If you go ...
The first public meeting of the ground-floor committee for developing a social-recreational center for the disabled is planned for 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29 in the first-floor conference room of the Monroe Public Library. For more information, contact Gene Rood at 214-0704.
MONROE - Gene Rood, Monroe, is searching for a solution for what he sees as a community-wide need - a place to socialize with his peers, the physically disabled.
"What I'm looking for is a place to meet and socialize," Rood said. "There's not one place in Monroe or Green County."
While community goals of supporting people with disabilities used to focus on providing benefits, Rood is pushing to shift the emphasis to supporting independence and promoting involvement in all aspects of society, breaking down the barriers in the environment that prevent full social participation.
His concept is simple. "A place where they can come and shoot the breeze," Rood said.
Some people may argue that many places are accessible to the disabled, especially since the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, including changes made by the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, mandating public places make accommodations so they are accessible to the disabled.
But Rood isn't interested in sitting in a tavern or trolling the retail stores any more than he is content to sit at home watching television day after day.
Rood said he's a people-person and likes to "pass the bull back and forth.
"I have to get out of the house," he said. "You can only be in one place so long, before the four walls start to close in on you."
Rood wants to create social centers for people with disabilities in other communities, too.
"I'm going to find one place (in Monroe) first, and then find community places around the county," he said.
Unsuccessful so far with finding an appropriate, ready-made center, Rood is turning to his peers in the community to create a "ground-floor committee" for developing ideas for their own center.
"It's something nobody has ever tried to do," Rood said.
The committee name has nothing to do with disability access. It's called a "ground-floor" committee because "you can't get any lower than that; you can only go up," he added.
He has planned the committee's first public meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29 in the first-floor conference room of the Monroe Public Library.
Rood said he has been asked by Monroe Mayor Bill Ross to get a petition signed by the disabled members of the community outlining their needs, to start the ball rolling. Now he needs those members, who are not always easily identifiable.
"I know they're out there," Rood said, "if I can find them. I personally know at least three, and know of a couple others."
Rood has been on the hunt for a community center that can accommodate not just the physically disabled, but anyone with a disability. He doesn't want anyone with any disability to be excluded.
But exclusion is just what he said he has found in potential recreational centers in the city.
"The disabled community is one segment of society that's been forgotten," he said.
Unlike the physically disabled, the developmentally disabled have group homes and a special workplace, Greenco, to accommodate them, which contribute to their lifestyle and employment, and offer socialization as well, Rood said.
The Behring Senior Center, which is his preferred type of center, is off limits to him - at least for a few more years, because Rood is not yet 55 years old. The senior center board upholds a strict age limit policy.
The city's Recreational Center is a community center, but it isn't a drop-in type of facility. It's available for rent by anyone in the community at a cost of $65. And for the guy who likes to play pool, Rood said, the pool table is in a room too small and not wheelchair accessible.
Rood believes enough space could be found at the government facilities at Pleasant View on Wisconsin 59. But one problem there is the winter driving distance. Like Rood, who doesn't drive anymore, many people with disabilities would require extra transportation arrangements to get to Pleasant View.
And, with this being election time of the year, Rood has also talked to candidates about a solution.
"They tell me they can't do much until after the election," Rood said.
Rood has been disabled for about 12 years, diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and further disabled by a back injury that required surgery. He had to quit his job at International Ingredients, where he had a physically-demanding job producing hog feed.
Back then, he said, he never thought about all the challenges disabled people face -including, now, himself.
His first challenge, after being declared disabled from Parkinson's symptoms, was not looking disabled, he said. People criticized him for not working.
"I looked like everybody else," he said, "but I had tremors so bad."
He was already in stage two of the four stages of the disease before his chiropractor noticed his symptoms.
Now at age 51, Rood, although a relative late-comer to disability, says, "Disability has no age limit."
"I'm going to continue to help the younger," he said.
"What I'm looking for is a place to meet and socialize," Rood said. "There's not one place in Monroe or Green County."
While community goals of supporting people with disabilities used to focus on providing benefits, Rood is pushing to shift the emphasis to supporting independence and promoting involvement in all aspects of society, breaking down the barriers in the environment that prevent full social participation.
His concept is simple. "A place where they can come and shoot the breeze," Rood said.
Some people may argue that many places are accessible to the disabled, especially since the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, including changes made by the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, mandating public places make accommodations so they are accessible to the disabled.
But Rood isn't interested in sitting in a tavern or trolling the retail stores any more than he is content to sit at home watching television day after day.
Rood said he's a people-person and likes to "pass the bull back and forth.
"I have to get out of the house," he said. "You can only be in one place so long, before the four walls start to close in on you."
Rood wants to create social centers for people with disabilities in other communities, too.
"I'm going to find one place (in Monroe) first, and then find community places around the county," he said.
Unsuccessful so far with finding an appropriate, ready-made center, Rood is turning to his peers in the community to create a "ground-floor committee" for developing ideas for their own center.
"It's something nobody has ever tried to do," Rood said.
The committee name has nothing to do with disability access. It's called a "ground-floor" committee because "you can't get any lower than that; you can only go up," he added.
He has planned the committee's first public meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29 in the first-floor conference room of the Monroe Public Library.
Rood said he has been asked by Monroe Mayor Bill Ross to get a petition signed by the disabled members of the community outlining their needs, to start the ball rolling. Now he needs those members, who are not always easily identifiable.
"I know they're out there," Rood said, "if I can find them. I personally know at least three, and know of a couple others."
Rood has been on the hunt for a community center that can accommodate not just the physically disabled, but anyone with a disability. He doesn't want anyone with any disability to be excluded.
But exclusion is just what he said he has found in potential recreational centers in the city.
"The disabled community is one segment of society that's been forgotten," he said.
Unlike the physically disabled, the developmentally disabled have group homes and a special workplace, Greenco, to accommodate them, which contribute to their lifestyle and employment, and offer socialization as well, Rood said.
The Behring Senior Center, which is his preferred type of center, is off limits to him - at least for a few more years, because Rood is not yet 55 years old. The senior center board upholds a strict age limit policy.
The city's Recreational Center is a community center, but it isn't a drop-in type of facility. It's available for rent by anyone in the community at a cost of $65. And for the guy who likes to play pool, Rood said, the pool table is in a room too small and not wheelchair accessible.
Rood believes enough space could be found at the government facilities at Pleasant View on Wisconsin 59. But one problem there is the winter driving distance. Like Rood, who doesn't drive anymore, many people with disabilities would require extra transportation arrangements to get to Pleasant View.
And, with this being election time of the year, Rood has also talked to candidates about a solution.
"They tell me they can't do much until after the election," Rood said.
Rood has been disabled for about 12 years, diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and further disabled by a back injury that required surgery. He had to quit his job at International Ingredients, where he had a physically-demanding job producing hog feed.
Back then, he said, he never thought about all the challenges disabled people face -including, now, himself.
His first challenge, after being declared disabled from Parkinson's symptoms, was not looking disabled, he said. People criticized him for not working.
"I looked like everybody else," he said, "but I had tremors so bad."
He was already in stage two of the four stages of the disease before his chiropractor noticed his symptoms.
Now at age 51, Rood, although a relative late-comer to disability, says, "Disability has no age limit."
"I'm going to continue to help the younger," he said.