UCP: Mosaic of Experiences

Our Service Experiences:

Pre-Service Reflections

I think our assignment might be especially challenging because we will be interacting with individuals with mental retardation who may need more assistance or accommodations in ways that other disabled people may not. (It is hard to explain this point without sounding like I am rating the levels of disability, but as for now, it’s the only way I know how to best explain myself). I expect that I will quickly adapt to the environment at UCP and I look forward to spending time and forming relationships with the clients. I want to be able to learn more about the clients as people, rather than as “disabled” individuals, focusing only on their differences, and I hope that this experience will teach and allow me to do so.

Nikki Wyman

Service-Learning Journal Excerpts

I really didn't have any idea what to expect when I first went to UCP. However, Stephanie let me know that all the clients had been diagnosed with mental disabilities and explained certain behaviors of some of the people there. The main people that I worked with during my time at UCP were Junior, Dru, and Mark. I did puzzles with Junior a lot, and computer games and crafts with Dru. Dru was very talkative, and we would talk about what was going on, what they had done that day, and what she was up to that weekend. She was always interested in what was going on with me and always asked me a ton of questions! Mark was always so friendly, and Dru and I helped him to crafts a lot. He loves to look at AutoTrader, pick out his favorite trucks, and then Dru and I would paste them on paper for him. He loved the John Deere trucks! For the most part, I got there around lunch, so I helped all the clients get their lunches opened, chatted with them while they ate, then helped them clean up and got started on some activities. I was able to go in the morning once and dyed Easter eggs with them, which was a nice change.

At first I have to admit I was a bit uncomfortable at UCP mainly because I didn't know anyone and was by myself the first time. I didn't really know what to expect of the clients and wasn't sure if they even wanted me there. However, after spending some time with the clients, I felt a lot more comfortable and quickly learned how to approach, talk to, and deal with most of the clients. I ended up really enjoying my time there. I think that I, and all of us, impacted the clients at UCP just by helping them and opening ourselves up to them as friends. They seemed to really like having me there and wanted to do activities as soon as I got there. I really learned a lot from my experience at UCP, and I think the most important thing that I learned during my time there was how to interact with people who have a disability. I don't think I had much experience in the past and that's why I was so uncomfortable in the beginning. After spending a few hours at UCP, though, I feel confident in my ability to have social interactions with a person with disabilities, something that a lot of people who didn't get this opportunity wouldn't have.

Melissa Paettie

UCP experience was different than my past experiences. Typically, Tara, Jen and I work together with a group of clients. Today we all split up for a little while. Bonnie asked me to help Brian, so I went to work with him. Brian does not talk and doesn’t interact often with people at UCP. My time working with Brian was a little uncomfortable for me because I was just standing next to him. I tried starting conversation a few times but he was not receptive to us talking. I know that all I was suppose to do was keep him supplied with block projects but it felt weird for me to stand next to him without speaking. I enjoyed meeting Michael this visit. I had never met him before and he was very friendly. Typically Junior is the only client who feels completely comfortable talking with us. It was nice have Michael join our little group. He told me as I was leaving that he was glad we came to visit.

Chad Maloney

Post-Service Reflections

One theme that we have addressed, directly and indirectly, in our class readings and discussion has been the way that disability studies challenges the notion of the American dream. It becomes apparent that American dream ideals such as social and financial mobility, independence, determination and autonomy are taken for granted in “normative” societies. This concept became especially clear to me during my time at UCP where I interacted with individuals who really don’t have much of a say regarding their personal liberties due to their respective disabilities. The fact that much of our society is based upon these values and that any individual with a disability “challenges” those values suggests that maybe we need to both rethink and reshape those ideals so that they work to include rather than exclude individuals in the same society, regardless of difference.

Nikki Wyman

I found my experience at UCP very rewarding. At the beginning of this course we discussed the way “normative” society looks at the disabled. During class discussions I always felt as if I was better than they average norm. I didn’t think I looked at the disabled any differently than I look at anyone else. My experience at UCP proved me wrong. During my first visit I felt extremely uncomfortable interacting with the UCP clients. I didn’t know why, but I just felt out of place. With each subsequent visit, however, I have become more comfortable interacting with the clients. I now realize that I do, like many people in our society, look at people with disabilities as not “normal.” At the very least, my time at UCP has opened my eyes to the way I treat those around me. Now when I see someone with a disability, I try to focus on the fact that “normal” does not exist and therefore I should take everyone as the come and only evaluate someone after I know them.

Chad Maloney

Maybe so that everyone can get some sort of personal reflection on this Wiki Page we can enter a personal quote or some sort of funny or cool experience that happened while we worked at UCP and then ended it with our name for example: "I learned a lot working with UCP...etc. etc. etc." -S. Paul Lukoskie

Back to UCP Homepage