Worth, who earned both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Marshall University's Fine Arts program, is the founder and lead director of Enable Project, Inc. Worth and his team introduced the program to the public Saturday night at The Great Give Gala, a fundraiser that featured music by 2005 Grammy nominated artist Al Pettaway and his wife, Amy White, local folk band The Shadow Puppets, a silent auction and a movie.
The program, which is designed to enhance the relationship between disabled clients and the agencies that help them as well as businesses, is a step in the right direction for the advocacy of people living with physical and mental disabilities, Worth said.
"I was trained out of thinking that I was handicapped," Worth said of the a West Virginia family who adopted him at the age of 11 without him being able to read or write. "I'm wanting to bring that spirit of freedom into this world that my parents gave to me."
He said the world doesn't treat the disabled the way his parents do, and he learned very quickly when he went off to college that life was going to be difficult if he didn't find a balance.
"Even though I was raised like that, I still had to deal with not being able to get on a bus," Worth said. "I had to find a balance between dealing with being physically challenged and accomplishing my goals."
He and his brother and co-director Wayne Worth hope Enable Project, Inc., will break down social, economic and political barriers that hinder the potential of a person with a disability.
They have developed a list of providers that will become a database for clients, and they hope to form a network driven by the disabled population itself, Wayne Worth said.
"Our goal is not to shut anyone down, but to work with businesses and other agencies," Wayne Worth said. "To have a collaboration and integration of the physically and mentally handicapped."
Patrick Stubblefield, a 20-year-old with cerebral palsy, said Enable Project, Inc. is going to bring about changes, and he wants to be a part of it.
"What Chris is doing is tremendous," Stubblefield said. "It's really going to open up everyone's eyes and get us the services we've been needing for a long time."
The biggest challenge for Enable Project Inc. is setting goals and defining progress. But Chris Worth said if he's learned one thing through his disability, it's to take things one day at a time.
"I'm a guy who bases a lot on small victories," Chris Worth said.
As far as he's concerned, Saturday's gala was the first of many victories he is sure will come.
Huntington Herald Dispatch
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