HANDICAPABLE MASTERMINDS

MY POSTER PEEPS

Kassidy Brewer, Aaron Yang ,and Les Paul Fountain

It was an unusual, unexpected gathering for me, an 82-year-old grandma. Four of us eating frozen yoghurt and feeling free. A motley crew we were. Let me explain.

My friend Kassidy is thirty years old. She’s my mentor in the Toastmasters Club. Much to my delight, she invited me and my grandson, Les Paul (also a Toastmaster member) to meet her for a cool treat at a yoghurt shop.

Kassidy had a ruptured brain aneurysm and a stroke at thirteen years old and is a testimony to determination. She fights spasticity (Ataxia) and balance. But she has come a long way since a doctor actually wanted her mother to consider harvesting her organs when she was still in a coma. She can drive and walk and speak. Boy, can she speak. She’s been a member of Toastmasters for thirteen years, using it as her speech therapy. She has a black belt in Tai Quando and recently mounted a horse, unassisted, for the first time since her stroke. Everybody loves her and she loves everybody. Her book will soon be published and available for sale, titled Blameless, death was never the end, it was the beginning.

My grandson, Les Paul, is twenty-six. At four years old, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. His dominant side was affected. His disabilities might be considered borderline, but he often fell in the cracks when it came to services. They wouldn’t allow him in Special Olympics because he was too intelligent. And yet, he could never run like other kids. After high school, he took some classes at Calvary Bible College and went through the Centerpoint School of Ministry.

Two years ago, he became unable to walk all together because of cerebellar atrophy, caused from all the radiation he took as part of his treatment twenty years ago. He can talk, entertain with jokes, and write on his cell phone, but he’s in a wheelchair.

Before I left to pick up Les, he called me to say a friend of his was arriving by Uber, and he wondered if we could pick him up near the church. Even though Les had only known the guy named Aaron on the internet, they were looking forward to meeting each other. I agreed because I’m a pushover and a grandma.

Aaron is twenty-four and he had just paid $104 to Uber to our area from Alhambra. He was lucky Les and I were available because the temperature was topping out at 104 degrees. Aaron was born with cerebral palsy, but with a personality as big as a golden retriever. He told us he was learning to drive and was an actor. Already appearing in some commercials as an extra, was keeping him hopeful. He pitched right in and helped me push Les in his wheelchair.

Kassidy stashed her walker in her car and entered the yoghurt shop unassisted. The four of us lit up the place with joyful non-stop conversation, all of us getting acquainted with our new friend, Aaron. We had three things in common. Yoghurt, Christians, and joy.

I loved my young twenty-something group. But their conversation was all about their goals and desires to live independently. How do you do that if you can’t work, walk, or drive, but you still hunger for fellowship with friends? They can all think, talk, and laugh. I’m calling them handicapables because they want more for their lives.

When a person with handicaps ages out of the system at twenty-two, what awaits them? Nothing. What are their choices? Social Security. Dial-a-Ride if they are lucky enough to live in the pick-up area. Group homes that are often populated with kids who have been in trouble, aged out of regional systems, or foster homes.

These young adults have families. Families who love and protect them. But does a young adult want to live in the home of their parents forever. Some do, out of necessity, and some do because it is convenient and/or economical.

Les would love to live . . . Correction. Les thinks he’d like to live in a home with another guy or two with an adult couple to supervise . . . and cook.

Does that even exist?

Kassidy dreams of a “tiny house” on her mother’s property. In both cases, the house would have to be single level with ADA compliance. Are they dreaming, or am I? I don’t even know where to start, but today Kassidy sent me some photos of container homes.

Aaron tells me that in 2023, he went to Eternal Valley Memorial Park on Sierra Highway in Newhall using Uber and bought his very own grave plot. He is very proud of that and feels that is his biggest accomplishment and achievement in life. Now there’s a real estate investment most young people don’t think about.

Meanwhile, he zooms into young adult Bible studies from churches across the nation. He refuses to live in isolation. He is even an online host for Centerpoint Church in Murrieta.

It would be easy for these folks to live in isolation, playing video games, and eating BonBons, but these three young people are not satisfied to live that way forever.

So, here’s our idea. Many years ago, I started a Mastermind group of women who had big hairy audacious goals. Each meeting we reported and celebrated our wins. Then each person stated their next big goal and for eight minutes the group brainstormed ideas, suggestions, resources, and helped develop an action plan. The results were stupendous for the six women who belonged.

These young adults are bright and following the same Mastermind plan, they will achieve great accomplishments. We won’t talk about handicaps; we will only talk about their capabilities and how they will use them to reach their goals and impact the world. This is only the beginning, there is already a list of others who want to be in the group. I can see a group of Handicapable Masterminds in every city.

Handicapable Masterminds. My dream is to start a non-profit to help these young adults move toward independent living. If you know anyone who can help me, please share this story with them and put them in touch with me. I will be telling you more as we progress. How might you help?

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