UACC Church Bulletin

Come to The DisAbility Project Performance at Clark School on July 11!
Carol Carolli
March 29, Volume 30, Number 13

Mentor St. Louis and Clark Accelerated Academy invite the members of Union Avenue Christian Church and their friends to a special performance of The DisAbility Project, to be held in the Clark Accelerated Academy gymnasium on Wednesday, July 11, from 1:00 p.m. to approximately 2:00 p.m.

For this special sponsored performance, there is no charge to attend.

The DisAbility Project is an ensemble that develops and performs original theatrical material about the culture of disability. With both disabled and non-disabled participants, the Project endeavors to empower individuals, honor their stories, foster community, and enhance public awareness about disability.

Directed by Joan Lipkin, award-winning director of That Uppity Theatre Company, The DisAbility Project creates pieces that explore such areas as transportation, employment, health care, architectural accessibility, dance, and societal attitudes.

The participants have experienced a wide range of disabilities, both visible and hidden, and frequently use humor as a tool to engage their audiences [and to share their stories].

Mentor St. Louis and Clark Accelerated Academy have specific objectives in holding this performance for Clark fourth-and-fifth-graders.

Clark School is basically non-handicapped- accessible, except for the gymnasium and an adjacent restroom. (Note for attendees: the entire building is now air-conditioned!) Thus, students attending Clark do not normally interact with peers or teachers with physical disabilities.

The performance will thus increase students' awareness and understanding of a part of society with which they will have had little experience.

Additionally, most Clark students have experienced racial discrimination, but they are often unaware of the equally unfair discrimination that occurs against individuals with disabilities.

As these children mature, the knowledge of unfair discrimination against other groups may help them to realize that they are not alone as they struggle to succeed in a society that presents many barriers to their success.

After the performance proper, which will last about 30 minutes, Project members will meet with groups of students to answer questions and to further engage the students in the issues and problems people with disabilities face, and with the ways many of these individual have succeeded in life.

[As students prepare to leave Clark for middle school after fifth grade, they should thus be better prepared to deal with the wider world that they will soon experience.]

The DisAbility Project has won a number of recent awards, including a 2000 Missouri Arts Award, the 2000 John Van Voris Award for Community Service, and the 2000 FOCUS St. Louis "What's Right with the Region" Award for Improving Social Justice and Racial Equality.

This year will be the first year The DisAbility Project has performed for Mentor St. Louis; and the performance at Clark School, where UACC has been mentoring since 1995, will be the only such performance.

If the program is successful and funds are available, Mentor St. Louis expects to expand the performance schedule in upcoming years to include the upper grades of other schools in the mentoring program.

Attendance at this year 's performance at Clark will thus not only provide a meaningful experience for students, mentors, and UACC members and friends, but will also help to promote the expansion of these performances by Mentor St. Louis in future years.

If you are considering mentoring at Clark next year, the performance and discussions will, in addition, give you an introduction to the school, to some of its students and teachers, and to the kinds of activities that Mentor St. Louis promotes.