[00:00:25] Speaker A: You.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: And good evening and thank you for joining Disability and Progress, where we bring you insights into ideas about and discussions on disability topics. My name is Sam, I'm the host of this show. Thank you so much for tuning in. This is indeed pledge week. And please show us the love you can give to Kfai.org and mark that little note for Disability and Progress. Or I'm not sure if we have anybody on the phones this time, but Kfai.org is a safe bet that you can go and donate. Any amount is appreciated and we love to hear from you. Also.
Let's see, charlene Doll is my research person. Are you there, Charlene?
[00:01:45] Speaker A: I am for a few minutes until the contractors get here.
[00:01:49] Speaker B: Sure they are. Charlene's having them build her a new house, so she opted out to not come. Imagine that. Just kidding.
[00:01:56] Speaker A: No, no.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: She has broken things that will be very cold for her if she doesn't get them fixed. So thank you for coming in, Charlene, or for being here as far as virtual goes, and give people a good reason to pledge to us.
[00:02:14] Speaker A: We share a lot of important information and we can only do that if you guys help us stay.
[00:02:23] Speaker B: On the air.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: The air?
[00:02:26] Speaker B: Yes.
Kfei.org is where you can go. We appreciate any donation. That is great. And I want to say a special thanks to Aaron Westendorp. Aaron is our podcaster and he keeps all these things up and going, and when I screech and yell and say something's wrong, he's on it right away.
[00:02:48] Speaker A: So.
[00:02:48] Speaker B: Thank you, Aaron. Also, thank you to Miguel for any assistance that he does for me in the studio.
All these pledges help that this week we have a great artist, not artists, a great guest, Deb Hoffenbauer. Hello, Deb.
[00:03:07] Speaker A: Hi, how are you? Sam?
[00:03:09] Speaker B: Good. Thank you so much for being on. And Deb, just so people know, you are the director, the program director of Wingspan, and you're going to be talking about Wingspan and also your Rainbow support group.
[00:03:25] Speaker A: Yeah, that's correct.
I'm happy to be here.
[00:03:29] Speaker B: Thank you. Why don't you start by telling me how you discovered Wingspan and what exactly do you do there?
[00:03:37] Speaker A: Well, I joined Wingspan as a house coordinator a little over eight years ago, and in 2021 I was promoted to a program director. But during those eight years when I was hired, I was told about a Rainbow support group that was happening at Wingspan that they hosted for people who identify with the LGBTQ plus community, people with disabilities, it was a safe place for people to come together and have fun activities and talk and learn and educate. So I was hired in July 15, and my first meeting was the end of July. 2 weeks later I went to one just to check it out and see what it was all about. And I haven't left. I just fell in love with it and value, its importance. And I then became the facilitator of the group shortly thereafter.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: Tell us who Wingspan exactly is and its mission and what makes it unique.
[00:04:49] Speaker A: So, Wingspan is a group home provider. We have 30 group homes over them across the metro area. Some of those are crisis homes and moratorium homes. And we also have an in home program that serves people who don't actually live in a Wingspan home. So Wingspan has been providing services for about 50 years. Their mission is to provide quality care and person centered care for its individuals and make sure their life is whole and fulfilling in every which way that we can possibly do that. Excellent.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: So we'll get to more in just a minute, but I want to ask a little bit about some challenges that have been faced by people with intellectual disabilities. Because it's intellectual disabilities, really, that you serve, right?
[00:05:47] Speaker A: That's correct. Well, and I think when you're working with people with individual disabilities, developmental disabilities, intellectual disabilities, you're dealing with a population that has vulnerabilities in a variety of different areas and they differ from person to person. That's important to say.
And they also have many strengths that sometimes people don't always notice. So when we're working in this field, we need to make sure that first of all, we listen to the person that we're working with, we make sure that we're understanding what their goals are and what their purpose in life is. And then we help them achieve that by being their support, being their advocates, and just being there to help them navigate through life where they might have challenges.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: So did you say 30 group homes?
[00:06:46] Speaker A: Yes, we have a lot of group homes right now.
[00:06:49] Speaker B: That's a lot of group homes and that's a lot of people to have staff.
I wonder, I know during COVID it got very tricky and I know ever everyone'sick of people bringing COVID up, but it's still here, it got pretty tricky and I don't think people have quite bounced back from all of that. And so I'm wondering how you guys are doing staff wise.
[00:07:19] Speaker A: Right? Yeah, that was really very challenging. And like you said, we have the kind of business that we had to keep going. We couldn't shut our doors and say, all right, sorry, no services provided. So we had to come to work staff. And I felt that we had a really good core value of staff that came every day. A lot of them worked overtime, we were diligent, they helped at other houses. And we've become to bounce back, so to speak, staffing wise. Although we're still hurting for staff, but we're starting to see a little bit better numbers staff wise. And in order to provide the kind of quality care that we want to, we need to have staff. And like I said, I am feeling fortunate that I had some really good, dedicated staff that helped me navigate through that, and I am thankful very much for them.
They got knocked down with COVID and they would be home, and they pulled themselves up and came back to work when they were healthy and navigated through that. I didn't have staff that ran away saying I refused to work there because of COVID So I felt blessed, and I felt like we had a really good core group. But definitely the staffing crisis was really prevalent, and it still is out there. And I'm just now, over this last six months, maybe seeing a little bit better surge of people coming forward to work.
[00:09:05] Speaker B: I'm just curious. 30 group homes, as I said, is a lot.
What is the approximate population overall of all of those of clients?
[00:09:18] Speaker A: Well, most of our homes have four clients in each of those homes. And then the moratorium homes have like one to two clients. However, they're staffed at a higher rate, and so they need like two or three staff to one person.
Most of our group homes, like I said, have four clients in each home, and they're staffed either like one staff to four or two staff to four.
We serve quite a large number of people.
[00:09:56] Speaker B: Moratorium, for everyone who doesn't know, means.
[00:10:02] Speaker A: It'S people that come from a crisis home, and then they move out to start their life in their own independent homes. And they might have one to two other people living with there might be like one person there or two people homes.
And so they're starting to come out of whatever crisis they were in. The reason why they were in a crisis home, and that's a variety of reasons. It could be that families couldn't handle taking care of them. They might have been asked to leave another group home.
They might have higher incidence of outbursts and stuff.
They are moved from that cris home to start a life in their own home. And usually it's staff. Usually it's one to two individuals per home.
And that's what we're just starting.
I think we're going to open up our fourth one here coming up soon.
[00:10:59] Speaker B: Oh, wow. How long do they usually stay in these homes before they go out on their own?
[00:11:06] Speaker A: Well, the crisis home, it can vary. I have one that is moving into one of my homes from a crisis home that she's only been in the crisis home for about six weeks, but some are there over a year, two years. It just depends on the needs and if there's room in places for them to go to, because not everybody has room for openings.
[00:11:32] Speaker B: Tell us about wingspan's rainbow support group and what led wingspan to offer this type of program.
[00:11:42] Speaker A: Well, Wingspan's rainbow support group has been in existence for the past 22 years.
It was started 22 years ago by a staff who identified as LGBTQ, and he just felt there was a need in the area of people with developmental disabilities to support them in this area. So he started the Rainbow Support Group and it's been going on ever since.
So we come together and have monthly meetings and we do other activities. And the nice thing about Wingspan's Rainbow Support Group is we open our doors to anybody in the metro area who has a disability.
Even if they live in other group homes, they're welcome to come to our group. And so we have had people from all different kinds of group homes. Some have been living at home with their parents and want just a group for support, so they've come and join us as well.
[00:12:50] Speaker B: I would like to remind you that KFAI is in its pledge week one of two, and we welcome your support and hope that you will support us. Remember how many programs we have and we bring you every week. And the programs are stable, consistent programs and we offer everything from music to talk just like this.
So we really do try to bring you everything.
So Kfi.org is where you can go to give to us and show us the love. Deb, I'm wondering how often we were just kind of talking about your Rainbow Support Group. How often do they meet and is there a certain date and time?
[00:13:38] Speaker A: Yes, we meet regularly the last Thursday of every month from 06:00 p.m. To 08:00 p.m.. And that usually happens at our main office on Plato Avenue. In Plato Boulevard. Excuse me? In St. Paul. But then sometimes we'll meet off site at a restaurant or we might go to one of the members homes and meet there. We might meet at a park and then we do other events throughout the month that take us to do things like theater.
We've done the Jonathan Paddleford, we've done Drake shows, we've done some dining out, we've gone to the Roller Derby and we've done Pride events. So we have a variety of activities that we do and those are usually outside of that Thursday typical meeting time. And then sometimes we also incorporate guest speakers that have come into our place and talked about issues like dating, coming out, all that kind of stuff. So there's a wide variety of activities that are offered with this group.
[00:15:06] Speaker B: I'm just curious, is it only for LGBTQ Plus? And also is there a cost to.
[00:15:13] Speaker A: Do this group right?
There is no cost.
We don't want anybody to be turned away because they're afraid of cost. So we have opportunity to help with that.
We also just received a grant that is helping us to offer no cost events. In the past, if something did have a cost, we would ask.
If they could afford to, they could pay, but if they couldn't, they were still welcome to come. Our group is typically open to those individuals who identify as LGBTQ Plus and or are not sure, because that is the group that we're focused on. So people might just be experimenting and not sure. They might just want to come and ask questions or talk about maybe they're not sure if they identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual, et cetera.
[00:16:21] Speaker B: Right.
[00:16:22] Speaker A: Maybe they're thinking about transitioning but are being told no by a guardian or something.
We just want people to come and join us and if they need help in navigating their way through stuff, that's what we're there for.
[00:16:38] Speaker B: Why do you feel the Rainbow Support Group is important and can you share a story about what the impact has been on the group of having this kind of group?
[00:16:50] Speaker A: Absolutely.
So I just know from my experience with working in this field that sometimes people with a developmental disability may struggle with words. They might not know how to talk about what they're feeling, they might get bumped up against a guardian or even a staff telling them that they don't feel that way.
I know there was a young man who lived in a group home and he wanted to transition and the guardian and staff were telling them, no, you don't know what you're talking about. No, you're a girl, you were born a girl, you're going to stay.
This young man ran away and ended up on the streets for over two years before he was able to find somebody who listened to him and supported him. And he has a success story. He came back and was able to finally get heard and is now successful. But it took two years being drug addicted, being on the streets and it was very sad.
Other people in our group have talked about to our group but have been members. One person has been a member for nearly 17 years and she just came out to her family maybe three years ago because she didn't have the words or the courage to do that. And she could come and get the support from the Rainbow Support Group, get the support she needed, hear other people's stories about coming out and the difficulties and challenges and the good things that happen.
They can listen to peers that have the same things going on in their life and they can get the support they need and they can share ideas and just the feelings about what's going on in their life.
[00:18:57] Speaker B: Yeah. And I'm sure this is not the first time that that type of story happened as far as because there are so many different beliefs and religions and people who think they know best. But I will say, in my opinion, I mean, these are adults and they should have a say in what their lifestyle is. Just like you and I do.
[00:19:26] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:19:27] Speaker B: You talked a little bit about receiving that grant from, let's see, I think it was the Minnesota Department of Health. Can you talk a little bit about how that came about?
[00:19:37] Speaker A: Yeah. So it was about a year in January.
We were approached by a woman who was doing a study on underserved populations in the state of Minnesota. And she was looking at the LGBTQ plus people with disabilities and was finding that there weren't a lot of resources out there. And she had contacted our CEO and our operations officer.
Then they contacted myself and Kyla, who is a volunteer with the group for the last ten years. And we went in and met with her and just told her a little bit about our group and some of the stuff that we were struggling with and our hopes about how we could grow our group, how we could get the message out there. And then she encouraged us to apply for the grant. And then Darrell Ann Gray, who's wonderful at grant writing, she had literally a week to put a grant together.
And so she wrote this grant, and then we received it in the spring of this year, the late.
Um, then we had opportunity to hire kyla, the volunteer at the group, on part time as a person to help kind of navigate through this grant and help do some of the help achieve the goals that we have set aside for this.
[00:21:10] Speaker B: So talk to me about what kind of goals this will help you. What does this do to open up for your program with the support group?
[00:21:20] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, Sam, thanks for asking that. The first thing that we wanted to do was increase our outreach. We have seen our group over the last eight and a half years that I've been part of it grow in size and then reduce the numbers.
And we wanted to make sure that we could make sure people knew we were there, get the word out. And of course, KFAI is a really good opportunity, and I thank you for that. That helps us get the word out. But then we also felt like a big part of this is education, educating staff, case managers, guardians, all about sexuality, gender, dating, all those hard subjects that when you work in a group home setting and you work with people with disabilities, they are not always on the forefront. And so we wanted to make sure that we could start educating people. We wanted to make sure people were familiar with terms, pronouns, making sure that our orientations and our paperwork all is accurate for people who identify other than he or she, making sure that we're more inclusive. And so the grant kind of has given us opportunity to get out there and do that and kind of educate, grow our group and provide a lot of different opportunities for people with disabilities.
[00:23:11] Speaker B: So another thing that makes me think about this kind of thing is.
[00:23:20] Speaker A: People.
[00:23:20] Speaker B: With this type of people with disabilities are considered vulnerable adults. And to me, boundaries are something that is very important and often crossed and often mixed up.
Also, this is something that happens with people without disabilities, let alone so what do you do? How do you cover this?
Do you have something that covers this topic for them?
[00:23:50] Speaker A: Yes. And of course, that is a real huge issue.
And I think also I kind of look at it when people tend to put people with disabilities in a box and kind of tell them, okay, well, you don't have the capability of knowing this or this and that. And we have tried to change that kind of language by saying people do know what they want, even if they have a disability. We might have to work at trying to understand. We might have to navigate through the process a little bit differently.
[00:24:24] Speaker B: Right.
[00:24:24] Speaker A: But we have to listen. We have to watch, we have to look, and we have to listen. And boundaries are going to be different for every. And so we have to remember that it's one size does not fit all. What's good for Joe is not necessarily good for Jane, and that's true with me. What's good for me is not good for you, for instance. So we have to look at that and then we have to help navigate through those boundaries and navigate and try to just provide as much support as we can and listen and observe and watch and hear the person themselves and listen to what they're saying and help them if they struggle.
And I think that also we have guardians. Many of the guardians are family members who love their person.
But sometimes it's not unlike me when I want to overprotect my children, or even if they're adults, I tend to kind of step in sometimes and say, wait a minute, are you sure we all and that's what guardians are doing. But we have to kind of help navigate and say, okay, but now they're adults and they have a right to do this stuff. They have a right to date, they have a right to be sexual. They have a right to want things that everybody else wants. And how can we safely help them navigate through that? And how can we help them with those boundaries? How can we help them? We need to provide tools rather than just say, no, I don't want that for my child. I don't want that. They're not capable. They can't say no.
So we have to try to help navigate through that pathway.
[00:26:20] Speaker B: You recently presented at the Arc Day of Learning and Advocating.
Can you talk a little bit about that?
[00:26:30] Speaker A: Yeah, we had two self advocates that have been part of our group, and they actually did the presentation with Kyla and they did a really nice the the Arc Day of Learning and the Act Conference are other advocates that come together. And it just makes sense to have somebody who is in the group who has a disability telling their story and shining and having them walk through this and having other people say, wow, they did this, wow. And that was tough for them. They shared how it was hard for them to navigate through that. And what a better message? We can't have a better message than that than have somebody right there a self advocate out there telling their story and saying, these are the challenges I had along the way, but I overcame it. And now here is this, these are the challenges I still face. But they were brave. They were up there and they told their story and it was just the best because I could say whatever I want to say and I could do that, but it's better coming from a person within our group and self advocates along the way, they are telling stories firsthand.
[00:28:01] Speaker B: How do you feel?
[00:28:02] Speaker A: Very powerful, yes.
[00:28:04] Speaker B: How do you feel that information like that impacts people hearing directly from LGBTQ Plus with developmental disabilities? How does that affect them?
[00:28:18] Speaker A: Well, I think, number one, again, they're hearing their peers do that they're not listening to.
They look at me as a staff person and coming in, but yet they're listening to their peer, somebody who has gone through the many challenges that they have, other people that may live in group homes, the struggles that they face living in a group home and trying to navigate their way through this. And I just think it is just so important to hear this. And I also know that the people that shared this and did this, the work they did with Kyla to come up with their stories was also helpful for know they didn't have an opportunity before to do this. And it helped them navigate through and kind of take a different look on what struggles they had coming out, what struggles they have living in a group home and being able to be a self advocate for yourself and to try to navigate through some of this stuff. So I think it helped them as well.
And again, personal experience is always a really good way to have other people impacted. If I just stood on a pedestal in front of somebody and said, I don't identify as LGBTQ. Plus, I have many people in my family that do, and I'm an advocate for this. But for me to stand up in front and preach without knowing what it's like to come out, not knowing what it's like to have a guardian and staff tell me what to do, it's going to be more effective having a peer go ahead and tell you their experience and share their stories.
[00:30:25] Speaker B: It sounds like you have been speaking with disability service providers, like people in day programs, case managers and residential staff. I'm curious to know what are your goals for these trainings and also what issues are you finding that providers mostly need support.
[00:30:48] Speaker A: So yes, and we've been starting to do that. We've been reaching out to different groups and different facilities across the state of Minnesota. And our goal is to, number one, try to educate more about the terms that are associated with the LGBTQ plus community pronouns.
And we're also talking about some of those issues that in the past have been almost well, they're just not talked about readily, like dating and sex and relationships. And so we are out there trying to educate a variety of different people so that we can get more and more people more comfortable talking about these issues that are coming up. More comfortable if they were to get a client or an individual who wants to move into their house that's transgender, talking about all these different things and just coming and helping them try to navigate through what I call some of these tougher subjects. The difficulties that we see people are saying to us is how do we talk to guardians? Guardians tend to have a certain set way about their ideas that maybe their loved ones shouldn't be dating, maybe they don't have the capability, they're not safe, they're vulnerable.
How do we do this? We're afraid that the guardians are going to just say no.
And through this we've learned that there are people out there to help talk with guardians if we need that. There are experts that do that and also just letting them know that there is a support system out there if they ever need help navigating their way through that. There are resources out there. There are resources out there that help people who are transgender and looking to move into group homes. There are programs and resources out there to help navigate through this.
And then the other thing is, how do we reach individual staff that are working in the homes day by day and talking about things like dating? And what are you going to do if somebody comes up and starts talking about sex and wants to go on a date, wants to spend the night at their boyfriend's house? What is your first reaction going to be? And we have to give the staff that does the direct care tools to help navigate so they don't run scared, right? If somebody opens up these questions. We don't want staff not knowing. And so our hope is to get out there and just educate and bring this to light, bring light to this topic. We're all sexual human beings who need touch, love and care. And that doesn't stop for a person with disabilities. They still have these needs. They still have these wants. And if we don't talk about it, we're just afraid it's going to come out somehow.
[00:34:23] Speaker B: Well, I would think it would almost put the client in more danger if it's not discussed and if they feel they don't have a safe place to talk about it.
And I would suspect these topics are not easy to broach and discuss, possibly for staff, unless they're really comfortable with it. I know parents who don't talk to their own kids, able bodied about sex and dating. So this is not anything new, that this is a difficult topic, probably more so for people with disabilities, because there is that fear and that sometimes ignorance, and sometimes they just don't know exactly.
[00:35:08] Speaker A: I heard recently at the Arm Conference a person who is an expert in sexual counseling, in sex ed counseling, she's a social worker who does that, and she used the term on the clock, off the clock language. And that's even something that we need to get staff familiar with. It's not okay for you to share your own personal stuff with people when you're working with them. It's not okay. You have to be mindful that you're on the clock, and what you say has to be professional. It has to be supported. It has to be helpful. We don't want you to say the wrong thing either. And so if we help give tools to staff who are working at Direct Care and help them to know kind of what to answer, I'm hoping that at least they can get out of an uncomfortable topic, maybe.
But also safety. You know, if you see somebody on the Internet and they're being asked to take a picture of them nude, the staff needs to know how to address that, right?
And explain why it's probably not safe for you to do this if you don't know the individual, if you haven't been dating the individual, if they just met you, you don't want to give your address, and you don't want to give your phone number, and you certainly don't want to take pictures naked, right?
But if they don't have the tools and if they don't feel comfortable, this stuff happens.
It happens. And we're in a world of social media scary.
And so these are things that we have to start talking about in order to help do the most good for the people we work with.
[00:37:13] Speaker B: We are tuned to KFAI, 90.3 FM, Minneapolis and Kfai.org. This is pledge week. We are hoping for your support, and you can give that by going to Kfai.org, that's Kfai.org and clicking that little pledge button and putting a note that it's for disability and progress or any show, really, that you support. But we certainly hope you support us if you're listening, and any amount is appreciated. So please give to KFAI and disability and progress depth. This makes me think about there's so many facets of this, and I think since the explosion of the LGBTQ plus, that brings more facets. Since social media has gotten so huge in the last ten years, that brings more facets. And I'm just wondering, how intimate do you allow your clients to get?
Curiosity do you allow them to marry? I mean, how is that broached if two clients in a home says they want to get married, or if a client says, I met this person outside the home, I want to get married to them, how do you deal with.
[00:38:35] Speaker A: You know, again, there's a lot of steps before know, but. Wingspan. We actually had two clients that met through Wingspan and they actually got married. Wingspan had the ceremony and then they moved in a little apartment upstairs in one of the houses and they were doing really well with that.
And so certainly we have to look at all that. And yes, I hope that that would be an opportunity.
Dating looks different to every individual. And so if we say no, you can't date without asking them, what do you want to do? Where do you want to do? Where do you want to go on a date? They might just say, well, I want to go out to eat.
[00:39:30] Speaker B: Simple enough.
[00:39:31] Speaker A: I've had that happen and I've gone out to eat. And then I've sat in a different area where they're eating and meeting another person I've worked with has wanted to go over to their boyfriend's house that wasn't part of Wingspan, and they were able to do that. We just need to make sure that they know the person, they're safe, that everybody is on the same page.
You don't want to let a vulnerable person go out on a date without having the right tools to make sure that they're safe. For instance, if a person does not have an access to get to and from a place, does staff drive them?
And it's not even unlike anything else. If you have a person that wants to go shopping, for instance, then you want to make sure that you know where they are, they know where they're going, they know how to get a hold of somebody if they need it. And it's not unlike that we can see this stuff happening.
It's not real prevalent, but that's where we're hoping to get to. And Wingspan has been on the forefront, I think, of just person centeredness for a very long time.
And I saw that when I first found out that one of the people that I worked with was married.
And she told me about her husband and how he passed away. And now she has another boyfriend within Wingspan and dates and looks forward to having time with him, talking with him on the phone. And so I'm just really pleased that I can work for a company that allows that and expects that stuff to happen.
[00:41:32] Speaker B: So as you work towards a world where people with intellectual disabilities have more support for self determination in all areas such as including sexuality and gender exploration and any other changes that they hope to see in the future, I'm just wondering, it feels like we're so far away from that.
Do you think that's possible? Do you think that this will inevitably happen, that people will be safe overall?
[00:42:08] Speaker A: I think we're far away from that too, but I think a lot of it is because we're not talking about it. It has been a taboo subject, right? We don't talk about it, and that's part of what we want to do. Is talk about it. Talk about what are your fears, what are your anxieties, what are the things that you're scared might happen and help navigate through that. But if we say no to all this, we're not going to help anybody. And if we don't listen to the individuals we work with and ask what their needs are and what their wants are and their idea, one individual's idea of dating and sex and love is going to be totally different than the next person. So we have to take individuals and we have to start talking about this. Sam, we can't let this still be a taboo subject that nobody deals.
We need to listen to people. We need to talk and find out what their fears are. If we don't know why a guardian is so scared, how can we help navigate through that? If we don't listen to staff and say, what are your worries?
I have found that too. If we don't start talking about it, if we don't try to work towards this, we're going to have some people acting out in ways that are not healthy, and I've encountered that as well.
They're not going to be safe. They're not going to make the right choices.
And that's not saying once we educate that those things won't happen. They will. That's just part of navigating way through. But our job is to try to get the word out there, try to make this so that people know. People with disabilities are humans who love, who need to be loved, who need to be touched, who need to be held, et cetera. And we need to find a safe way for their needs to be met.
And like I said, it's not one size fits all. And it's going to be different for every individual, just like it is for you and I.
We date in different ways. My dating might look different than yours. My expectations of marriage might look different than yours.
It's something that we need to talk about or else it's never, ever going to happen.
[00:44:50] Speaker B: Well, and I just want to say that I feel like the acceptance and people of the general public is I mean, it's not this what you're talking about is not limited to people with intellectual disabilities. I'm sure you realize that. But this feeling of you shouldn't be getting married, you shouldn't be having children, you shouldn't be having sex, you shouldn't be fill in the blank goes. I believe across the board for all people with disabilities, that everyone with a different disability can say that they've encountered something of that sort growing up from the general public or even, maybe even in their family.
[00:45:30] Speaker A: Absolutely.
And that's the other thing we're trying to just advocate for.
It is across the board and things do look different and expectations are different. And what is important to one person maybe not important to the next person. And when you throw a disability in there, and then you have other things that we're navigating through.
And I just think that we need to just be mindful of what we're doing here.
And our goal is to have an individual live the best, fullest, happiest life they can do and live.
And our job as a caregiver is to help them, guide them through that life so they can be fulfilled, happy, whatever makes them tick kind of thing.
And I've had people by working in this field that have enriched my life in so many ways.
So it's a two way street. I've had people come into my life and help me to navigate through some tough times, too.
[00:46:57] Speaker B: So how can case workers, managers, families, or self advocates, how can they get in touch? To find out more information about Rainbow support group.
[00:47:08] Speaker A: Well, we do have a website and a Facebook page. They could always email or just call Wingspan Life Resources and get information about our group. My email address is D as in dog, H-O-F as in frank, b as in boy,
[email protected].
[00:47:31] Speaker B: Can you give that?
[00:47:32] Speaker A: Yes. It's D as in dog, H-O-F as in frank, b as in boy,
[email protected].
And they can reach out to us, and we'd be more than happy to help answer any questions. We can steer them in a direction that might give them more resources.
Together, I think we can make a difference, and I think that's the most important thing.
[00:48:07] Speaker B: Deb, thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate the time you give to educating society in general and also to Disability and Progress.
[00:48:17] Speaker A: Thank you, Sam, for having me. I really appreciate it. And thanks for all you do as well. And don't forget to donate.
[00:48:25] Speaker B: Don't forget to donate for KFAI. Thank you so much. I appreciate you. And good luck on all the education you have to do. There's a lot to be and I'm sure you guys are, in a way, feeling your way through it too.
[00:48:44] Speaker A: Absolutely. Yeah. All right, have a good night. Thanks again.
[00:48:48] Speaker B: Thank you again.
This is disability and progress. And this is KFAI 90.3 FM, Minneapolis. And Kfai.org, you are listening and have been listening to Disability in Progress. We were speaking with Wigspan program Director Deb Halfbauer. Deb was talking about Wigspan and their Rainbow support group. My name is Sam. I'm the host of this show. Thank you so much for listening. Please remember to pledge and you've been listening to Disability and Progress. Where we bring the views expressed on this show are not necessarily those of Campaire or its board of directors. My name is Sam, I'm the host of the show. Charlene Dahl is my research woman. Thank you for listening and don't forget to
[email protected] and slap that button. For disability and progress. Tonight we were speaking with Deb Halfbar, director of the Wingspan Homes and the Rainbow support group. This is KFAI 90.3 FM, Minneapolis. And KFAI, if you want to email me, you can email me at
[email protected] them. Thanks for listening.
[00:50:01] Speaker A: Good night.
