[nabs-l] Helping the group in organized chaos situations

[Julie McGinnity]

Hello friends,

I know...  Weird subject line...  But in my opera workshop class, we
are expected to help clean, organize costumes and set pieces, and do
other physical type tasks.  I am no good at these things, not because
I don't want to help or can't lift, clean, or help in other ways, but
because I cannot see what needs doing in an organized chaos type
situation.  I hate being left out of things, especially when I know I
can help just as much as everyone else.  My professor doesn't get
it...  She doesn't think it's safe for me to lift things and doesn't
mind me sitting by while others do all the work.  But I feel aweful
and find myself dreading work days and clean-up times.  I want to
help, but I don't know how to throw myself in.  Most of all, I don't
want to try to help with something, just to be told that I'm not
welcome. I have tried to talk with my professor about these things,
and she wants to give me jobs like helping call cues, but most of what
we do is actually physical work, and I'd still be left out of all of
it. I feel like if I can navigate uneven and high platforms on a stage
without falling to my death, I can handle a little heavy lifting and
cleaning.  But I don't know how to convince others, especially when
they believe it would simply be easier for them to do the work.

Have any of you dealt with a similar situation?  How have you handled it?


-- 
Julie McG
National Association of Guide dog Users board member,  National
Federation of the Blind performing arts division secretary,
Missouri Association of Guide dog Users President,
and Guiding Eyes for the Blind graduate 2008
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that
everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal
life."
John 3:16