((PKG)) STOMPING GROUND
((TRT: 12:54))
((Topic Banner: All are welcomed here))
((Producer: Marsha James))
((Camera/Editor: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: Arlington, Virginia))
((Main characters: 1 male; 3 female))
((Sub characters: 2 female; 1 male))
((Blurb:
Independence living for people with disabilities))
((Donna Budway
OSG Director, Programming and Community Outreach))
Friday chaos.
((Hannah Bowen
Art Therapy Intern, George Washington University))
Friday chaos. Awesome. Thank you.
((Donna Budway
OSG Director, Programming and Community Outreach))
Our Stomping Ground came to be because there were a group of parents that had children with different disabilities. And as they were aging out, they recognized that there had to be some plan. So, we are very proud of the idea that we are housing people that traditionally would have been either institutionalized or in group homes.
((Hannah Bowen
Art Therapy Intern, George Washington University))
Okay, Lisa. Do you want to share yours? And what did you title yours to be?
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
Happy thoughts with friends at Gilliam.
((Hannah Bowen
Art Therapy Intern, George Washington University))
Happy thoughts with friends at Gilliam. Awesome. Do a little celebration.
And then we have Huan. Huan, what did you title your piece?
((Huong Pham
Huan’s Mom))
Say it loud. Say it loud. What is it?
((Huan Vuong
Gilliam Place Resident))
Happy together.
((Huong Pham
Huan’s Mom))
Good. Right.
((Hannah Bowen
Art Therapy Intern, George Washington University))
Happy together. Awesome.
Merrill, did you want to hold that up? Thank you, guys. I thank everyone. I thank all of you for sharing this space together.
((Paul Osgood
Gilliam Place Resident))
The meaning behind mine was that even though it's a mess, it’s pretty. And it’s just, even though it may look like that, anything could be art.
((Donna Budway
OSG Director, Programming and Community Outreach))
And we are really not saying there is anybody that cannot be housed. With the right supports, and with the right community around them, and with the affordability figured out, with people that can come in to make those other support needs, we really believe that anybody can be housed. And you can see from the friends you've met in our community…our friend, Huan, he spells to communicate, you know. How can someone who spells to communicate live alone? What happens if there's an emergency in the building? How does he get his needs met? He is thriving at his building.
((NATS))
((Donna Budway
OSG Director, Programming and Community Outreach))
Our friend, Paul, actually did have his own apartment, but he was very isolated.
((Paul Osgood
Gilliam Place Resident))
All right. Come on in.
What I like about living here is that I get to be with such wonderful people like Donna, and meet such cool people like Huan, and like Ben and Emma and everybody. And the community is so inclusive because there's so much more to do here than there was in Falls Church. And it's such an open community, a welcoming community of people here for like people with disabilities. And, you know, over there I didn't do anything and I didn't know anybody. I didn't know any neighbors. They
didn't. What they didn’t, I didn't. So I just spent my time inside. I was a couch potato. Here, I'm welcomed with open arms and I feel like that is something I should express. And, you know, that's why I like it here.
I watch TV. I play on my tablet. I play video games. I'm a gamer at heart. So, I do a lot of like things that keep me busy. I feel like I have grown and matured a lot more since moving to Stomping Ground, moving to Gilliam place and becoming part of this community.
And after moving here, you know, I was taught to be respectful, to be a good person, and to respect people and to respect myself. And I think that they've helped me with that. And I've grown to,
you know, just be a better person.
((Donna Budway
OSG Director, Programming and Community Outreach))
Ben is the same way, again, an individual that doesn't talk. We just kind of relegate them to where they need to be segregated so they can be safe. This idea of safety and people with disability just having to be safe, and it really rubs against an idea that we love and that we pursue in the disability world. We hear it from self-advocates is that they deserve the dignity of risk. There is risk of moving outside the family home. There is risk in moving outside of the group home. But what is there for them to experience that, to live their fullest life, to have friends, to be able to have more say in the direction of their lives. I really think we can make the argument that that is going to be a greater chance of that happening outside of a group home or outside of the family home. And these are risks. I'm not saying there aren't risks, but it is that dignity of risk.
((NATS/SOTs))
((Bertra McGann
Ben’s Mom))
Yeah, so Benjamin is a resident of Gilliam Place, which is one of the OSG [Our Stomping Ground] properties. He's been there for maybe three years, one of the first of these young adults to move in. As Ben said, “Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen.” My husband, Steve and I assumed Ben would be living with us the rest of our lives at least, and then would live with siblings. So, when Ben was able to communicate a preference to live independently in his own apartment, we were floored, and we weren't sure about how to make this happen. And thanks to the advocacy and leadership of OSG demonstrating to parents that this capacity exists, the facilities exist, and OSG brings the programs and helps build a community which nets this endeavor together. You know, you have horror stories of young adults moving into apartments. There's no furniture. They have no community. They're just sitting there in tears. OSG kind of wraps this thing up in a bow and makes certain that the resources, and the programs, and the services are there. You know, when you prove to yourself that you can do something, it manifests itself in so many ways, including, you know, increased confidence, increased initiative. He certainly seems happy. When he has an opportunity, he says, “I love my life.” And what more can a parent ask?
((NATS))
((Donna Budway
OSG Director, Programming and Community Outreach))
Lisa spent many years in a group home, and it was a beautiful group home, and I'm sure she felt safe and loved. But she didn't have the type of control of her life that she now has. Like if Lisa wants to go on a walk at the end of the day, she takes her walker. She looks at the phone to see, is our group going out there? And she will go out and take advantage of having friends in a community that knows her. She also has all these opportunities that are available to her in her building. She loves the art therapy. She loves, you know, will do group dinners, get transportation now to her job site with the weaving. All of that is now available to her because she can access it.
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
Oh, yeah. I'm so sorry. I wasn’t thinking right. Just, so I'm getting ready to go to work. Would you like to say something about that pet kitty cat picture I made?
((Stephanie Sabin
Program Manager, Community Systems Incorporated))
You did a good job with them.
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
Yeah.
((Stephanie Sabin
Program Manager, Community Systems Incorporated))
Your wall of art.
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
Yes. You ready to roll? Ready to roll, Michelle?
((Stephanie Sabin
Program Manager, Community Systems Incorporated))
Well Lisa, you wanted me to take you.
((Lisa Good Hughes, Gilliam Place Resident))
Yeah. Okay, Miss Beautiful.
((Stephanie Sabin
Program Manager, Community Systems Incorporated))
All right, ready?
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
I'm worried about my meeting. I'm worried about my socializing. ((NATS/SOT))
His car is up here.
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
Good morning, Janet.
((NATS))
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
So, here I go. Thank you.
((NATS))
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
So, here I go. Thank you. This is Peter and he's really helpful. He's really nice. Here I come. This is one of the bags I did, right? Right here.
((NATS))
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
And so everything's cool with me and I’ve been doing a lot of stitching. I just made, finished making a cat.
This is what I made and I'm going to put it like in a show. I’ll be weaving and I do tapestry. I do stitching. Everything else.
Coffee. Please, please can you do that?
((Emily Wroten
Direct Support Professional, Service Source))
Do you want it with creamer?
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
Yeah.
((Emily Wroten
Direct Support Professional, Service Source))
And two sugars.
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
Two sugars, please.
((Emily Wroten
direct support professional, Service Source))
Okay. Coming on up.
((NATS/SOT))
You're a very important person.
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
Yeah, I am very important. I am also going to be doing…tonight is art group. That means at the Gilliam, and then I have book club.
This what I'm working on.
((NATS))
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
Emily, need your help. I don’t even know what I just did, but it fell through.
((Emily Wroten
Direct Support Professional, Service Source))
You know what? It's a good start. You can put your shovel down and get your beater down. Your beater. And then get your weaving materials in the crank. And after that, I can come over and tighten. But you got to put it here.
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
But I made a mistake and it's supposed to be a cross body bags. I followed the iPad, but I followed the numbers. I picked out the pattern, and we both picked out the colors. So, this is what I do all day like that.
((NATS))
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
This is complicated but I'm hanging in there. And then we bring, once we get it done, we bring it back in the back, then get it ready. Right, Emily? That's how they’re going to look when I get it done, right Miss Emily? And it's going to be really nice and then we do, we also do tote bags, and we do…these are...what are these? Are makeup bags?
((Emily Wroten
Direct Support Professional, Service Source))
Yep.
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
These are makeup bags. These are cards that we sell. End of August will be my fifth year here. So, been working. Somehow I knew how the weave is because I wanted to try it, and I learned it with training here. This is my first tapestry. It's been, this is what I do. All day weave or do tapestry. It's just been really, really nice to have…I love working here and these are my favorite friends.
((Donna Budway
OSG Director, Programming and Community Outreach))
One of our missions, we hope with OSG, is that we're going to be able to get funders and governments and bureaucracies to understand that this very sustainable, very affordable, very inclusive, very replicable model could have better outcomes for people, not only throughout our state, but throughout the country and in other countries as well.
((NATS))