Astonished! helps disabled people reach their dreams
Kaitlyn Hoar has a tattoo on her right wrist, a Viking symbol that means “if there is a will, there is a way.”
It’s a good motto for the goaldriven woman, who got the tattoo for her 28th birthday in December.
She is an extrovert who wants to try her hand at event planning. She loves travelling and hopes to take a road trip to Las Vegas and visit Africa to see lions hunting.
There are some obstacles in her way. Flying can be difficult for people who have complex disabilities, because airlines don’t have lockdown systems for wheelchairs.
There is also the fact Hoar is nonverbal. She communicates by nodding or shaking her head. Her companion Hannah Merk, who is also her second cousin, helps translate.
They spend 28 hours a week together through the Big Sky Centre for Learning and Being Astonished! — commonly abbreviated to simply “Astonished!”
The non-profit organization, for people aged 18 to 35, is based at the University of Regina, although it is not a U of R program.
Astonished! has about 50 core members who attend monthly social events. Six members spend three afternoons a week on campus as part of the Teaching and Learning Centre (A!TLC).
There, they are supported on their “path” — Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope — which represents members’ individual dreams and interests.
Being on campus also allows these “student researchers” to teach and interact with students their own age. One of Hoar’s goals is to teach people about non-verbal communication.
“Kaitlyn is a spectacular communicator,” said Astonished! executive director Bonnie Cummings-Vickaryous. “Kaitlyn is very persistent in her communication, determined, and she’s not going to say yes just to say yes.”
It takes time and patience, but Hoar makes herself understood.
“If she’s trying to tell you something, she will tell you, if it takes you a minute or an hour,” said Merk.
“It’s questioning and answering,” said Cummings-Vickaryous.
“Once you get to know her really well, the slightest gesture, the flicker of her eye or the way she moves her hands, you know what she means once you get to know her,” said Merk.
Kennen Dorgan, another Astonished! member, has a similar goal for educating others.
She addressed a kinesiology class last semester about the program’s “strengths perspective”; disabilities are traditionally viewed through a deficit or medical lens.
“So, ‘This person has cerebral palsy, so that means they can’t do this, this and this,’ ” said Cummings-Vickaryous. “That’s not us. … I want to know more about what Kennen can do and what she wants to do and what she loves to do.”
What she loves to do is photography — she does so on her iPad.
What she wants to do is text on a smartphone. It’s a challenge, but one she is working to overcome.
Dorgan was not taught to read in elementary and secondary school. Now 25, she’s making up for lost time. She participates in the Astonished! summer literacy program, and gets weekly tutoring by an education student.
Dorgan, who generally communicates by spoken word, is a bit shy. She let Cummings-Vickaryous do most of the talking during our interview. But she did express her support of the program.
“It helps me achieve,” Dorgan said slowly. An important thing, “because my high school just didn’t care.”
The goal of Astonished! is to give young adults the opportunity to dream and achieve without their parents’ involvement, “just so they could be ‘normal,’ ” Dorgan’s mother Heather said, making air quotes with her fingers.
Astonished! was incorporated in 2011. It relies on donations and fundraising for 80 per cent of its budget.
To help, the Justice Studies Students Society is hosting a fundraiser for Astonished! on Thursday. The event starts at 6 p.m. at The Owl. Tickets are $25. There will be food, prizes, and entertainment by the Scott Richmond Band, Georgia Laloudakis and UR Improv.