15,000 which would make a big dent in the $60,000 we must raise this year to pay the bills. As you can see every little bit can make a big difference!
Another way you can help is to bring your Christmas shopping money to MCIL’s Annual Holiday Open House with Silent Auction and Gift Shoppe or donate items – new or barely used. On December 7th from 4:00 till 8:00 the Friends of MCIL will host our annual fundraiser. Items will be available in the Gift Shoppe for purchase at $20.00 or less, many items for as little as $1.00 so even our consumers on very limited budgets can find something for themselves or for Christmas giving. For many of our friends, family and guests our 7th annual silent auction is going to take a small change. This year guests wishing to bid on items in the silent auction will be asked to purchase a bid ticket for $5.00, this bid ticket will have a number that will be used for the purpose of identifying the bidder on each item. Don’t forget the ‘Chinese auction.’ This is a fun opportunity to outbid someone else for an item to take home. The rules for this are unique. Every bidder must put the entire amount of each bid in the hat! We learn something new every year and appreciate everyone’s patience and support as we try to raise funds and have a little fun too!
By Marian Bacon
Hi, my name is Marian Bacon and I am the new Outreach Coordinator here at MCIL. I’ve lived in Memphis since 1993 but sometimes I miss where the snow and love is overflowing in Pennsylvania. Currently I am attending Southwest Tennessee Community College, majoring in Social Work. For the last nine years have been a volunteer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, NAMI, Memphis office.
I grew up a foster child, and for twenty-two years I lived in ten different foster homes, a preparatory school and orphanage. I have four wonderful children, of whom Michelle is the closest to me. I am also grandmother to Makyah Nicole, who is three years old and is a very loveable child.
My bipolar disorder and cutting started in the various foster homes because of the abuse put upon me at a very young age. After too many tests from psychologists, psychiatrists and other medical professionals I was diagnosed as having a disability at eight years old.
I have faced a lot of adversity in my life from homelessness, institutionalization and more. I will be celebrating thirteen years of sobriety in April!
Even with all the stress I’ve been through the last couple of months (yes, good stress can be just as hard as bad stress), I haven’t cut in a little over two months.
I’m very excited to be here at MCIL as the Outreach Coordinator. I’ve been through a lot and I’ve worked at a lot of organizations. Many of you may even know me from my working and volunteering all around Memphis. I look forward to this new adventure and using all the skills I’ve learned over the years here at MCIL.
The goal of the Outreach Committee is not only to increase the awareness of MCIL but to go out into the community to share what resources are out in the community. It is primarily about facilitating full independence for all individuals and reconnecting otherwise isolated individuals with disabilities with the larger community. I am fortunate in being able to help with the challenges and opportunities in learning more about this movement.
If you would like to become a member of the Outreach Committee please call me at 726-6404 or send me an email, marian@mcil.org, of course that’s after you check out our new web site!
By Hope Johnson
You can help your brothers and sisters in in finding freedom as they move out of institutions and back to their own homes. How you may ask? Take the story of Janet, not a real person but the story of the typical transition.
Janet, 56, moved out of a Memphis nursing home earlier this year. She has a spinal cord injury that left her with paralysis and the need for personal assistance. And that’s what led to her 4-year stay in a nursing home. Luckily, she met a staff member from MCIL who assisted her with moving out of the nursing home and into her own apartment. The Center assists people with transitioning into their own homes, which included identifying funding for her support services (her personal assistance), securing an affordable, accessible home, and finding household items to set up a new place.
When Janet moved, she had absolutely NOTHING. She had no bed, no cookware, no bathroom items, no vacuum cleaner, no coffee pot, no sheets, no dishes, and no microwave—NOTHING. She had been living in a nursing home for the past four years. We need your help. MCIL is asking for donations to go directly to our brothers and sisters with disabilities who are moving into their own homes. Here are the items that we are most in need of collecting.
Kitchen: coffee pot, microwave, dishes, cookware, utensils, garbage can, toaster, can opener, broom, and vacuum cleaner.
Bathroom: towels, shower curtain, bath mat, small trash can, bathroom cleaner, toilet brush, and personal items (soap, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, lotion).
Bedroom: sheets, blankets, pillows, phone, lamp, clothes hamper, and alarm clock.
If you are like me, I bet you can find lots of these items around your house – things that you haven’t used in a couple of years. I feel very blessed that I have more stuff than I probably need. We are asking you to help us support independence through donating items in good condition to our friends with disabilities in the Memphis community.
You may drop off items at MCIL, 1633 Madison Avenue, anytime Monday – Friday, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm. Unfortunately, we are unable to accept furniture at this time due to lack of space. If you would like to be contacted about the specific needs of a person when they are in the process of moving, please call Randy at (901) 726-6404 or email him at randy@mcil.org.
Longtime friends of MCIL got some really bad news early this fall. Fred Dinwiddie, our first Fearless Leader/Executive Director, died August 15th.
Perspective: Louis Patrick,
Board Chair
Fred had been having health problems over the last few years, so it was not unusual to not hear from him for long periods of time. I had just emailed him about the time he died to ask him to do a biography of himself and of Linc Adel, the founder of the Barrier Free Memphis Society.
Fred Dinwiddie was a big guy. Football big. Tall. Wide. He didn’t just have a ready smile. If you gave him half a chance—he grinned. A big, broad, wicked-sheepish, boyish grin. And he had a ready, open heart to match that grin.
Fred came to disability during his twenties. Rolled his Volkswagen and joined the quad-squad. He was a naturally easy going guy who always thought the best of people, who dealt with everyone openly, honestly and above board. He was nurtured from pretty early on in his rehab by the folks in Vocational Rehabilitation. He learned the financial, budgeting and grant-writing skills there that he would need to get the Center up and running and to keep it going when Easter Seals left west Tennessee. Again, Fred was a generous and open man. He shared those skills with me, along with his computer skills. Those skills both allowed me to function as the Center’s acting director when Fred left us and to get a good job with FedEx when I left the Center.
Fred loved his 2nd generation 128K Macintosh. He—together with our indispensable IT guy, Mike Heinrich—had much to do with the Center’s current emphasis on computer technology which so empowers our staff. We are naming our Computer/Tech Lab in Fred’s honor.
To Fred’s wife, Carol, his mother, Lucille, his boys, Fred, Jr. and Robert, our deepest condolences—and thanks.
Perspective: Deborah Cunningham,
Executive Director
When the Center began in 1981, Fred was hired as our Executive Director. Fred came to Independent Living from a background with the Rehabilitation Services model. He knew the Vocational Rehabilitation system very well and he was able to use it many times for the benefit of our consumers. Many of them had been rejected for vocational services because of the significance of their disabilities. This was very frustrating to all of us on the staff of the newly created Center for Independent Living especially Fred who knew that many of these consumers were being shafted by the system.
Fred learned a lot those first few years and so did we as his Independent Living staff. Fred was moving slowly but surely toward a more radical way of interpreting how our culture and political system values individuals with disabilities. Sometime during the later 80s Fred was transformed by an experience involving Republic Airlines. Fred needed to fly to Washington for a meeting and he needed to take his power wheelchair. Republic Airlines said no way; they would not transport him with his power chair. After a long and heated debate, Fred decided that he would not leave until they accepted his ticket and his power wheelchair on board. Fred called the office and told us to start making some signs so that he could begin his picket of Republic Airlines ticket counter. The picket went on for about 48 hours. Without sleep for the duration, Fred was exhausted but the airlines was not budging so he decided to call off the picket, call his attorney and file a lawsuit.
I will always remember Fred, especially during those 48 hours when he decided to make the personal political.
Unlike other agencies around Memphis, MCIL is not just concerned about providing a service: we want to build a community. The disability community
People with disabilities face a greater disparity and segregation from the community as a whole then any other group. We are not tied together by a common ethnicity, religion or place of origin. In many was we are disconnected from our own families. We are different. How do we find mentors with disabilities within our families, ethnic group or church to seek guidance or support for our issues? Typically we can’t.
That is why building our community is so important to us. We as people with disabilities must reach out to each other for support, information and experience.
We must build our community; by pulling together we can overcome.
Plus, let’s be honest, the community at large has let us down. When curb cuts began appearing on some of our streets, Braille in a building here and there, it was tempting to surrender to the illusion that equality had finally arrived for us. But, truth is, we are still being drugged, abused and taken advantage of in institutions at an alarming rate, are underserved, segregated—not just from the community but from one another by disability type, housed in gimp ghettos, and we have an unemployment rate that would cause any other group to riot.
We must come together and build our community, our voice. Through giving and service you can help make our community bigger, stronger, and we can support each other. We must all realize that we must make the personal (the way our personal lives are influenced by others), political. On some level you can do your part.
Come and find out how you can support your community, meet your brothers and sisters at an MCIL event and support our endeavors for a better tomorrow through giving service. Check out our calendar in the Declaration and for updates and more info check out www.mcil.org or call us.
Remember, half of winning is showing up!
Don’t forget to visit mcil.org for calendar of events.
If you are going to attend a MCIL event and/or you need materials in an alternative format or interpreter services please notify us at least five working days in advance of the event. Thank you!
MCIL would like to recognize several donors: Sponsors are individuals or companies who have donated at least $100.00, Benefactors have donated $500.00 or more. A great big thank you to all these generous donors! If you would like to make a donation to MCIL please contact Renee at 726-6404. Although Sponsors and Benefactors are recognized in the Declaration, any donation can help MCIL do the vital work needed for the civil rights of people with disabilities.
Louis & Sheila Patrick
Art and Bert Wolff
Carol Snowden Morris
Richard & Karen Wheeler
United Way Dis. Donors
Vernell Stepter
Perry Shealy
Lisa Proctor
Carol Taylor
Cheryl Slayton
Ila McDonald
Steven Carman
Timothy Beacham
Ms. Agnes Hanson
Frederick B. Palmer, M.D.
Mr. & Mrs. Lloyd Kirkland
Chuck Weirich
Once again, thanks to ALL of you that have donated your hard earned Dollars!
THANK YOU!
This project is funded in part by the U.S. Department of Education & United Way of the Mid-South