Page 30 - BusinessWest Women of Impact 2023

“When they hear our music, people are like,
‘wait, what? They have a disability?’ Because when you hear the music, you hear good music. You don’thear”a disability.
understand the value, too.
“When they hear our music, people
are like, ‘wait, what? They have a disability?’ Because when you hear the music, you hear good music. You don’t hear a disability.”
That’s why these students have performed at other schools, too, funded by anti-bullying grants, to drive home the message of ability, not disability, Theroux said. “The message is, ‘if I have autism and can sing like this, you might have autism, so guess what? You, too, have skills; you, too, have talent; you, too, have strength.’ Our bands go into some schools, and they’re like rock stars.”
Berkshire Hills students don’t
have to be highly musical to enroll,
she added. “But if you are, there is
a music track for folks where that
can be their vocation. We have a secondary tier; we have several bands that gig in the community at a high level.”
These successes — in music and in life — are reflected in words of gratitude from families over the years, Theroux said.
“It’s everything from a parent telling us, ‘I never thought my child would shave his own face’ to becoming highly musical and standing up and performing in front of 200 people, to getting their own apartment,” she noted. “Our goal is to figure out how to make somebody as autonomous and independent as possible. Whatever level of staff support is needed, we will provide, but the goal is really to push the areas where they don’t need support.”
And when the result is someone who can live on their own, do their own laundry, cook their own meals, hold down a job, handle their banking ... and also have outlets to express their musical talent, well, that’s the heart of the Berkshire Hills mission.
Michelle Theroux says Berkshire Hills Music Academy is at capacity and may need to grow into another building in the community.
“We’ve really looked at the individual, and instead of just focusing on areas where they need support, because there’s a deficit there, we’ve looked at where their strengths are, where their passions are, where their gifts are, and really build on that,” she added. After all, “we all have deficits; we all have things we’re working on and trying to improve.”
Theroux
Continued on page W32 >>
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Fredrika Ballard, Carla Cosenzi, Arlyana Dalce-Bowie, Sandra Doran, Dr. Khama Ennis,
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