* Besides bringing her North Star Can Do! Workshops to New England schools that book her and her workshops, Maribeth also contracts with organizations to offer "ability focused" disability awareness programs in their communities on the organizations' behalf... usually funded by grants the organizations have received to implement the program. For example, Maribeth developed and has coordinated Maine Easter Seal's disability awareness outreach program for elementary schools in Southern Maine for the past two years.

Disability Awareness Educator Maribeth Bush: spreading a "can do" message to Maine children, by John Begin (this article appeared in the Summer 1997 issue of The Tree, official newsletter of the Pine Tree Society for Handicapped Children and Adults, Maine's Easter Seal Society)

For Maribeth Bush, "can't" is a four-letter word.

The coordinator of the Pine Tree Society's Disability Awareness Program since October 1, 1996, Maribeth has spent the past eight months traveling from school to school in York and Cumberland counties, dispelling many myths and fielding even more questions about disabilities and the people who have them. By the end of the school year, she had conducted 28 presentations at elementary schools in the two-county area as well was in Lewiston and Auburn, meeting with nearly 640 students.

Her constant message is a simple one, a focus on "ability" rather than "disability".

"The main focus of the program is identifying and emphasizing abilities and what people can do," she said. "What I hope to leave them with is the ability to look at someone who has a disability and not think about the few things he or she can't do, but the many things that person can do."

Maribeth praised the program's ability to teach children in a variety of grade levels about disabilities in a non-threatening environment that allows them to ask as many and varied questions as they can imagine.

"The common threads are the ones that create better understanding and acceptance, so if children can see that we are all similar and different at the same time, then maybe kindness and acceptance will result," she said.

Maribeth's presentations have received positive feedback from students and teachers alike. If anything, it is because they are believable and real-world. As part of each session with the students, she tells them about her own disability, a lifelong respiratory condition, and shows them the supplemental oxygen tank she carries with her everywhere. She is also always willing to answer questions from curious minds.

"I have had a respiratory disability all my life and have had to use supplemental oxygen 24 hours a day for the past 10 years," she said, "but I have always valued my abilities and the many things I can do. This is a message I have wanted to pass along to children, those with and without disabilities."

As with any new program, Maribeth said she would like to see hers expand to serve a larger audience of students.

"Right now, however, I'm interested in reaching the schools we are currently committed to," she added. "My goal is to do as many presentations as I can and to improve the program through research and teacher feedback along the way."

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