OUR PHILOSOPHY
(in a relatively
large nutshell)
Yes,
Virginia, there is a Disability Culture. It has
been around and evolving for a very long time.
There is history and contribution, There are
poets, painters and musicians, actors, artisans
and leaders, dancers, speakers and politicians,
business owners and storytellers, parents and
siblings, inventors, teachers, scientists and
explorers. Yes, even presidents.
The
world owes a debt of gratitude to its Disability
Culture. Without it, most likely, we would not
have many of the products from which we benefit:
the telephone, the phonograph, automatic
doors...The list is endless.
The Nth Degree is about
turning light bulbs on. We are about helping
folks to recognize that there is no such thing as
"Us and Them", just one big
"Us". We're about increasing awareness
and understanding; as much about the celebration
of our individuality and our differences, as the
search for common ground: the search for shared
truths, interests, histories, goals, fears.
This catalog is about
focusing on a bigger picture, about believing in
one's self and cause. What can we bring to the
table of our community? What is our story and how
can its telling enlighten that community?
Finally, The Nth Degree is
about feeding our sense of humor: that vital and
most intimate connection with the child within.
Laughter is the elixir of life and the universal
language. Shared, it levels walls; opens minds,
assuages fear. Being able to laugh at ourselves,
our professions, our fears, our culture with its
"norms" and expectations, is like
taking the kid to work with you. Well, maybe not
that...but it is like having an invisible button
running directly to a brain pump that puts
negative karma on the now o'clock train out of
Dodge. For more on our philosophy (and for a cool
message from a dog) give "A Dog's
Contribution" a read.
We want The Nth
Degree web site and catalog to be a
place where people can come to find information,
understanding and solidarity and to share
talents, skills and stories. We have lots of
"Awarewear" and "Awareware":
shirts and stuff for and from Disability Culture,
the Inclusion and Independent Living Movements,
and for the "Human Connection" we all
share. The Nth Degree is very big on networking
and collaboration. As we grow, should you have
something to contribute: a shirt idea, for
example, or a product to sell: poetry, art, or a
conference to promote...let us give you a forum.
As Ram Dass reminds us: "We're all just
walking each other home."
[ON TO THE CATALOG]
DAN'S BIO
Aside from being a
dad, husband, friend, chair-user, artist, writer,
graphic designer, humorist, Brown's fan and a
million other things, Dan Wilkins, is an
outspoken advocate, story teller and visionary
for people living with disabilities and the
culture to which they belong. Since 1989, he has
been sharing stories and ideas in workshops,
breakouts, keynotes, chautauquas and roundtables,
formal and informal, for students from pre-school
(tough crowd) to doctorate, parents,
professionals in business, human service and
allied health, educators and administrators, and
folks with disabilities on a broad range of
topics from disability and diversity awareness,
advocacy and self-advocacy, to the importance of
humor, inclusion, community and seeing through
bigger eyes.
Dan currently sits
on several boards and advisory committees
including being Chairman of the Board of
Directors for The Ability Center, a Center for
Independent Living serving northwest Ohio and the
Greater Toledo area.
He also operates
The Nth Degree, a progressive, forward-thinking
graphic design company geared toward issues
related to the independent living movement,
inclusion, diversity, and disability rights
movements.
DAN'S C. V.
Daniel
D. Wilkins
21325 Bradner Road,
Luckey, OH 43443
1-419-837-5982 or
1-800-241-8468
E-mail:
wheelchairboy@glasscity.net
Website:
www.thenthdegree.com
Age: 47, Married to
Beth, Relatively new parent of Taylor John (born
Dec. 3. 98) and old parent to daughter,
Elizabeth, living with her husband, Adam, and
three children, Cody, Autumn and Lauren outside
Chattanooga,Tennessee.
President and Owner
of The Nth Degree, a very progressive
nationwide Graphic Design/Silk
Screen/Professional Speaking Company specializing
in Products, Designs and Stories for the
Interdependent Living, Inclusion, Diversity and
Disability Rights Movement. Dan's creative work
and professional speaking has been done with
hospitals, Independent Living Centers (ILC's),
nursing homes, private allied health professional
organizations, Rehabilitation Centers, Schools
and more.
When it comes to
issues pertaining to persons living with
disabilities and their individual needs, he will
not sacrifice either quality or advocacy.
Dan is co-founder
and past president of the Northwest Ohio
Chapter of the National Spinal Cord Injury
Association, a support group dedicated to
prevention and awareness, advocacy, and peer
counseling for 22 counties in northwest Ohio and
southeastern Michigan.
He is a founding
member of The American-Lithuanian Disability
and Rehabilitation Exchange Program, a
non-profit organization dedicated to improving
life for persons with disabilities in Lithuania.
He has a B.A.
Degree in Psychology from Lourdes College in
Sylvania, Ohio, and has spoken nationally in over
thirty states and internationally in Canada,
Lithuania and Iceland, on topics including Self-Advocacy,
Empowerment, Inclusive Thinking, Coping with
Disability through Humor and Focusing on the
Human Connection.
Dan currently sits
on several Boards, including Schools are
For Everyone Collaborative in Ohio, The Ability Center
of Greater Toledo, and the Board of Directors
for Preferred Properties, Inc., a non-profit
accessible housing consortium for persons with
mental and physical disabilities in the Toledo,
Ohio area.
References for
Speaking available upon request.
ON THE
PERSONAL SIDE:
Born in Battle
Creek, Michigan in 1957, Dan grew up with his
parents, two younger sisters and younger brother
in southern Michigan and Toledo, Ohio. Graduating
from Northwood High School in Northwood, Ohio in
1975 and unable to afford college, Dan spent a
few years in the US Air Force. In 1980, he was
injured in an automobile accident, spent nine
months at the University of Michigan Hospital,
then settled down in Ohio. In 1983, he returned
to college, receiving his BA in Psychology from
Lourdes College in Sylvania, Ohio in 1988. He
worked for three years at The Ability Center of
Greater Toledo. He left there in 1990 to start
his own company, The Nth Degree. He met his wife,
Beth, an OTR/L, at a conference in Chicago in
1992. They were married in April of 1996. They,
and The Nth Degree, live in a hundred year old
farmhouse in Luckey, Ohio. Both are strong
advocates for persons with disabilities. So's the
new kid, Taylor.
A Photo, by the one and only Junebug Clark
(This is a 150 dpi jpg. Please let us know if you
need a different format)
[ON TO THE CATALOG] [CUSTOM WORK] [WRITINGS AND STORIES] [UPCOMING SCHEDULE]
[PHOTOS] [COOL LINKS]
|
