Chris and Larry highlight the success in UCPLA’s day program pivot during pandemic
Chris and Larry highlight the success in UCPLA’s day program pivot during pandemic
For many people, the stay-at-home order imposed in response to the public health crisis has made 2020 a year of isolation. But for people with disabilities, the feeling of isolation was impacted further by the loss of direct supports and resources that they require to engage in daily activities.
As hope of vaccines look to bring the world to a brighter future in 2021, we know there is great need to build out infrastructure changes for the day program spaces that include increased PPE, socially-distant dividers, sanitizing stations, no tough-entry doors, in addition to technology to keep the people we support connected.
With closures and restrictions, UCPLA has successfully been able to pivot staff from day programs to one-on-one focused support. Our Direct Support Professionals and nurses have worked tirelessly in keeping the people we support safe and healthy.
We have witnessed the growth of the people each day. We are proud to be and we need your donation to continue in that effort in the year ahead.
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Just as the storied philosopher Socrates taught Plato, United Cerebral Palsy LA teacher Larry Pearce instructs artists like Chris Brown. Though depending on the day, the trusting dynamic between Larry and Chris often means a trading off roles.
“I’ve come to realize I need my students as much as they need me,” Larry said. “In fact, in a certain sense, I think I need them more than they need me, sometimes! This job has given me perspective and has humbled me. It’s given me purpose during this age of divisiveness and loneliness.”
One of those artists inspiring Larry is Chris, who moved into the UCPLA Culver City apartments in 1984. Years after he first began participating in the agency’s day programs in 1988, Chris started to truly realize his artistic dreams in 2000. Fast forward to 2020, when Chris is watching his art flourish during a time that has taken a creative toll on so many other artists. The health crisis kicked his focus into high gear, helping Chris finish projects faster. But with that creative groove comes an unexpected and complicated element of self-reflection.
“It’s been an intense, existential experience,” Chris said. “COVID, with its myriad of complex social consequences, has allowed me to really dig deep into the why’s and how’s of who I am as an artist and creative person.”
As he helps guide the artist through this creative introspection, Larry feels a similar effect of the pandemic. “I’ve had the space and time to reflect in a profound way about what it means to work within the physically challenged community as an art teacher in a way I hadn’t really had the chance to do before,” Larry said.
UCPLA works with every artist to find the adaptive tools that best fit their needs. UCPLA’s staff, like Larry, provide artists with the expertise needed to bring their vision to life. “He’s able to show me techniques and procedures more in depth, share with me his years of art experience, and show me instructional films and research material, which I would not have been exposed to otherwise,” Chris said. And just as his teacher helps Chris develop his technique, Chris shares with Larry unique insights that propel him further as a teacher.
“Everything is so focused and you can really get some serious artwork done during the day,” Larry said. “But the thing that’s particularly the most engaging is the intellectual discourse I have with Chris. We can really get into critical and philosophical discussions regarding his art practice and process on a deep level we can’t really do back at the big art studio.” As pandemic-related restrictions ramp back up in California, the development of art and friendship between Chris and Larry are unimpeded at the Culver City apartment and Chris wants others to know just how important this program is to him and others with disabilities.
“I want people to know that physically challenged citizens have to deal with all the frustrations and disappointments that COVID has wrought upon the world that able-bodied people also have to deal with, but us physically challenged people have the added layer of our specific challenges which makes everything that much more difficult than before COVID.”
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