Session 1 - Orientation, Exploration and Building the Team.

Pathway TeamWorks had its first session Sunday January 13, 2008 and 11 L.A. Works volunteers and 14 Pathway at UCLA Extension students attended the fun and informative meeting. Our day began with a brief orientation and discussion of disabiity awareness & etiquette. We learned together that people are often uncomfortable when they encounter someone with a disability, not sure what to do or say. No problem. Here are a few useful pointers that helped us relax and be natural.

It’s understandable to be curious about someone’s disability, and they may be willing to talk to you about it. But it’s nonetheless a personal question, so consider when it is the appropriate time to ask - certainly not the moment you meet them.
People often have the impulse to tell a story about a disability experience of their own, or that they have a family member or a friend with a disability. Sincere as it is, people with disabilities hear a lot of these stories, and really don’t need you to demonstrate that you can empathize with their disability. They’d rather you just got to know each other as people first - then maybe you can share a story.

Common language is not going to offend someone with a disability. For instance, you can use the phrase, “Let’s walk down there” and a wheelchair user will not be offended. A blind person will be fine when they hear you say, “Let’s see what we can do.” And so on.

The second half of our session we focused on building and strengthening our Team by participating in an exercise called "The Helium Stick".

The Team lined up in two rows facing each other. We then introduced the Helium Stick - a long, thin, light rod. The participants were asked to point their index fingers and hold their arms out. The Helium Stick was then laid down on their fingers until it was horizontal and everyone's index fingers were touching the stick.

The challenge: to lower the Helium Stick to the ground. The catch: Each person's fingers must be in contact with the Helium Stick at all times.

This is where it gets tricky, the Helium Stick has a habit of mysteriously 'floating' up rather than coming down, causing much laughter. None of us could believe it, but it actually happened, it floated up! The secret (keep it to yourself) is that the collective upwards pressure created by everyone's fingers tends to be greater than the weight of the stick. As a result, the more a group tries, the more the stick tends to 'float' upwards. The Team had to work together, communicate and be patient to achieve the goal of lowering the stick to the ground but they finally did it! Their strategy was to keep saying "down", bending theirs knees at the same time and encouraging the teammates around them when the stick began to float. A great beginning for the newly formed Team!

Stay tuned for the next session, where the Team will explore their strengths and learn how they will use those attributes to serve their community!