Bios (alphabetical)

James Burnside – Playwright
Playwright, (slightly) disabled Veteran, Husband, Father, Old Man, Long Covid.

Deja – Guide Dog
A beautiful black Labrador who helps her momma navigate every day obstacles. Deja’s favorite thing to do is performing with her momma. No petting, eye contact, and no kissy or whistling noises.

Alexandria Ellison – Projection Designer
Alexandria Ellison is a media specialist based in Austin. She is passionate about theatre and has worked with Hyde Park Theatre, Bottle Alley Theatre Co. and Scottish Rite Theatre. Theatre credits include serving as assistant director for The Good Thief starring Ken Webster.

Nathaniel Fomby – Tracy/Elijah
Nathaniel Fomby is a graduate of Concordia University Texas where he studied theatre, music and education. He has been in many shows, including Reckless, Crimes of the Heart, A Stranger with Roses, and The Insanity of Mary Girard. He also starred in CTX Theatre’s first musical production of The 25thAnnual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Little Shop of Horrors. During the day, when he is not performing, he is an Elementary Theatre Teacher. Nathaniel is very excited to be working with Art Spark on this amazing project!

Daya Garcia – Dr. Pinky-Chorus
Daya, formerly performed with Tilt Performance Group, was a part of TUBU Fest and is excited to play the role of Dr. Pinky in the Chorus in Waiting for the Bus. Her favorite color is pink and she is an advocate for the blind community. And she’s ready to shine a ray of pink sunshine.

Kristen Gooch – Jamie
Kristen is Co-Founder of TUBU Fest and an Austin Based Actor, Poet and Disability Advocate.

Adam Griebel – Dana
Adam is a native Austinite and has always loved live theater. He was a member of the original cast of Actual Lives, a theatrical troupe of adults with disabilities participating in autobiographical page-to-stage theater productions. Adam has a degree in recreational therapy and has worked providing personal care attendant services to folks with disabilities. Adam wants to thank his loving wife, Laura and daughter, Madeleine for their support. He is very grateful to Art Spark Texas for this opportunity to participate in this production.

Christian Huey – Doctor/McPherson/Captain Haskell/Chuck/Court Officer
Christian is an Austin native and graduate of UT and Texas State University. He’s been active in the Greater Austin theatre, improv comedy, and indie film scenes for 20 years.

Celia Hughes – Producer
Celia is proud to be the keeper of the vessel that has produced this amazing play. Art Spark Texas tries to shine a light into the dark corridors of our history so that we may spark the conversations where change is possible. It is with hope that we share Waiting for the Bus with you today. 

Kaye Love – Etta/CFO
Kaye has been involved in performance advocacy since 2008, appearing in performances with Actual Lives Austin, Speaking Advocates, Stand Up for Mental Health, and as a member of Tilt Performance company from 2018 to 2023. She works as a Professional Counselor, and is a Minister in Connection with the Interfaith Temple of New York.

Ryan Moore – Rich/Dickson/Rod/Ben Riley/COO/Fight Coordinator
Ryan would like to welcome you to our production of Waiting for the Bus. Ryan recently graduated from Florida State University with a BA in theatre and its excited to be performing his second show in Austin. Some of his previous credits include Max (The Play that Goes Wrong), David (The Amen Corner) and Cedric (Puffs!). He would like to thank his family and mother for their undying support and he hopes you leave the theatre knowing something you didn’t when you entered.

Brynja Newman – Costume Designer
Brynja Newman has a bachelor’s degree in theater arts and a multi-faceted background in the performing arts. She worked as a costume technician for 2 years in the St. Edward’s University Costume Shop, and has deep appreciation for the history of clothing and costume.

Mia Nguyen – Dr. Chicolini – Chorus/Caroline
Mia Hsiung Nguyen is an actress based in Austin, TX. She is currently a fourth-year BFA in Acting major at the University of Texas at Austin. Her recent credits with UT include CHOREOMANIAC 1518 (Sevallia), HAMLET (Ophelia), THEN WE’LL REST (Penny) and OUR TOWN (Emily Webb), and more. This past summer, she studied at Shakespeare & Company and the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Credits outside of UT include The Comedy of Errors and The Tempest at Illinois Shakespeare Festival. Mia has also starred in various films and music videos around Austin.

Grace Ramsden – Stage Manager/Intimacy Director
Grace Ramsden is a stage manager and intimacy director passionate about fostering a theatrical environment where consent, safety, and empathy are at the forefront of every production. Most recently, she has worked with Austin Playhouse on Emma (Assistant Stage Manager), The Spitfire Grill (Stage Manager), Born with Teeth (Intimacy Director), Big Fish (Assistant Stage Manager), and Indecent (Intimacy Director). She has also worked throughout Austin at Mary Moody Northen Theatre, Austin Shakespeare, TILT Performance Group, and Crown Theatre.

Mindy Rast-Keenan – Nurse
While having worked steadily in the Austin theater scene for two decades, Mindy is delighted to make her Ark Spark Texas debut. She was most recently seen as Twelfth Night’s Olivia in the original jukebox musical Bar(d) (Walking Shadow Shakespeare) last August, belting out Natalie Imbruglia to the masses. Outside of Art Spark, Mindy is a member of the VORTEX Repertory Company and The Paramount’s Story Wranglers, and has performed with Different Stages, Trinity Street Players, The City Theatre, Rosedale Shakespeare, Scottish Rite Theater, and Paradox Players, just to name a few. Beyond theater, Mindy is an award-winning voice actor with clients like Goodwill Central Texas, Staples, and plays a myriad of different characters in Pirate101 and Wizard101 (KingsIsle Entertainment), and even had a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo of the HBO series Quarry. When not acting, MIndy likes to spend her time playing D&D, and being a weirdo alongside her beloved husband, Drake.

John Rodgers – Lighting/Sound
John is a traveling English and theater teacher from New Hampshire with a deep passion for storytelling that extends beyond the classroom. He currently operates Communication By Captivation LLC, an online and in person multimedia arts company dedicated to live performance and animated content, where he and his team craft engaging narratives that resonate with audiences. With a diverse background in the performing arts, John embraces various roles, from managing technical aspects behind the scenes to performing on stage. An active participant in the ATX theater community, he is committed to contributing wherever he can. John is excited to lend his technical expertise to Waiting for the Bus as Lighting and Audio Technician and Designer.

Liz Ross – Director
Liz Ross is proud to direct Waiting for The Bus. They are the Executive Director and co-founder of TUBU Fest, an award winning disability short fringe play festival. They were a Board Member of KOOP Radio for 6 years, hosted The Sex Ed Show for 5 years, and recently received their grad degree in Integrative Medicine – Acupuncture and Herbology. Liz is a writer, director, producer, with experience in theatre, film, games, radio, non-profit, politics, and tech.

Rafael Trevino – Robinson/Carl/Mario/Leroy Bienvenue
Rafael acted in a short play earlier this year in TUBU Fest, a disability short fringe festival. He is excited to join the cast in Waiting for The Bus.

Yadira Uno – Dr. Firefly-Chorus
I am legally Blind with an eye condition called Optic Nerve Hypoplesia. I am an actress, but also an artist who is inspired by her guide dog Deja.

Kurt Wilkinson – Jimmy/Judge
Kurt Wilkinson (he/they) lives in San Antonio and graduated from Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi with a BA in Acting and Directing in 2019. Kurt is most known for the one man version of A Christmas Carol they did with The Classic Theatre of San Antonio in 2022. Kurt was proud to accept the SPARK award at the Art Spark Texas 2023 Artist of the Year awards, and they have previously worked with ArtSpark in TUBU Fest and the staged reading of this play.

Waiting for the Bus was created based on research into the history of disabled people in America. Here are some of the links and books we referenced when writing the play. We encourage you to read deeper into this history that was briefly touched upon in the play, Waiting for the Bus.

Alt Text: Waiting for the Bus, November 14-23rd at Ground Floor Theater. An original play by James Burnside, directed by Liz Ross.

Links

Dorothea Dix: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Dix

The legacy of Eugenics: https://tinyurl.com/avsm8vdb

Covid 19: https://tinyurl.com/mrajtydh

League of the Physically Handicapped: https://tinyurl.com/2yudtvzs

League of the Physically Handicapped: https://tinyurl.com/yaydh6zp

504 Protest: https://tinyurl.com/5n7t43u3

Black Panthers: https://tinyurl.com/4w3sdtks

Austin State Hospital: https://tinyurl.com/nhef3u5f

Haunted House: https://tinyurl.com/mr2rv3w6

Brains: https://tinyurl.com/4ft2y8zd

Texas Fight Club: https://tinyurl.com/5n8emws7

Unmarked Graves: https://tinyurl.com/y56x6uxt

Austin State School Cemetery: https://tinyurl.com/2cb38vje

Rusk State Hospital: https://tinyurl.com/38a34ked

Rusk State Hospital: https://tinyurl.com/4s9bku4s

A History of Institutions for People with Disabilities: https://tinyurl.com/5n7kxvpv

Books

Disability Visibility: First Person Stories From The Twenty-First Century; Edited by Alice Wong

What Have We done: An Oral History of the Disability Rights Movement; Fred Pelka

A Disability History of the United States; Kim E. Nielsen

No Right to be Idle: The invention of Disability, 1940s-1930s; Sarah F. Rose

Thelma (recommended by April Sullivan)

This summer I saw the new movie Thelma with my sister and mother and mother-in-law (really, she is my sister’s mother-in-law, but I like to claim her as well). I don’t go to the movie theater often, so this was a real treat that our mother-in-law Sherry took us all to the Alamo Drafthouse for this fun new flick.

Thelma is about a grandmother who falls prey to a scam artist who swindles her out of money, which she thinks is going to help her grandson get out of jail. Thelma may have been tricked, but she is not going to let the scammers win. With help from a friend and his motorized scooter, she embarks on an adventurous journey across Los Angeles to reclaim what was taken from her. 

The movie is funny and sweet. Sherry, who uses a scooter, and my mom both really related to the main character and her old lady feistiness. We all got a good laugh out of it. It’s a feel-good movie I would recommend any to attend. And take your mother or grandmother with you.

Help (recommended by Celia Hughes)

This made-for-TV movie, streaming on Acorn TV, casts a light on the lived experience of people caught inside nursing homes during the pandemic. Sarah is a young woman new to the job who hopes she can make a difference. She is on night duty, alone, when the order comes through to lock down the facility due to Covid-19. We follow her for the next few days as she attempts to care for residents who have become ill, working with dwindling supplies and trying to keep everyone, some who have developmental and intellectual disabilities, safe.

I found my heart breaking for Sarah as she quickly learns how resilient she is, watching the people that she cares for become sicker and sicker. When help finally arrives, there is little attention paid to the enormous task she undertook, which to me underscores the forgotten people who are hidden away in nursing homes and the unsung heroes who care for them.

Inside Out 2 (recommended by Jerry Slayton)

Who remembers becoming a teenager? And the thrilling and confusing changes that came along with that? Yeah, me too.

And strangely, my ten-year-old daughter, who hasn’t reached those milestones yet, remembers it, too. (?!)

Inside Out 2 is a movie about the internal lives of people. And amazingly, no matter our age, we can all identify with that.

In the movie, the returning main character, Riley, finds herself aging into puberty. Internally, she develops four new emotions: anxiety, ennui, envy, and embarrassment. As in the first movie, we follow characters that represent these internal emotions as they react to Riley’s external experiences. The emotions also embark on an adventure through Riley’s mind that leads them to discover the true importance of all experiences, positive and negative.

With their Inside Out series, the team at Pixar have created a wonderful formula that unpacks our most complex topic, human psychology, and re-presents it to us in a digestible narrative that lets us embody all the feels. And as if that wasn’t enough, they make these movies for kids, too.

Tell Them You Love Me (recommended by Eric Clow)

I can’t think of another movie that left me feeling more conflicted than Tell Them You Love Me. This new documentary, streaming on Netflix, relates the story of Anna Stubblefield, a college professor who becomes romantically involved with Derrick Johnson, a nonverbal black man who has cerebral palsy. Through facilitated communication, Anna effectively gives Derrick a voice, but is it actually him? Anna insists that it is and that their relationship is mutual while Derrick’s family views their alleged romance as non-consensual and abusive.

This film asks more questions than it answers, challenging us to think critically about the meaning of consent while reflecting on the dynamics of disability, race, and power that can skew our perceptions. I have had a number of deep conversations with friends and loved ones about the issues surrounding this difficult documentary. Such conversations feel essential to the project of creating a more just, equitable, and compassionate society, one that values the real talents and contributions of people with disabilities without abusing their vulnerabilities. Perhaps the biggest compliment I can give this film is that if it was not made, people would not be engaging in these crucial discussions.

Tell Them You Love Me is a must-see for anyone who cares about disability justice and who wants every person, regardless of their abilities and modes of communication, to thrive.

Content Warning: This film involves discussions of sexual abuse against people with disabilities.

Walking through Peanut Butter (recommended by Nicole Cortichiato)

This ten-minute film follows an aspiring young female comedian who was recently diagnosed with narcolepsy. I’m sharing it because it’s pretty realistic, and I think it describes this rare condition in a way that people might understand. Watch it today on YouTube! (The full movie is below.)

Then Barbara Met Alan (recommended by MsBoye Nagle)

“What’s wrong with charity? I’ll tell you what’s wrong. It sees us as victims who need your help. We’re not f—ing useless. It’s society that’s disabling.” 

Then Barbara Met Alan (Netflix) is a “grown-up” movie, a pleasant change from the typical PG-rated disability-themed movies. It is the story of a revolution disguised as an irreverent, very funny, punk love story. It’s based on the true story of Barbara Lisicki and Alan Holdsworth, two cabaret performers who met in the 1990s, had sex, fell in love, and became key figures in the disability rights movement in the UK. They co-founded the Disabled People’s Direct-Action Network (DAN) and led direct action protests across the UK against societal ableism, culminating in the passing of the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act. The film tells the little-known story of how they created a ground-roots revolution of disability activists who fought for equal rights and the dismantling of discriminatory barriers faced by people with disabilities. 

This movie is groundbreaking in its authentic portrayal of adults with disabilities. From the beginning of the project, the production company, Dragonfly TV was committed to genuine representation: “…we wanted to embrace the notion of ‘nothing about us without us’ and therefore bring together as many people from the disabled community as possible, across every aspect of production. Disability was put at the heart of all decision-making…”

It stars Ruth Madeley (Years and Years, The Watch (AMC), Doctor Who, Criptales) as Barbara Lisicki and Arthur Hughes (Shardlake, Help) as Alan Holdsworth. The movie also features Matt Fraser (American Horror Story: Freak Show, Loudermilk) and Liz Carr (Silent Witness), original members of the DAN movement who, with the help of wigs and makeup, play their younger selves. In this movie, I saw myself and my friends authentically represented, and I delighted in the most realistic dialogue I’ve ever heard between disabled characters. This is not surprising given the 30 disabled core cast and crew members and the 55 disabled supporting artists throughout.

Then Barbara Met Alan magically blends original archive material with manufactured footage to create a compelling narrative. The use of original archive material, provided by Barbara Lisicki herself, adds authenticity and historical accuracy to the film. Using original photographs and footage from actual protests and events, blended with manufactured archive material, the film re-creates key moments and protests with the actors. The result is not only brilliant visual storytelling, but it also took me back to the real-life rebellious spirit and radical activism I experienced as a teenager in the UK at the end of the 20th Century. 

Then there’s the love story, narrated by Barbara who is brutally honest and irreverent. It is a passionate, funny, chaotic whirlwind relationship between two militant young people. Characters who are deliciously complex and complicated. The narrative boldly includes steamy sexual scenes, violence, righteous anger, challenging stereotypes, exposing institutional ableism, and showcasing the full spectrum of disabled lives. All while reinventing how disability can be and should be depicted on screen.

This movie is a must-see for Disability Advocates, lovers of Disability History, and Anglophiles. 

Accessibility Note: Subtitles are a must for anyone who is not bilingual like me…I am fluent in both English and American! I am happy to offer translation services for any words or phrases that leave you baffled.

Honorable Mentions

She Came to Me: In this delightfully quirky romantic comedy, a struggling opera writer (Peter Dinklage) finds his muse in a tugboat captain (Marisa Tomei). Streaming on Hulu.

American Symphony: This intimate documentary follows musician Jon Batiste and his wife, writer Suleika Jaouad, as they navigate a year of highs and lows. Jon creates a Grammy-winning symphony as Suleika endures treatments for cancer. This film affirms the power of love, compassion, and creativity. Streaming on Netflix.

What Movies and TV Shows Have You Enjoyed?

Tell us in the comments!

“Pick one!” Did you ever hear that as a child, as you stood there, unable to decide which item to choose? How about the more common, “Don’t straddle the fence,” idiom? It traces back to some Bible verse, according to the Internet, and means that you shouldn’t try to take both sides of an argument. I never liked anyone telling me what I should or shouldn’t do. Like the girl with the gleeful joy in her eyes, below, I try to find a way around most things.

Straddling a line, when it comes to my life, is common. You see, I’ve lived with an invisible disability since I was twenty-one. I hid the constant pain and gradually increasing events of chronic migraine that would eventually cripple me from twenty-one to fifty. In my thirties, fibromyalgia was added to that. The trouble was that as a young adult with chronic headaches, I couldn’t keep a job. I didn’t have medical care, wasn’t eligible for state assistance, and was too old to be helped by my parent. I had to pass for healthy and figure out how to survive.

I ended up going to college, where accommodations could still be made, but that path was hard, and I failed many classes. This was the early 90s. My health was terrible. Migraine meds were expensive and unavailable to anyone who couldn’t pay $20 a pill or who didn’t have insurance.

I tell you this now because it is thirty years later, and my migraines and the fibromyalgia that came on in the 2000s are gone. I learned to skate the ice of normality and survive. I never graduated to get a degree from school, but I did get and lose many jobs because they didn’t understand my health issues and would fire me after missing a day or two. I was inconvenient. Of course, they always made up another reason, like a dollar missing from the till they checked when I wasn’t there, or a complaint received from a customer I never saw.

Texas is a right-to-work state, which should be called a right-to-fire state. The employer is under no obligation to keep you, and if he does fire you within a certain period, he doesn’t have to justify why. As a result, many of us with invisible disabilities have learned to “pass” as normal. This is a bad habit now that there have been changes made to the laws of discrimination!! We MUST be honest and upfront about our needs to our employers, to ourselves, and with each other. “Passing as normal” only weakens us as a group by excluding others and affecting the overall idea of who disabled people are as a whole.

I know it is easier to stay quiet. We, who have stayed under the radar, may not know how to start. Some people, with and without disabilities, are uncomfortable using words to describe our needs. We have to step up and teach the world how to talk about disability. We have to normalize these things to make them see us. If we don’t, we will go on and continue to suffer in silence. No longer can we “straddle the fence” in silent safety. It was never safe, after all.

To end this on a positive note, I want you to know that straddling the line means never giving up. People like to make you choose a side, and then they give you a choice. It is an illusion of choice because they first choose what you are choosing from. Stop and think for yourself! I tell my daughter to think outside the box. “Why choose?” You may have to work harder or longer or think about the issues, but this needn’t ever be an “us vs them” issue. Nothing does. 

I am now in remission, in my early fifties. It took a lot of work, but I never gave up. When a doctor said I couldn’t do something, I would find another path and try something new. Speak up for yourself. Be honest with others and NEVER give up. If a friend is in your way, they may not be the friend you need right then.

What am I doing with all my time now, you might ask? Hah! I gave it away when I signed back up for university in order to finish my degree, of course! I am now the oldest student on Southwestern University’s campus, currently. That isn’t saying much. It is a small campus of 1500 students. I get asked if I am faculty often, however.

I am working toward a degree in Education with an Art minor. I want to come back to the disabled community when I graduate, with everything I’ve learned, and do what I was taught from the beginning, in nursing: help them help themselves. I won’t be an Art Therapist. I will be a Disability Advocate who teaches Art, working in the non-profit sector, actively making life a little more accessible for those needing it to be so. Science has proven how much these services help people feel better mentally and physically. That so little funding is given to support what takes so little effort to make such a big difference, is such a shame in my opinion.

Lila de Goicoechea Milam-Kast is a native-born Austinite and a current senior at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. She is majoring in Education, with an Art Minor. She has an Associate of General Studies from Austin Community College and attended the Registered Nursing Program there from 2006-2008. She practiced as an LVN for four years before becoming disabled with fibromyalgia. Her interests include Disability Advocacy, Fantasy Role Play Games, and avoiding I-35 traffic.

Attention Disabled Actors, Playwrights, and Fellow Theater Geeks!

My name is Kristen Gooch. I’m a disabled actress, poet, and advocate from Austin, Texas.

I am writing this blog because I wanted to let you know that my friends Liz Ross, Kristi Taylor, Claude Chibib, James Burnside, Tom Common, Lettie Common, Brie Hall and I are organizing a Disability Play Festival called TUBU Fest (Theatre for Us, By Us). It will be from July 18th-20th of 2024 in honor of Disability Pride Month, at Ground Floor Theatre here in Austin, Texas.

This festival will offer Disabled Actors the opportunity to perform, no professional experience necessary. TUBU Fest also offers Disabled Playwrights the opportunity to have their work showcased. Nothing like this has ever happened here in Texas before!

Plays can be anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes long. Playwrights must identify as direct members of the Disabled Community, but their plays do not have to be about Disability-Related Issues. They will have complete creative control.

Participants will never be asked to disclose information about their disabilities. There is no age requirement to participate in TUBU Fest, but we ask that anyone under the age of 18 be accompanied by a parent or guardian at all times.  

We would love for you to be a part of it! Please feel free to reach out to us if you’re interested or have any questions. You can email the TUBU team or visit the TUBU Fest website.

We will have a digital directory where you will be able to submit your headshot and artistic resume. You can also indicate if you want to be an Actor, Director, Playwright, Crew Member, or General Volunteer. Sponsors would also be greatly appreciated. Brie Hall will be sharing information about TUBU on social media as well.  

If Playwrights do not wish to direct or perform in their plays, they are responsible for finding a Director and a cast of Actors. This is where our digital directory will come in handy!

We ask that plays be submitted to our TUBU Fest email address by March 2nd at 11:59 PM. And not to worry, Ground Floor Theatre is very accessible!

Liz, Kristi, Claude, James, Tom, Lettie, Brie, and I cannot wait to hear from y’all! TUBU Fest is going to be a blast, help us make some of the theater magic happen!

Previously one of the longest running actresses with TILT Performance Group, Kristen Gooch has experience in theatre, film, radio, and non-profit work. She was featured in a Capital Metro Commercial as well as a public service announcement titled “Counting All My Children,” which won a Barbara Jordan Media Award in 2021. In 2013, Kristen earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Disorders from Texas State University. She has worked for the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and is an advocate for people with disabilities. Currently, she serves on the B. Iden Payne Awards Council and the Texas Partners in Policymaking Alumni Program Board.

She delivered a thoughtful, true-to-form piece that encapsulates many of the frustrations, triumphs, and hopes that define life with a disability. As always, she articulates, frankly and unapologetically, the myriad thoughts that swirl in our minds when we think of disability rights. May it move you, with fire, to stay active in the advocacy ahead.

Thank you, Amy!

Dear Ableism,

We’re going to talk about the same things we always talk about lately. Because you’re still not hearing me. Medicaid renewals, Electronic Visit Verification, overtime, and more medical for me (supposedly for your convenience). You seem to be very bored with most of the outside world, so you keep telling me what I can’t do, instead of watching me do what I can. I think you’re jealous that I do so much despite all of your barriers.

I don’t know. I just really don’t know what it is you want. I feel like we’re constantly trying to prove ourselves to you. Paperwork, testing, and time clocks. And diagnoses. Why? Why do you need to know? Does it really matter how much money I make if you know it’s never going to cover everything I need? Do I really have to provide hourly summaries of whether I worked at the same location all day if one person is definitely needed to get me in and out of bed, and well everywhere? If you don’t care about what all my peers are doing every 15 minutes, who cares what I’m doing?

You have proven in so many ways that you don’t care about me. Clearly you don’t care about my education and growth, so don’t bother pretending that this is about ensuring my quality of life. It isn’t and we both know that. It’s about control. It’s about you refusing to understand our lives as whole people. As people who have real priorities and who want our time valued. You still don’t understand disability culture. You don’t see the point of community services. You see us, and apparently our employees, as takers, not givers. We’re system burdens, not capacity builders.

But I’m a pioneer, not a problem. I’m outstanding, and NOT an outlier! I’m a classic, and I refuse to be a casualty of your willful ignorance. We are allowed to be out in public. We’re allowed to expect to own our own time and space. We should have lives longer than 40 hours a week. People are allowed to need others to cover their shifts at any time during a pay period. Didn’t we just learn not to come to work sick during the pandemic? And no, I’m not disposable, even though you keep trying to take all of my joy apart…through burnout, bureaucracy, and complex medical frontiers.

When I feel good, I want to have fun. Or just enjoy the ability to decide what to do. Not justify my use of funding. You should be offering services to more people, not nitpicking services you offer, but apparently don’t expect people to actually use as you say they were intended.

Go away, Ableism! It’s time to find someone who appreciates all I do in spite of you and all the extra work you make for me. Someone who makes my Sunday (morning)s easy again, not hard like you. Someone who understands that “Baby you’re so classic.” Someone who says “I’m so into you I can barely breathe.” Get out of the way, Ableism. Move over, New Diagnosis Grief. It’s time to love myself again. “And all I wanna do is to fall in deep.”

A—I am 1 in 6.

Amy Litzinger is a 35-year-old self-advocate, born with cerebral palsy. She enjoys adding theatrical elements to her legislative advocacy. She is a founding member of Southwestern University’s Theater for Social Justice student organization. Notably, members decided to create a traveling show surrounding disability issues on campus. She joined Body Shift Collective through Art Spark Dance in 2010, upon completing her BA in political science, English and comparative religions. In 2014, she was an original company member for TILT Performance Group, co-writing and performing in 45°, their first original production. In 2015, Amy finished an MA in Theological Studies from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, where her thesis focused on the emerging theology of disability, and how the church can use its theology to advocate for disability issues. Concurrently, she became certified as an instructor through DanceAbility International. She is currently Public Policy Lead for Texas Parent to Parent, teaching families to participate in legislative advocacy at the Capitol, and through statewide and local committees. She serves as Chair of the governor-appointed Continuing Advisory Committee for Special Education. Amy is currently expanding her artistic endeavors to include digital art to augment her painting expertise, and rates as part of a continuing series “Dear Ableism” through The Lion and the Pirate Inclusive Open Mic.

by Eric Clow

You’d be hard-pressed to find an artist who embodies the spirit of Disability Pride Month more than Jeff Moyer. Now 74, Jeff saw a fledgling disability community transform into a well-organized civil rights movement. And more than that, he was a part of it. He worked with Ed Roberts at the first-ever independent living center. He sang outside the famous 504 sit-in. He witnessed the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), then played at a Senate reception celebrating its passage.

He’s also been a fierce advocate in his personal life. Jeff worked tirelessly so that his younger brother Mark, who experienced a severe cognitive disability, could enjoy a life in the community. It took decades, but Jeff was ultimately successful. In 2010, he donated a kidney to save the daughter of a friend—an act of selfless compassion that left him with serious chronic pain.

Jeff has assumed many roles throughout his life: singer, songwriter, historian, activist, author, educator, rehab specialist—and the list goes on. A blog article is ill-equipped to capture the breadth of such a multi-faceted man. But as I spoke with him, his artistry as a lyricist and writer soared to the forefront. I hope you’ll find his creative journey as compelling and fascinating as I do.

The Troubadour

Jeff began to lose his vision when he was five. Because the cause wasn’t well-understood, many believed he was pretending. This sparked a great deal of confusion but also imparted the power of playing music by ear. “I was given piano lessons when I was six, but I couldn’t see the music and the piano teacher had been told I was pretending I couldn’t see. So he made me sit back as if I could see it. I wanted to play, so I’d imitate him and my mother would school me and teach me the song until I was playing it by memorization. And then I’d go back and perform it, and [the teacher] turned the pages as if I was learning to play.”

By the time he picked up the guitar at age 14, Jeff opted to teach himself. “I knew that I could hear chord changes, and if you can hear chord changes accurately, then even if you’re just strumming, any chordal instrument … is easy to play.” Jeff went on to learn 20 instruments, instructing himself along the way.

But perhaps his greatest teachers were the folk giants of the early 1960s. “People like Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan and Tom Paxton were probably the big three that I was listening to. And they were writing songs that said something and in chords that were easy to sing. It was all about the heart. And I fell in love with that.”

Inspired by these protest singers, Jeff penned his first lyrics when he was 15 years old. He continued to write one song each year, which he considered the minimum to be able to call himself a songwriter. But he became much more prolific when he started meditating in his 30s. “When I started getting connected to my spiritual source, instead of waiting for the muse to speak to me, I could go into the zone and pull a song out. And I wrote 60 songs in about three months in that very productive period.”

His songs aren’t merely inspired, however. They’re also crafted. “The craft of songwriting is about using words effectively and cleverly and sparely. [It’s] about editing and taking out anything that’s extraneous. And that’s true if you’re writing a short story or a memoir or a song.”

As I explored Jeff’s various albums, I was struck by both the diversity and specificity of his audiences. He’s written everything from disability rights anthems to children’s songs to an album for people in hospice care. I wondered how Jeff chose his audience. But it was actually the other way around: “my audience has found me.”

At one point scrambling to make a living, he considered working as an assembly presenter in schools. One performance led to another, and soon he was traveling around the country, performing in schools and keynoting education conferences. Music proved not only to be a powerful educational tool. It held the potential to make young people more accepting of disability, in themselves and others.

“I realized that there was no one writing music for young people where they heard disability in the music, where they could identify and say, ‘yeah, that’s me.’ And so I started doing that and I was working at a People First Conference in Michigan, and I was on my way up there and I was writing this song in my head, ‘we’re people, just people, people living our lives.’ So I’m singing on the stage and there are 150 adults with cognitive disabilities in the audience. And they said, ‘yeah, we’re people first. We’re singing the song. We’re going to get up on stage.’ And one by one, they pulled each other up on the stage until everybody was on the stage. What a great moment that was.”

Jeff’s foray into creating music for people in hospice was similarly fortuitous. “I started volunteering in hospice, which was what my heart was leading me to do. And I did 300 concerts in a big hospice center where people were dying and … got a lot of comfort through music. And I produced an album called Peace Sweet Peace.”

Jeff has written 600 songs and earned quite a following. But winning fans has never been his priority. “Our culture so adores success in its most grotesque form, like the superstar, that many people feel … if they can’t become that, then they fail. And the fact is, our successes are every interaction with another human being that is positive… We have to quit looking at a stage with adoring fans as success and look at any time we make someone else happy with our art.”

The Author

In the last 15 years, writing has taken precedence in Jeff’s life. The transition from music to this new art form was a matter of necessity. With increasing pain and limitations, Jeff couldn’t keep up with the demands of touring. “I used to do … three, four shows a day, and there’d be set up and breakdown and an hour show, very audience involving.”

Undeterred by this need to adapt, Jeff infused the same passion and work ethic into his writing. In 2016, he published his 400-page Grit: A Family Memoir on Adversity and Triumph. The book recounts his life as the Disability Rights Movement morphed into a powerful force for change. He’s also written a forthcoming short story collection called Underdogs: Heroic Stories.

Long-form memoir and short stories may seem like disparate mediums, but Jeff approaches them in a similar way. “I believe in writing short things. So, my memoir is 75 essays to tell one story… It’s a continuous story, but it’s told in small stories. And [it’s] the same with short stories, of course. You can have a quick story that has a lot of potential for thought.”

His books share more than this penchant for brevity. “I write about adversity. Because life is about adversity. Life is pain divided by moments of pleasure. Or you can look at it as pleasure divided by moments of pain, but you’re going to get both. And disability is a great teacher.”

Jeff writes on a Braille Touch keyboard with synthetic speech that reads back the text. He then sends his writing to his secretary, who edits any grammatical issues. “I believe in two pairs of eyes. And I also now use artificial intelligence. I have a piece of software that we run my writing through, and it helps me tighten [the writing], which is amazing. I’ve not used it in the creative process, but certainly in the editing.”

Jeff writes every day, dipping into poetry as well. “My main thing these days is, I write sonnets to people. I like the poetic form, the sonnet. It’s demanding. It takes some chops as a poet to write a sonnet that reads well. I like to lift up other people by giving them a sonnet about themselves.” Discussing this latest pursuit, Jeff offered perhaps the best encapsulation of his life’s work. “My job is to make other people feel good about themselves.”

Support the “Troubadour of Inclusion”

Jeff Moyer’s website is the best place to find his books, music, and other works not mentioned in this article. You can also stream many of his albums on platforms such as Amazon, Spotify, and Apple Music.

Or you can hear him speak and perform at our virtual Lion and Pirate Open Mic on Sunday, July 2nd at 1 PM Central or on the Art Spark Radio Hour on KOOP Hornsby-Austin on Monday, July 24th from 2 to 3 PM Central.

by MsBoye

Our May 2023 Artist of the Month is Kaye Love, MSSW/MBA, LPC. Kaye is a Psychotherapist, Life Coach, Interfaith Minister, Special Educator, Writer, Actor, Comedian, and more recently a Singer/Songwriter. For the last eight years she has been working with individuals with developmental and learning disabilities, including Intellectual Disability and Autism Spectrum Disorder, in Special Education and Vocational Rehabilitation. She provides spiritually sensitive counseling to clients who identify with diverse belief systems, including Buddhism, Christianity, Ethical Humanism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Wicca.

I first met Kaye in 2018 as a member of TILT Performance Group and have enjoyed working with her recently as a member of the Podcast Working Group here at Art Spark. Over the years I have come to respect her for her authenticity, her spirituality, and her willingness to take risks personally and creatively. She is a fervent Advocate for Epilepsy Awareness and for accessibility rights and inclusion of all people with disabilities, particularly in Churches and other Spiritual Communities. 

Although she doesn’t mention it much, I happen to know this multi-talented woman is also a crafter, seamstress, and fine artist in her spare time, although I can’t imagine she has any spare time!

MsBoye: Hey Kaye, congratulations on being selected as the Art Spark Artist of the Month. Can you start by telling us who you are, where you’re from, and where do you live now?

Kaye: My full name is Janet Kaye Love; I go by Kaye. I work as a Professional Counselor and am a Minister in connection with the Interfaith Temple of New York. I have been living in Austin for about 15 years, which was a long-awaited return. I was born here and moved to Fort Worth when I was about 5 and came back for holidays and summer vacations. 

I have been participating in Art Spark Texas since about 2008, starting with “Actual Lives” followed by “Opening Minds, Opening Doors”, “Stand Up for Mental Health”, “Speaking Advocates” and now the Podcast, “True Tales by Disability Advocates”.

MsBoye: One of the reasons we chose you for this month is that May is Mental Health Awareness Month. You mentioned being a part of the “Stand Up for Mental Health” project. Can you tell us about that experience? 

Kaye: “Stand Up for Mental Health” was an incredible experience. It was an opportunity for all of us involved to bring some levity to a serious issue, while working to shatter stereotypes. I had been telling jokes about my seizures and “dain bramage” (a little humor there!) for years as a coping mechanism, so I got to put those to good use.  I had the opportunity to poke some fun at the ridiculous responses people have to seizures and neurodiversity, as well as educate others on the dangers of fluorescent and flashing lights. I enjoyed the intense sense of community that formed among the participants as we worked as a team to polish each other’s performances, and the many hours of laughter that we shared. Dave Granier is an awesome instructor and mentor. The best part was the incredible joy and magic of facilitating laughter for 80 to 100 people at once! 

MsBoye: I know you are passionate about the issue of awareness of disability inclusion in Spiritual Communities and Churches. What do Access, Ableism, and Inclusion mean to you?

Kaye: Inclusive access incorporates more than just entering a building, in addition it involves a welcoming, inclusive culture of equity. It incorporates all aspects of the physical environment (beyond the ADA basic recommendations) including lighting, scent/chemical exposure, sounds, educational materials and presentations, volunteer opportunities, employment opportunities, and philosophy/theology. When a community is truly inclusive it invites a sense of belonging through unconditional acceptance of people as Divinely Perfect just as they are. Ableism focuses on abilities instead of the Sacred Self. It minimizes the importance of considering the needs of all when designing community features. It limits the development of a sense of belonging for those whose needs are left out of the process.  

MsBoye: What creative projects are you working on right now?

Kaye: I am currently preparing to deliver my talk “Discovering Grace by Moving through Grief” as the Sunday message at Trinity Church of Austin on May 21, followed by a workshop on Grief on May 28. This talk and/or workshop is available for other groups and congregations that are interested. When that is wrapped up, I will be continuing to explore opportunities for consulting with congregations who desire to increase accessibility, inclusion and belonging.  

For the last two years I have been excited to be a part of the Art Spark Texas podcast working group. “True Tales by Disability Advocates” is now in its second season, and I have had the chance to participate in the production team and as a guest storyteller.  It’s been fun learning how to podcast and meeting all the storytellers, and I’m looking forward to working on the 3rd season. 

Presently, I am in rehearsals for the new version of Peter Pan called “PAN: A NEVERLAND FOR ALL”, devised by TILT Performance Group. Opening June 2nd and running through June 11th at First United Methodist Church of Austin, downtown. Seating is free and may be reserved at tiltperformance.org beginning May 15.

After 10 years shattering stereotypes in Austin, this will be TILT’s final production. Although I am very sad about the end of TILT, I know that new opportunities will arise for myself and the other talented company members to continue to perform and grow as actors.

MsBoye: Is there anything else you’d like us to know about you? Or anything people would be surprised to know about you?

Kaye: People often ask me where I got my accent and are surprised to find out I learned to talk at The University of Texas at Austin. My parents were both students there and we lived on campus in married student housing.

MsBoye: Finally, if you had the attention of the whole world for five minutes, what would you say?

Kaye: In my life I am committed to remembering and practicing these simple philosophies:

1. Normal is a bell curve and everyone is on it, and I have learned to fly on its wings.
2. Disability is a formative part of the human experience; each one of us will have an opportunity to learn from it at some time. 
3. The Truth of who I am, who we all are, is that which is beyond my physical, emotional, and cognitive abilities. 
4. All challenges offer a growth opportunity, and how I relate to my challenges is more of an issue than the challenge itself. 
5. I must feel my feelings and process my losses to find my gifts.  
6. Radical acceptance enhances the ability to enjoy life.
7. We all thrive when we are celebrated for what we can do, instead of being pressured to “fix” ourselves, so we can be average to “fit-in.”

MsBoye: Where can we go to find out more about you and your work?

Kaye: You can find out more about all the different aspects of my creative and professional work by clicking these links:

• Watch a video of “Discovering Grace by Moving Through Grief”
• Learn more about my Counseling Practice
• Learn more about TILT Performance Group and watch recordings of past productions
• Like and follow the True Tales podcast Facebook and hear about new episodes
• Watch my 2013 Stand Up for Mental Health performance here  and my 2014 performance here
• Read my essay Pity Fatigue which was a finalist in the Pen to Paper Writing Competition
• Follow my LinkedIn Account

About Val 

Valois J Vera (aka Crip Lyrical) is a Disabled Revolutionary, Poet/Spoken Word Artist and Activist based out of Denton, TX.  

While his journalism work can be found in New Mobility Magazine, Latino Rebels, and Rooted in Rights, his poetry has been published by Spoonie Press, Mollyhouse, and the soon-to-be-released anthology American Graveyard: Calls to end Gun Violence, Volume I (Read or Green Books). Their debut collection is “Crip Lyrics: the Unapologetic Poetry of Disability” (POOR Press). 

Val serves as host of the virtual poetry showcase, “Thunder and Lightning” and performs a one-poet-show called “CripPoetix!” 

Meeting Val 

The first time I heard Valois J. Vera’s work was in the fall of 2021. REV UP Texas was holding a virtual program to kick off National Disability Voter Registration Week. In addition to giving timely voter registration information, artists from around the state joined the event to present songs, poems, and stories on the theme of the disability vote.  

Everyone loved Val’s poem about deserving to be heard in elections, and I was delighted when he began attending the Lion & Pirate Open Mic, which Art Spark Texas co-hosts each month with the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities (CTD). 

It wasn’t long before Val asked CTD and Art Spark Texas if we were interested in supporting the virtual launch of his first poetry collection (of course, we were!). Titled Crip Lyrics: the Unapologetic Poetry of Disability (POOR Press), it is an illustrated collection of liberation verses guided by lived experiences and self-reflection. The launch took place December 3, with more than 50 attendees.  

Becoming Crip Lyrical 

When Crip Lyrics came out, Val had been involved in disability justice work for much of his professional life, and was just starting out as a publishing poet. The move from writing grants, newsletters, and similar content to poetry “just happened” he says. “Poetry lends itself to movement work.” 

As a disabled creator, Val finds that art and education and advocacy are a packaged deal.  

“If someone said, would you ever write a poem about a tree? Well, yeah, but knowing me, it’s going to turn into a poem about a tree with a tree house that’s inaccessible! It’s always there. Even love poetry, a sex poem, an intimate poem—when it’s by a disabled poet, it’s an act of resistance.” 

He had also noticed that the poetry world, like many other creative spaces, didn’t often consider disabled creators.  

“There are so few physically disabled, active, visible poets, that when I show up, it’s always assumed I’ll be the first one in that space. So just being in poetry communities is laying the ground work of making them more accessible.” 

When he writes, Val finds inspiration from the world around him: in music lyrics, watching the news, and especially disability justice work. As far as other poets, he gravitates toward those who are also thinking about social justice in their work, like San Francisco poet laureate Tongo Eisen-Martin and Kyle “Guante” Tran Myhre. Gil Scott Heron’s famous poem, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” serves as the inspiration for Val’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Accessible” (listen to Val read it!). 

Thunder and Lightning 

After a wonderful Crip Lyrics book launch at the end of 2021, Val asked CTD and Art Spark about teaming up again for something else. He had been thinking about an event that specifically highlighted the work of disabled BIPOC and disabled queer poets. He wasn’t sure if there were even enough poets out there to fill a 2-hour program, but we all agreed it was worth finding out. 

April of 2022 (National Poetry Month), we held the first Thunder & Lightning: a virtual poetry showcase featuring disabled BIPOC and disabled queer poets. It was incredible. Over a dozen amazing poets signed up to read, and it was clear that there would be more! In fact, we’ve kept it going quarterly ever since. The next showcase, re-branded as Storm the Mic, will be Friday, April 28. View recordings of past showcases on CTD’s YouTube channel. 

What’s next? 

The Thunder & Lightning showcases launched something even bigger: the Thunder & Lightning Poetry Collective (TLPC), which Val is currently getting off the ground.  

“Watching Thunder & Lightning transform into a collective, hearing that people appreciate the space, seeing the work become collaborative, that is so worthwhile. Creating spaces that don’t already exist is hard work. But I want to create those spaces.”  

In addition to organizing the virtual Storm the Mic showcases, TLPC will offer workshops to multiply marginalized poets and has an anthology in progress with Thunder & Lightning poet, Maggie Bowyer. 

As if TLPC wasn’t keeping Val busy enough, he’s working on a chapbook, also with Maggie Bowyer, due out later this year. Keep up with Val, all of his work, and the Thunder & Lightning Poetry Collective on social media: 

• Twitter, Instagram @CripLyrical 
• Facebook /CripLyrics 
• Linktree https://linktr.ee/ValoisVera 

It’s a bright, breezy morning in the Texas Hill Country. Sure to top 100°, but for now, it’s pleasantly cool with wispy clouds drifting past. As we descend the rugged, scrubby landscape of Reimers Ranch Park, which at this hour is illuminated in a golden light and devoid of any traffic, we soak up the natural beauty emanating all around us.

A wild blend of juniper and oak amidst boulders and limestone cliffs. Grasslands of prickly pear cacti and wildflowers waving gently in the wind. The delights aren’t purely visual, either: we drive with the windows down to take in bird songs—Painted Bunting, Lesser Goldfinch, White-eyed Vireo, the omnipresent Northern Cardinal—all resonating in the air as if someone had strung speakers along the sides of the road.

My interest in birds arose three years ago when I read How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell. The book extolled the virtues of public space and non-productive time and why they’re essential to our mental and spiritual health. While not specifically a book about birds, Odell described the grounding, meditative qualities of birding; a practice that dictates, quite literally, doing nothing. Or, put another way: a practice that requires paying absolute attention to one person’s immediate surroundings.

I can do that, I thought, as I considered the constraints of my disability that necessitate a largely sedentary lifestyle, spent mostly at home. Thus began a little assignment that would transform who I am and how I perceive the world: get to know my backyard birds.

To say that a single book launched my birding career would be an oversimplification because what the book actually did was nudge me down a path, in which the further I traveled, the more my interest became an all-encompassing passion. This love grew primarily from the magic of birds themselves as well as the fascinating, like-minded humans who constitute the birding community. But other, more personal factors also bear mention.

My initial bird noticing coincided with a daily journal habit that found me writing about the birds I’d see and which in turn inspired me to pay even closer attention. The birding and writing were mutually-reinforcing. Then, the pandemic nixed the few occasions when I would leave the house and thereby compelled me to devote more time to these practices. Finally, I tend to view birding as a spiritual substitute for music, which I quit playing for the exhaustion it caused. Disparate though they may seem, both music and birds foster creativity and a profound joy that comes from being fully present.

Birding reconnected me with parts of myself that withered in the wake of progressive muscle weakness. It’s infused my life with a sense of adventure, a willingness to take risks, increased confidence, and tenacity. Three years into this hobby, I now have adaptive birding equipment strewn across our dining room table, I’ve embraced a community of new friends and allies, and I regularly spend hours in the healing arms of the outdoors.

Nature Belongs to Everyone

Today, I’m venturing into the open country west of Austin not only to bird (though anyone who knows me would tell you that I’m never not birding). I’m also here to test a survey developed by our ATXgo project to assess the accessibility of the various city, county, and state parks in Central Texas. The survey covers an array of services and access items, including parking, bathrooms, trails, drinking fountains, picnic tables, playgrounds, adaptive sports, and more. By providing this information to people with disabilities on our website, we hope to make it easier for folks to plan their next outing around the parks that best meet their needs.

Studies abound of the positive health impacts of time spent in nature. My experience birding speaks to this tremendous therapeutic power. While countless parks have made admirable strides toward inclusion, it’s not unusual that I’ve shown up somewhere to discover obstacles that prevent me from enjoying a space. Often, it’s because I couldn’t find the information online. It isn’t frequent, but it’s enough to understand the value our resource will bring.

I pause in a paved, covered patio with a wide view of meadows wending around the woodlands of Reimers Ranch Park, which I’m happy to report met most of our accessibility criteria. Not perfect, mind you, but it provided what I needed to indulge my passion for birds and to re-center my mind and body in the present. It’s a revitalizing experience that belongs to everyone.

Volunteer for ATXgo!

We are seeking volunteers to help us survey parks and music venues in Central Texas. If you enjoy exploring new areas in and around Austin, then this opportunity is for you! If you’re interested in surveying parks, you can join our team by filling out this form. If you want to assist with venues, you can send me an email.