VIA Daryl-Lynn Carlson, Financial Post- Canada

Massachusetts budget cuts force closing:

Neil Barry wrote a letter to Governor Deval Patrick, urging him to restore $683,000 in state funding for Riverside Career Services, a nonprofit in Lynn and Melrose that provides job and education services for mentally disabled people.

Unless new funding is found, the Riverside centers will close Dec. 5. Patrick’s cuts to mental health services included $422,000 for the Lynn center and $261,000 for Melrose. The two locations now are working with 180 people who have emotional disorders, such as chronic depression. A combined staff of 14 work to place people in jobs or education programs.

In Texas, contract losses put center in jeopardy:

Dozens of disabled workers sit at their usual tables in a no-frills Garland warehouse, waiting for something to do.

“When I walk on the floor, they ask: ‘Do you have any work for us, Mike?’ ” said Michael Pope, president and chief executive officer of North Texas Rehabilitation Services.

“It’s breaking my heart.”

The Garland-based nonprofit recently lost a contract that provided packaging and assembly tasks for many of its 350 workers, all of whom have mental disabilities. The client, a building-supply business, has opted to take the work in-house because of the tough economy.

That has left some employees at North Texas Rehabilitation Services without any work, and others with smaller paychecks.

Mr. Pope worries that his agency could shut down if it doesn’t find other jobs. The contract brought in $60,000 to $70,000 a month, about a third of its revenue.

Virginia is going through its own cost cutting - the Department of Rehabilitation Services has recently begun wait listing new applicants and is facing severe budget cuts as well.

The site is in Romanian, but I set up a translated page here and will be donating to help see this happen. It’s exciting to see the independent living movement globalize!

Here is a video from the organization:

There is a new kid on the block. Me. I’m Randy. Yesterday I began the third grand epic adventure of my life. My first grand epic adventure lasted for 21 years. From June, 1984 to June, 2005 I had the great fortune to be self employed as a wallpaper hanger and painter.  My job took me into some fabulous homes, and I had the privilege of meeting a vast number of wonderful people. Some of my jobs lasted two or three weeks and longer, and I would almost become a part of the family.

In December of 2004 there was a growing realization on my part, that the time to let my business go was fast approaching. Steady hands are a must, and Parkinson’s kind of gets in the way. June 23, 2005 I hung my last strip of wallpaper at 2:35 in the afternoon. In August 2005 I became a full time student at Virginia Commonwealth University. Becoming a student was my second grand epic adventure. Not only was I older than most of my classmates, I was older than most of their parents. Graduation was May 17, 2008 and I was awarded a Bachelors degree in Interdisciplinary Studies.

My third grand epic adventure began yesterday. There are a number of issues in a persons’ life that could become barriers to finding meaningful and lucrative employment. Age is one, and I am 62. Disability is another, and Parkinson’s definitely applies. Another significant barrier is a felony conviction. I am in my 15th year of probation on a 15 year suspended sentence. My focus at VCU was on the controversial subject of reentry. Self employment provides a remedy to most barriers, by giving a person the tools to go around the barriers. When I was hanging wall paper and painting, there were no background checks.

So Friday was my first day working with Sue to develop and strengthen my computer skills, working toward sustainable self employment once again.

I’m also delighted to announce that Randy Pepin has joined our team and will introduce himself shortly, so I won’t step on his toes (much). Prior to joining us, Randy was self-employed for 20+ years as a wallpaper hanger and painter, so he brings some great experience to our program.

Last but not least, we’ve mailed out more than 25,000 Words Hit cards since August - if you were expecting cards and haven’t received them, it’s probably because we don’t have your shipping address. If you still want them, please contact us with your name and shipping address and we’ll get them out to you.

On November 4, 2008, millions of people with disabilities across the United States and around the world joined our non-disabled peers in watching the United States election results. Obama supporters cheered or wept to learn that the next US president would be Obama. Then we cheered or wept again when Obama mentioned people with disabilities in his acceptance speech. History was made–not only for America, not only for Black people, not only for Kenya and all of Africa, not only for Indigenous peoples, but also for people with disabilities.

But we cannot afford to allow the moment to end here. Whether we supported Obama, McCain, or another candidate, we all know there is far too much work ahead before we can say, “Yes, we have made real change for people with disabilities.”

It is time for people with disabilities, our loved ones, our neighbors, and colleagues to join together, across ideological divides, to reach out to Obama. We should all send an email to Kareem Dale, Obama’s National Disability Vote Director (at kdale@barackobama.com), WITH COPIES TO Anne Hayes, a volunteer on the Obama Disability Policy Committee (at ahayesku@hotmail.com).

First, we should thank Obama — and also Kareem Dale — for mentioning people with disabilities in Obama’s acceptance speech on November 4. Ensure that they understand how much it matters simply for us to be included. How did you feel when Obama mentioned us? Share your story.

Second, we should tell Obama and Kareem Dale that we are aware of Obama’s disability platform. He promised to increase educational opportunities; end discrimination; increase employment opportunities; and support independent, community-based living for Americans with disabilities. And he promised to sign the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the first international, legally-binding human rights treaty for people with disabilities. Tell Obama and Kareem Dale that we are ready to call Obama to account if he fails us. But more importantly, we are ready to work with him for change for people with disabilities.

It is important to send your disability-related emails to BOTH Kareem Dale AND Anne Hayes (kdale@barackobama.com AND ahayesku@hotmail.com) between now and inauguration day. Kareem Dale’s email address may change between now and January 20, 2009. Anne Hayes can help ensure that emails sent to Kareem Dale are not lost during this time of transition.

Both Kareem Dale and others who have worked on disability issues within the Obama campaign are ready to receive YOUR emails on disability-related issues for US President-elect Obama. Emails are welcome from across the United States and around the world. If you are a US citizen, then please say so in your email.

Learn more about Obama’s plan for people with disabilities at: http://origin.barackobama.com/issues/disabilities/

Yes, the video is captioned. And if you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you can download Obama’s Full Plan for people with disabilities in PDF format (62 Kb).

Read Obama’s acceptance speech at: http://www.barackobama.com/2008/11/04/remarks_of_presidentelect_bara.php

Want to read someone else’s letter to Obama before you write your own? Come to: http://reunifygally.wordpress.com/2008/11/05/thank_you_obama_disabilities/. Another letter is posted at http://wecando.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/bpks-congratulates-obama/.

Learn more about the CRPD at http://ratifynow.org/ratifynow-faq/

If you wish to contact Obama’s staff on some topic other than disability, then you can send an email via his web page at http://www.change.gov/page/s/ofthepeople

Please circulate this email freely, or post this at your own blog, web site, or Facebook page.

This text was first posted by Andrea Shettle at http://wecando.wordpress.com/2008/11/07/disabilities-email-obama/ The most updated version will be there, so please consult before cross-posting.

“It is the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, DISABLED and not disabled — Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.”
–President-Elect Barack Obama
Acceptance speech, November 4, 2008; emphasis added

Because fine art and craft have long been considered a luxury for an audience with a disposable income, visual artists, like many self-employed creatives are susceptible to icky, economic downturns.  Right now everyone is hesitant to spend to drop cash on what seems to extravagance, even the very wealthy.  But collectors and dealers know this is the best time to buy and fine art and craft is one of the safest places to “park” their moola. But, they are looking to invest in  established artists with proven and verifiable sales and exhibition histories.

This is not good news for most emerging and mid-career artists. I’ve gotten e-mails from creative friends asking for ideas about how and where to sell work during a time when many galleries are struggling to make ends meet. Galleries are way more likely to exhibit the work of artists they feel confident they can sell right now. So, if you are thinking about approaching galleries any time soon here are five things to consider:

Know your stuff. Do your research and keep up the news- art, culture and business. Keep an eye on trends in your community. Watch which galleries are advertising and who they are showing. This will be a strong indication of which galleries will survive. Know which galleries accept outside proposals and when, keeping in mind most schedule exhibitions months or years in advance. Understand that, like the business world, the gallery world ebbs and flows and you need to move with it.

Become a little geeky. Aside from having an organized electronic (email) database of collectors, fans and people interested in your work, as well as an accurate inventory system, take a little time to research web sites (if you don’t have one) and blogs. Determine whether you are better served with a blog that you can easily update or a static website that is updated quarterly or annually. Check out social media sites like Facebook or LinkedIn to find out how networking online with other artists and people of a like mind can
benefit you. It’s easy to let these things slide and find reasons for not having enough time, energy or resources…but, there is never a better time than now to get this stuff done.

Find creative weirdoes. Face it: being a visual artist can be a not only a weird but solitary profession, so in surrounding
yourself with other creative weirdoes you can help one another remain positive and upbeat. So find other artists and creative people you can talk to and/or meet on a
regular basis. It’s always important to keep creativity flowing but
especially during economic downturns. Nothing does that better than talking to other artists about their work and discussing yours.

Get out of the box. Be willing to think out of the box and explore non-traditional venues to
exhibit work and be willing to lower prices and/or barter for goods and services if you can. Look into local outdoor and weekend farmer’s markets and other similar venues. Look into renting space in an antique mall. Many people looking to decorate their homes with antiques also collect fine art and craft.

Curate yourself. Create your own exhibition of your existing work and approach local non profit exhibition spaces, small museums and college and university galleries with your ideas. Since many are coping with budget cuts, they are often more open to an exhibition that is already prepackaged and ready to hang. Use the distance you are willing to drive as your geographical radius and send proposals to everyone within that area.

Do stuff for yourself. Everyone is under a tremendous amount of stress in this uncertain economic climate. The world seems chaotic right now. Money, career and family responsibilities can feel overwhelming. For many visual artists and fine crafters, it is our art that centers us and in an intrinsic part of who we are. We will all get through this, so continue to make the best possible art you can make and you will continue to thrive.

Consumers have long saved money by clipping coupons. Small businesses apparently are now doing the same.

Ron Weidemann, a partner at market-research firm Answers Research Inc. of Solana Beach, Calif., says he has been using online sites like CouponChief.com to save money for his company. The products he has bought with coupons include office equipment (computers and printers), office supplies (at Staples and Office Depot), office furniture (chairs, lamps), electronic devices (monitors, surge protectors) and travel expenses (Expedia promotions).

All told, Mr. Weidemann saved his company more than $10,000 in the past year. “Because the offers are out there, you might as well take advantage of them,” he says.

The proliferation of coupons online makes iti all a lot easier. Some of these digital coupons are even attached to loyalty cards and cellphones, making clipping the Sunday advertisements unnecessary.
About nine out of 10 people report using coupons when shopping for grocery, household and health-care items at supermarkets, according to a recent Promotion Marketing Association survey. It helps them save 7% on their grocery bill.

In fact, last year was the first time in 15 years that coupon redemptions didn’t decline, with 2.6 billion coupons redeemed for $3 billion in savings, according to CMS Inc., a Winston-Salem, N.C., firm that processes coupon payments for merchants. It could be higher this year since food prices have climbed at a faster rate than previous years.

Online marketers also report coupon use is on the rise, with coupon trading sites such as Hotcouponworld.com boasting more than 90,000 members.

There are now many sites that cater to the frugal and thrifty. Some of them are GroceryGame.com, CouponMom.com, Coupons.com, and CouponClippers.com.
Mr. Weidemann says, “We have a saying here at Answers, I got it from my old boss, ‘If you take care of the pennies, the dollars will take care of themselves.’”

Do you use coupons to save money for your small business? Do you offer coupons to your customers?

Photo: Getty Images ]]> http://activegreymatter.org/2008/11/02/how-can-you-save-10000/feed/ http://activegreymatter.org/2008/10/25/a-few-resources/ http://activegreymatter.org/2008/10/25/a-few-resources/#comments Sun, 26 Oct 2008 02:18:47 +0000 Krishanna http://activegreymatter.org/?p=162 A free computer program that helps people who get benefits find ways to increase your income through work incentives.

A program where people on Medicare or Food Stamps can get a reduction in your monthly phone bill.

A program that can help you reduce your student loans if you work for a nonprofit organization.

And  a website that makes it very easy to write your representative.

“I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it.” -: Maya Angelou

I have been “disabled” now for 10 years. Most people who know me think of me as “strong”, “brave”, “persevering”. People admire me for this; as though those qualities didn’t exist before I became disabled. They admire me for continuing to live and pursue my dreams freely, “in spite of” a spinal cord injury and the chronic pain and depression that accompanies it.

But for me, it doesn’t seem to be so great a thing, such an admirable feat. For me, it was a matter of practicality and realism.You do what you have to do. I am “strong”, “brave”, “persevering” but I was BEFORE I became disabled. Those are the things that assist you in finding a way to continue living instead of curling yourself up into a tight ball in the corner of a dark room and waiting to die.

People without disabilities assume that I write, create things, keep moving forward, work at keeping a decently positive attitude, “in spite of” my disability. People with disabilities, admire my resilience and capacity for not allowing my disability to stop me from living and expecting the best I can get from life.

Oddly, no one ever assumes I do what I do and I live the way I live with the attitude I have BECAUSE of my disability.

I have taught myself many things because I am an experiential learner. I taught myself a lot of how to live and be in this world due to a crappy hand in childhood. I taught myself to use computers back in the dark ages. I am a self-taught artist and thingmaker. Becoming disabled was no different. I had to learn how to be disabled because I wasn’t born that way.

True enough, I am not paralyzed. I don’t use a chair to get from point A to point B, it’s true. But, I need a cane and I need a scooter to participate in activities and events that require walking and standing for long periods of time. I need to use a shopping cart to lean on in the grocery store, even if I am only getting one item. There are days when the pain is so bad, it’s all I can do to get through the bare minimum and hope the next day, the next hour, the next minute is a better one. My life was changed and I needed to learn how to cope with the newness of it all.

When I was working full-time and more able-bodied , art and writing were things I poked at when I had the time. Once I became disabled and had nothing but time during recovery from surgeries and in between doctor appointments,they became the lifeline and the preserver that kept me afloat. When it became clear I was never going to be able to go back to work as I once had, art and writing there to indicate a new path on which to travel. My disability gave me the time and space I needed to forge a new career for myself and this time one I had passion and patience for. I was no longer bogged down by doing the 9-to-5 thing and that left a lot of unfettered, creative energy energy to float among the rocks that rattled around in my head.

More than that though, I had to learn what it was like to be disabled in a culture that worships ability and perfection and a disability culture that viewed me as not “truly disabled”. I have always tossed conformity and convention out the window. Ever since I can remember, I have always been too much of one thing and not enough of another to fit in most pigeonholes. Disability, evidently, was going to be no exception. Within able-bodied circles, I was not able-bodied enough and within the disability community, I was not disabled enough or worse, I wasn’t really disabled at all because I hadn’t been born that way. It filled me with consternation and frustration. I was, it seemed, a woman without a country.

So I created my own. The country of Krishanna.

Just as I had balked at accepting the term “alcoholic” to define who I was years before, I rejected “disabled” to define my identity again. So many people get so caught up in labeling their identity that they forget who they are. To define who I am or can by limiting myself to what I can’t do seems to me fruitless. “Disabled” is just one label to describe one part of who I am, just as being a feminist or an advocate, or a cranky artist describe other parts of who I am.

There is no one label for who I am. I am who I am. I am distinctly me and there’s no one else on the face of the planet is that is just like me. Sounds hokey and rote, but it is true. For every one thing I can’t do, there are half a dozen more I can.

Beyond our lists of all we are not and our litanies of all we cannot do, I believe the intrinsic knowledge we are only limited by our imaginations and dreams lies within us; indeed in spite of ourselves.