Speaker 1: Keep on riding with us as we continue to broadcast
Speaker 1: the balance and defend the discourse from the Hip Hop
Speaker 1: Weekly Studios. Welcome back to Civic Cipher. I am still
Speaker 1: your host, Ramsy's job.
Speaker 2: He is Ramsey's job. I am q Ward. You are
Speaker 2: either still with us or just joining. If you're just joining,
Speaker 2: you're in for a treat because we have an incredible
Speaker 2: guest with us today. And to all of those that
Speaker 2: are listening, I hope everyone is having or had an
Speaker 2: amazing Juneteenth.
Speaker 1: Yeah yo, and shout out to everybody that rocked with
Speaker 1: us on our live on Juneteenth. That was fun as
Speaker 1: we livestream the Canon Friends concert. But right now, back
Speaker 1: to the woman of the hour, Denise Resnik again, I'm
Speaker 1: going to say this first a mother, but also the
Speaker 1: founder and president and CEO of First Place a Z.
Speaker 1: We're going to continue having a very important conversation regarding
Speaker 1: the intersection of being autistic and a minority in this country.
Speaker 1: But before we get there, it is time for Baba
Speaker 1: becoming a better ally. Baba and today's Baba is sponsored
Speaker 1: by Friends of the Movement. You can sign up for
Speaker 1: the free voter wallet from fotmglobal dot com to support
Speaker 1: black businesses and allied businesses as well as make an
Speaker 1: impact with your spending. Again, that's Fotmglobal dot Com and
Speaker 1: today's Baba. I'm going to shout out my darling, Nikki.
Speaker 1: I have a neighbor who did something that was very
Speaker 1: kind this past Juneteam. And I mean, if she told
Speaker 1: the story, she saw me get emotional in my doorway.
Speaker 1: But the fact is is that this is this sort
Speaker 1: of thing goes a long way, and I'm just sharing
Speaker 1: a personal story with you. She brought a book to
Speaker 1: my house on Juneteam. It was a children's book. Longtime
Speaker 1: listeners will know that I have a nine year old.
Speaker 1: She brought a children's book. It's called The ABC's of
Speaker 1: Black History. And she dropped off a note and then
Speaker 1: after I read the note, she gave me a hug
Speaker 1: and it was just energizing. The note says Ramsy's wishing
Speaker 1: you a wonderful and cell abatory June teenth. It is
Speaker 1: a joy and a privilege to know you and call
Speaker 1: you a friend. Thank you for your patience, grace and love.
Speaker 1: As us allies show up to the party clumsy, so
Speaker 1: clearly she listens to the show you are changing our
Speaker 1: world in the world one podcast, I assume radio show
Speaker 1: and kindness at a time. We're never too old to
Speaker 1: receive the gifts we should have had available.
Speaker 3: To us as kids.
Speaker 1: No one is too old for a children's book help.
Speaker 1: This gives you a smile, and you are able to
Speaker 1: share it with anyone who needs it. Sincerely, Nicki. So
Speaker 1: this is the first I never got a present for Juneteenth.
Speaker 1: This is the first time anything like that has ever happened.
Speaker 1: And it mattered. And I'll always remember this. And I
Speaker 1: didn't establish this, but NICKI is a white woman, but
Speaker 1: a kind human before that. And to know that, you know,
Speaker 1: this is a holiday that matters to me. To bring
Speaker 1: a gift and to just share a little bit of kindness.
Speaker 1: I think she's this week's example.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's powerful. That's powerful, man.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was like she asked, She's like, can I
Speaker 3: give you a hug? Like career. I'm sure that added
Speaker 3: to your old man. It was a moment anyway.
Speaker 1: All right, Denise Resin, It's such a joy to have
Speaker 1: you here. Just your your passion is infectious and and
Speaker 1: the way that you care, uh is infectious. Now, when
Speaker 1: I first met you at first place, you shared a
Speaker 1: bit of a story about and I don't know if
Speaker 1: it was a true story or now, but basically a
Speaker 1: story about how the transition from adolescence to adulthood can
Speaker 1: be problematic, because that's a major fail point. You know,
Speaker 1: the story I'm talking about.
Speaker 4: I have a good idea, but you'll stop me if
Speaker 4: it's not the same story.
Speaker 3: I'm sure it is, but.
Speaker 1: Just to kind of bring you a little bit closer,
Speaker 1: this story that you told kind of transported me into
Speaker 1: a home where I'm able to observe an individual with autism,
Speaker 1: and I'm able to observe this individual's let's say, caretaker, provider,
Speaker 1: support system, whatever, and you know a lot of times again,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned, you know a lot of times when
Speaker 1: at least for me, I would think of autism as
Speaker 1: something that kids dealt with, not necessarily that adults dealt with.
Speaker 1: And one of the things that happens is that when
Speaker 1: you no longer have a caretaker as an adult, you
Speaker 1: can fall through the cracks in society. So go with that.
Speaker 4: Let me start with a statistic. There are one point
Speaker 4: eight million adults living withism and intellectual developmental disabilities with
Speaker 4: caregivers like me over the age of sixty, and that's
Speaker 4: a slippery slope, and we're seeing an increase in displacement
Speaker 4: and homelessness real quick.
Speaker 5: Before you continue, the individuals with autism are being cared
Speaker 5: for by individuals.
Speaker 4: Aging parents, aging parents, aging parents, and aging family members.
Speaker 4: And it's a slippery slope because we don't have enough
Speaker 4: options for those individuals and we're not allowing that dignity
Speaker 4: of risk and trusting enough places who can help them
Speaker 4: learn how to live more independently. And we need more
Speaker 4: of those places that are not only beautiful, but that
Speaker 4: have data and efficacy and that we can trust. And
Speaker 4: so my background actually started in senior housing. I worked
Speaker 4: for the Dell Web Corporation, the granddaddy of senior housing,
Speaker 4: some sixty years ago. And think about senior housing, you know,
Speaker 4: you start with independent living and then semi skilled and nursing,
Speaker 4: and think about what we're doing in reverse. We're starting
Speaker 4: with more intense supports early in adult life to increase
Speaker 4: that level of independence to the greatest degree possible, increase
Speaker 4: their quality of life, increase their options for where they
Speaker 4: might live next, and reduce costs throughout their lifetime. And
Speaker 4: we're proving that and that's really important to recognize that
Speaker 4: people can learn, but not all people with autism are
Speaker 4: the same. It is a big broad spectrum. And so
Speaker 4: our son, who is more profoundly impacted by his autism
Speaker 4: than perhaps your cousin, wouldn't qualify to enroll in such
Speaker 4: a program that we have because there's not a one
Speaker 4: size fits all. And if you think about it, just
Speaker 4: in the senior housing market, which many of us are
Speaker 4: familiar with. You know, some sixty years ago here we
Speaker 4: had sun City. It was a retirement community. Fast forward today,
Speaker 4: now we have all these different price points and locations
Speaker 4: and amenities and services, and people have choice. Well here
Speaker 4: for people with autism and intellectual developmental disabilities. We don't
Speaker 4: have sixty years to wait. So what is it that
Speaker 4: we can do in our local markets and in our
Speaker 4: communities to develop a trusted ecosystem so we can create
Speaker 4: more programs, more options, where people can live with pride,
Speaker 4: with purpose, with all kinds of possibilities, and where families
Speaker 4: like ours can have peace of mind. Because I will
Speaker 4: assure you that the family members like me who may
Speaker 4: be listening on and parents specifically have that same looming
Speaker 4: question of who's going to care about him when I'm
Speaker 4: no longer able to do so, And Who's going to
Speaker 4: make sure that that somebody's watching over him? And the
Speaker 4: answer lies in community, and community doesn't just happen. It's
Speaker 4: each of us coming together with those job opportunities, with
Speaker 4: those healthcare opportunities, with some intentionality, that's right. And so
Speaker 4: in your local communities, who do you know in the
Speaker 4: police department or the county sheriff's office. We knew Sheriff
Speaker 4: pen Z owned. He brought forty of his officers and
Speaker 4: deputies to First Place and they sat side by side
Speaker 4: with residents with autism and intellectual developmental disabilities, and we
Speaker 4: had a pretty broad spectrum represented. They not only were
Speaker 4: learning by what we had to say in training, they
Speaker 4: were learning from real life experiences. And then we brought
Speaker 4: our residents down to the Sheriff's office and they learned
Speaker 4: about the k nines, and they learned about the different vehicles,
Speaker 4: and they learned about what you need to do when
Speaker 4: a person of authority says stop, and how we respond.
Speaker 4: And it doesn't just happen, It takes training. And so
Speaker 4: so I'm not one to miniaturize ambitions and dreams. I
Speaker 4: am a dreamer and have been dreaming about this for
Speaker 4: decades of how do we fast track a development, a
Speaker 4: community development in communities across the country and what kind
Speaker 4: of ingredients do we need? And that's why we created
Speaker 4: the first Place Global Leadership Institute, and that's why we're
Speaker 4: hosting our thirteenth Global Leadership Institute Symposium this October. People
Speaker 4: can find that on our website at www dot first
Speaker 4: Place Global dot org and bringing thought leaders together from
Speaker 4: across the country and around the world, because we don't
Speaker 4: have a corner on all the great ideas here in Phoenix.
Speaker 4: We have a lot, but we're learning from each other.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of reciprocal learning that continues to take place.
Speaker 2: So RAMS is mentioned and I guess Nikki in her
Speaker 2: letter mentioned sometimes some of us show up eager and
Speaker 2: intentional and we want to help and we want to
Speaker 2: be involved, but sometimes we're clumsy. For those of us
Speaker 2: who will be new in this space that want to
Speaker 2: be the best versions of the type of help, the
Speaker 2: type of assistance, the type of allies that you would need,
Speaker 2: what is some advice for those who are not just
Speaker 2: clumsy but afraid to mess up or get it wrong.
Speaker 2: How would you what type of advice would you give
Speaker 2: people that want to be more involved in that want
Speaker 2: to help more, but have a bit of hesitancy because
Speaker 2: of their own personal fears of doing it wrong or
Speaker 2: not showing up as the best versions of what you
Speaker 2: would look for in a brother, a sister, or an ally.
Speaker 4: Start with what you can control and where you are strong,
Speaker 4: you do beautifully in front of a microphone, you asked
Speaker 4: or you offered. You know that I suggested that I
Speaker 4: need to get in front of more microphones. Well that's
Speaker 4: what you could do to help me. It just takes
Speaker 4: one It just takes one person to open the door
Speaker 4: at that grocery store, at that doctor's office, you know,
Speaker 4: at that space, to say, you know what, let's give
Speaker 4: that person ahead of me a little more time because
Speaker 4: I see that he or she is struggling and they
Speaker 4: may have autism. Let's be aware we can control that.
Speaker 4: And one of the greatest, greatest films I've ever seen
Speaker 4: about this topic is called In a Different Key. It
Speaker 4: is the best expression of community and of the spectrum
Speaker 4: of autism. It was aired on PBS. One point three
Speaker 4: million people saw it. It is amazing and it also
Speaker 4: tells the story of people of color and doctor Stephanie Parks,
Speaker 4: who's a UCLA doctoral student, who's a mother of a
Speaker 4: child with autism, who talks about who talks about keeping
Speaker 4: her child alive, and not only the autism, but how
Speaker 4: the community would misinterpret a black man now an adolescent,
Speaker 4: a young adult in the community maybe acting out or
Speaker 4: showing those autistic signs. So how do we become more
Speaker 4: aware so we can control what we read. Your listeners
Speaker 4: are demonstrating that right now, the fact that they've tuned
Speaker 4: in and stayed with us, they're becoming educated. And when
Speaker 4: I say it just takes one it just takes that
Speaker 4: one interaction with the police to say who can we
Speaker 4: talk to? Who can we talk to about bringing a
Speaker 4: training program here? Or what kind of training program do
Speaker 4: you have? Or can I bring my child there? Can
Speaker 4: I bring my classroom there? Can I bring my neighbors there?
Speaker 4: So it's really when we think about community, it's all
Speaker 4: of us building that one person can't build a community,
Speaker 4: and you can't build a community for one person.
Speaker 2: Yeah, first of all, thank you not just for answering
Speaker 2: my question, but for all of the information and the
Speaker 2: learning that you're helping us do today, not just Rams
Speaker 2: and I, but as you mentioned our listeners, I think
Speaker 2: empathy is the start, but education takes it to the
Speaker 2: next level. Right, wanting to be involved is one thing,
Speaker 2: but you're giving us the proper information and kind of
Speaker 2: pointing us in the right direction, thus far more than
Speaker 2: you realize. And there may be some that listen that
Speaker 2: want to know you know why it's so important, especially
Speaker 2: with regard to you having sheriffs come and sit and
Speaker 2: learn interactions with law enforcement, especially when those who are
Speaker 2: in power are the ones that are least educated and
Speaker 2: least prepared. We had a story about a young man,
Speaker 2: Elijah McClain. I'm sure you were familiar with his story.
Speaker 2: Think of we can all think of how different the
Speaker 2: outcomes would be for situations like his if the people,
Speaker 2: not just the officers, but the people in the call centers,
Speaker 2: even the people calling nine to one one were more
Speaker 2: well versed in how to deal with people who are
Speaker 2: experiencing a life in a different key than theirs. And
Speaker 2: Elijah McClain's story is one that I remember very specifically
Speaker 2: affecting Ramses a lot while we were on the air
Speaker 2: talking about it, because he understood that had someone that
Speaker 2: showed up been more prepared that that young man's outcome
Speaker 2: would have been completely different. And in the space that
Speaker 2: you're in, have you ever encountered stories like Elijah's where
Speaker 2: people who are mis understood and those who show up,
Speaker 2: who are supposed to take care of them, who are
Speaker 2: supposed to protect them, are not able to do so
Speaker 2: because they don't know any better.
Speaker 4: I have, and that's why I've dedicated myself to this
Speaker 4: work so that doesn't happen. I'll never forget what I saw,
Speaker 4: what I smelled, and what I experienced in those places
Speaker 4: that I visited when Matt was very young, and I
Speaker 4: wasn't going to let that happen to him. And I
Speaker 4: lived and I have lived this life of both fear
Speaker 4: and love. You know, I fear what if we didn't
Speaker 4: do this work, and I won't stop because I love
Speaker 4: him and his sister very much. His sister is just
Speaker 4: seventeen months older, and we've never wanted our daughter to
Speaker 4: have to replace us as his parents. And it's really
Speaker 4: important that we build that community. So like you, I
Speaker 4: could show up clumsy today and believe me, I wanted
Speaker 4: to do a little homework so I could be as
Speaker 4: not as clumsy as I might have been perhaps, but
Speaker 4: it's really important that we're open, that we open our hearts,
Speaker 4: that we ask the questions. You don't know that somebody
Speaker 4: is diagnosed with autism, but maybe that mom or dad
Speaker 4: needs a little extra help.
Speaker 5: Can I want to jump in right here. There's another
Speaker 5: thing that you told me where and you you touched
Speaker 5: on this briefly, but I want to make this live
Speaker 5: a little bit more. Talking about community, he was talking
Speaker 5: about how understanding each other, understanding that we all come
Speaker 5: in different different there are different versions of humanity expressed
Speaker 5: in its society. And often when you are man, male,
Speaker 5: physically bigger, and my understanding is that autism is happens
Speaker 5: more frequently in male children. Oftentimes if you're black or brown,
Speaker 5: there there's a there's a fear element that's associated that
Speaker 5: that comes into play for before let me see if
Speaker 5: I can understand the rhythm of this individual. Right You
Speaker 5: talked about Elijah McLain who lost his life.
Speaker 3: And there's other stories.
Speaker 5: That's just kind of an easier one to get to
Speaker 5: individuals with autism that are that are coming up against society.
Speaker 5: Someone looking at that and feeling afraid as opposed to
Speaker 5: because I remember him was wearing a mask because he had.
Speaker 3: Like sensitivity sensory issues perhaps.
Speaker 5: And when you go even further, you know the story
Speaker 5: that you were starting to tell, another story that I
Speaker 5: remember hearing from you is there's an individual, I don't
Speaker 5: know if this is a real person or not, an
Speaker 5: individual living in a home with someone taking care of him,
Speaker 5: let's say him, and then you know that caretaker passes away.
Speaker 5: The individual with autism has been cared for by this
Speaker 5: this other person who's now.
Speaker 3: Passed away whole life.
Speaker 5: And now they have no one else to take care
Speaker 5: of them. They are not Elijah McLain's age. They are
Speaker 5: probably thirties forties. Maybe they don't have the same capacity,
Speaker 5: have not developed it, or they just lack the capacity
Speaker 5: to get throw all together to have a go at
Speaker 5: life on their own. They can't pay the rent where
Speaker 5: they live, they can't get food. You know, they've had
Speaker 5: someone taken care of now their caretaker is gone. So
Speaker 5: what happens after a time These people end up on
Speaker 5: the streets. When they end up on the streets, all
Speaker 5: of the social welfare programs that we subsidize comes into play,
Speaker 5: and these individuals end up criminalized for a health issue.
Speaker 3: We've talked about that quite a bit on the show.
Speaker 5: Yes, we have where people's you know, drug abuses criminalized.
Speaker 5: Of course, we've talked about, you know, people who have
Speaker 5: any any form of what we would consider a disability.
Speaker 5: I'm still learning the language. I'm trying my best to
Speaker 5: be kind, So as language evolves, please communicate with me,
Speaker 5: y'all you know better than me.
Speaker 3: But but individuals with different.
Speaker 5: Types of abilities, you know, whatever their story is, oftentimes
Speaker 5: the easiest and simplest and most valuable, depending on what
Speaker 5: your portfolio reflects, is to criminalize always being and to
Speaker 5: lock these people away. And that's sort of saying, rather
Speaker 5: than providing them what I believe to be a productive
Speaker 5: and inclusive framework that doesn't relegate these folks further into
Speaker 5: the margins, I see a facility like first Placed for property.
Speaker 5: Thank you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I got to learn like first place being something
Speaker 3: that other.
Speaker 5: Cities could incorporate as well. So I wanted to make
Speaker 5: sure that I talked about that. Now we only have
Speaker 5: about a minute or so. I want to make sure
Speaker 5: that we discuss vote the spectrum, the non partisan voter
Speaker 5: registration initiative, So just speak on that give me about
Speaker 5: you know, thirty seconds to a minute on that. I
Speaker 5: know you.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry we run out.
Speaker 4: Of time, no problem, and thank you so much for
Speaker 4: filming a little peace on Vote the Spectrum too. So
Speaker 4: Vote the Spectrum is a registration initiative, a voter registration initiative,
Speaker 4: and we have teamed up with other disability groups and
Speaker 4: the County Recorder's office and the Secretary of State's office
Speaker 4: to launch Vote the Spectrum. We need more ours, d's
Speaker 4: and i's who have our back, who you understand that
Speaker 4: people with disabilities and people who are family members of
Speaker 4: people with disabilities and autism vote and we need to
Speaker 4: get our butts out there and we need to vote.
Speaker 4: We need to vote this year. We need to vote
Speaker 4: every year. Your local jurisdiction will decide the zoning for
Speaker 4: that next property. Your governors, your mayors, people in policy
Speaker 4: elected policy places can do a lot of good to
Speaker 4: advance supportive housing. They can do a lot of good
Speaker 4: to help us create more inclusive communities and healthcare and
Speaker 4: employment and education. And they can do a lot of
Speaker 4: harm too, knowingly or unknowingly, unravel all the good we
Speaker 4: in the charitable nonprofit sector and other sectors have done.
Speaker 4: So it's really important that we get out there and
Speaker 4: vote the spectrum and you think about it, think spectrum
Speaker 4: of autism, spectrum of disabilities, and when you think about
Speaker 4: the spectrum between red and blue, we can get it
Speaker 4: right for a lot of communities and a lot of people.
Speaker 4: And so that's what we're inuring people to do. And
Speaker 4: I've got bookmarks and I've got stickers for you too,
Speaker 4: and we hope that you use them, and we definitely will.
Speaker 4: We're eager to help spread the word not only based
Speaker 4: on our example here in Arizona, but in states across
Speaker 4: the country. And they can go to vote the Spectrum
Speaker 4: dot org to learn more and download our toolkit and
Speaker 4: learn about some of the people and some of the
Speaker 4: messages that we have to convey because people with disabilities
Speaker 4: they have a lot to say.
Speaker 3: And do me a favor to.
Speaker 5: The first Place website, the global one that you mentioned.
Speaker 3: Let's make sure people.
Speaker 4: That would be first place global dot org and spell
Speaker 4: out first first place global dot org.
Speaker 1: Okay, and they can go there and get more information
Speaker 1: on first Place, more information on you, more information on
Speaker 1: how they can have some meaningful, impactful, actionable steps in
Speaker 1: their lives that help, you know, make a difference for
Speaker 1: not just individuals that are dealing with autism, but you know,
Speaker 1: families again, communities and you know, doing the right thing
Speaker 1: just because it's the kind thing. So thank everyone for listening.
Speaker 1: Thank you all for listening. I've been your host Rams's Jah.
Speaker 2: He's still Ramsy's Jah. I'm Qward most of the time.
Speaker 2: I'm definitely que Ward today in their presence of Esteemed Company. Yes,
Speaker 2: thank you for allowing us to be a part of
Speaker 2: this conversation. And hopefully this is something that continues. I
Speaker 2: know Ramsyes will insist, but I want you to. I
Speaker 2: want to be able to look at you in the
Speaker 2: eyes and let you know that I want to be
Speaker 2: as involved in as much of a resource as I
Speaker 2: can as well.
Speaker 1: So thanks Ki, He's telling the truth and for everyone else,
Speaker 1: do us a favor. Hit the website Civiccipher dot comic
Speaker 1: download this in any previous episode. You can also submit
Speaker 1: any questions any topics. Make a donation. The show grows
Speaker 1: with your support. Tap into us all of our social media.
Speaker 1: For those that missed our live for the pop out
Speaker 1: with Kidd and Friends, that's on YouTube at YouTube dot com.
Speaker 1: Slash Civic Cipher and until next week, y'all peace,