What A Great Idea!

One of the many challenges faced by people with disabilities is finding fitness classes or exercise groups. I have never been able to find anything other than a weekly 'play in the pool' session for my daughters with disabilities. So, I find the story linked below very interesting. I would love to see something like that in my town...

Adaptive Yoga

Sooner Rather Than Later

Last evening, my oldest son and I planted our vegetable plants and herbs in our garden. We’ve had so much rain recently and more is planned, so getting the plants in the soil was a snap, and hopefully they will grow and flourish with the upcoming rains. We put in tomatoes, pepper, cucumbers, squash and several different herb plants. As we finished up with the tomato plants, I pushed their big wire cages into place around them, and it was at that moment that one of our neighbors gave me a very strange look – almost a “Those tomato plants are only 2 inches high and you are putting that very large support around them” question. I know it does look a little strange around the baby plants now, but the wire supports will help the plants as they get larger and laden with luscious red tomatoes. And that made me think of my children with disabilities.

Just as I put the tomato supports in place when my plants are tiny, I worked very hard to put supports in place for my children when they were tiny. I encountered many strange looks and battles from people who thought it silly of me to want literacy instruction, for example, when my blind daughter was only 2 years old, or physical therapy for my oldest daughter who had been unable to walk since birth. Many of the professionals I encountered seemed to think a waiting attitude was more appropriate than an action attitude. But I strongly disagreed.

So, when my children and I are eating our juicy, tasty red tomatoes – when we are having conversations around the dinner table – when we are planning our walking trip to Williamsburg, I will remember those people who doubted – those people who believed I was asking for too much too soon. They were wrong – and they are still wrong if they think I will not strongly advocate for my children…and my tomatoes!

A Rich Man?

Adam Jasinski is the winner of Big Brother 9. Adam is also the person who, early on in the show referred to the children with whom he worked as ‘retards’. His exact statement on the show was "I want to do a hair salon for kids with special needs so retards can get it together and get their hair done." And he is now $500,000 richer.

Mr. Jasinski was employed by the United Autism Foundation. I’ve had very little luck finding out anything about the United Autism Foundation. The organization has a home page, but only that one page, and at the top is the message “Website Under Construction”. Two other statements are on that web page. The first states ,”AUTISM is one of the fastest growing disorders in the country, UNIAF is trying to create awareness and help all those who are diagnosed with AUTISM.” And the second states, “UNIAF is trying to build the first Children’s Dental Center for special needs patients in the country. UNIAF is committed to help millions of special needs patients nationwide.”

I also found another statement (listed on idealist.org) about their mission:

The United Autism Foundation is a 501(c)(3) corporation, which was only established to serve and improve our community in order to help children and change lives.

It is the strategy of the United Autism Foundation to focus primarily on raising funds, which is a necessity to improve our society, have an immediate impact, and make a serious difference in our community today. We serve the community with dignity and ensure the most appropriate use of all donated funds: improving today for the future of tomorrow.

After analyzing the needs of our community, UNIAF is focusing on improvements of education, medical, and economic conditions of families and their children with special needs, specifically children with autism.

At UNIAF, we are not only passionate about what we do, furthermore, it is our daily motivation to strive after our goals and realize our vision, just thinking about the most exciting reward, a smiling child and happy family. It is all about securing the future of our society.

The United Autism Foundation is working with the local and national media, to increase awareness and encourage more aggressive funding to improve our community today. It is our commitment to serve the community and secure the future of our children.

So, given that the organization is focused primarily on raising funds, they should be pretty happy that when Adam Jasinski was pronounced the Big Brother winner, he immediately yelled out that he was giving $100,000 to UNIAF. Of course, he probably didn’t know at that moment that he was no longer employed by UNIAF. After his ‘retard’ comments in February, UNIAF announced on their web page that Mr. Jasinski was no longer employed by their company.

Will Adam Jaskinski stay true to his stated commitment of giving $100,000 to UNIAF? Will UNIAF hire Adam back just to get the donation? Will Adam continue to refer to people with developmental disabilities as “retards”? I think UNIAF has certainly met their goal of increasing awareness within the media regardless of the answers to those questions.

Hero Doctor

Imagine being so committed to an idea that you would sell your house and change your entire life to make that idea a reality. That’s exactly what Dr. Lorna Stuart did. She was so frustrated with all the insurance battles and paperwork involved in her traditional medical practice, so frustrated that those battles were taking time away from her patients, that she pooled all her resources and opened a clinic that accepted no insurance.

At her clinic, people receive free or low-cost primary medical care across eight specialties, regardless of income or locality. According to Dr. Stuart, “Since there's no need to spend a lot of time doing paperwork, we have time to talk to the patient and really hear what they're saying. So the patients go away feeling they've been heard, that they've been helped."

She is a hero in my eyes - "Each day, I get to treat the patients whom our medical system has forgotten, without the hassle of insurance paperwork," says Stuart. "Is it any wonder I once again feel the real joy of practicing the craft that I love?"

Here is a link to a story that CNN did about Dr. Stuart and her clinic, and here is the link to her clinic website.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful...

• For my undereye cover-up makeup. It keeps me from scaring people on those days after Ashley has decided to party the night away.


• For times spent on a warm Spring evening, sitting on the front porch, and blowing bubbles for Ashley to try and catch.


• For the bright sunny day today. After what seems like weeks of steady rain, I feel like I should stand in the middle of my front yard and offer praises to the Sun God.


• That this weekend I will get to plant flowers and vegetables in my garden. I am sorely in need of some dirt under my fingernails.


• For those 100-calorie packs of snacks. I don’t know if they really work, but it makes me feel like I am eating a tad bit healthier.


• For the pair of cardinals who decided to share their mating ritual with my family yesterday evening, right outside our back door.


• For neighbors who smile and call out greetings as they walk past our house.


• For pancakes for dinner in the middle of the week.


• For unexpected phone calls from friends out of town.


• For my cat who plays fetch. My dog won’t fetch, but Winky the cat will.

Commitment Unequaled

It’s been two years since the original request for services – services I strongly believed Ashley had a right to have. As expected, however, that request was quickly denied. That’s what you, your team and I expected, and so we marshaled our forces and set out to slay the evil dragon.

The road has been crooked with many potholes along the way, but I still believe we are getting closer. Ashley’s progress has been stilled, but if you and I can win this battle, she and a lot of other children will benefit in the long run. I believe a little quiet now will be worth the celebration in the future.

The latest ‘decision’ was not completely bad. Again, we are inching closer to victory, and I don’t want you to feel like you have failed Ashley. We’re going to get there – Ashley is going to get what she needs – and as always, you will be the conduit for that success.

So, thank you again, Jonathan. Thank you for believing in Ashley, and thank you for fighting her causes for the last eleven years.

Knights in Red and Yellow

"Thanks to the efforts of Father Michael J. McGivney, assistant pastor of St. Mary’s Church in New Haven and some of his parishioners, the Connecticut state legislature on March 29, 1882, officially chartered the Knights of Columbus as a fraternal benefit society. The Order is still true to its founding principles of charity, unity and fraternity." - (from the Knights of Columbus website)
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I'm sure you've seen the people wearing the bright yellow and read aprons standing in front of stores like Walmart, Target and grocery stores. For years, I have read the message on their aprons, "Providing Help to the Mentally Retarded", and for those same years, I have been annoyed by the words.

So imagine my surprise this past Saturday as I parked and walked into Walmart. There were the red and yellow aprons, yet now they read, "Providing Help to the Intellectually Disabled." If they would make just one more small step and have the aprons read "Providing Help to People with Intellectual Disabilities", I'd throw them a party!

Thank you, Knights of Columbus.