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pio the tribune wednesday november 29 1989 st disabled teens show footloose form kate gilderdale correspondent what started as a means of helping her handicapped son to socialize with other disabled young people has turned into a runaway success story for markham resident elaine vollett consequently stouffville area residents are benefiting with a chance to meet and mingle with other disabled youth in the southern york region area almost three years ago 19yearold john vollett and his family held their first dance for his friends in their home we felt it would be a good way for him to get together with some of the kids he knows explains his mother we invited them over and a couple of other kids who werent handicapped heard about it and they came along too one of the nonhandicapped boys who joined them was kevin blomerley a family friend he came initially just to dance but every now and then id find him behind our stereo taking over from our daughter while she danced and running the equip ment i could see he was where he wanted to be it wasnt long before kevin was appointed the resident deejay soon after the dances started john was enrolled at brother an dre high school and we invited kids from there including some nonhandicapped teens and sud denly we were drawing kids from all over as the popularity of the dances grew the house became too small to accommodate everyone now they take place every other friday at james robinson public school on an average we draw about 50 kids a week estimates mrs vollett one night we had more nonhandicapped than han dicapped some of the en thusiastic participants from whitchurchstouffville are jean plante and awardwinning athlete tracey garbutt both of whom thoroughly enjoy the even ings entertainment we have theme nights i try to dress up for whatever country or theme were doing and we try to have the appropriate food mrs vollett declares one major benefit is that the non- handicapped kids are so willing to help their disabled friends theyll pitch in and help clean up afterwards they dance with our kids and theyre not inhibited with them in any way a 5 entrance fee helps towards the purchase of discs and tapes the school premises are donated through markham parks and recreation and companies sometimes give refreshments food and soft drinks were donated by the raymerville deli and bakery and national dry for the nov 10 italian night adds mrs vollett and balloon ex press supplies balloons for every dance cash and equipment have also been donated by companies such as mcdonalds restaurants and blacks cameras she adds their help is much appreciated and she hopes others will follow suit the dances are called elaines footloose follies and theyre more than just dances theyre a lot of fun she remembers when one nonhandicapped kid told her it isnt a big deal they the handicapped teens are just regular kids doing regular social things for john vollett who has mild cerebral palsy and is developmentally delayed its provided a whole new outlook on life this has been great for him and so has his experience at brother andre enthuses his mother now hes out at school all day and hes not in a segregated classroom hes tak ing regular grade 10 classes its been quite an experience for her as well she stresses integrating the handicapped kids with the regular kids was not what we started out to do but its what we ended up doing to begin with there were just two who werent handicapped and it just snowballed from there the theme nights are particularly popular she notes we have to keep it interesting for all the kids although its a lot of work its so much fun and so rewarding you have to see it to understand why i do it if proof was ever needed that integration works elaine vollett has provided it one of the nonhandicapped teens talking about the disabled youngsters summed it up perfectly theyre just regular kids sometimes it takes young people to show the rest of us the way living nativity planned at mount zion again chris shanahan correspondent mount zion united church is gearing up for its second annual christmas presentation of the living nativity the outdoor musical about the- birth of christ will be performed by members of the small pickeringarea congregation sunday dec 10 at 630 pm and again at 8 don jamieson the plays nar rator says the churchyard pro vides a natural setting for the elaborate production the townspeople and the shepherds are out in the yard we have sheep penned off and theres a fire for the shepherds to sit around and mary comes riding in on a donkey mr jamieson says an old horse shed on the pro perty is an ideal prop the front is open so we put the manger scene in the front of this shed mr jamieson says at least 50 people help to stage the produc tion which last year attracted nearly 400 spectators despite bit terly cold temperatures last year we were even for tunate enough to have a real baby i dont know if well be that lucky this year or not people didnt believe it was a real infant but it cried through quite a bit of the first perfor mance so this let them know we actually did have a baby the person playing joseph did a tremendous job of rocking the baby to try and quiet it that went over quite well mount zion minister sharon patterson came up with the idea to stage a living nativity after deciding the church property was a perfect setting mr jamieson says church goers are enthusiastic about the project and everyone seems to have a lot of fun we were kind of dubious at first but then we got into it and everyone really enjoyed it right away they said this has got to be an annual thing everyone is hoping for milder weather this year so audience members can be comfortable through the halfhour play mr jamieson says a freewill offering will betaken during both performances rev patterson penned the original script and she also serves as producer director organist victoria middleton is the musical director leading a 25voice choir mount zion is located on pickerings cone 8 southwest of balsam rd collective crisis shapes up for baby boomers you know youre middleaged when things get on your nerves to an increasing extent but at the same time you start deriving a certain satisfaction from the ir ritation they cause maybe righteous indignation is todays hottest emotion because the baby boomers despite strenuous denials are starting to reach the unwelcome benchmark of a collective midlife crisis in the process an earnest desire to put the world to rights has replaced the carefree laissez- faire attitude of the 60s forget tolerance and free love here comes the reformation boomers are attacking pro blems real and imaginary with a zeal previously reserved for the spanish inquisition absent- minded professors with an eye for attractive young women are being dragged up before boards of inquiry and banned from swimming pools infantile university students are getting national media coverage for a series of tasteless and pathetic pranks which would be much better dealt with quietly by the administration terminology which was once perfectly acceptable is now deemed insulting the physically and mentally handicapped are challenged rather than disabl ed the term native is regarded as a slur and i recently read that its no longer right to refer to so meone as a jew henceforth they shall be known as jewish too bad no one seems to have informed the jewish people in israel who are still proud to call themselves jews i used to think like the character in a chorus line that the only thing i wanted to be when i grew up was young now ive decided i really dont mind being old in fact id rather be old than a senior citizen but thats out of the question old is an adjective that leads to stereotyping which is practically a capital crime these days as for inflammatory headlines theyre something that todays hapless editor must find hard to avoid still there cant be anyone left alive who doesnt know you never ever refer to a woman as a mother in a news item its all right to call her office manager or chairperson of ibm but dare to describe her as a mere mother and you can start cleaning out your desk the rationale behind this is that men are never referred to as fathers in headlines just because men may have their priorities mixed up doesnt mean women have to fall into the same trap of all the things ive done in my life i still think being a mother is the most important and im fin ding it difficult to work up to the appropriate degree of outrage on this sensitive issue but the real reason im writing this piece is because im worried theres a dangerously high pro portion of females writing for a living and that doesnt bode well for the future now that the reformers are starting to insist on a government quote system to ensure that every office and profession has the correct percentage of both the advantaged healthy wasp males and the disadvantaged everyone else my days at the computer could be numbered im just wondering how long it will be before im reassigned to sheet metal work to help redress the balance