Unknown Speaker  0:12  
[musical interlude] 

Joe Murphy  0:17  
Welcome to Networks for Training and Development's "Employment for All" podcast. I am your host, Joe Murphy. This podcast is dedicated to real work and real pay for all citizens.

Joe Murphy  0:31  
Welcome, welcome to the Employment for All podcast. My name is Joe Murphy with Networks for Training and Development and I'm joined today by Arthur, Art Aston. You said Art, right?

Art Aston  0:42  
That's right. Hi, thanks for having me.

Joe Murphy  0:47  
Thanks for joining us. I've been - I've been looking forward to having this conversation and talking. We talked a little briefly a couple weeks ago. But I like you'to be able to share a little bit who you are, and, and some of your story, it'd be kind of cool to get it out there a little bigger. So who are you?

Art Aston  1:06  
So I am Arthur Aston. You know, people do call me Art. I don't mind at all. It was one of those things where I was I mentioned to you before, when I was growing up, my dad was also Arthur. But he was known as Art to our friends and family and I was Arthur or Little Arthur and, you know, but as I got older, more people started calling me Art. So you know, that's perfectly fine. I was born in 1981 with a birth defect called Spina Bifida. And it impacted my ability to walk. So I use - I wear leg braces that come up to my thighs and crutches to walk. I'm able to walk for short distances. But after a while, it gets a little tiring for me because I have to use my core muscles in my stomach area to move my legs since my leg muscles don't work. But I also have to breathe from there as well so when I walk long distances I, I get out of breath easily. So I use a wheelchair as well. So you know, you may on any given day, you might see me walking or you know, in my wheelchair, but I - so for all of my life, I've had this disability and more recently, in the last 10 years I have taken on the mission and a vision of mine to raise awareness about disabilities, not just spinal bifida, but all disabilities, and more importantly, to change the tone of conversation. Regarding people who have disabilities, I often say, you know, for somebody like me, you would hear, "Oh, he has Spina Bifida, but he can't walk." Or, "He has trouble walking..." They talk about the negative things. So I created Our View, which is a disability awareness company to help change the tone of conversation about disabilities. I want people to see the positives. So for myself, in addition to having Spina Bifida, you know, I'm a son, I'm a brother, I'm an uncle, I'm a friend. So, you know, I also have a master's degree in psychology, which was another passion of mine because of my disability, I want it to be able to help others and families who are impacted by disabilities. That's why I majored in psychology. So I, I, you know, I just really appreciate this opportunity to be able to tell my story and share it with your audience and, you know, connect with you all there.

Joe Murphy  3:46  
So how's Our View leading that vision of, of sharing - sharing the positives of a person's life and sharing the abilities of who a person is?

Art Aston  3:57  
So I really, 10 years ago, when I started it was because of my nephew who he understood my disability. He had known me, he was eight or nine years old at the time, he had known me all his life. So seeing the crutches or the wheelchair wasn't a big deal to him. He was impacted by it because people at his... kids at his school were looking at me one day when I picked him up. So he was really hurt by that. And he didn't understand well, why are they staring at you? So I had to explain to him that those kids may not know somebody who has Spina Bifida and they may not have ever seen a wheelchair or crutches before. So it's something different. So back then, 10 years ago, I started by sharing my story specifically with students. Because, you know, if, if, they don't see someone who has crutches, they won't know what they're for. They don't know why a person or the multiple reasons why a person might have them. So I started sharing my story with kids in the local area. I live in South Jersey. So I would go to schools and my friends who were teachers, they would figure out how to incorporate my story into their lesson plans. You know, an English teacher, a friend of mine, who's an English teacher, she incorporated the book Jackie's Nine about Jackie Robinson. Courage and determination. She had the students read those two chapters, and then she had me come in maybe a week later or so. And they're eighth grade students, and you could see their reaction when I came in to tell my story, and some of them said, "Hey, you know, you show a lot of courage and determination." You know, it's kind of like that book we read, you know, a couple weeks ago. So and, and more recently, now, I've started my own podcast to share the story of others. So, you know, that's, that's how I'm, I'm helping to change the tone of conversation because people with disabilities are still underrepresented in on TV, in the movies. In music, you don't you don't hear their stories of their their disabilities. You know, you're familiar with a few famous people, Marlee Matlin, who is hearing impaired; Stevie Wonder is vision impaired, Ray Charles, but you don't hear or see many people discussing their disabilities on a large, a larger scale, larger platform on TV and film and music.

Joe Murphy  6:39  
So when you go into schools, how have you made these connections? I know you've talked about you have your one friend who was a teacher who brought you in and incorporate it in that lesson with Jackie Robin. So how else have you brought your vision to the schools?

Art Aston  7:02  
That has been the primary way that I'm able to get into the schools through a connection through a teacher or an administrator who I know that's, and then it's so interesting, because once once I get into the school, it's like, "Oh, well, we need you to come back." You know, there's one school that this coming October would have been, I think, the seventh year that I've been going to talk to their sixth grade students, just because they have such a great reaction to, you know, to my story, and being able to, to be close and up close and personal with someone who has a disability because you might see someone walking in a store, or you know, at at a park somewhere, but you don't get a chance to ask those questions. So thankfully, I do have a lot of friends who are teachers that were able to get me in for, you know, to speak to their class for for different reasons I've been to one local district had me in for a science day, were [Joe: Science!] different. Yes, for science day, so the different grade levels had different presenters. So I forget what grades they were, but just for an example, you know, third grade may have had someone come talk about animals, somebody else was coming to do like science experiments with you know, peroxide, and the whole how it fizzes up and, and they had me come in to talk about how my disability impacts my, the systems of my body. So how it impacts my nervous system and my digestive system, my circulatory system. So it's really, and I had never thought about that, of course, it impacts all of those systems, but I never thought that, you know, I could talk to I think there were fourth or fifth graders about it. And they actually understood because they knew, you know, they they know what the neurons and things are and and what the spinal cords purpose is. And you know, what the stomach does and the esophagus. So I was able to use those terms, and they knew what they were so it was really a you know, that that was one of the one of my favorite ones that I would do, you know, just to talk about it, because they they could really relate and make it a real... a real thing.

Joe Murphy  9:21  
Wow! [Art: Yeah!] That is so cool. And I wish I knew who that teacher was too, 'cause the even thinking that in those terms and, and to give his or her students that that experience of a real life example. And you'll be able to, and you'll be able to go in and show it. Holy smokes. Wow.

Art Aston  9:43  
Yeah, that was that was one of the things that I had never done it before. And they asked me about it. "Do you think you can pull it off?" I said, "I'm not sure how I'm going to pull it off, but I'm up for it. I have a few months to prepare, let's make it happen." So we really, you know, we really pulled it out. And I was able to, you know, really relate. And it, it really was something for me too, because I've lived with this all of my life. And this was a few years ago. So, you know, I'll say I was I was in my 30s. So for 30 years, I knew this impacted for, say, my, my digestive system, but I never was really able to talk about it in such a way where it was like, "Oh, so that's what happened." So it was really educational for myself too, you know, to talk about, you know, my stomach gets upset because things are not absorbed as they should be. And you know, so it was really, it was educational for them, and for me as well to learn about myself in a different kind of way.

Joe Murphy  10:42  
Wow, that's so good. That's so interesting.

Art Aston  10:44  
Yeah.

Joe Murphy  10:46  
So when you and I talked a couple of weeks back, I asked you this one question that I had to at least ask for this podcast. What is the best question you've ever gotten from a student when you went into one of these seminars?

Art Aston  11:00  
Oh, yes, that's my favorite question. So it was a sixth grade student and the question. So because of my disability, because of my Spina Bifida, it impacted my leg, my leg muscles and my sensation in my legs. So I can feel to my knees as I get to my knees and below my knees, I lose all sensation. I can't feel below. After I get past my knees, I can't feel anything. So the student asked, "Well, what if you were in lava? Would you be able to feel it burning?" So it's still, it's still my all time favorite question. So my response to him was, let me know a real life situation where I would be around lava. And you know, and then we can talk and he said, "Well, you know, you, you might be..." and then he thought about it. And he said, "Well, yeah, you probably wouldn't be around lava." I said, No. And I know, and I know, lava is hot, just because, you know, that's what we've, we've learned about that lava is hot. So I wouldn't purposely be around lava and have my foot in lava. So it's, it's interesting when you, you know, when I say something about not being able to feel my feet. And some, you know, especially children, they don't have a concept of what like, what is that? What do you mean, you can't feel anything in your feet? You can't feel it? Because they have, it's hard for them to think of to be without that sensation. You know, so I understood his question for sure. But it was still it was very funny.

Joe Murphy  12:41  
So for those listening to the podcast, we're at the end of August in 2020. So we're in the midst of COVID-19. And the pandemic, and most schools in our region are not going back full time in person. Most are doing hybrid, or virtual or hybrid, some in person, some online, but I think majority are doing online. Do you have any plans for this upcoming school year to do any of your presentations?

Art Aston  13:14  
I don't yet. I had two presentations in one school district. Two different schools had scheduled me to come in for April and May of the previous school year, but that's when COVID-19 had hit. And every school in New Jersey had shut down and went virtual. So I'm trying to give them time to figure out exactly what they're all doing before I reach out to them, but I would I would love and would be more than willing to, you know, meet with them virtually, if I could create some type of video, you know, just to tell my story, and then possibly do, you know, a ZOOM or a Google Hangout, whichever program they use, you know, to meet with the class where the class could actually ask questions, you know, in a live type of setting, you know, for, for a few minutes, a half hour, 45 minutes, I would love to figure out how how to make that happen. But being that I do know a lot of teachers I know that they are in the midst of figuring all that out right now. So, you know, I think, I, me, personally, I would most likely put that on hold for the fall and you know, try to get in sometime after their holiday break, after the first of the year.

Joe Murphy  14:32  
I was curious if you joined them by ZOOM and then maybe at the end of the year, hopefully if things go better. School's open back up, then join them in person and impact some students vision of you and views, of views of who you are as a person and like, change them in some ways.

Art Aston  14:52  
Yeah, I would definitely, you know, I'm, I'm looking forward to, you know, of course I feel terrible about it. Because I remember, and I remember being in school and it's like, yeah, the summertime is fun, but then you do like getting back to seeing your friends and things. So it's really, you know, I'm sure it's very difficult for everyone with this new situation with the pandemic going on. But I'm really, you know, I'm open to any suggestions and any, any type of way that we can work this out, because I think it would be good to see, you know, for to still get my story out there, even if it is virtually and then like you said, at a later date, be able to come in and actually meet with the students and talk to them in person. So I'm, I'm really, I'm thinking of ideas. But you know, waiting, of course, like I said, till at least they can settle things and get things together.

Joe Murphy  15:49  
That's totally smart. Like I, I understand. I work part time in a school district, and I see what's going on there right now. It's a little chaotic. We're school supposed to start next week, I think, and they still don't know exactly what's going on. So when we talk last, you also mentioned you're heavily involved in another organization. Can you talk a little about this?

Art Aston  16:14  
Yes, so, um, my job. My other job, which I also love is I work as executive director of a nonprofit called Build Jake's Place. So we are a nonprofit organization in Pennsauken, New Jersey, where we create inclusive play experiences. So we, we design inclusive playgrounds. So what that means is the playground is - our tagline is playgrounds for everybody of every ability. So no matter if you have a disability or not, you're able to get on these Jake's place playgrounds. So Jake's place was started in memory of Jake Nasto. He was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, and sadly passed away at the age of two and a half. And in his memory, his family was given a donation from friends of theirs who said do something in his memory. And they wanted to create, at the time it was called Boundless Playgrounds. So they wanted to create a boundless playground in his memory. And he, his, his family created one playground. It took four years to raise the over $600,000 for this playground. And the playground opened in October of 2011, in Cherry Hill, and we opened our second playground last summer 2019, we opened in Delran, New Jersey. That playground was also over $600,000. So what what makes the playgrounds - what adds to the cost of the playgrounds is that the surfacing on the playground is a non latex rubberized surfacing. And what it is, so it's easy for wheelchairs and walkers and other assistive devices to, to walk over and wheel over. So also our playground structures have ramps, so people in wheelchairs and walkers and crutches can get up and down all over the play structures. The sliding boards are really... They're, they're designed in such a way that it's easy for someone to transfer from a wheelchair onto the slide. So it's really, you know, everything is thought and done intentionally. So, and but at the same time because these playgrounds are becoming more popular, but they're not. You know, not not every playground is designed like this, so that that's why the cost is remaining a bit high. So we are working with Jake's Place in the state of New Jersey to help change that. And actually it was in August of 2018, we had Jake's Law passed, which will require every county in the state of New Jersey to have at least one inclusive playground. And the before COVID-19 took over everything we were working with seven townships to build new playgrounds in the state of New Jersey. So we, you know, we're looking forward to getting back to that. Unfortunately, we also had to cancel our Miracle League season in the spring and we also canceled it for this upcoming fall season, which is our Miracle League is a baseball league for children and adults who have disabilities. The minimum age, minimum age requirement is five years old and you can be as old as you want to be to play and every player is matched with a volunteer to help them with whatever they need: batting the ball, running the bases, or you know in outfield getting the ball. And so, you know, that's one of the things I'm really sad about to have to cancel the two seasons of that. You know, we had to do it and, you know, but it wasn't it wasn't an easy decision to make, but there's no way that we can socially distance when, you know, when the player has to be matched with a volunteer to help them out. So it's not... it's beyond our control. And, and we're looking forward to getting back to it in the spring of 2021.

Joe Murphy  20:29  
So where do you get funds for Jake's Place?

Art Aston  20:32  
Jake's Place is funded by primarily by donations from, you know, from our fundraisers that we have, and that's another thing we had to put on hold. We had a fundraiser to plan for the summer that we had to postpone and, you know, but we - we've had some corporate support. You could say Berkshire Hathaway has been very supportive of us and they helped raise a large portion of the, the money that we built, use to build the second playground within Delran. They held a gala for us for three years. That raised a lot of money and also Home & Automotive. They've provided a lot of funds for us and our baseball league; our primary sponsor is the Camden County Freeholders, they provide our primary sponsorship for the Miracle League every year, which is very helpful. But we, for the baseball league, for instance, we sell banners to hang out on the outfield fence for the year and yeah, so we, we that's how we raise additional money, but primarily through our, through our fundraisers that we have and sponsorships that we get through... through those. That's how we raise our money.

Joe Murphy  21:59  
I'm looking forward to actually stopping over Cherry Hill. I'm right over the bridge in Philly over Tacony.

Art Aston  22:04  
Yes.

Joe Murphy  22:05  
I spent some time in Cherry Hill. So I'm looking forward to get over there to check out, ah, the playground and see what it looks like and...

Art Aston  22:09  
Yeah, definitely, let me know. And Delran is, is, you know, not too far either. So let me know. We'll hit 'em both up. [Joe:  Definitely.] Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

Joe Murphy  22:21  
If people want more information on let's, on Jake's Place, where would they go?

Art Aston  22:26  
They can go to our website. It's www.buildjakesplace.org. And through there, you can get to our Miracle League website. And we're on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter @buildjakesplace - B U I L D J A K E S P L A C E. And for Our View, we can, you can find my website, www.our-view.com. And I'm also on all the social media's platforms. It's Our View For Life, you can find me there.

Joe Murphy  23:06  
We'll make sure that our def... those links are definitely in the, the notes, the that the se...

Art Aston  23:11  
Yes.

Joe Murphy  23:12  
...Session notes for this session. So you've also, during this pandemic, ventured into another realm to get your message out and to hear other people's messages, right? I think?

Art Aston  23:23  
Yes. Yes! Are you referring to my podcast? So yes, I did. I did start a podcast in June of this year, just because I named the company Our View. So it's not just my view, it's our view, it's everybody's view, as a person, as people who live with disabilities, we all have different... everybody has a challenge or, or more that they face in life. And I just really want to get those stories out into the public. You know, we, we see a story in the news sometimes and then it just goes away and, and, you know, I, I always find myself wanting, wanting to know more about certain, certain people you see on TV and, and you know, in the news and stuff like that. So through the podcast, I, my first episode, I started telling my story, which I told briefly here and then primarily, I'm focusing on interviewing other people who have disabilities, through, you know, through birth, through accidents, through you know, any, any way that they acquire their disability. I'm interested in telling their story and getting getting their story and their diagnosis and information about their diagnosis out to a larger audience.

Joe Murphy  24:58  
So where can people find the Our View podcast?

Art Aston  25:01  
So the Our View podcast is on Anchor, Apple podcast, and Spotify right now. So, I think I'm four episodes in. I have another episode, I have episodes that come out every 15th and 30th of the month. So I, I wanted to, I wanted to make it manageable and realistic for myself. So I know I can get two episodes done in a month. I didn't want to overwhelm myself by saying, you know, I'll put it out once a week. You know, so I right now I'm doing the 15th and 30th of every month. So, my most recent episode that I put out is with John Bramblett. He's a blind visual artist. He's a painter and he's painted airplanes and murals and all kinds of great things. And coming up my next episode get to premiere with Phil Kasan. He's a music producer, but he is a two time brain cancer survivor that left him with nerve damage and left him partially paralyzed on his right side and he, he's right handed. So it's really, yeah, so it's really... His story is great. And, you know, just to hear different, different perspectives and how people handle, handle their diagnosis, how their family and friends handled the diagnosis, and how they just get through everyday life, I think is really, really interesting to me, because I, I hear a lot, a lot of people say to me, "Oh, you inspire me... You're inspiring," and that kind of thing. But it's... in one of my episodes we talked about, you know, it's not inspiring that I'm at the grocery store, because I have to eat just like everybody else. You know, but it's, you know, but, but what it takes me to get to the grocery store, some days might be inspiring. So it's, ah, you know, it's really interesting for, for me to hear other people's stories and to hear how similar they are to, to my own story, even though we have different diagnosis and different challenges. But it goes back to, I think the, you know, we are more alike than we are different with, with everybody. So I think that's, I think that's what really helps with, you know, by sharing these stories through, through the podcast.

Joe Murphy  27:36  
Wow.  Well said. We are more alike than we are different. I think it's a great way to come towards the end here. Art, is there anything you want to say in closing?

Art Aston  27:47  
No. I just, I really, I'm really grateful for this opportunity. And for the work that you all are doing. It's, it's really important, because we're all, you know, trying to help those people with disabilities, and it's really, really important and necessary. And I think the more that podcasts and opportunities like this are available to people I think, the more, the more helpful it is for others to understand, that, you know, I have a disability, but I have to do things differently. But you know, I, I would like to work just like everybody else would like to work. And, you know, I would like to, you know... I, I'm a single, I'm a single man right now, I don't have a wife or kids or anything, but I would like to be able to support myself and, you know, do things with my family and friends and, and, you know, through employment and, and, you know, other means like that and you know, I have a car so being able to have a nice car and, and, you know, live a decent life, I think is something that we all would like to do. And so having, like I said, having the opportunity to share my story like this and, and providing a platform like this, I think is very important and helpful. So I really do appreciate it.

Joe Murphy  29:15  
Art Aston, thank you very much for joining us. We will definitely link in the session notes to your podcast and however else we do that we are going to find out from our tech people, how, how that's done. So we'll do this. So, again, thank you. I really appreciate it. And I look forward to seeing and listening to your podcasts in the future.

Art Aston  29:35  
Oh, thank you very much and I appreciate this so much.

Joe Murphy  29:40  
Thank you for listening. We hope the information we provided was useful. If it was please subscribe to our podcast channel. You can find all information about Networks for Training Development at our website www.networksfortraining.org [outro instrumental music]

Transcribed by https://otter.ai