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At RCM, we promote opportunities for helping people with Intellectual Disabilities build relationships, and integrate into the community
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Becoming Bulletproof Premieres March 1: Western Costume Drama Featuring a Diverse Group of Disabled People from Across the US
Spread the word! Becoming Bulletproof premieres March 1,
7:30PM EST/PST on Showtime Network! Find out about online and On-Demand airings
too!
Becoming Bulletproof:
Documentary following the making of a rip-roaring Western
costume drama featuring a diverse group of disabled people from across the US,
which tells a moving story of big screen barriers and raises questions about
why we so rarely see disabled actors on film.
To read more on this story, click here: Becoming Bulletproof Premieres March 1: Western Costume Drama Featuring a Diverse Group of Disabled People from Across the US
9-Year-Old Boy with Autism Relies on His Service Dog to Keep Him Safe and Calm While in the Hospital
Where James Isaac goes, Mahe follows – even into the boy's
hospital bed.
The 9-year-old Wellington boy is autistic and relies on the
black Labrador to keep him safe and calm.
James cannot speak, and recoils from touch and eye contact
with his family.
But he will curl up happily with Mahe.
“And for Mahe, James is his best mate, he is all about
James," mum Michelle Isaac said.
So important is the bond that Mahe was allowed to join
James at the Wellington Children's Hospital as he underwent an MRI scan to
diagnose the cause of his seizures.
As he went under general anesthetic, Mahe watched with
concern, nuzzling his master's face.
"He was just looking at James, and looking really
worried."
As Michelle waited in the hospital cafe for the scan to
end, Mahe sat beside her, calming the mother as he had calmed the son.
"I was really shaken, it was pretty stressful watching
James struggle."
Life for the Isaac family has improve immensely since Mahe
came into their lives, 2½ years ago.
Michelle said going out into public with James used to be
nightmare. He was likely to run off and lose the plot in any unfamiliar or
over-stimulating involvement.
"We couldn't even go to a cafe as a family. James
would get very anxious and want to leave immediately. But when we got Mahe,
James would just sit there waiting for us to finish our coffee."
To read more on this story, click here: 9-Year-Old Boy with Autism Relies on His Service Dog to Keep Him Safe and Calm While in theHospital
“We need to make every single thing accessible to every single person with a disability.”
“We need to make every single thing accessible to every
single person with a disability.”
~ Stevie Wonder
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Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Meet the School Bus Driver with a Grammy Who Loves Driving a School Bus for Little Boys and Girls with Special Needs
He loves driving a school bus for little boys and girls
with special needs so much so that he mentioned it in his acceptance speech.
It’s a special day in the afternoon bus line outside tiny
Watertown Elementary School in rural Tennessee.
A smiling 4-year-old blonde girl carries a neon-yellow
cardboard sign that reads “We Love Mr. Joe” and sheepishly hands it to the
beaming bus driver.
“Ms. Elise!” he says, chuckling, deep voice booming. “Thank
you, baby.”
Most kids at the small-town school love their bus drivers.
But this sign also is a large congratulations card — just
days earlier Joe Thompson won a Grammy award in Los Angeles, about 2,048 miles
away.
Thompson leads legendary gospel quartet The Fairfield Four,
which broke big outside the genre in 2000 by appearing at the end of the Coen
Brothers' movie “O Brother Where Art Thou?”
Still, that music thing is just a part-time gig for the
80-year-old bass singer.
To read more on this story, click here: Meet the School Bus Driver with a Grammy WhoLoves Driving a School Bus for Little Boys and Girls with Special Needs
Sunday, February 21, 2016
My Son with Autism is Going to College Cue the Happy Tears
One of the great parental rites-of-passage is when your
eldest child receives their first college acceptance letter. If it happens to
be the school that he or she so wants to attend, then it’s a moment of genuine
celebration, tinged with the bittersweet knowledge that the adult leave-taking
is beginning.
But when, like my son Max, your child is autistic, and that
first “you’re in” letter lands on the doormat… well, full disclosure, I found
myself sobbing uncontrollably. Because early on in Max’s odyssey along the
autism spectrum I was categorically told that the hope of him ever having a
so-called “normal life” — let alone eventually going off to college — was
beyond the realm of possibility.
Ask any parent of a child with a disability and you will
usually get an earful about the all-encompassing uncertainties that accompany
having a son or daughter with “special needs” (to use that politically correct
catch-all phrase). These parents are acutely aware of the fact that — in its
brutal, happenstantial way — life can suddenly deal you some very bad cards.
Only retrospectively — many years down this track — do you also begin to
realize that how you, the parent, grapple with this determines so much of your
child’s future.
To read more on this story, click here: My Son with Autismis Going to College Cue the Happy Tears
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Mother of Two Autistic Boys Has Created Toys that Celebrate Children with Disabilities
Maria Kentley didn't want her two boys, who have autism, to
grow up feeling different so she decided to design dolls to help children feel
empowered about their disabilities and illnesses.
However, because the disorder has no obvious physical
characteristics, the Melbourne mother-of-four thought the best way to
illustrate this was to up-cycle a Bratz Boyz doll wearing a hoodie with an
awareness message emblazoned across it.
“I repainted his face as a teenage version of my son
Christian and made a black hoodie top for him with the words "I'm Autistic
and Awesome" on it, because my son is awesome and he is autistic,” Ms.
Kentley told Daily Mail Australia.
“Although Christian is only three years old and too young
to read, he is already attached to this doll and knows I made it for him. I
suppose you can say it's his "mini me.”
Just under two months ago, Ms. Kentley's youngest son Ethan
was also diagnosed with autism.
“When we received Ethan's diagnosis, it wasn't as big of a
shock as when Christian was diagnosed because we didn't know as much about it
then as we do now,” she said.
“I want him to be afraid of the word Autism and Autistic.
I want him and Ethan to grow up loving themselves for who
they are and learn to embrace their differences, and know that they are
beautifully and wonderfully created, no matter what.”
Although the autism dolls have proved to be the most
popular, Ms. Kentley will custom make each doll upon request which has included
anything from dolls that are bald or with wigs after undergoing chemotherapy to
wearing prosthetic limbs, in wheelchairs, birthmarks or with Down Syndrome.
To read more on this story, click here: Mother of TwoAutistic Boys Has Created Toys that Celebrate Children with Disabilities
Monday, February 15, 2016
Family of Autistic Boy Launched a Fundraising Campaign to Get $12,500 Needed for a Therapy Dog: Taylor Swift Donates $10,000
Jordan Fox and Makaylee Duhon, who are both 12, joined
together to rewrite the lyrics to Swift's hit 'Blank Space' as a way of helping
Jacob Hill, who suffers from autism.
Jacob, who is five, suffers from the condition, which makes
it harder for him socialize and he is prone to wandering off from his parents.
His mother Allison was keen for Jacob to be given a service
dog, which would stop him from putting himself in constant danger.
His family then launched a fund-raising campaign to gather
together the $12,500 needed to train a dog and his sister Jordan and cousin
Makaylee decided to rework one of Swift's songs where they plead for donations.
The video of their song, their own take on Blank Space, was
posted to YouTube and spotted by the hitmaker who wanted to help out the cause.
To read more on this story, click here: Family of Autistic Boy Launched a Fundraising Campaign toGet $12,500 Needed for a Therapy Dog: Taylor Swift Donates $10,000.
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Position Opening: Incident Management Coordinator
To learn more about this position, click here: Incident Management Coordinator
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Miss Joyce couldn't wait to get back to Exdous Church
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Monday, February 8, 2016
To the Mom Who Wasn’t Sure if Her Son With Special Needs Should Attend Our Party
I know it took a lot of courage to call me and talk to me
about your son. I’ll be honest, I’ve been wanting to call you or to catch you
in the schoolyard. I’ve wanted to reach out to you since our boys were in
kindergarten together. When we went on a field trip to the horse ranch and your
son faced challenges, I wanted to reach out to you then. But I didn’t know how.
I didn’t know where you were in the journey, so I didn’t know if what I would
have said would have felt supportive or if my words would have cut like a
knife.
I should have thought back to when my oldest son was in
kindergarten and how I felt so much like an outsider. He had epic meltdowns at
school events and the one and only birthday party he got invited to. Parents
actually moved away from us, recoiling in horror as I led my boy out of the
party room. I felt absolute shame as a parent and gut-wrenching sorrow for my
son. So misunderstood. I should have remembered how much it meant to me when
one or two parents reached out, however tentatively and awkwardly, trying to
provide understanding and support.
To read more on this story, click here: To the Mom Who Wasn’t Sure if Her Son With Special Needs Should Attend Our Party
Active Family Raising Money to Buy Autistic Son Special Bike
Alex Cohick, 25, is autistic and suffers from an
intellectual disability, but he loves to go fast.
“Whenever we push him fast he puts his arms in the air and
says, ‘Woohoo!,’” Betsy Cohick, Alex’s mother, said.
Alex lives full-time in a group home in Lebanon now and
went to school at Melmark, in the Philadelphia area.
“It took us a couple of years to get him close to home,
because you have to go where a group home is available,” Betsy said. “So he was
in northern Philadelphia for a while, and then he moved to Reading. He kept
getting closer and closer to us. He has been here in Lebanon County for about
two years now.”
The Cohicks, who live in Palmyra, enjoy ice skating, biking
and other activities, but Alex requires special equipment to participate in
those activities.
While the Cohicks have successfully gotten Alex on the ice
at the Klick Lewis Arena, 101 Landings Drive, Annville, using a special sled
left behind by a paraplegic ice hockey player, Alex needs an Axiom Racer
Conversion to have a successful biking experience.
To read more on this story, click here: Active Family Raising Money to Buy Autistic Son Special Bike
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Please support one of our own LPNs, Diara Lawson, as She Takes the Plunge for Special Olympics D.C.!
Support one of our own LPNs, Diara Lawson, as she takes the
Plunge for Special Olympics D.C.
About: Diara Lawson
Hello!!! I'm 29 years old and a Washingtonian. I am a LPN
and I work with great people with intellectual disabilities. I support
community inclusion and equal rights for all!!
To support Diara, click here:
Please Share!
Join us and Register Now! February 28th is the big day for the D.C. Polar Plunge at Catholic University
For More Info Go To WWW.Plungedc.com
#SpecialOlympicsDC #SpecialOlympics #PolarPlunge #PlungeDC
#TakeThePlunge
The Special Olympics D.C. Polar Plunge brings together
children and adults who are interested in two things: raising money to support
the athletes of Special Olympics D.C. and having fun doing something wild! In its 3rd year, the D.C. Polar Plunge has
generated $200,000 annually and is becoming the cool thing to do to support the
nearly 1,600 athletes of Special Olympics D.C.
Take the Plunge and Make a Difference!
Date: Sunday, February 28th
Time: 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Place: Catholic University’s Cardinal Stadium
Please Share!
FOLLOW US! Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Val Chmerkovskiy, Dancing With The Stars Professional: Facing a $6 Million Lawsuit from a 16-Year-Old Girl Who Has Down's Syndrome
Val Chmerkovskiy is facing a $6 million lawsuit from a
16-year-old girl who alleges the Dancing With The Stars professional caused her
severe emotional distress by posting a picture on social media mocking her
appearance.
The girl, who has Down's Syndrome, claims she was at a
baseball game in 2008 and someone took a picture of her drinking a soda. The
photographer captioned the image, "Everything that's wrong with
America", and it soon went viral.
Chmerkovskiy reposted the image on his Facebook page three
weeks ago, editors at TMZ.com report, with the caption, "Letting your kid
become obese should be considered child abuse."
The girl claims that due to Chmerkovskiy, and later CBS
News, posting the image on social media, that it subsequently went viral again
and she was left humiliated.
The girl's mother sent several emails to Chmerkovskiy
asking him to take down the image, which he eventually did. However, he
responded with a post on Facebook that read in part, "I am truly sorry for
the lack of sensitivity... You're handicapping your kid, and they're
defenseless (sic)... They don't know better. That's why you're there."
To read more on this story, click here: Val Chmerkovskiy,Dancing With The Stars Professional: Facing a $6 Million Lawsuit from a16-Year-Old Girl Who Has Down's Syndrome
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