Making the “Why Nots” Possible for Children with Disabilitiesby Maryann B. Hunsberger
Pop music sensation Clay Aiken didn’t start 2003 with this checklist of resolutions:
• Become a superstar
• Form a nonprofit foundation to benefit children with disabilities
• Graduate college with a special education degree.
Yet, that’s just what he did last year. The 25-year-old singing phenomenon, who made his initial mark on Fox’s American Idol, had a whirlwind year. Besides releasing a multi platinum album, he won both the American Music Association Fans’ Choice Award and a Billboard award for recording the only certified platinum single of the year.
Those accomplishments weren’t quite enough for Aiken, a senior at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) when he garnered a spot in American Idol’s top 12 in February 2003. In the midst of a sold-out national concert tour this past summer; he formed the Bubel/Aiken Foundation, which seeks to include children with disabilities in everyday activities with typically developing children.
The former YMCA camp counselor is now on another sold-out 30-city concert tour. Yet, he hasn’t forgotten his first love—children with developmental disabilities.
Nor has he forgotten seeing children with disabilities turned away from the YMCA’s summer programs that their typically developing peers took part in, due to lack of knowledge and resources.
“I watched kids with disabilities in their own secluded environments and then I watched them outside of that. I saw how much happier they are when they are included in everything and how much more success they have. You know, it’s amazing how much they can learn from socialization with non-disabled peers. It’s not just socially, but academically and emotionally, too.
“Some children know that they are being separated. I don’t think that’s appropriate. Nobody would if they actually took a minute to figure out exactly what’s going on here and to step back from the sort of situation that we have now in today’s schools where kids are separated all the time.
“If people took a look at that, they’d realize it’s not necessarily correct. It’s not right. It’s not how we should do things. Kids are being excluded,” said Aiken.
His fire for including children with disabilities ignited when working at the Y’s after-school and summer day camp programs held at Raleigh’s Brentwood Elementary School; a job he started in high school. Aiken caught the attention of Linda McMasters, the school’s principal, who asked him to manage their before-school program. She then hired him as a teacher’s assistant in Tina Trent’s autism classroom while he took evening courses at Campbell University.
Aiken knew he’d found his calling. “Working with Tina really made me decide, ‘I’m going to school for this. This is what I want. I want to be as good as she is.’”
After transferring to UNCC to major in special education, Aiken filled in for Trent as a long-term substitute special education teacher. “Clay was awesome. Autistic students can be very challenging to work with, but Clay welcomed the challenge. He seemed to want to figure them out and make their lives better in any way he could,” said Trent.
In Charlotte, Aiken worked as a community inclusion/supported living instructor for autism services. The course of his life would change when he walked into the home of Diane Bubel to work with her 12-year-old son, Mike.
“What I learned from the Bubels was a no-excuses take on having a child with a disability,” said Aiken. “The whole family knows that there are things that Mike will not be able to do that other children can do, and there are things that he will be able to do that other children can’t do. But, that’s just a part of life. They don’t make any bones about it. It’s just, ‘He is a child, a part of our family, a part of society and that’s all you need to know about him.’ That really moved me and made me think, ‘You know what? They’re exactly right.’”
Aiken came into the Bubels’ lives at a time when Mike was raging and acting out physically due to a medication change. Bubel expressed surprise that Clay liked the job anyway. “He would take Mike out in the community and Mike would have a complete meltdown. Mike would punch the heck out of him Monday and Clay would come back Wednesday as if there was nothing wrong and that was just the way you work. He kept coming back. Who does that?”
Bubel normally trains new workers to assure their readiness for the task. With Aiken, she didn’t need to do this. “It was a wonderful match. Clayton respected Mike and tried his hardest to understand him. He realized that Mike’s actions weren’t just to be dismissed as some behavior, but there was a reason why Mike would do the things he did and it was our job to try to help him by figuring it out. I loved that about Clayton. He went beyond what he had to do. He almost became like one of the family.”
Besides helping Mike deal with experiences in the community, he taught him self-help skills, chores and daily living skills. A self-professed big kid, Aiken never missed out on an opportunity to play with Mike, whether on the trampoline or chasing each other around the yard.
“It was almost a big brother and little brother scenario. Clayton was very comfortable with Mike. I don’t really think Mike could do anything that would upset or anger him,” said Bubel.
Although millions of Americans clearly remember the day when the lanky tenor ambled up to judges Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson on the American Idol set to dazzle them with his pipes, Bubel can’t pinpoint the date when she first heard Aiken sing.
“He carried a laptop around and one day clicked on some songs he recorded. I said, ‘That’s you singing? Is that really you?’ Then he sang for us live and we were shocked that he had this amazing voice.”
Bubel encouraged Aiken to try out for American Idol, but his reply was typical of the self-deprecating attitude the superstar still has: “Yea, right, like I’m a Justin Timberlake type. They will not take me seriously.”
Aiken was wrong. Although he thought Bubel’s suggestion was “the funniest thing he ever heard,” she continued to press him, even printing out an application form. Finally, Aiken relented and auditioned for the most popular reality show on TV. He took second place, securing a recording contract with RCA and eclipsing first-place winner, Ruben Studdard, in both popularity and sales.
The ensuing fan frenzy he created hasn’t been seen since the likes of Elvis and the Beatles. His first music video soared to the number one spot on MTV, women hurl red lacy thongs at him while he sings, he can’t go out in public without being mobbed—and he doesn’t understand why. “I don’t know why so many people like me. I think that what plays a part is the fact that people have been waiting so long to have someone who they can relate to. I can’t relate to Britney Spears and I can’t relate to Justin Timberlake, because I never looked that good or danced that well. You know what I mean? And most of America can’t.”
Aiken underestimates his appeal. It was his face, not Timberlake’s that graced Rolling Stone magazine’s highest selling issue in five years. A recent Glamour magazine poll of 16,000 women revealed that they resoundingly would love to take a bubble bath with Aiken, not Timberlake.
More than 400 Internet message boards formed by Aiken’s fans reveal what people love about him. His astounding voice initially catches people’s ears, but the man behind the voice is what captures their hearts. Beneath the “cover boy” face is a man whose openness, vulnerability and compassion endears him to millions. His mother’s mailbox in Raleigh is flooded with letters from people who want to share their pain with him—whether they don’t fit in at school or are going through personal heartache—because they feel he will understand.
His mother, Faye Parker, explained, “I get letters that make me bawl. I think what endears him to people is his love for the kids, and the kids have this spontaneous attraction to him. They connect with him without being told what he’s all about. They instantly know that he loves them and he cares about them. I think the incredible thing is how they have that bond without anyone explaining that he is somebody who is going to try to help.”
The Bubel/Aiken Foundation is Aiken’s vehicle for helping children with disabilities. When Aiken made the top 12 on American Idol, he decided that if he found success, he would form a foundation to include children with disabilities in programs with typical children.
The foundation’s formation tied in with Aiken’s college graduation requirements. He had only six credits to complete when he left college for Hollywood, so he proposed doing the work by independent study. He accomplished this during a national publicity tour to promote his album, Measure of a Man, and graduated with a degree in special education December 20. “My idea was to create a foundation for purposes of this independent study and to make it a mock foundation or a small foundation to work on a more local scale.”
However, the foundation took off when Aiken hired Chicago attorney Fran Skinner-Lewis to be the executive director. “Fran was so passionate about it, had the connections and knew what she was doing, so that’s why it’s become as big as it is. I continue to be involved. Fran does almost all of the footwork, but everything gets run by me. Any decision that’s made is a joint decision.”
One decision was to have Bob Pasternack, Assistant Secretary of Education for Special Education & Rehabilitative Services, develop a training curriculum with one of Aiken’s UNCC professors. Using the curriculum, the foundation will train YMCA employees in every state to work with children with disabilities. They plan to expand to other programs, such as daycare programs, after-school programs, camps and Boys and Girls Clubs nationwide.
The training will include positive disability language, which is important to Aiken. “It’s all about changing mind sets of people. When you start speaking correctly and you start addressing people with person-first language, then it comes as second nature. Instead of saying, ‘so and so is disabled,’ say they are a person with a disability. They are a person first. They shouldn’t be labeled and categorized by their disability. When we stop categorizing people verbally, then we’ll stop categorizing them socially, also.”
Aiken learned first-hand about being categorized socially in middle school, when he was a skinny child who wore thick glasses and sang in the choir. His mother recounts how “he would get upset because the football guys in middle school would pick on him. I said, ‘One day, they’re not going to be playing football, but you’ll still have your voice. By high school, he found himself. He became quite popular in high school after suffering through middle school, because people began to appreciate his talents.”
Aiken’s talents were apparent early. He sang with the Raleigh Boys’ Choir, starred in high school musicals and had a dinner theater role in “The Sound of Music,” along with Frankie Muniz, the star of Fox TV’s Malcolm in the Middle. He also hosted and co-produced a local variety show, the North Carolina Music Connection, held at Johnston Community College, and he recorded two independent CDs before trying out for American Idol.
Still, he always thought music would be his hobby, not his career, until his talents took him beyond what he expected. Aiken is philosophical about the changes in his life. “I’m definitely happy doing what I’m doing now. I really enjoy my life and I enjoy my job. I do have friends who are working in special ed right now. I get jealous listening to them talk about their classrooms and wish I could do it. Whether I can come back and teach in Raleigh remains to be seen. It would be kind of weird for me to be somebody’s teacher at this point.
“Different parts of my heart are in different places. Certain things were important to me in teaching and certain things are important to me as far as singing goes. I’m hoping that through bringing attention to the cause, and still working in that field through the foundation, I can please both sides of my heart.”
Adjusting to the life of a pop singer was difficult for Aiken. His overwhelming popularity makes it impossible for him to go anywhere without a bodyguard. His mother worries about this aspect of his life. “I know he’s grounded, so I’m not worried about people changing him. I’m not worried that he will become like some celebrities who feel like they have to say yes to everything. I think if he has to change himself, he’d just get out of the business.
“But, I’m worried that he might become a recluse and not go anywhere. I worry that he won’t have a life of his own.
“It was a sad moment when I left him in Charlotte after the ‘49ers game [where he performed]. He was in his dressing room, and you have to go in there to say goodbye to him. I’m thinking, ‘Okay, he’s going with some friends tonight because he’s in Charlotte. But, when he leaves, he leaves a room where he’s had to hide out because he can’t go anywhere.’ I worry about his sanity—I don’t want him to have to become like Elvis and have to hide out and not have any life.”
Aiken, however, is focused on the positive. “It just took some time to soak in all of what’s going on, but I realized, ‘Okay, this is going to last awhile, hopefully. Let’s enjoy it.’ It’s an amazing job. It’s amazing to be me right now and it feels really good to have this opportunity. It surprises me that I can make someone feel good just by saying hello. Who would not want to be able to make someone feel good that way?”
Aiken, who doesn’t smoke or drink, admits that he won’t change to fit in with an often-raunchy Hollywood crowd that thrives on excess. He refuses to sing sexually explicit or vulgar lyrics or to make sexually charged music videos. “I really enjoy being the fish out of water occasionally. I don’t really want to be a fish in the water I’m in. The water I’m in right now is kind of nasty.”
His wholesome image is one reason parents like him, but he has fans of all ages. Some of those fans are a bit too enthusiastic at times. They have filled his mother’s garage with gifts for him, leaving her little room to park the two new cars Aiken bought for her and his 18-year-old brother. One fan even held a housewarming shower for him at her home and sent all the gifts to Parker.
His fans follow him everywhere, even to the grocery store. “Sometimes you just like to go to the grocery store and pick up your milk and not have someone post on the Internet exactly what kind of milk you are buying.”
Yet, Aiken is grateful for his fans. “The most vocal participants are the fans and I totally appreciate that. This wouldn’t have happened without them. They absolutely have run this show in so many ways. It’s gotten out of my hands at this point. It’s gone way beyond what I ever would have imagined.”
Aiken’s immense popularity also surprises Bubel. “I had no idea he’d turn into a pinup star! I’m sitting in my daughter’s room and she has pictures on her wall. She has the people from Friends and pop stars like Gwen Stefani up there. Then, there’s Clay Aiken’s poster! We thought that was the funniest thing in the world. We’re having fun with it, really.”
Yet, Aiken’s continuing passion for including children with disabilities is no surprise to Bubel. “He was so idealistic. It was always, ‘Why not?’ He’d ask if I ever thought of putting Mike in summer camp, and I’d laugh like he had to be kidding. He’d say, ‘Why not?’ I told him Mike would tear the place apart. He’d say that they just have to set it up so Mike could be successful. It was simple as that to Clay. The world doesn’t work that way, but how nice for him to be so idealistic and say, ‘Why not?’ I think that’s where the foundation came in for him—let’s make the ‘why nots’ possible. How wonderful that kids with disabilities have a pop star who wants to be a voice for them.”
Maryann B. Hunsberger is a freelance writer who specializes in writing about special education and developmental disabilities. She writes regularly for the New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities.
Where to Find More Information:
The Bubel Aiken Foundation:
http://www.thebubelaikenfoundation.org/
Clay Aiken’s Official RCA Web site: http://www.clayaiken.com/main.php
Clay Aiken’s Official Fan Club: http://www.clayaikenclub.com/flash_content.htmlEXCEPTIONAL PARENTTo order, click
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