The Voice - Positive Shift with Wesdyne Otto

Join VAD as we learn about Positive Shift and their resources and programs that they offer.  Positive Shift's training programs, coaching, peer support, resources, and demonstrations help you make a positive shift in how you think about disabilities.  They offer Accessibility Training and Disability Coaching.

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Teresa Makarewich

Welcome to the voice of Albertans with Disabilities
podcast for February 2023. I'm Teresa Makarewich your host and VAD’s
program and service manager. Thanks for joining us today. In today's podcast,
I'll be talking to Wesdyne Otto from Positive Shift of that organizational
member. VAD has been talking to our Members
to learn about resources that are available to the disability  Community and I wanted to get positive shift
on the podcast to discuss resources this organization provides .  Together, we hold the power. 

Positive shifts, training program coaching, peer support group resources and demonstrations help you make positive shift in  How you think about disabilities. They offer accessibility and disability coaching. Please welcome Wesley and Otto from positive shift. 

Wesdyne Otto

It's good to be here today. 

Teresa Makarewich

Thank you. Can you please introduce yourself? 

Wesdyne Otto

My name is Wesdyne Otto

I live out in rural Alberta. I am in Spring Lake. And my focus, a lot of the time is on
rural Alberta, especially rural Albertans with living with disabilities and
chronic illnesses because, People in rural areas have very few resources.
whereas you go into the city, everybody specialist is there, but for some of
us, getting into the city is a bit of a trick. That's who I am. And that's sort
of. A little bit. 

Teresa Makarewich

Thank you for that. So I have a few questions about positive shift to gather some information for our listeners. So can you tell us who positive shift is as an organization? 

Wesdyne Otto

Positive shift is a registered Alberta company. We carry full insurance. One of the reasons we carry the full insurance is because we offer one to one coaching for people living with disabilities and chronic illnesses. So, disability coaching is different from counselings and the fact that with counselings, You're still working with that medical model of disability. But we're coming back and we're saying, OK, now you need to mourn your past life and what life could have been without a disability, whereas with coaching, if you think about it, an athlete gets a coach in order to help them be the best athlete they can be. And to improve their game, with disability coaching, we're
looking at and we're saying, this is your life. What are the goals that you
want to achieve? And what are you doing  Well already? And how can we build on upon what's working already and then looking at some of the different barriers that you run into whether they be your own attitude towards disabilities and chronic illness as well as your families  Attitude toward chronic illness and disability
because some people will say, well, I feel sicker when I'm with them. 

And then also, how do you just function? Do you have a job? If you do, how do you bring it up at work? Or how do you advocate for yourself at school if you're going to school? So, there's a lot of different ways that we run into these barriers and so
coaching. Is to help us learn how to deal with those barriers? 

Become more creative so we find solutions. And I don't give solutions, the solutions you already know what you need to do. I just help draw it out. I also work with younger children. So mom or Dad or whoever the parent is, Is available during that either in person or online call. I will be having an office next month in Spruce Grove. generally with little kids or when I say little kids that's anybody under the age of 16. We look at what is happening At school  That makes you feel different. And how do we take that so that you understand what  Part of you  Is your, There can be a diagnosis or there might not be a diagnosis. It may just be I don't fit into school very well and I'm having a hard time with it. So in the past we have a game that we play a lot of. It's just games. I work in art a lot. So with those games, it's how do I see what part of it is me and what part of it is my emotional responses that might be a Little bit different. Because I'm living with ADD or I'm living with high functioning autism, these are  Kids who are would be in a regular classroom - with teens  It's more about how do I live with this and how do I talk to my illness or my emotional difference or my sensory difference, So that it and I can come to a relationship, So I still feel like I have a life. My life isn't being run by my disability or my chronic illness. And quite often when people say, oh, I want my life back, what they're really saying is I don't have a relationship with my disability, That allows me to live the life I want to live. And so that's my job as the coach is to say, OK, let's come up with that relationship. So that way you can say this Is part of me, It's not all of me, but this is a part of me and rather than being ashamed of it, finding some of the value within that. You know It could be like  I'm just a little bit more sensitive. 
Well, that's good. That's actually a very good thing to be more sensitive. It means that you're Probably not going to go treading on other. People's feelings all the  Time or you're going to be You'll find amazing volunteer positions and even work positions because you are that little bit more sensitive than other people. So that's a very big difference. So that's what the coaching looks like, and that's either online, if it's online, it's about $30 less expensive than in person and part of being online is because people with disabilities and chronic illnesses We live all over the place. And we can't arrange rides. So that was a really big part of this When I set out was to say, how can I make this service accessible and for me accessible also means affordable. The other piece of So within that commitment to people who are living with chronic illness and disability, I offer free peer support group. Where peers actually talk to each other. They bring in questions that they may have We don't talk about cures. We don't talk about medicines. Those are private conversations with your doctor. But what we do talk about Is I have this thing coming up this Week and I don't know how to Go about it or. I'm PO’ d because I can't find  Accessible housing that's affordable and that's sort of where that organizational. You know, how can we put together a demonstration if there is a group that had been, uh, let's say, a disease group that's raising money but not providing supports in ways that Members want those supports. How do we unite our voices? To say to governments and to organizations we're here, we exist. We're valuable. If you give us a chance. We actually can live in community, and we should live in community. We're good neighbors, we're taxpayers. And we are valuable members of our communities, and we ought to have the same right as Americans to live, work, study and play in the communities of our choices. Please, where are the resources? So in those peer support groups, we help share those resources And start creating a community where people who maybe are isolated can visit with each other. Right now, I think I've got close to the 14 coming for Those peer support groups are always free. They're once a month. I've got close to 14 coming tonight, so they're always on the second Monday of each month at 7:00 o'clock. The last thing that I do is Accessibility training and when I say accessibility training, some people get this idea that you're going to try on what it feels like to have a disability. Nobody can try on what it feels like to have a disability, Like I don't believe in that Because otherwise you're going on a voyeuristic trip. Also, because it's such a new experience and we've had time to learn to live with this. Our experiences are very different than an abled bodied person trying on a disability. We have had time to learn, to adapt, Cope. We have a community where we share resources, we've shared information. We're the experts on living with disability. So, to try on a disability is very voyeuristic. What we do in the program is I have one specifically for students, for university students, healthcare organizations, social work organizations And postsecondary institutions. Because these are the places where we're going to come into contact most often with an organization. So and looking at those we read between the lines. So I ask you simple things like well. What do you know about disability and find out what people actually have to say. Then we play a few games around Disney Movies and talk about how disability stereotypes get built into those movies where people with disabilities either have to overcome their disability Rather than live. With their disability. Or they're seen as the asexual Oh, no Nobody ever dates Quasimodo. And yet, there's quite a few of us that are Quasimodo’s up there, and we do want relationships, and we're not just somebody's best friend and the funny person in the group. We're actually full members of the group. And we're not villains. Scars, probably You know, for people with facial differences, I'm sure that scar must be very problematic. So, you know, we're not villains. We talk about how did you learn about disability through your childhood, through what you're seeing on television? Most of the bad guys are people with disabilities on media, so we talk a little bit about that. We talk about some of the different cases that are coming up across Canada. Including MAID,  housing is been a big one. So we talk a Little bit about  That and then from there we flip it back to what do you think has changed now when you go into your work site. There's a longer program where we come in  We do that piece.  Then afterwards the second day will go through your human resources processes. Or your customer service processes. And say how are you Being accessible. Where is, Where is your company discriminating against that you hadn't seen before? So we literally go line by line through your HR policies  To decide  Oh  Are your HR policies set up in a way that is discriminatory against people with disabilities and chronic illnesses? Because opening up your organization to become more accessible actually can increase your productivity. Your profitability And still a lot of your volunteer positions that have been sitting empty. So those are really important ways where Changing companies attitudes towards what it means to hire somebody, retain somebody who has a disability. What are those policies? How do you do that and know? People with disabilities are good workers. There is a myth out there There's many, many employment myths about people with disabilities and chronic illnesses. And they Really hinder us so Getting those organizations to understand where they're standing  In our way  Rather than standing beside us. So it's a matter of moving them from barrier to ally. Simply through shifting attitudes. So yeah, that's what we do, boy. It's a big that was a big talk. 

Teresa Makarewich

That's wonderful. Thank you for that. Can you give us some history about your organization? 

Wesdyne Otto

I originally started positive shift a number of years ago It had a different entity
back then. The idea back then I trained 5 different art therapists and
expressive arts therapists In different ways to work with disability and
chronic illness to do all these goals, except specifically through the arts. So
it was a lot of fun, but it didn't make any money. And then COVID happened
and people freaked out during the first part of COVID Then they became
completely overwhelmed by all having to go online for everything, and I
suffered. I had a major experience and stepped back from the company and went This
isn't what I want to do  This way I don't  I feel that the company is serving my
needs more than it's serving the communities need.
So the,  IT took time, realigned it and said really honestly what are
the consumer’s needs. So step forward and said it's not just about the person with disability, it's also about the agencies,  And the places and the points of contact that
we have regularly. So you both of those need to be addressed in order to create positive change and a great deal of that came from the fact that I got hired by a company out of the US. So in Pennsylvania, disability civil rights history is part of the curriculum. So in Canada, we have Aboriginal histories as part of their curriculum. And  the US, they are working to weave disability civil rights into the social studies
as well as the English curriculums. UM, the art programs so that Writing plays,
art, As well as those, Turning points, in you know you can use the American
Disabilities Act to learn about how does an idea become a law? And we haven't
done that in Canada because we don't  Have those big laws. But it would, you know,
so they won this big case in order to integrate the history of civil rights,
they had to have somebody write the disability civil rights. And I was that
person. So we went all the way back to Harriet Tubman, Roosevelt, Into modern times
throughout the 60s How the disability community, black rights  community, queer communities and women's rights communities, all stood together in order to create change. It was just it was a really fun project. I had never seen disability presented the way that the American models had Where people with disabilities were not seen as burdens  But were seen as valuable people. I had  I will be honest, Ed Roberts was the first person that I had ever seen who and later on, of course, Libya Brown  We're the first people that I've ever seen who are living with  Severe disability. Ed Roberts could not move except for a couple of little fingers And slept in an Iron lung at night And
during the day, like Lydia, Brown used a mask to breathe. They lived independently. He was one of the first to show up at Berkeley and live independently. In the states
you are, in the States right now They have as much accessible, if everybody in
the states who lived in accessible housing moved out of their accessible
housing, every Canadian could be housed in the amount of accessible housing
they have. That's how much accessible housing they have in the states it is  Illegal
for a state not to provide  Those systems and supports in the Community to allow people to live in the community. So since 77   There has been a movement out of long
term care facilities  And into community with full supports. People who live with disabilities have the right to choose who is their character giver ,The level of caregiving they need, The type of. Caregiving they need, and how many hours, Plus  
they hire their Own caregivers. We don't do that in Canada. So those are some of those things that have made accessibility very different in the US than it is in Canada. We have a long way to go. So that's sort of the history. 

Teresa Makarewich

Awesome, how does positive shift help people in the community? I know you said you have one to one coaching and peer groups. Are there any other programs or supports? 

Wesdyne Otto

Right now, we I'm looking with working with the Parkland arts community.
And I'm going to be looking at other arts communities throughout Alberta and
rural areas  To see how we can set up programs living for art programs specifically for people living with developmental disabilities. In Edmonton and in Calgary, there are those programs exist, they do extremely well. They give people with developmental disabilities a way to use their voice and be  In a different way  And to be heard in a different way, not only that, when I was at, I was at Chrysalis for a year and a half. Our
artists sold their artwork at annual shows  And they kept 70% of the proceeds as personal income. That gave them a lot of pride. Needless to say, any artist who can sell artwork and, you know, make some money off of it That's awesome. I am an artist, but those programs don't exist in rural Alberta. And there are arts communities throughout rural Alberta  I'd love to see how I can work with those
programs. As sort of the liaison to say this is sort of the way I'll help you
meet all the people that you need to meet  All you need is a studio space  And set those up. So that's my next one, That's my next, That's my next window, I'm going to tackle. So we're going to have one in Parkland, hopefully within the next three months, we will have a full program here. We'll use it as a pilot. And show it off to
other groups and they can set up their own because what works here may not work
in Fort Chip, May not work and you know, In Hannah. And so being able to say,
here's the model. Now you take it into your community, change it so that it
works for your community. 

Teresa Makarewich

That sounds right on actually, a good project. I see you offer some pay for service - services. Can you talk about this a little bit? 

Wesdyne Otto

So our pay for services - services,  So it is 45. So I have a sliding scale for people Who want to do the disability coaching  So it starts. At $45.00 to 110 and that's online. 

Teresa Makarewich

OK. 

Wesdyne Otto

What happens is we meet; we talk about your financial situation for anybody who's on a fixed income We just start at the $45. If you're coming to the office because I have
to pay for office space That jumps up to $75 to $140. The one thing that I'm
hoping within this model is that eventually I will have enough people paying
for my accessibility program for that accessibility training so that I can make
each so I can take 25% of the people who are coming in for coaching  Who are
on low, you know, on fixed incomes  And gives them free coaching. Right now, we're not at that point, but that is the financial goal of the company Is to be able to subsidize some of those lower points. But yeah, so and I in the past I had a company who had donated their video conferencing, So clients will have two choices. We can either use the free video conferencing that is secure And blah blah. Blah,
that was donated to me. It's out of the states. Or we can use Google meets. 

Teresa Makarewich

What is a cool project That positive  Shift is done in the community. 

Wesdyne Otto

One of the cool things that we did while I was still in Edmonton, we've only been here for just over a year. I had a program and it was so much fun and I want to do it again.  But it was  A minimal cost group. I think we charge $20.00 per person. The 1st 20 minutes of it was free movement Because people with disabilities and chronic illnesses, we go to OT, we go to dance class, We're told how to move. One of the things that we don't do though is when we get home, we don't move. So this program we started off with 20 minutes’ worth of really just that meditative music. And the only Rule was what you do on one side do on the other side, you're responsible for yourself, If you need to sit down, sit down. But please try and just use your chair or your and please use your mobility equipment. And it was just to explore how far you can stretch out your body, play with your balance of that in sort of this safe soft place. And one
of the things was, is it really brought you into your body in a really nice way
because some of like, I remember one woman said to me, does your body talk
to you? She goes. Oh yeah. Mine doesn't really talk. It just screams at me all
day long. So when you have that aggressive Relationship sometimes with your body It’s really fun Just to play For a while. And then we'd play, we'd go back and we'd do some art Really, really simple art, art with art supplies that you probably  Have at home  Or that are super inexpensive to buy we would go around  In the circle  And we'd say, So what did you notice? And one woman said, oh, well, I made a little canoe  out of my Plasticine. And I said, what does that remind you of? She goes You know, I'm
really anxious, quite a bit of the time. And I'm always wondering what's got around the corner. I said how does that change when you're in your canoe? She goes well, I'm just in the canoe. I'm paddling, I  said. Well, maybe in your life, just paddle Don’t worry so much about what's around the corner, if you've done this a few times already. You know where the Rapids are. This is you. Life, you sort of  Know where the Rapids
are. And there are some things we can't prepare for. So just take that with you
and use it for the next couple of weeks and then we'll come back together and we'll
people loved it. And it was fun. It was a lot of fun, and it was a very small group. I wanna do one of those again. right now,  I'm very, very excited, I’m one of the artists with disabilities. There's about 20 of us through the John Howard Society creating an art project on Ableism. 

My art project I signed up as a visual artist, but the more that I think about
it, I've had this whole play show up in my head where we have somebody, People
meeting on a bridge and having a short conversation, one of them is a native
female - First Nations female meets a person, a female. Who has a visible
disability. And they talk about Bill C30 And how that native woman had to fight
so long in order to have her status retained after she got married? And the
woman in with the visible disability says OH. I wish I had that privilege Because if I get married, I lose all My medical rights. I lose I risk losing  Even my basic income. And
I think Those are really interesting conversations to have, you know, between the institutionalization of the disability. You know, people with chronic illness and disabilities over history and the residential schools. That's an interesting conversation between the expectations that Asian Canadians have had on them Versus the  limitations. Which are just as crippling  That people with disabilities have had put on
them historically. You know where it's just expected. Oh, well, they're Asian.
So therefore, they're going to do, they're going to go into law or they're going to go,
they're going to be great academics. Well, what if they're great spiritualists?
What if they're great artists? How come we're limiting what people are allowed
to do by our stereotypes? And those are Really interesting conversations. So
right now I'm just sort of casting my eyes around that group to see who in that group
wants to help, you know, create this play. And like I said, a lot of those
voices I can't write because I'm really white. You know, and if it's about not having people misappropriate my voice, uh, you know, as a woman with disability, well, then it's only correct that I would look to people who are representative of these other cultures  To bring their voice into this piece. So, it’s very collaborative. But I think those are really interesting conversations to have. I would say that would be a really
cool project that I'm involved in right now.   

Teresa Makarewich

That sounds right on and interesting. 

How does Someone get a hold of positive shift services. 

Wesdyne Otto

You can go To our website its positive-shift.com. All of our information's there. Also
if you write in positive shift into your Google search  You will come up with one that says disability coaching, That's us. So we're the positive dash shift and that's the most important part. 

Teresa Makarewich

What is an Interesting fact about positive shift that everyone should know. 

Wesdyne Otto

I have a disability I'm proud to have a disability and I'm so proud to belong to a disability community  That can and does do amazing things. I mean, there are so many amazing organizations throughout Alberta through Canada  And I'm proud to stand with them. And as a person with disability  who's been told that's not a right
way to live my life I'm very tired of the I'm sorry. I'm not sorry I am proud. 

Teresa Makarewich

OK. Well, thank you for your time and energy today, Wesdyne, your support of the community is of value to all. Positive shift is an organizational member of VAD and a link to their website can be accessed on our membership list online. Individuals looking to access VAD members can do so at vadsociety.ca/social-action. Do you have any other things that you want us to tell us before we sign off today? 

Wesdyne Otto

No, I'm just. Uh, I just love what you guys do. And i was  it was been a pleasure to be here to talk about what I do and great to meet you Teresa Thank you. 

Teresa Makarewich

OK. Thank you for that.  Thank you again for joining our podcast. Voice of Albertans with disabilities is across disability nonprofit organization of and for people with disabilities. We are guided by the  principles of accessibility, equity, and inclusion. Learn about VAD services on our website at vadsociety.ca Or call 780-488-9088 For more information. if you have A topic you would. Like to hear. More about in a podcast, please e-mail Teresa at VAD@VadSociety.ca with topic ideas, Speaker suggestions or your feedback. 

Signing off for today. Together we hold the power.