Love Made Visible – 30 Years of PMC

[ON-SCREEN TEXT] Almost everyone will temporarily or permanently experience disability at some point in their life. (Source: World Health Organization)

[ON-SCREEN TEXT] Over one billion people – about 15% of the global population live with some form of disability and this number is increasing. (Source: World Health Organization)

[ON-SCREEN TEXT] Disability is part of being human.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[ON-SCREEN TEXT] “Work is love made visible.” Khalil Gibran

[ON-SCREEN TEXT – TITLE] LOVE MADE VISIBLE – 30 Years of PMC

<v Audio Descriptions> Angel Augusto Paez Rincon, Alumni

[ÁNGEL] I remember going to Gatineau. And I spent 45 minutes trying to find a way to come back.

<v Audio Descriptions> He works on a computer.

[COMPUTER AUDIO] “… content. How content is used in the real world.”

<v Audio Descriptions> A round purple clock ticks away on a book shelf under a small sign that reads, “Do it Now.”

[COMPUTER AUDIO] “… In a sense, a teacher must be somewhat of an expert on content.”

[ÁNGEL] (repeating) “An expert. An expert on content. An expert.”

<v Audio Descriptions> On a second screen next to a video he works on a presentation.

[ÁNGEL] They start to give me pills, like a bunch of pills. Three times a day for the depression. I had burn out.

[COMPUTER AUDIO] “Obviously, a teacher must have some understanding.”

[ÁNGEL] I suffer a burnout and I was 20 days there, like in jail. I lose my memory. You tell me something, forgot, gone.

[ON-SCREEN TEXT] Ángel Augusto Páez Rincón, Alumni

[ÁNGEL] I was working and I was kicked out from my work and everything because I forgot everything.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[ON-SCREEN TEXT] Since its inception in 1990, the Paul Menton Centre has been the leader in the coordination of disability services on the Carleton University campus and has been called the “gold standard” in Canada. (Sources: Paul Menton Centre, The University Affairs Periodical)

[ON-SCREEN TEXT] The PMC works in partnership with the Carleton community to increase accessibility and integration of students with disabilities into all aspects of university life. (Sources: Paul Menton Centre, The University Affairs Periodical)

<v Audio Descriptions> Jenna Lambert, Student Advisor, Act to Employ

[JENNA] One of the beautiful things about this place is that we’re striving to create an environment that removes barriers so people can just be people.

[ON-SCREEN TEXT] Phenyo Phillipo, Student.

<v Audio Descriptions> She sits in a wheelchair.

[PHENYO] I don’t think there’s any other university in Canada that offers the kind of service that PMC offers.

[ON-SCREEN TEXT] Daryl Rock, Alumni and Donor.

<v Audio Descriptions> He sits in a wheelchair.

[DARYL] You know, I came to Carleton because the environment was conducive to my thriving, because of the accessibility. It made a world of difference that I could get from one building to the other in the wintertime without having to go out doors. There were services and supports available, so when I got to class, if I needed somebody to help with notes or if I needed a type of accommodation, they were understood and accepted by the faculty and the University. That doesn’t just happen. That was a conscious decision by the University to do.

[ON-SCREEN TEXT] Amanda St. Dennis, Student.

[AMANDA] I chose here for a reason. Access. I had access. Be it buildings, be it classes, be it support.

[ÁNGEL] Everybody there is treat you with respect, and understanding, and compassion.

[AMANDA] I knew that I would have more likely more success attending Carleton than probably anywhere else in the country.

[PHENYO] Of all the universities in Canada, Carleton is going above and beyond to ensure that I’m able to succeed. Because if I went anywhere else, I feel that I would not have been able to make it this far.

[JENNA] Everybody who’s working on that team is working from a position of wanting you to succeed.

[PHENYO] It’s also a culture within Carleton to help students succeed. I was able to kind of, like not really stress that much about how to kind of settle down, because I knew that all the support that I needed was there.

[ÁNGEL] Despite the fact that I was totally lost, they tried to direct me. But without making me feel bad or anything, but treating me like a normal person.

[JENNA] They’re not taking the reins. They’re not doing it for you. But they’re there for you if you need them.

[ON-SCREEN TEXT] Sam Graham, PMC Disabilities Coordinator.

[SAM] We support a lot of students either with mobility impairments or chronic medical disabilities or ADHD or, you know, autism spectrum disorder.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[ON-SCREEN TEXT] Roughly 12% of Carleton’s population is registered with PMC. In addition to disability accommodation, PMC focuses on developing students to be resilient through skills building, learning strategies, counseling and more. (Source: Paul Menton Centre)

[JENNA] The education piece is something that PMC does really beautifully, that Carleton is trying to do.

[DARYL] I’m in a chair and the biggest barriers that I faced, and I think a lot of people with disabilities face have to do with the attitudes of others. Current public attitude in Canada and most other countries is still that people with disabilities are liabilities that need to be dealt with as opposed to assets that they can benefit from.

[JENNA] When we talk about invisible disabilities, when we talk about disabilities in general, how are we talking about it? What language is being used?

[DARYL] “Disability issues,” even the terms we use are minimalistic, right? We have to deal with disability issues. No. “What are we losing as a society by not accommodating people with disabilities should?” be the question. I’d love to see the discussion turn from what the cost of disability is to what the benefits of inclusion are.

[JENNA] Coming at it from a place of openness that allows for effective learning and unlearning to take place.

[AMANDA] Use your students with disabilities as ambassadors. You’re not going to learn unless you’re talking to the faculty with disabilities, students with disabilities, staff with disabilities. You’re not going to learn how to grow if you’re not taking that feedback.

[JENNA] 90% of the folks with disabilities that we work with, 90% have invisible disabilities. So how do we work with folks? How do we work with individuals’ fear about being misunderstood? About being judged? About being mistreated? Because somebody thinks they’re taking advantage of the system, right? How do we address those things? Because they’re real for people!

<v Audio Descriptions> Jenna sits in a mobility device.

[SAM] My disability is written all over me. There’s no concealing it. It’s been like that since I was a kid. And I’ve never known any other experience.

<v Audio Descriptions> Sam sits in a wheelchair.

[SAM] And you know, I’ve never really had to justify my supports in a way that people with invisible disabilities or chronic medical disabilities may have to, as well.

<v Audio Descriptions> Ángel looks through a camera.

[ON-SCREEN TEXT] Invisible disability.

[ÁNGEL] It’s tough. It’s tough for a person with invisible disability to not get rejection all the way. And you can not go around telling people, I’m a person person with an invisible disability – No! To every person who use Paul Menton Centre, we feel like we are not discriminated, we are not judged, you are not– we are just welcomed there. So that makes the whole difference in your life.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[ON-SCREEN TEXT] More than 6.2 million Canadians have some form of a disability and the numbers are growing. People with disabilities still face social and physical barriers that stop them from being a part of their communities. Source, Rick Hansen Foundation.

[SAM] For a lot of people, their experience with disability may not be as positive, because a lot of times, people get bogged down in trying to get a diagnosis to legitimize their supports, as well.

[AMANDA] So if you’re trying to understand disability, don’t assume, ask. Not everybody is going to be comfortable and that’s fine. But there’s other people, myself included, who are more than happy to help you inform. To grow and understand, you need to involve with people that know it.

[DARYL] Personal support workers come in in the mornings and I work through an agency. The agency is constantly making policy decisions that impact me personally and directly without ever having asked me what those impacts are. So they make the decision without knowing how it’s going to impact me, either that, or without caring. Well, let’s bring some educated, confident people with disabilities into the room to discuss the issues that are going to impact them.

[SAM] It was a different slogan for a different time, but it was “Nothing about us without us,” which again, comes back to representation. So it all kind of is very cyclical in that way in that people with disabilities should be put in positions of power and authority. For so long, able-bodied people were, you know, were always put in those positions of power and people with disabilities were, kind of, passive recipients as opposed to leaders and um, you know, active policy makers.

[DARYL] Let’s bring all of the right stakeholders together around the table, not just the select few that agree with us.

[SAM] Professor, student, and disability services coordinator. When all three are on the same page, it makes for a much more kind of seamless experience. I want to involve faculty in the accessibility process as much as possible, because it’s a learning experience for everyone. And the more support and information we can give to faculty, the better they’ll be able to support our students and there’ll be much more of a willingness as opposed to a like needing to do something, I think.

[AMANDA] Disability accommodation is not complex, and I think that’s what PMC is trying to show.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[ON-SCREEN TEXT] Although primarily known for providing academic accommodations, many students attribute their success to PMC’s student development components, including skill development, time management, and developing individualized learning strategies. The result – PMC students beat the 7-year graduation rate at Carleton by 2% and this number has come up 20% in 20 years. Source, Paul Menten Centre.

<v Audio Descriptions> Ángel holds up three paintings on canvas. One is a series of concentric circles in rainbow colors. In the center is a hand print. Rays of color radiate out from the hand.

[ÁNGEL] I am not a quitter. I just try to finish what I start, even if it takes time. But, you know, what is, what is one, two years without uh confronted with eternity.
<v Audio Descriptions> Ángel shrugs his shoulders

[ÁNGEL] Your ideas are there to be transformed.

<v Audio Descriptions> He holds another painting has the same rainbow concentric circles, but in the center is a box with five colors. Instead of straight rays of color, stripes go into the box through the top and out of the bottom almost like a liquid rainbow through a funnel.

[ÁNGEL] The ideas are there to be changed. It’s not to be static. You know. That we have the power to decide. Stay there or change.

[JENNA] When I was 15, I became the first female athlete with a physical disability to swim across Lake Ontario.

<v Audio Descriptions> Photos of Jenna in a swim cap and goggles in the water.

[JENNA] That was the result of a lot of, a lot really beautiful things kind of coming together. I was a competitive swimmer and I worked under the tutelage of Vicky Keith …

<v Audio Descriptions> Photo of Jenna and Vicki Keith standing in the lake. Photo of Vicki Keith smiling.

[JENNA] … who’s a marathon swimmer as well. And so I had watched Vicky complete a marathon. And I just sort of said, you know, I think that’s something that I could do.

<v Audio Descriptions> A poster of Jenna swimming with the words, Anything is possible. Penguins can fly.

[JENNA] I think that I could use my passion for long distance swimming at the time to better the community. So I swam from Baird Point, New York, to Lake Ontario Park in Kingston. And I was the first woman with a physical disability to do that.

<v Audio Descriptions> A series of photos of Jenna swimming across Lake Ontario, ending with Jenna surrounded by news cameras as she stands in knee deep water using forearm crutches.

[AMANDA] Sometimes, finding that passion was what made it so that I can make connections. It’s how I found what was my original goal of being a developmental service worker. And why I went to college was because I made connections in the school environment and was working with other students with disabilities. That momentum and me going, no, I want to change something. So I’m the change maker. I prefer to change things and than just let them stay. It’s knowing and having those experiences that has helped me amplify my voice and amplify my friend’s voices.

[DARYL] I believe that people with disabilities want to participate in everything that everybody else does. I know I do.

<v Audio Descriptions> A photo of Daryl wearing a wetsuit in his wheelchair on the deck of a boat.

[DARYL]I took a scuba diving course back in the mid 90s and it was directed towards people with disabilities. And I loved it. And I loved it so much that the guy who runs it said he’d like to set up a scuba diving foundation for people with disabilities. And would I help him? So we helped put the organization together and we’ve been running a scuba diving foundation for people with disabilities since 2000, basically. And you know what?

<v Audio Descriptions> Several underwater photos of Daryl and others scuba diving. Images of the website for Daryl’s scuba diving foundation, Freedom at Depth.

[DARYL] We’ve trained hundreds and hundreds of people with disabilities how to dive. And more importantly, we’ve trained over 1,000 dive instructors how to teach people with disabilities how to dive, so that when they go back to their dive shops in different towns and cities across Canada and countries around the world, all of a sudden, more disabled people will have that opportunity to scuba dive.

[VIDEO CLIP OF DARYL SCUBA DIVING]
[DIVE INSTRUCTOR] One, two, three.
<v Audio Descriptions> He plunges into the water wearing scuba gear.

[DARYL] A, I’m doing it for pleasure, but B, it has the secondary impact of helping people broaden their attitude towards what people with disabilities can do.

<v Audio Descriptions> Flat stingrays swim over and around Daryl as he sits on the ocean floor supported by dive instructors. Several small striped fish swim between them.

[JENNA] In terms of the lake swim, I mean, I can never claim to have done it on my own.

<v Audio Descriptions> Photos of Jenna swimming Lake Ontario near a kayak, hundreds of people stand on the shore watching . A banner reads Go Jenna Go.

[JENNA] It legitimately took a village. A really incredible village, support people, and crew members, and my coach, my family who rallied behind me, and you know, made the dream a reality. We ended up constructing a pool or helping to facilitate that, an accessible pool in Kingston …

<v Audio Descriptions> Images of the YMCA accessible pool in Kingston, Ontario.

[JENNA] … with faith, determination, and a really solid support network.

[DARYL] Nobody gets to the top on their own, it’s on the shoulders of others that we succeed and that’s something I’ve carried with me. I would not have been as successful as I am and I would not be as happy as I am today without the people in my life that I have.

<v Audio Descriptions> Ángel reads from a book with his name across the cover.

[ÁNGEL] “Your love is pure and great. We have so long to love each other. We have fulfilled it without care. I continue to think about the beauty of your laughter, your voice, and your sight, and I dream that tomorrow, you will be with me.”

<v Audio Descriptions> He smiles as he turns a page and nods his head. An image of his certificate from Carleton University in Teaching English as a Second Language.

[ÁNGEL] I finished. I have my diploma. And I know it seems, maybe, a little bit, but for me, it’s a long way. From me, it’s really a lot of effort. And I cannot do it without Paul Menton Center.

[AMANDA] You can’t stay stagnant. You need to keep growing.

[DARYL] Bar none, what started my entire improved quality of life post injury was education. I want the world outside of Carleton, I want the world you know at large to know that people with disabilities do want to achieve greatness.

[PHENYO] I feel like PMC has given me the tools that I need for the next chapter in my life.

[SAM] My hope is that someday, disability services won’t need to exist, because if someone comes to you and asks for support, you’ll just give it to them, no questions asked. You know.

[PHENYO] They’ve all realized some kind of potential in me that when I first came to Carleton, I didn’t know that I have. I’ll forever grateful for that. Yeah.
<v Audio Descriptions> Grins and nods her head.

[JENNA] Part of the reason why I love Carleton, part of the reason why coming here was such a beautiful and instrumental decision in my life is because that support does, that village does exist through the PMC.

[AMANDA] I’ve lived it. I’ve been there, done that. I’ve often been the voiceless. And I don’t want that to be anybody else’s experience.

[SAM] Progress is slow, but it is constant as well.

[ÁNGEL] It’s very comforting to know that you had people who care about you and understand you. So understanding and compassionate is something that we all needed, the whole world needed, this moment especially.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

<v Audio Descriptions> Photo of Daryl underwater in scuba gear.
[ON-SCREEN TEXT] Daryl Rock’s new scholarships will provide $5,000 a year for four years to four recipients. To provide opportunities for people with physical disabilities to develop high demand skills that will help them throughout their lives.

<v Audio Descriptions> Photo of Amanda St. Dennis.
[ON-SCREEN TEXT] Amanda graduated from her undergraduate program in Child Studies with high distinction. She continues to advocate for disability rights through her work with CanChild Centre for Research and Childhood Disability.

<v Audio Descriptions> Photo of Sam Graham.
[ON-SCREEN TEXT] Sam continues to support students through various programs in his role as a PMC disabilities coordinator. He plans on pursuing his R-H-F-A-C professional designation in the near future.

<v Audio Descriptions> Photo of Jenna Lambert.
[ON-SCREEN TEXT] Through the ACT to Employ Program, Jenna and her team have created more than 600 inclusive employment opportunities for students who identify as having a disability. She’s also planning her next big athletic adventure.

<v Audio Descriptions> Photo of Phenyo Phillipo.
[ON-SCREEN TEXT] Phenyo is working on completing her honours degree in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations. She remains actively engaged in the Carleton community.

<v Audio Descriptions> Photo of Ángel Rincon.
[ON-SCREEN TEXT] Ángel completed his Certificate in the Teaching of English as a Second Language. He continues to further his education through online courses.

[ON-SCREEN TEXT] Disability is part of being human … and so too is the work we do.

<v Audio Descriptions> A photo of Paul Menton sitting in a wheelchair, with his brother standing behind. They’re at the edge of a lake in the Rockies, rippling blue water and snowy mountain rocks behind them.

[ON-SCREEN TEXT] In memory of Paul Menton. The First Coordinator of the “Program for the Disabled,” Carleton University. With thanks to the thousands of PMC students and staff over the past 30+ years.

[ON-SCREEN TEXT] Featuring (In Order of Appearance)– Angel Augusto Paez Rincon, Jenna Lambert, Phenyo Phillipo, Daryl Rock, Amanda Saint Dennis, Sam Graham.

Director: Hasi Eldib

Producers: Larry McCloskey, Hasi Eldib, Jocelyn van Wynsberghe, Michael Coady

Camera: Greg Allison, Hasi Eldib

Production Coordinator: Kya Kazemi

PMC Contributors: Synclair Calder, Bruce Hamm

Media Production Contributors: Greg Allison, Kya Kazemi, Lisa Runge-Faubert, Tai Zimmer

Editors: Hasi Eldib, Marissa King

Images Courtesy of Ian MacAlpine, Brian Little, Steve van Wynsberghe, Swim Ontario, Melanie Rock, Ann St. Dennis, Freedom at Depth.

[ON-SCREEN TEXT] With Gratitude, Larry McCloskey, Director of The Paul Menton Centre for Students with Disabilities

<v Audio Descriptions> Logos, Paul Menton Centre for Students with Disabilities Carleton University, T-L-S Teaching and Learning Services, Carleton University