Thursday, December 31, 2015

Year in Review







Happy  New Year Everyone. It is time  once again to look back on my year.

 January 2015   I tried a new school.  I met with a new school consular   who  gave me some exciting news, read through to the end to see what it was.  I did not  start this school but  I  thought about going it would take a few months before I worked up the courage to  go but  I had the confidence to  try  and that has made the  difference.

 February   2015 Beat  our cross town  rivals in basketball

 March 2015  Had a fun  basketball tournament  and went to the Warriors Special needs night where I  scored a ton of baskets Went to Tahoe and celebrated  National CP Day.

April 2015   Started  School and loved every second of it .    I went go Karting and had a fun Easter  with friends.

May 2015   My Grandma came to visit.

June 2015  The  warriors win the NBA Championships. My parents go to Puerto Rico.   I begin Summer Classes at my new school.  Met up with Friends at the  Magical Bridge Playground.  Princess goes to Tonga with her  friends.

July 2015: Find out that I will be a Senior if  I pass all my classes in the  Fall.  I also learn that I will graduate   2016. (more on this soon)

 August 2015 :  I played Unified  golf with a former  Teammate from High School .   Completed a big project  and finished all my summer classes

September  2015 :    Tuned 24. Began Senior Year and  Princess  goes to Italy  for studied abroad.













October 2015 : I have fun at the Big Wave Harvest Festival  and  Carving  Pumpkin Event.  I  dress up as Yoshi for Halloween.

 November 2015  Get some disheartening news about   my future  but  people at my junior college and current school  rally around me and convince me not to Drop out of School.

 December 2015:  Finished and Passed all of my classes and  Princess returns  home safely !  Have a Star Wars Marathon.  I get a ton of clothes for Christmas. I can not wait for the  New Year.  2016  could very well be the best year  of my life.
 I do plan to use my Fb page more often in  the New  Year so Go Like i















Resolutions 





 Caring the  Torch  Spring 2015






 BE  Positive

 Gain Independence

 Lose Ten Pounds  and Eat Better









Stuff  I wrote

 CP Can  Earn Money 
 The Best Word in  a Textbook
 Dear CP 
 The Invisible Student 







Wednesday, December 23, 2015

The REAL Experts:An partial explanation of why Disabled people are mad at the Mighty

 Hi guys its been awhile but something pressing has come up  that I want to tell you about. For those in the disability  blogging community   you probably have heard of  the Mighty , but what not  may  be as clear is the problem that some disabled people have (using that  for a reason please  bare with me).

 My family and I have  watched all six of the orginal Star Wars over the holidays.  It is a great series  and lends itself  good way  explaining  part of  what is going on.

     If you wanted to know what being a Jedi is like who would you go to for an explaination?

a  R2D2

B A  wookie 

C  Luke Skywalker 

D  Hans Solo 

        If you were  to ask me this at the begining of the month  I would not know  who  to ask because I  do not know the characters.      If I  told you that   Luke  is a Jedi  The answer should be pretty clear  that you were to ask  Luke to explain the Jedi's role.    This  seems like common sense for any other able bodied  question on the experts. 
     When the person has a disability they are thought to have no voice which gives rise  to Parents being  their child's voice.  I am not saying that parents should not advocate for their kids.    What I am saying  is that they aren't the experts on disablities nor  are the doctors  and specialist   or  teacher experts, asuming  that none of them had   a disability, The real experts are the ones that live  it 24 seven or people with disabilities.  The only experts are the disabled. 
   Do Able bodied people   play an important part  in a person's life.?  Yes They are the ones that  use their   skills abilities and privilege in helping their child navigate  this   society.   But they do  have privilage and sometime their use of  privilage  does more harm then good.  For example  when people  poke fun of their disabled kid or dicuss personal issues  online for anyone else to see then they  violate others privacy  in the name  of advocacy.   An example of this  is anything relating to the bathroom  should not  be online for anyone to see. Itpersonal  and  not  for the public.  Another thing is  Insperational Pron.  I will  write a post on it  soon.   This is why disabled people are mad.










Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Tune in tonight





  For  A and  E  new series  Born this way. Staring Sean McElwee of  Who's The Slow Learner 
  and  six other  adults with Down Syndrome.


 Tonight  at  10 /9 central on A&E






















AZ with  Sandra and  Sean

Monday, December 7, 2015

Happy Inclusive School Week

 
Hay  guys between  Finals and  everything I do not have  time  or  energy to come up with a thought provoking  post this year  for inclusive schools week, but I wanted to say Happy   Inclusive Schools Week.






 Classes have  been going ok, but it has been hard to stay  motivated because  there is a good chance that I won't be able to be an inclusive teacher.  So  I am still trying to figure out what I can do   carrer  wise so it has been  a rocky journey these past  two months.  I wish there was  a way but  because  of  my  terrible articulation   it wouldn't be fair to  my students.  

 How  have  I been dealing with this.


   It  depends some days  I am  ok  but  other days  I am  blue.  I'd give anything to be able to speak better but  at this point  according  to a speech thearpist chances are  not good  that I  will improve.  So continuing to push  forward   is very hard but I will keep at it.


 Do I still belive in inclusion  despite this  News


    Yes there have been  many  happy times throughout my school carer  where inclusion  has  been  great. I read some good books  played on playgrounds, explored my world.   I have met  so many great people  and  gotten  lots of  awards because I was in inclusive education.    Here  are some of them
  Kindergarten


 Award  Second Grade
 Student of the day

 Senior  Prom  Spring 2010
 T and  I    Junior College  Graduation
  DK and  I  chilling out    summer 2013

 Go  Carting for a project  April 2015

  Playing  Unified  Summer 15
    Me and  Dr B   wearing green for World Cerebral Palsy Day 2015




















Friday, November 6, 2015

Who is the Slow Learner Giveaway: The Winner











 Thanks everyone for commenting on that  post.  I will be doing another giveaway in the future so stick around .



Still want to read  the book Click Here to order the book.


   Jennifer V  please contact me  so I can  put you in touch with the author my email is azchapman1991@gmail.com

Saturday, October 31, 2015

31 for 21 Day 31 Happy Holloween

 Me and  Princess  before we  go beg for  Candy.   October 2005



  Happy  Hollween  guys.  I hope you guys have  enjoyed  31 for 21.  Its  been a lot work but very fun. 


  Mid night tonight is also the  last day to enter the drawing  for  Who's  the Slow  Learner, Leave a comment on day  6 and tune in  Wednesday for the winners to be announced



 What are your  kids  for  Halloween.  Let me know in the comments  below.



Friday, October 30, 2015

31 for 21 Day 30 Memories from Third grade



  In third  grade I remeber...

   Learning  Cursive.  Everyone thought that cursive was  going to be easier for me. In the end  I  like   printing  better.


    Times tables and number charts. See  Tuesday's post.

  Bike  riding with my teacher on Saturdays


   Learning about  Indians.


  Being in charactor  when  I was Rosa  Parks  I  told  Martin  Luther  King that " it  was nice to see him again. "      I became  known as a future   actress unfortunately, I  did not act again.


  Going to the recycling center and landfill.


  Saying announcements  on the loud speaker. I worked really  hard in  ST to  be able  to be clear.

Thursday, October 29, 2015

31 for 21 Day 29 : A video everyone needs to see


   This is the  video that started Spread the Word  to End the Word.  I  really  like this video.





Wednesday, October 28, 2015

31 for 21 Day 28 Rude customers scare me

            The biggest fear I have at work is that  a customer will call  me the r word.  You may be wondering why  I have that fear since I do not have an intellectual  disability.

      I work  in the college  bookstore.  I  work the cash  register, see  below for money handling tips, and sometimes it gets busy.   I  do have  unclear speech and  problems   using my hands at times, so  uneducated people  could  assume  that I have an intellectual disability.  Being in fear of  a word being used  towards me should show  how  bad  the word is.  The word stings   and  should not be used.


 The closest thing that I have come to the r word was a customer  trying to grab his  merchandise.  from me.  It really  rattled me up.   My boss is  really great  and has told me that he would defend me.  My boss is the best boss ever.




 Here  is  a related story about  having others back  at work.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

31 for 21 Day 27 : Money handleing tips

 

   So today I am  going to be  talking about two  strategies that help me   work the cash  register at the   bookstore.  When  someone asked me what is something you did not think that you would be doing  I  said working  the cash  register.   I was able to surprise myself and work the  register. 

 Here are  two   tricks   I  use.



 One      I  picture an  100  chart in my head.  This helps me a lot.  Also   skip counting  helps a ton as well. I am  glad  I was exposed to this  in my gen ed math class.




 Trick  two


 I have a  hard time telling the difference  between a quarter and a nickel, but  I can  read those words.   On  the  quarter  it says   Quarter  dollar so  I  find that and then  I know its 25 cents.


  I will say that working the cash register has  been THE BEST  way for me to  handle money. 

  Do you guys have any  tips  let me know  in the comments  below