Tim Harris: Hero Among Us

“Serving Hot Food and Warm Hugs.” That’s the title of Jeff Truesdell’s article about an extraordinary restaurateur, in the May 21 edition of People magazine. Flip to the “Heroes Among Us” section and you’ll see the same smiling face that greeted a group of us from Special Olympics who stopped by his restaurant earlier this year.

Those outside of the Special Olympics New Mexico family became instant Tim Harris fans at “Tim’s Place,” his restaurant in Albuquerque, NM, when Tim and his staff hosted a dinner for the attendees of the annual Special Olympics U.S. Business Meeting this past February.

Many things made the night great: delicious Tex–Mex food, the fellowship of Special Olympics leaders from throughout the country…but it was our host, the restaurant’s owner, Tim, that made it unforgettable.

Tim Harris is a Special Olympics New Mexico athlete and Global Messenger. He is also the owner of “Tim’s Place” which provides “the friendliest service in the world” and serves “Breakfast, Lunch and Hugs.”

Tim addressed the packed house and said “from the minute I was born, I always wanted to be a part of the world around me.” He joined Special Olympics in his youth and would go on to participate in several sports, including poly hockey, basketball, track and field and more. He also attended college and received his degree, with a focus in restaurant operations.

He lives independently, just a couple minute’s walk from his restaurant. Many of his Special Olympics medals and awards adorn the walls and his high school varsity jacket, with the letter he earned for Special Olympics, is proudly on display.

Tim doesn’t charge extra for the hugs and, as he said “most customers order at least one, sometimes two” – he has a counter on the wall to track his hugs – over 16,000 to date and he got plenty more that night.

When he began his speech he told the crowd “every time I say “Oh Yeah!’ you say “Oh Yeah!” with a fist of victory thrown proudly up in the air. Needless to say, there were many “Oh Yeah’s!” from the group as Tim shared his story and journey with us – he had the entire restaurant on its feet at the end of his speech.

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He was particularly thrilled that the “other Tim” (Tim Shriver, Chairman of Special Olympics) was in attendance and presented Shriver with a couple small gifts and two hugs: one for him, one for his Mom (Eunice Kennedy Shriver).

Tim is as welcoming, charismatic and hospitable a restaurateur and host as can be, and a remarkable testament to what our athletes can achieve.

So if you ever find yourself in Albuquerque, stop by Tim’s Place: grab some great food, a warm hug (or two), and giant helping of inspiration!

Tim Marris in May 21, 2012 People magazine
Tim on TV!

Pursuing the Full-Promise of the Law for People with Disabilities

Special Olympics Chairman & CEO Tim Shriver, Juliet Choi and Leon Rodriguez of the DHHS Office of Civil Rights and Steve Corbin, Chief of Community Impact, Special Olympics

A few months ago, I learned of the heart-wrenching experience of Chrissy and Joe Rivera and their daughter Amelia who was denied the opportunity to receive a life-saving kidney transplant because she, as her doctor explained at the time, was “mentally retarded.”  After the vociferous outcry from disability advocates across the nation (myself included), the hospital apologized to the Riveras and today, Amelia Rivera is under consideration again for a transplant.

Tragically, cases like these rarely occur in isolation.  From my own experience at Special Olympics, I know people with intellectual disabilities are routinely denied access to life-saving healthcare because of their disability.  The Rivera’s experience in Philadelphia demonstrates these instances occur in even the most sophisticated medical facilities.

That’s why I was so pleased to welcome the visit of Leon Rodriguez and Juliet Choi from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights to our office recently.  They both pledged to look anew at the possibility that health care providers may be violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the ways in which they care for or fail to care for people with intellectual disabilities.  Our mission in Special Olympics to share the gifts of our athletes and to invite others to join in creating communities of welcome and acceptance for all. They agreed with what our volunteers have been saying for over a decade: that oft-ignored cases of subtle discrimination are pervasive, that healthcare professionals are often biased in their care, and that the kind discrimination prohibited by law might well be active in practice.  Needless to say, the attention of senior members of government to these issues is welcome.

As we celebrate the Riveras’ determination to get their daughter the healthcare she deserves, I urge our athletes and families and volunteers and friends to continue to raise their voices and prevent further discrimination from happening.  And I’m grateful for leaders at the DHHS for joining all of us in pursuit of the full promise of the ADA and the law.

Igniting the Project Unify Fire in Special Olympics Bharat

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During the past week, the Asia Pacific Project Unify team travelled to Bareilly and New Delhi in India for Special Olympics Bharat’s Project Unify soft launch. Manager Lynn Tan shares the first hand experience of her week with youths committed to create change in their communities.

“Project Unify is now ‘official’ in the Asia Pacific region with our pilot launching in Special Olympics Bharat! On 8 May 2012, we had a successful launch on the school grounds of Bishops Conrad Senior Secondary School in Bareilly, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, 250 kilometers east of the national capital New Delhi. 1,500 youth with and without intellectual disabilities participated in the launch.

This youth-led event was filled with so much positive energy! They marched in the school field with sign panels in their hands that stated “Unity” – “Empower” – “Strength”- “Grace” – “Courage”. These words were not simply words, but declarations of their commitment to drive Project Unify forward in their school community and beyond. Their commitment was further demonstrated with an enthusiastic torch run to launch the festivities.

The celebration continued with dance performances and a kite parade (Bareilly is famous in India for its colourful kites). The beautiful kites were presented to the guests of honour and students expressed their joy in being part of the movement by writing on each kite their hopes for Project Unify. One student wrote, “Project Unify is making the world equal.” Well said indeed!  The youths continued to celebrate the event with Unified bocce and basketball games. Loud cheers could be heard on the field and court as the athletes with and without disabilities played on. All smiles shown on the faces as the team mates accepted and included each other in their games.

To end the launch, the students gathered to discuss their aspirations for Project Unify in a lively Youth Summit. One that touched me most for the day: the confident young boy who took over the microphone and said, “Project Unify is not just a program, but a revolution that will bring us all to par!””

A Mother’s Day Reflection – Roots & Wings

Today we remember mothers who inspire, love, sacrifice, devote and never stop looking after us no matter our age or ability.  Glen Finland, mother of Special Olympics athlete David Finland, shares some reflections on motherhood.  Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms and moms-to-be! 

What sort of parent doesn’t want to see their young adult take flight? After all, it’s the natural order of things.  It’s true all parenting is challenging, but watching your grown child step out into the world is one of the hardest parts of the job. Still, the stressors are different for parents of young adults with intellectual disabilities. Take my 24-year old son David, for example.

The missing part of David’s puzzle is an inability to read facial expressions and body language, a sort of emotional blindness that can leave him vulnerable to the unscrupulous types who would prey on his innocence. When David’s two big brothers made their minds up to leave the nest, my husband and I said, “Great. It’s time to go live your own lives.” But at age 24, David is still upstairs in his room, doing whatever it is he does on the computer every night.  I don’t ask because it’s none of my business. He’s a grown man now, only very different from his older brothers. So is he happy upstairs alone?  I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know I’m not easing him out the door the way we did his brothers.

Here’s the difference, when Max and Eric left home, they stepped into a broader circle of support—friends, lovers, social groups, business associates—a brand new community to prop them up as they made their way in the world.  For David, it’s not like that. When he moves out, his circle of support will shrink. He is a social loner who prefers it that way. The phone doesn’t ring for him at our house; it never has. And yet… he’s working hard at his low-wage job, saving his money for his first apartment. It could happen because it’s what he wants more than anything. And when David really wants something, he goes for it. Where does he get this confidence?

The boy runs like a deer.

And it’s easy to trace his ability to its starting point.

What began with his joining Special Olympics Track in middle school gradually blossomed into a spot on his high school’s Varsity track team. These positive experiences helped develop him into a three-time marathoner who trains year round—solo. When he runs, he says, nobody asks him questions he can’t answer. When he races, the playing field levels off and he’s just out there, a regular guy, running somewhere near the front of the pack.

So if the day comes when it’s time for him to leave, will we let him go? His father and I are his legal guardians, and Oh, God, it will be hard. But here’s the thing: a close look into David’s quiet life has given us a glimpse of the countless decent people out there who are open to the many different ways of being human. People like the volunteers at Special Olympics who know a bit about human decency.

Over time my husband and I will become only two people among the others in our son’s life. And despite our persistent efforts to help David manage it, he will be the one to determine how he will live it. He has earned the dignity of risk and the decisions he will make for himself are the ones that will see him through. Special Olympics enabled the first step of David’s journey, and when the time comes, we will let him go.

- Glen Finland is the author of  Next Stop: A Memoir of Family (Putnam, 2012)

A Summer 2012 Barnes & Noble Discover Pick

For more info: www.glenfinland.com

Haiti Update

Despite the grinding poverty of Haiti and other countries of extreme poverty, the human spirit is strong.  Together with partners, the leaders of Special Olympics Haiti are doing their part to unleash that spirit and educate and celebrate people with intellectual differences.

The information and pictures below were just sent to me from our team working on this project with a closing note, “Our team will not let up until the job is done!”

-T

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From the team:
Our Haiti work is slowly but surely starting to work. Here are our first Special Olympics/Digicel Unity Center photos. There is another building just like the one in the picture not in view. There are three rooms in each building with furniture, tables, chairs, desks and electricity. The basketball court/concrete slab is finished and  the posts are erected. There is a huge field on the other side that will eventually be a soccer field. About 60 people attended today including the new Secretary for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities. Athletes, school children, youth, board members, Digicel and the Mayor.

Previous stories on Special Olympics and Haiti:

• Special Olympics in Haiti
• Haiti: Day 1
• Day Two: Camp Shriver at Camp Haitian
• Day 2: Camp Shriver at Camp Ouanaminthe

Rise Up Revolutionaries!

Dear fellow Dignity Revolutionaries:

Stuart and Akian Chaifetz

We live in a time when any person with a story to tell can tell it.  Technology is not the message but the means for the messengers.  And our field, more than almost any other, needs messengers.

The Dignity Revolution has been stonewalled for centuries in large part because there was no way to tell the stories, no way for the walls of institutions to allow the human faces behind them to be seen, no way for the secret schemes and experiments of hospitals and laboratories to surface, no way for the voices of those with challenges to be heard or believed when abuse was rampant.

Thankfully, that’s changing as the peaceful advocates of the Dignity Revolution now rise up and speak and begin to tell the world the horror stories of abuse and neglect and ridicule that can no longer be ignored.  A few months ago, we read the heart wrenching story of the abusive treatment of Amelia Rivera and her family in Philadelphia. Our community answered the call.  Today, Amelia Rivera is back in line for a transplant.  Together we rose.

A few weeks later, I heard first hand about the denial of legislatively mandated care for people with intellectual disabilities in Panama.  When the volunteers of Special Olympics Panama saw the full extent of the neglect, they created their own clinic and opened the doors so that any person with an intellectual disability would find a doctor ready to heal.  Together we rose.

And today, I watched this video by Stu Chaifetz about teachers and adults who bullied Akian, a ten year old with autism in Cherry Hill New Jersey.  It is a tale of fear and rage, as heartbreaking as it is infuriating.  It is a call to all of us to rise up again, to demand change in Cherry Hill, to ask for an accounting from those who were abusive.   Our own young leaders in Special Olympics Project Unify will understand the horrors of this video perhaps better than anyone.  In a special way, I ask their leadership now.

First and foremost, sign the petition demanding legislative action at Change.org and then share this post with everyone you know.  But we can’t stop there. Let’s flood the switchboards in Cherry Hill, write emails to demand answers, ask your own districts what they do to ensure that this kind of abuse doesn’t go unnoticed in your schools, appeal to your boards of education to repeal any policy that protects any teacher or any adult who is abusive to children.

This is another call to action for our Dignity Revolution.  Thank goodness that the athletes and young leaders of Special Olympics are telling their stories of achievement and health and joy around the world and asking for a stop to humiliation and stigma.  If we needed reminders of why their work to educate the world about difference and their play to bring about a more accepting and joyful future is so important, we have another one today.  Watch the video and then take action.  That’s who we are and that’s what we must do.

Rise up revolutionaries!
-T

Stu’s original video

Stu’s follow up video

Stu and Akian’s story in the media:

• South Jersey News “Cherry Hill father fires new online salvo at school district“
• NBC 10 Philadelphia “Father: Son With Autism Bullied By Teacher“
• My Fox Philly “NJ Father Records Teachers Bullying His Autistic Child“

Contact info for Cherry Hill Public Schools
Web: http://www.cherryhill.k12.nj.us/
Phone: (856) 429-5600
Dr. Maureen Reusche, Superintendent, x4309
Dr. Lawyer Chapman, Assistant Supt., PreK-12, x4301
Dr. Marianne W. Gaffney, Assistant Superintendent, Curriculum & Instruction, x4311
Susan Bastnagel, Public Information Officer, x4325

Mailing Address:
45 Ranoldo Terrace
Cherry Hill, NJ 08034

“Not Acceptable” PSA Wins Fearless Video Award

Exciting news! “Not Acceptable,” the hard-hitting public service announcement from our “Spread the Word to End the Word” campaign, was recently named a “Fearless Video” award winner as part of the DoGooder Nonprofit Video Awards!  The “Fearless Video” category is new this year and is sponsored by The Case Foundation.  Here is the announcement from The Case Foundation:

Ladies and gentlemen, the final votes have been counted for this year’s DoGooder Nonprofit Video Awards, and we’re excited to announce the winners in the Case Foundation sponsored “Fearless Video” category!

This was the first year for the Fearless Video category and the competition was tough. There were more than 1,000 video submissions, many of which showcased the very best in nonprofit video production and storytelling.

What does it mean to make a Fearless video you may ask?

Building upon the Case Foundation’s efforts to champion Fearless approaches to social challenges we sought to find organizations that used their videos to experiment and to take risks. We looked for the filmmakers who embraced a failure from their past and used it to help shape their future. We wanted to reward those who used video to share a big idea that just might inspire others to also dream big. We wanted to find filmmakers who were… Fearless.

Read the full announcement.