True Tales by Disability Advocates - Girl Power

Girl Power

03/04/22 • 29 min

A team of disability advocates creates True Tales to give voice to the personal stories and lived experiences of disabled storytellers. We offer our unique, often underrepresented perspective, to the growing community of podcast listeners worldwide.This episode is being released in March, in honor of Women’s History Month. We welcome back Kristen Gooch, the storyteller from episode 2, as host. She is joined by our two storytellers, producer, and sound engineer who are all powerful women with disabilities.
According to the CDC, one in four Americans lives with some kind of disability. That’s about 61 million adults with 61 million experiences and points of view about what it means to live with a disability. Recognizing that everyone's life is enriched by the inclusion of multiple voices, Art Spark Texas, has been training Disability Advocates as storytellers for over 20 years.
Click here to listen with a full transcript
Host - Kristen Gooch
Kristen Gooch is an actress, poet, and advocate from Austin, Texas with cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair for mobility. She hopes to broaden her horizons and branch out into film and television someday. She currently facilitates a peer support group through Imagineart called Adapting Sheros for women with mobility disabilities. She is a company member of TILT Performance Group and Paradox Players.

Jourdan Huerta
Jourdan is a performer who loves singing, dancing, and making unique greeting cards. Jourdan is also a huge advocate for mental health. She advocates for people with disabilities and for people that have non-epileptic seizures due to her personal experience with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures. Jourdan has such determination! She recently joined the TILT Performance Group and can’t wait to start her next project and theater journey. Keep it up, Miss Huerta!
Social media links:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greetingsbyj/?hl=en,
https://www.instagram.com/jourdanthetheatregeek,

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/greetingsbyJ/,
https://www.facebook.com/jourdansyeiraSharizod Aboii
Sharizod Aboii is a native Austinite who grew up in Pflugerville, Texas. She was born with arthrogryposis, a non-congenital condition that affects 1 in 3,000 live births. She is a graduate of Texas A&M University and is currently working on her MSW at Texas State University. Sharizod hopes to encourage and empower others through their journey in life with her shared experiences.

Social Media Links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharizod-aboii-0a0b7894/Email: [email protected]
Website: www.sharizods.com

Click here to listen with the full transcript.
For more details about our programs go to Art Spark Texas, True Tales Podcast Page.
Segments of this podcast were read by an automated voice. Inconsistencies in pronunciation and tone may occur.

Social Media Links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharizod-aboii-0a0b7894/Email: [email protected]
Website: www.sharizods.com

Previous Episode

Love Has No Limits

Persons with disabilities often face the challenge of others’ misconceptions of their viewpoint and day-to-day life. In this episode, host Jennifer Howell visits with married couple Dave and Kate Chapple about their experience with such situations and the joyful message that love has no limits. In their stories, “My Journey with Religion” and "My Life in a Nursing Home,” Kate discusses her thoughts about fellow church members who prayed for her healing, and Dave shares what it’s like to be one of the youngest – by decades – residents at a nursing home.
Click here to listen with transcript

Dave Chapple
I am David Chapple and I am an employee at Imagine Art doing Peer Support for their Training 4 Transformation (T4T) program. T4T’s objective is to equip individuals who have a passion for supporting peers with disabilities to help them to transform and to become empowered so you can receive services that are person-centered. Also, I serve as Vice President on the board of Accessible Housing Austin an organization that is committed to providing affordable, accessible, integrated housing for low-income people with disabilities.
As Co-Project Leader of the AAC Training and Dissemination at RERC on Augmentative and Alternative Communication, I research how individuals who rely on AAC can be more independent. I write a blog named Speaking with Professionals Alternatively where I write about how people who rely on AAC interact with people from various professions. In my spare time, I like to travel with my wife and enjoy painting.
Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/dgchapple/
https://speakingwithprofessionalsalternatively.wordpress.com/

Kate Chapple
After high school graduation and with guidance from an independent living program, Kate Chapple moved from Houston to San Antonio, lived in a wheelchair-accessible apartment, and earned a BA in Special Education from UTSA.
Kate’s advocacy skills are highly recognized, and her 20-year career includes working with people with disabilities and assistive technology, as well as with or for public school systems, non-profits, and waiver programs.
Currently, a member of the hosting team’s Training 4 Transformation program for Imagine Art, Kate provides peer support to individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
“Throughout my life, I have learned the importance of being my own self-advocate. No one knows what I need or want better than myself. The same goes for each person in the group,” she said.
Kate and Dave live in Austin with their four dogs and enjoy going to concerts, swimming, playing with their fur babies, and traveling.

Host Jennifer Howell
Jennifer Howell has a lifetime of personal experience with disability – as a caregiver, a teacher, and a person with disabilities herself. Those experiences now ignite her passion and inform her work as an Accessibility and Creative Placemaking consultant.
She is also a special education teacher, published author, and award-winning artist who works as an online instructor to learners around the globe, ages 4 to 94. She is an Accessible Yoga Ambassador who has been leading classes for seniors and persons with disabilities for over a decade. Other curricula she’s created include hand-lettering, cursive handwriting, and sustainable fashion. Jenni

Next Episode

The Power of Dressing Up

To listen with full transcript, go to https://truetalesbydisabilityadvocates.buzzsprout.com/
In this episode, our storytellers share two very different experiences of dressing up and playing different characters, while using a wheelchair. Host Kamand Alaghehband talks to Jessica Guerrero and Renee Lopez. They talk about their journey with Cosplay and Halloween in their stories Cosplay and Witchy Woman. Renee Lopez
Renee Lopez a 60-year-old woman with a physical disability and uses a wheelchair. Renee was born and raised in Austin, Texas where she has lived her entire life. Renee graduated from the University of Texas in 1984 and 1986 with a BA and an M.Ed. respectively. Renee worked for the State of Texas for 30 years and is now retired. Renee has a long history of advocating for the rights of people with disabilities since 1982 when she was a student at The University of Texas. As a student with a life-long physical disability, Renee joined other students with disabilities for campus accessibility. She continues to advocate to this day. Renee is on the Advisory Board for SAFE Disability Services since 2010. She has attended conferences on behalf of SAFE as a workshop presenter teaching and informing conference attendees on issues of violence and abuse against persons with Disabilities. Renee is also a member of a core group of a coalition put together by the VERA Institute of Justice on ending violence against people with disabilities.
Jessica Guerrero
She has lived independently in Austin for around 10 years and has been with the Speaking Advocates program from its very first class. She told us, “I have a mild case of Cerebral Palsy but my wheelchair has opened the door to cosplay, martial arts, traveling, adaptive sports and so many other adventures.”
She also really enjoys helping out in the community.
HOST
Kamand Alaghehband was born in Austin, TX and has Autism. In 2020, The CDC reported approximately 1 in 54 children in the U.S. were diagnosed with autism. This ratio is more than all cancer patients combined. Kamand has spent her life supporting all generations with disabilities. Kamand loves the Special Olympics and her favorite sports are swimming, basketball, and track. Kamand is a member of the executive committee of Special Olympics Athletes Leadership in Texas. I have created podcasts, Tik Tok videos, video games, and a variety of health activities during the pandemic to keep the athlete’s mind occupied in a healthy way. Kammand’s mission within her population is to bring peace today and create a vision for tomorrow’s disabled population. Kamand hopes that she’ll be able to teach others to turn denial into acceptance.
Instagram: Ka.special
Tik Tok: KAspecialglobal
MUSIC CREDITS
1. scandinavianz-sunbathers-7385/ - Music by Scandinavianz - Pixabay

2. spookymagic-7050 – from Pixabay

3. old-church-bel

True Tales by Disability Advocates - Girl Power

Transcript

Kamand00:00:09.246

Welcome to The True Tales by Disability Advocates, authentic voices of people. thriving with disabilities. Where individuals use the art of storytelling to change the world. The True Tales by Disability Advocates Podcast is produced by Art Spark Texas, Speaking Advocates Program. Keep listening to hear how life's challenges can spark a desire to speak out and advocate for yourselves and others.

MsBoye00:00:49.131

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