Transcript

VR Workforce Studio Singers:  Singing VR Workforce Studio.

Spenser Grandstaff:  I’m going to look at all my footage and I’m like, “Oh, none of this is usable. The camera’s shaking all over the place.”

Spenser Grandstaff:  So they were able to help get this stabilizer that really makes everything look cinematic.

Jake Hart:  Four, three, two, one. VR Workforce Studio, podcasting the sparks that ignite vocational rehabilitation through the inspiring stories of people with disabilities who have gone to work.

Flora Frazier:  Working in a field that I understand.

Jake Hart:  As well as the professionals who have helped them.

James Hall:  A job and a career, you got to look at how life-changing this is.

Jake Hart:  And the businesses who have filled their talent pipelines with workers that happen to have disabilities.

Debby Hopkins:  To help expand registered apprenticeship.

Jake Hart:  These are their stories.

Megan Healy:  Because there’s such a great story to tell about people with disabilities.

Jake Hart:  Now, here are the hosts of the VR Workforce Studio, Rick Sizemore and Betsy Civilette.

Rick Sizemore: We have a treat for you on the VR Workforce Studio today, Spenser Grandstaff. That’s Spenser with an S, S-P-E-N-S-E-R. What an amazing guy. We found him through the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services in a presentation where he was talking about his story, and I called Betsy up and I said, “Betsy, this is one we have to get soon.”

Betsy Civilette:  Yes.

Rick Sizemore: And we were-

Betsy Civilette:  As fellow creative people, yes, we totally embraced this.

Rick Sizemore:  We were so excited when you said yes to be on our podcast. Spenser Grandstaff, photographer, designer, 3-D artist, videographer and musician. In short, a visionary. I just love that.

Spenser Grandstaff:  Well, thank you. Thank you.

Betsy Civilette:  Tell us about Spenser Grandstaff and how you got connected with vocational rehabilitation.

Spenser Grandstaff:  Sure. So I was a college student attending VCU. I was heavily involved with the arts basically my whole life, graphic design, photography and videography. I had just moved to Richmond. I was entering my second year at VCU. And I had just started getting my photography business off the ground there, working with fellow musicians, doing weddings and whatnot. And I was actually traveling back to Lynchburg, my hometown, to shoot a wedding. And I had just finished shooting the wedding. And that night, on the way home, I got in a car wreck and woke up in the hospital. They broke the bad news to me that I was unfortunately going to be a quadriplegic for the rest of my life, paralyzed from the chest down, and that started when we were here. Seven years later, so the accident was in September of 2017, almost seven years, and it’s been a journey. Vocational rehab, they entered the picture a few years ago and really helped me get back into the swing of things, back running if you will.

Rick Sizemore:  What kind of music you play?

Spenser Grandstaff:  Well, I played violin in elementary school. I did trombone in middle school and kind of fell off. And around college, I started meeting all of these musicians. And they had been pushing me to make something because music, I would say, probably takes up about 90% of my brain if movies aren’t the other 10%. So it became sort of a therapeutic thing for me. So I really make music on my computer. I try to do anything from pop music to, surprisingly, a lot of rap beats. I grew up listening to a lot of rap.

Spenser Grandstaff:  I do not rap. I may have a secret pseudonym out there somewhere, but that I will not be plugging. I will be plugging myself a lot, but I will keep that a secret for now.

Rick Sizemore:  Well, you have to give us the link so we can put that in the show notes, because I’m sure people will want to hear some of that.

Betsy Civilette:  Right, your handle or whatever you go by.

Spenser Grandstaff:  Okay. I’d be happy to, yeah.

Rick Sizemore:  So the accident and becoming a partial quad really didn’t have a tremendous influence on your ability to make music on the computer. Is that a fair statement?

Spenser Grandstaff:  That’s correct, yes, by the grace of God. So I know I say I’m a quadriplegic, but as you can see, I can move both arms. The nature of my injury, I actually have severe nerve damage on the left-hand side. So I can barely move my left hand, but thankfully my right hand is my dominant hand. So, anything that I can do with the mouse and plugging away, I’ve got a little mini keyboard here. So, producing music on the computer is really not much of a hurdle and it’s actually been quite a blessing.

Rick Sizemore:  Well, it’s amazing to hear how you’re moving ahead with your career through voc rehab. You obviously had a great start, you got a setback, and then VR entered the picture. As you were recovering from the accident, when did the idea of a career, not just sort of your exploration in college, but the idea of a career come into the picture as your life changed and you wanted to move ahead?

Spenser Grandstaff:  Sure. Yeah, so the first couple years after the accident were pretty chaotic. Rehab and physical therapy and stuff like that took up most of my time. And to be honest, I wasn’t even contemplating any sort of future. I just wanted to get through each day. And it was pretty challenging. I’d say around the three-year mark, I was getting that itch. And me personally speaking as a creative, you can only go without creating for so long before it’s really gnawing at you.

I spent, again, those first three years doing rehab. I was just reading a lot, watching a lot of films, because I’ve always loved watching movies, and it was all marinating, all the ideas were marinating there. So I’d say about four years ago I was finally able to… And just a little bit of context, I moved back into my parents’ house after the accident. And they were renovating the carport, which they’ve turned into my studio we’ll call it, and that took about a year. And so I didn’t really have access to my computer, which is my lifeblood.

Rick Sizemore:  Right.

Spenser Grandstaff:  Can’t live without a computer.

Rick Sizemore:  Exactly.

Spenser Grandstaff:  So I finally got back to that, and it was such a daunting task because, where do I even pick up? So I just had some ideas and just tinkering, and I got my camera back, and just taking pictures of the most random things. And then it really dawned on me that I could still… Doing school online was available to me, which I completed my undergrad through Liberty, and I figured that would be just a good way to ease into it knowing… And I said as much in my speech, I really hated school, but it felt like the first logical step.

So I finished my undergrad, and that’s when I got connected with DARS and Hunter and Christian, because they were able to provide me with… So I told you about my left hand being pretty impacted by my injury. So they hooked me up with speech-to-text technology, which really helped write. I mean, it’s a lot of papers, and especially as I got into my master’s, and they were able to provide me with the iPad and everything.

Rick Sizemore:  Absolutely.

Spenser Grandstaff:  And from there is where I was able to really start even thinking about moving forward with a career.

Rick Sizemore:  As those thoughts started coming into your mind, though, were you certain that music and audio production and videography and design, that was the direction you wanted to go? Or did you have-

Spenser Grandstaff:  All I knew, to be honest…

Rick Sizemore:  Did you have to stop and think about that or did you just know?

Spenser Grandstaff:  I did.

Rick Sizemore:  Tell us about the process of thinking that through and then what led you to the idea of creating this venture that you’re in now.

Spenser Grandstaff:  Sure. Yeah, it was a lot of mulling it over. I was actually really impacted by some of the counseling that I received when I was at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, which is where I went right after my accident for physical rehabilitation and, yeah, profoundly impacted by counselors. And as I was coming out on the other side of things, I felt that I had a lot to offer and with a bit of a unique perspective. So that’s where I began pursuing my master’s with a focus in crisis management and counseling. And I thought this would probably be the safe way forward. It would be stable income and I could just pursue my art on the side, but art has a funny way of sneaking its way back into your life and kind of taking over everything.

Betsy Civilette:  It does.

Spenser Grandstaff:  So the business really started taking off again, and I got a glimpse of maybe I could catch lightning in a bottle here and begin really pursuing this full-time. So I came to a crossroads where, if I were to continue… So I had just started my practicum with my master’s in counseling, and if I were to pursue that and finish the practicum, then I could not take any more breaks and I would have to go through with the internship and finish out the master’s. But I talked to some of the counselors there at the school and they said, “Actually, you can take a break and you still have the ability to pursue the master’s at any time within 10 years.” So I said, “You know what? Let me go out here on a limb and see if I can make this thing happen as an artist,” and we’re here today.

Betsy Civilette:  Right. Well, as your DARS VR counselors have said, so you’ve gone this non-traditional route of self-employment, which makes sense for you as an artist. So give us an overview of your business and what it’s like to be self-employed now.

Spenser Grandstaff:  Sure. So, yeah, I am in a very scary field of being a freelance artist. Like I said, I got started with photography about the age of 18. I had always been tinkering with graphic design. And then, with technology, most photographers kind of evolve into videography. After the accident, I kind of thought that was over, and so I started tinkering more with graphic design. Drone technology started really becoming commonplace, so I picked that up. And it’s just funny, it’s one of those things where if you put yourself out there, these things just sort of start coming to you and people… Especially given my… It’s a pride thing. Especially us with disabilities, we like to say, “I don’t want to be seen for my disability,” but it really is, it’s a very heartwarming thing. People, when they hear about your story, they’re really willing to go out of their way and they want to help you.

And it was a pride thing for me that I had to swallow for a little bit, but I started getting little gigs here and there, shooting some events. I’ve done some work with Bethany Mays. She owns a wonderful marketing agency and she got me some gigs. I was able to start small doing some drone work for stuff like Emerson Creek Pottery, and I would go out there and shoot their venue and their markets, work with my cousin, and we did a commercial for Under Armour and NCAA, actually. They had their first game abroad in Paris.

Betsy Civilette: Wow.

Spenser Grandstaff: So I was able to do a cool 3D intro for all their social media showing them women’s basketball and them playing in Paris.

Rick Sizemore:  What are some of the obstacles that you had to overcome in order to get these gigs, as you say, to do this work?

Spenser Grandstaff:  First and foremost, the biggest obstacle is the wheelchair. They say a good mantra is “you’re not disabled, you’re differently abled”, and it’s definitely true.

Rick Sizemore: Love it.

Betsy Civilette: That’s great.

Rick Sizemore:  I love it.

Spenser Grandstaff:  Yeah, yeah, it’s definitely true. And for the first few years, you can really only see the wheelchair as the obstacle, but the mind and the body has a great way of kind of working around that and overcoming that and I just learned to do what I love to do in many different ways. I think that the first obstacle was getting out there and getting used to being uncomfortable again, and the thought of, how am I going to make money and how am I even going to make a living? And this is where the people at DARS and Hunter and Christian really went out of their way, and they were able to help secure nearly $5,000 in funding to get camera equipment that make my life so much easier.

Betsy Civilette:  Wow.

Spenser Grandstaff:  I was able to get a gimbal, which is a stabilizer for a camera, because, being in a wheelchair now, I’m really having to kind of navigate and maneuver a wheelchair while still trying to hold a camera.

Spenser Grandstaff:  And before I had the stabilizer, I’m going to look at all my footage and I’m like, “Oh, none of this is usable. The camera’s shaking all over the place.” So they were able to help me get this stabilizer that really makes everything look cinematic, and then just a ton of other gear with the drone and everything.

Betsy Civilette:  Right.

Spenser Grandstaff:  And that just kind of puts you… You don’t even have to worry anymore about getting by or cutting into savings or whatever. This really propelled me on a path towards success, which I’m extremely grateful for.

Yeah, I don’t want to toot my own horn and say it’d make it look like a Pixar movie, but pretty darn close.

Rick Sizemore:  Toot away.

Betsy Civilette:  Toot away.

Spenser Grandstaff:  And for me, on the horizon, I’m really just looking forward to telling my story in a very unique way. Film has always been a passion for me. Screenwriting is something that I have been picking up lately as a way to kind of parse together all of my life experience. So I do look forward to, on the side, creating some of my own films and short films and using my experiences there, and then just continuing to grow my relationship with local businesses here. I really do like establishing these relationships with business owners because it just feels a lot more personal, and it’s a really meaningful way to establish connection in that manner.

Rick Sizemore:  Spencer is a photographer, designer, 3-D artist, videographer and musician. In short, a visionary, you can find him at Spenser, S-P-E-N-S-E-R, that’s SpenserGrandstaff.com. He comes to us from his production facility in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Rick Sizemore: We’re so fortunate on the podcast to welcome David Leon, who is the director for Workforce Programs at the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services.

David Leon:  Great.

Rick Sizemore:  David, welcome to the podcast.

David Leon:  Rick, thanks for having me. What an exciting story this month.

Rick Sizemore:  Yeah, this is Spenser Grandstaff. He has so many of the qualities that we love to talk about in sharing success stories. You lead the business development unit there at DARS. What’s your reaction to this story, and what would you have to say about it from the standpoint of helping evolve programs that create opportunities for people with disabilities to go to work?

David Leon:  There’s so much to say about Spenser’s story and, more importantly, his journey to get to where he is today, from adjustment to disability and getting used to existing in a different way, utilizing his strengths, and kind of finding a path. But really, hearing him discuss his relationship with the Lynchburg office, with his vocational rehab counselor and the manager from that office, his use of assistive technology, and continued personal growth and development within the field he wanted to move forward in was really remarkable and, to be honest, is kind of a blueprint for any successful individual who wants to engage in self-employment and be an active part of the workforce.

Rick Sizemore:  Wow. That’s absolutely spot-on. What kinds of things are you and the business development team engaged in now that are creating these pathways and opportunities for people with disabilities?

David Leon:  Yeah, really great question, and the timing of this is wonderful. We are actually actively working on kind of revising what does self-employment look like for an individual with a disability and what services do we as an agency need to make sure are a part of that. For example, in the interview, Spenser mentioned financial empowerment, and we have begun to do more work systemically around ensuring that someone who’s going to start a business has the financial acumen and tools to track expenses, to understand how to file taxes differently. And that was really nice to hear because it’s not something we used to focus on as a specific piece of that process.

I also appreciated the work and collaboration with the small business administration in the Lynchburg area and how Hunter was able to leverage that resource for what we would call almost a co-enrollment, even though that’s not one of our measures or groups we look at. But leveraging the expertise in the community to assist someone to get to their goal, that is a part of what we do in vocational rehabilitation.

Rick Sizemore:  Yeah. And as you’re going about this work, the backdrop of the Workforce Innovation Opportunities Act is always creating the context for wages and skills development and, particularly, business engagement. What’s your reaction to how this story illustrates the alignment with the WIOA?

David Leon:  Fantastic alignment in multiple ways.

Rick Sizemore:  It’s great. This is just great, isn’t it?

David Leon:  And, no, really, Rick, it… Spenser’s earnings are going to be pretty solid and continue to grow. So ideally, when we think of WIOA measures and how we are measured as an agency, how all of Workforce has to work together for the combined state plan and to improve the workforce within the Commonwealth, we’ve created… we’ve assisted, really, Spenser did this on his own with a little help from us, but Spenser is going to maintain and grow a successful business in the Commonwealth that will continue to grow and expand his earnings and his business profits. That’s what we want for every individual that comes into our services, whether or not they’re here to work on starting their own business or a career pathway.

He mentioned a couple of programs in the 3-D photography he was working on, or the 3-D programs he was learning, and how his attention and devotion to time to build up that skill has added opportunities. With him being able to do the intro for an NBA game or a WNBA game in Europe, that was phenomenal.

Rick Sizemore:  Right, right. Yeah.

David Leon:  And a big part of WIOA is credential attainment and measurable skills gain. And the way I see Spenser’s story, he was working on each of those things. And you combine those pieces with what VR specifically can do to help an individual with a disability. Assistive technology and accommodations. He talked about the device he uses to stabilize the camera so he can actually – produce.

Rick Sizemore:  The gimbal.

David Leon:  Gimbal, thank you.

Rick Sizemore:  Right, the gimbal.

David Leon:  Look, it’s a perfect example of that there are low-cost solutions to help someone be not only successful, but, I would argue, that when someone comes to VR and they work in collaboration with the counselor and our AT (assistive technology) folks, our individuals actually are at a competitive advantage.

Rick Sizemore:  Absolutely.

David Leon:  Because, not only are they receiving the accommodations to be successful, but they’re the type of things that almost anybody with or without a disability would benefit from, and here we are assisting someone to be able to use those tools.

I also love that he’s doing work with drones in this area, because that’s another piece that we’ve seen in our Pathways grant be a game changer for somebody who couldn’t get to all the sites they needed, but with a drone are able to do all of the same work and utilize it when maybe accessibility is an issue in other ways.

Rick Sizemore:  Yeah. As we look out at the horizon, one of the fans of this show that we cherish is the RSA Commissioner Dante Allen. He talks about AI being so critical, use of the internet. This story just seems to be filled with references and, I know, a passion of yours, the Pathways grant and apprenticeships, as we look out to November and Apprenticeship Week coming up, any thoughts about AI and apprenticeships, Pathways as we move forward?

David Leon:  Pathways is near and dear to my heart. Our agency has a focus on identifying and developing opportunities for individuals that come through DARS to enter into a career pathway, meaning a job that covers their wages, benefits. We are doing a lot of work around understanding and developing pre-apprenticeship programs related to IT. We have a big project that we have started working on around what is called data annotation and geospatial labeling. I’m probably saying that wrong. I’m not an IT guy. I’m a social worker by trade.

Rick Sizemore:  But we’re moving ahead in this whole tech area.

David Leon:  But it…

Rick Sizemore:  I mean, that’s the key, right?

David Leon:  We are moving ahead in the tech space, in STEM, and healthcare. Pathways has helped be an integral part of a couple of new recognized apprenticeships within the Commonwealth. And we are working in collaboration with our new workforce agency, DWDA. We have helped to establish peer recovery specialists, and I believe we have 12 to 14 individuals in the process of entering or in that registered apprenticeship. We have another registered apprenticeship we’ve been working on that capitalizes on some of those skills to help people work in residential counselor roles. So those are both in the healthcare space. And then we see a lot of opportunities, and, in many cases, the digital literacy skills are going to be a big part. And that’s also something that our adult ed partners within WIOA are working on, and we’re collaborating to determine ways to move individuals forward and make sure they have those requisite skills to be successful in that related technical instruction piece of a registered apprenticeship program.

Rick Sizemore:  David Leon is the director for Workforce Programs at the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services. He comes to us from his office in Richmond.

David Leon:  Thank you, Rick.

Rick Sizemore:  Well, it’s time for our National Clearinghouse report with the always entertaining and informative Heather Servais. Welcome to the podcast, Heather.

Heather Servais:  Hey, Rick, great to be back.

Rick Sizemore:  Well, so many of our VR counselors and administrators have to go through contracting to deliver these transformational services that are helping people with disabilities go to work. You’ve got some great, new, exciting resources for people involved in contracting.

Heather Servais:  Yeah, we’re really excited to share our new NCRTM Material Spotlight video. These NCRTM Material Spotlight videos are short videos, maybe five to 10 minutes, that helps users really get down and in depth with some of the new materials that have been added to the NCRTM. And in this first video, we were able to sit down with Carol Pankow, who’s the project director for George Washington University on VRTAC-QM’s fiscal team. And so we sat down to go over the benefits of the VRTAC-QM’s Contracting Guide for State VR Agencies. And Carol was really able to take us through how to use the guide, she even took us through this checklist, and really talked about the importance for all folks who are within the VR agency, whether you’re a counselor, program administrator, or a VR leader, on how to get contracting so that these contracted programs can really benefit our customers with disabilities.

Rick Sizemore:  Yeah. Carol, of course, hosts the Manager Minute podcast, and the August episode features none other than you, Heather.

Heather Servais:  Yeah, it was really fun to be part of that podcast. Yeah, we enjoyed partnering-

Rick Sizemore:  It was a great show. It was a great show.

Heather Servais:  It was, and we enjoyed partnering with Carol, and she was a great host, and she asked great questions. So, for those who might not have been familiar with NCRTM, we’re hoping they learned something new because, from anyone, whether you’re a counselor, a parent, a business, and individual with a disability, there are tons of resources on NCRTM that are there to help you and to benefit you in your work.

Rick Sizemore:  Yeah. Well, September is Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month. Spenser Grandstaff brought us a great story.

Heather Servais:  I loved hearing Spenser’s story. Just hearing the way that they were able to help Spenser blend his passions and turn it into a successful employment venture, it really doesn’t get any better than that.

Rick Sizemore:  Well, thank you for constantly bringing great resources to our listeners. What else do you have in store for us this month?

Heather Servais:  I have two other resources for you. The first is a video recording of our NCRTM Lunch and Learn that we did over the summer where we partnered with NARIC, the National Rehabilitation Information Center. And the video is entitled How the National Rehabilitation Information Center Can Help You Help Your Clients. And in this video, you learn how you can put these resources to work. So, NARIC is home to a comprehensive collection of disability and rehabilitation research literature, and it really helps you put that research to practice and help your clients meet their employment goals. There’s links in the notes that will direct you to that recording and also to some other NARIC resources, so we hope you’ll check that out.

And then the last resource I have for you this month is the VR Outreach Guide. And this was created by VRTAC-QE, and the Outreach Guide offers practical solutions on how to improve VR outreach by addressing barriers and reaching underserved communities. It provides strategies for connecting with new groups, especially in rural and non-metropolitan areas, and includes data spreadsheets so you can identify where outreach is needed. There’s also editable outreach materials for local agencies that can be used with high school students, businesses, and the general public.

Rick Sizemore:  Heather’s Servais directs RSA’s National Clearinghouse of Rehabilitation Training Materials and joins us each month for the Clearinghouse report. Links and resources from the NCRTM are included in the show notes at VRWorkforceStudio.com. Thanks, Heather.

Heather Servais:  Absolutely. Thanks for having me, Rick.

Rick Sizemore:  Well, thank you for getting involved in today’s show. If you or someone you know has a disability and wants to get into the workforce, vocational rehabilitation may just be the answer to kickstart your career. Visit us at VRWorkforceStudio.com to find links and resources as well as our contact information. On behalf of my co-host, Betsy Civilette, I’m Rick Sizemore inviting you to join us as we podcast the sparks that ignite vocational rehabilitation.

Announcer:  The VR Workforce Studio podcast is owned and operated by Vocational Rehabilitation’s Partners in Podcasting. Audio content for the podcast is provided to VR Partners in Podcasting by the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services in exchange for promotional considerations.