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Helen Newell’s pink lipstick smile greeted the guests with their lawn chairs and fishing rods.
Although about 80 local people with disabilities and their families turned up for Project COMPASS’ 18th annual Fishing Day event June 4, Newell knew everyone’s name and something about each of them.
“Tom’s got a great sense of humor and flirts like crazy,” Newell said about an enthusiastic man in a khaki fishing hat.
Barb Appel, 56, said that she’s often ignored and that people trying to help sometimes really aren’t concerned, but Newell is different.
“She shows that she cares,” Appel said. “She helps me meet new friends.”
Newell, 60, is the disability coordinator of Project COMPASS, a nonprofit organization within the Community Education programs at Winona Area Public Schools. It offers resources and activities for people with and without disabilities.
Events like Fishing Day allow people with disabilities to get out and connect with their community and surroundings, Newell said — not always an easy thing for them to do.
“So many, when they first started coming to COMPASS events 18 years ago, were coming out of institutions or isolated from families with not a lot of social interaction,” Newell said.
Newell remembered one man with developmental disabilities who came to all the bowling outings. Even though Newell would say hello and talk to him, he never said anything.
After three years, he walked up to Newell and said, “My score was 110! Is there cosmic bowling next week?”
Newell said she almost passed out. “It took that long for him to trust me,” she said.
About 400 volunteers a year put in more than 2,000 hours to offer recreational classes, educational workshops and support groups.
Over the years, Newell has seen how people with all types of disabilities have become involved within the community and how it changes attitudes.
“There are all types of disabilities, but mental illness is the highest stigmatized disability, and people just need to know the facts to take away the fear,” Newell said.
Deb Scharmer, an instructor at Project COMPASS, said that she had no experience when she was hired but has learned much from Newell.
She learned that she should ask people if they need help rather than assume they do.
“It took three years for one person to open the door, and when someone opens the door for (him), it’s kind of a put down,” Newell said.
Newell knows firsthand what it’s like to live with disabilities.
She lost hearing in her right ear, so she’ll often lean to the left to catch what people say. Plastic flowers adorn the walker she uses to get around. She has memory problems and has fought depression.
A substitute teacher for Winona Area Public Schools and in Cochrane-Fountain City for 20 years, Newell often worked with special needs students and found it rewarding.
When she was 30, Newell pursued a learning disability certification at Winona State University. One day in class, she watched a video on dysnomia, a memory disorder. It changed her life.
“It explained to me that I wasn’t stupid, and I just had a learning disability,” Newell said.
It explained why she could never recite the alphabet and why she writes everything down in a large black planner. Newell can relate to the pressures and stigmas that disabled people face; that’s why she loves her job.
“I get way back more than what I give,” she said. “The diverse population of people with disabilities is so appreciative of the little things. I get warm fuzzies hundreds of times a day.”
Reporter Amber Dulek can be reached at (507) 453-3513 or amber.dulek@lee.net.
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deb scharmer wrote on Sep 14, 2007 11:34 PM: