Plain Language Stories

Working Hard at Red Deer College

There is a new program at Red Deer College called The Inclusive Post-Secondary Education Project. Jason Chapman is one of the people in the program. When he came to Red Deer it was his first time to live away from his parents. Now, it is easy for Jason to get around Red Deer College, he takes the bus alone, he has friends and he feels good about being a student and an artist.

Cindy Aldred is the coordinator for The Inclusive Post-Secondary Education Project who helped Jason get into his classes. Jason takes music, art and writing. Cindy and the other teachers in the program help the students do many things like:

Find a place to live
Find their way around the school and Red Deer
Learn about what they like to do and the kind of job they want
Pick classes
Talk to the teachers at the college
Make changes to the school work so that students can understand it better
Find places to enjoy work experiences

Jason really works hard in The Inclusive Post-Secondary Project. He likes all of his classes but he is doing the best in his art class. Jason likes to draw cartoons and his pictures are in the College Student Association newspaper, in his church newsletter and in the Persons with Developmental Disabilities (PDD) Provincial newsletter.

Jason makes a lot of his pictures on the computer. One of the pictures Jason made on the computer is called Fear the Terror. In this picture, he put 10 pictures together, changed the colour and in the title, the word Terror splits apart, just like the barn in one of the pictures.

Jason made this picture because he said that he was scared of tornados for a long time. When he saw the movie Twister he decided to learn more about them and found out that they can be cool.

Jason made another picture called Desert Image. In this picture a man is walking away on a path that is floating in the sky. There is a cloud of dust at the end of the path so you can’t see it.

Jason painted this picture because one day he was working outside in Fort Vermilion, the wind blew dust into his eyes and he couldn’t see for a few minutes.”

Desert Image is also a song that Jason made on the computer. This song is about living in the desert and a person who is looking for freedom. He also can’t see because of the dust in his eyes. Jason is working hard to make this song perfect so that another student can sing it and then they can put it onto a CD.

Jason painted a picture of his mother smiling and looking at a green valley that is between rocky mountains. Jason said his mom helps him stay strong. He said that his mom loves this picture and she is very proud that he goes to college.

Jason and the other students like The Inclusive Post-Secondary Education Program so much that they went to talk to the PDD Central Alberta Board. The meeting went so well that PDD gave a citizen award to Red Deer College because of how they help and support people who have developmental disabilities.

Jason wants to stay in the program for 1 more year and then “make a million dollars” and “good movies without blood and guts and swearing.”