What is home? Storytelling and conversation with the disability community

What is home? Storytelling and conversation with the disability community

Storytelling and a live virtual panel discussion with the disability community exploring the idea of home.

By Center for Public Integrity

About this disability events

Join the Center for Public Integrity, USC Annenberg's Center for Health Journalism and State of Mind, a partnership between Slate and Arizona State University, as we explore the question “what does ‘home’ mean?” through storytelling and a live virtual panel discussion including disability rights advocates and experts. Author Amy Silverman will moderate the event as part of her Institution of One investigative report exploring the challenges of finding safe homes for people with complex intellectual and developmental disabilities.

More than two decades since the U.S. Supreme Court said that people with disabilities should be able to live in their communities, services to make that happen are often lacking, even in places where funding is available. This is particularly problematic for people with complex medical or mental health needs. Silverman’s investigation tells the story of one family who has struggled to find a safe home for their daughter.

The virtual handicap events is scheduled for July 26 at 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time and will be held via Zoom Webinar. Registration through Eventbrite is required to attend. Once registered, participants will receive reminders about the event and a link to join prior to the event. The event will have an American Sign Language interpreter, closed captioning and audio descriptions.

The one-hour event will be a Wordslaw, a “Moth”-style event, featuring people with IDD sharing a short story around a theme. Wordslaw is the brainchild of Silverman, a journalist in her hometown, Phoenix, Arizona, and the mother of Wordslaw storyteller Sophie Stern.

Silverman said Stern inspired her to look for “better ways to cover people with intellectual disabilities,” including showcasing their own stories. She created Wordslaw during a 2021 fellowship with the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University.

Wordslaw storytellers include:

Paul Costantini, who has been an actor with Detour, and inclusive theater company, for 5 years. Costantini’s dream job is to be a professional Radio/TV persona.

Leah Mapstead, a 29-year-old with disabilities. “I am creative & bright. I enjoy doing theater with Detour and volunteering at Phoenix Herpetological Society,” she said. Mapstead lives in a community for people with disabilities in Phoenix.

Hailey Simon, a life-long story teller who is Deaf. “My favorite kind of books are fantasy, adventure and Tolkien kind,” she said.

Sophie Stern, a dancer at Glendale Community College and an actor in Detour Company Theatre. She loves to give hugs.

The Wordslaw stories will be followed by a live virtual discussion moderated by Silverman and will include:

Zoe Gross is Director of Advocacy at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. Previously, she worked as a special assistant at the Administration for Community Living, and as a policy analyst on Senator Tom Harkin’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee staff.

Patricia M. Jones is a person with a Developmental Disability. Jones graduated from Arizona State University in 2013, with a B.S. degree in Parks and Recreation Management/Therapeutic Recreation, with a minor in Nonprofit Administration. She is a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist and has been a member of the Independent living moment since the early 1990s. She’s a member of People First of Arizona since 1997, has served in all the board positions in People First of Arizona and was an Incorporating member of the board. Jones was a member of the Governor's Council for Developmental Disabilities, a member of the Arizona Statewide Independent Living Council and was a Past Region II representative and treasurer of Self Advocates becoming Empowered.

Dr. Becca Monteleone, an assistant professor of disability studies at the University of Toledo. Monteleone has earned recognition as a Fulbright scholar, a National Science Foundation Graduate Trainee, and a Mirzayan Fellow with the National Academy of Engineering and has published a number of peer reviewed articles and chapters. She is the co-editor of the 2022 collection Disability and Social Justice in Kenya. She is currently collaborating with journalists and self-advocates across the country on the Plain Truth Project, aimed at increasing the participation of people with intellectual disabilities as producers and consumers of news media.

Attendees may ask questions during the panel or submit them in advance by emailing Lisa Yanick Litwiller at lisa.litwiller@publicintegrity.org.

This event will be recorded and an edited version will be shared after the event. If you are not able to watch it live, please still register and we’ll share the recording with you later.

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