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4:07am May 27, 2014

Interview with John and Juliana (John is a self-advocate, Juliana is his support worker and she translates for him vocally).  There is captioning on the Youtube video.

Transcript:

My name is John Britton, and I’m from Phoenix, Arizona.  
“Okay and John I understand that you have a lot of really neat things going on in your life, but could you start by just talking about your job, your employment?”
One day, I was in Mark Center and I asked them to help me find a job.  But they said “Okay.”  They kept saying “okay” to me. I said “now you are fired”.  I fired them.  And told my friend and he said “Hey, will you help me find a job at Target?” So I said “Let’s go fill out some paperwork.”  With them.  And they called me, they wanted me to come in for an interview.  And then they said “We have nothing for you.”  And I said “Hey, I’ll make a deal with you.  Give me 90 days, if you don’t like me, I will walk out of here.”  And they said “Okay.”  I am still at Target.  Tomorrow, Sunday, will be my tenth anniversary.  
“The other thing that I thought was really interesting about your story was — I know I’m going to get the words wrong — but basically, you manage all of your own care, is that right?  All of your own… can you tell me about that?”
Yes.  I am one of the owners of a human service co-op and she is one of my workers and friends.  
“How does this service co-op work?”
We decide what we want and tell them what to do.  
“That’s excellent.  How many people are in the co-op?”
Nine members.
“So how do payments work in the co-op?”
Juliana: The payments are just like any provider-run agency where it goes through management and then they handle all the paperwork between the DD system and the agency.
“Okay.  That’s really a neat program.  The other thing I want to ask you about is I know you’re from Arizona and all kinds of recreation is going on in Arizona.  What types of recreation and activities are you doing?”
The movies, and going out to restaurants, and baseball games.There’s one thing that I’d really like to do again; I want to jump out of an airplane again.  I am a risk-taker.
“I can tell.  That’s great.  Well I hope you get to do it again.  One last question that I have for you.  I think it’s really important that self-advocates see that they can own their own homes, or at least live in their own homes.  So I was wondering if you could talk about your home, and your living situations.”
I own my own home with my fiancé, and pay my own bills.  And manage my own money.  And my own car, but I don’t drive.  But my motto is don’t give up what you want to do.  You can do anything you want to.
Notes:
  1. withasmoothroundstone posted this