Comeing full circle

I am feeling great today. So many things have come together today and i feel really happy. If you were to tell me a year ago that i would have this feeling of joy after high school i would have believe it, So that is a gift and it make the feeling that much more special

R word Myth

It is  OK  to use the word  if   no disabled person, or someone who loves them,  is a  around  

  Negative

 Just as  I was thought in elementary school  integrity  means  that  u act the same  in the dark  as  u do  in the  light

 for  more  info on this    click  here

Why the R word hurts: a friends perspective

 signing the pledge last year 3-3-2010

     Back in high school I  spear headed   a new  club  called  Dons Disability Awareness  Club. One  of the  events  we did was a  Spread the word to end the word .  It was a great  event and many people signed the  pledge  and  I still have  numerous  wristbands  lying around the house.

   People  might ask  me  why I care so much  about the use of the  the  word   retarded.  I  mean I  do not  have   a intellectual disability.  I have  a physical disability   and a speech  disability but  not a intellectual disability so the  word is  just a word to me  right  wrong

     When I was ten  years  old my parents  signed me up  for judo at the local rec center, The  class  met  Tuesdays and  Thursdays  in the  gym  for an hour.  I  signed  up in February and  before long   my  friend ,she  is no longer my friend,joined shortly after   lets call her  B. She  was deaf and had  NVLD, like me, but she  was  in inclusive education  at the local elementary school which  was connected  to the  rec.  As  faith would have it her  new neighbors  would  move  in and they had  kids around   our age.  A fifth  grader,  a  year ahead of us, a third  grader and  a  four year old who was the only girl in the bunch.  The  third  grader  who we will call LM  happened to have Down Syndrome.   I met them  when  LM came to  join a judo class after  my friends mom  told  her new neighbor about the class  and  shortly there after   LM and I became friends.

   A  few years later LM was  at our same school  in middle school and the three of us always hung out together,. At the  time LM was  into  basketball so every lunch hour   LM and I would gobble down our lunches and  race to  the blacktop to play  in pickup games on one such  occasion we were  playing  with  a  other kids  in my grade, so  older then LM ,  and  LM was doing the best he could.  He  did not have  dribbling down,  needed  reminders of what basket to shoot  at, and  got too close  to the defender.   Most of the  other kids were vary nice to him and  gave him  the ball and  not block him and let him shoot but  on one  occasion a kid  who was  dribbling the ball  and  LM was  trying to steal it from  her she  said.

"GET AWAY YOU RETARD ."

LM  sat down  on the side of the  court  and  I fallowed  him.  I was  stunned.  B's mom had told me not to say that word to  LM and  now i knew  why. LM    was a charming fellow. He loved basketball and Disney movies and did  judo.  He was  full of life   but   the person who called him the R word had  taken all that away from him as if  she  had  popped a balloon that was LM's spirit.    

.

To this day the memory of that  day  is  vivid and  runs deep.  He  is the  reason why  I  started   Spread the word to end the word  at my high school last year. He is the reason why  Spread the word to end the word   will be there  this year  even though I  no longer   attend.   LM  was the first person I  really got to know   with a intellectual disability but he was not the last. B encourage  me  to become a special Olympics  athlete and  I now  know many people  in my area wit intellectual disabilities. People with  Intellectual disabilities are  people   who have  different personalities.    These people can be cliquish while others can be vary sweet and accept everyone.   But when   people  use the R word  they lump them all  together  in to a group that is beneath  the speak.  

 Having CP  which results in unclear s speech I  sometimes  get  treated as  though I have  a intellectual disability  due to my speech.  I know  the feeling  and it is not a good one. i  see  the  mindset  of thinking that  they are above me  and it does not feel right. I am  intelligent  but  even if i wasn't  I still would want to be treated with respect:Learning is  not everything   everyone needs to  realize  that a person is a person   who has  feelings  we  all   cry the  same tears. We all  feel sadness.  It is  what makes  us  human  so  think about that the  next time  before  use the  R word,

  Words DO Hurt

 Spread the word to end the word

 please comment before u leave




 got images  from

 judo- http://www2.nijmegen.nl/mmbase/images/964763/judo.jpg
 basketball-http://web.ocknights.org/images/basketball_cartoon.jpg
 spread the word  date for 2011-http://media.specialolympics.org/soi/files/spread-the-word/STW-Dated-Dark.jpg
 tear drop-http://wwwcdn.net/ev/assets/images/vectors/afbig/water-drop-clip-art.jpg
 Be a fan -http://nyso.org/STW2010.jpg

what would you do

 This show comes on  abc  Tuesday and Friday nights

   I gotta hand it to What would  you do    for  useing  TV to  teach  people how to be good citizens  which includes   how to treat people with different ablities.   Last night's show  was no exception, on that episode it   showed two  people with disablties ( a little person and a lady in the wheelchair) and  people 's  reactions to them in the suppermakert.     Both of those clips are worth the watch;however, I want to take a look at  the one of the person in a wheelchair

    

  People with disabilities are  not  hopeless  and do not need help all the time.  As I said  earlier people with Disabilities  do  become  adults  and   the public  has to be reminded  of that.  Recently  one of the basketball players  mom(  I play  on the special olympics team)   handled  my money for me  even though I  am able to  handle  my own money.  In that case I did not mind   because  I knew the lady and  i know she meant  no  harm   i  told  her after the fact.   That is why you need to ask people with disablties for help  before you help because  they might  be able to do it themsleves

  please comment before you leave

If you could walk in my shoes

 From the  TV movie  to kill a mockingbird also a good movie

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view--until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill a Mockingbird
Atticus Finch to daughter Scout, Chapter 3

 I loved  reading  To Kill a mockingbird   if u  have not had a chance to  read it  Now to move   mediums from books to   Television









 I am soo happy that this is finally out  I am  thrilled  I got bullied in elementry and middle school, What happened in middle school is below


 
I remember when I was little and my dad told me that "Sticks and Stones can break your bones but words can never hurt you. Well I don't think it is true... Wait let me rephrase that it is . Princess and book gal have a easy cry baby that would me. My dad says that I am too sensitive and tells me to ignore it. That is the bad advice that you can give a victim of bullying disabled or not .Still don't believe me okay here comes a story



In sixth grade my mom and dad through that I should have one class in special education called RSP. it basically is a study hall with a special needs teacher who helps you do the work. Well in Sixth grade I had a guy in my class who always said I was a loner and no one played with me. I told the teacher and she said to ignore it because he was from a bad family and needed attention. Well I never could ignore it and I spent the remainder of my first middle school year yelling at him back and froth.


The school thorough I had behavior problems so in seventh grade I was put into a RSP room with a strict teacher and mean kids. Man did I hate that class. There were three other kids in the class who teased me and like the guy in 6th grade all of them came from middle class families trying to make ends meet. What made it worse was that there was a nice RSP room with good kids who teacher was nice. I also was the only one with my teachers on my RSP teacher case load The nice one had the others.


On Wednesdays were the hardest day of the week. The teacher had meetings that day and we were under supervision of a sub. One peculiar Wednesday a girl said that the entire 7th grade hated me. She was training for a peer helper and the class was talking about me and how much they hated me. My aid talked to me and sat by me during my next class and we talked to the head teacher(Who is a great guy that i had for math the next year) who told me that they had been talking about how to treat someone with a disability and my name came up. Someone did not learn their lesson.

Words do hurt and schools need to be aware of this and help those getting teased and don't tell them to ignore it . Think about it this way if your son/ daughter fell and scarped his/her knee you wipe it up right. Well bullying is like that only the cut is invisible It's a cut to the child self esteem

me and Lauren potter from Glee  she is spearheading the campaign I  am trying to get involved with this campaign

The Sick Valintine

  please comment before you leave
    you guessed  it I am  the  sick valentine today.  I have been around a lot of sick people  the past week  including both  Princess and book gal  who are  mending but still feel bad.   I thought  I would come out of this complety fine ( as I have a good immune system)  but on Saturday night my nose began to clog and  the coughing began. Sunday I slept all day   and am   taking the morning  off  from classes  but will go to the  night class (  which is tonight    it is my film class   and  important lectures will happened and   I need to be there)

 I hope  everyone   is  not  sick like  me 

I hate keys

  Hello guys  I want to say first off  Happy  February   (my favorite month of the year)  the ressson for not posting  is  the fact that the comments are not rolling  so   before u leave  could  u help me  out  my commenting. 

   I hate  keys  I mean the  word itself was hard  for me to say for the  first 12 years of my life .  I have a t for K substitution so I  said the  word  Tey and   I would  get a minus  from the ST  not fun times.Now that I am older  I can say  key  but  I have to slow down and really  focus on the   K  sound but that  is just the beginning  of  my   key troubles.

   last  Wednesday  when I got home from school i went to use the key to open the house up.     I  can get the  key in and  turn it but  the key  gets stuck in the keyhole making it hard to get out.     Last Wednesday I manage to  get the key  to the garage out   but then  the Garage   door that leads into the house was locked.  I  then  call my dad and he says to try the sliding glass door   I do  but then the key  gets stuck into the door  and  i can not  get it out nor can I open the door.    I  proceed to the sun room in my backyard  and my  dog comes  and stares at me. This is funny cuz my dog spends a lot of time in the sun room    when we are away.    Now  she looks at me   from inside the house at me in the sun room   where I stayed until my sisters  came home.

The Return of Sunday Grains of Gradtitude

   So Sunday  grains of  Gratitude  is  back.  I have not done this for  a while,but I  read them   recently  and I  really liked  reading about the little things that happened   week to week  I  like   re reading them.

1.   I survived  Winter break .  It was  two weeks between  my sister return to mine . These  two weeks  have  been  home alone  for most of the day  without a routine  so  it  gets  boring. I   did well but  am looking  forward to going back to school  on Tuesday.
2.   I helped take  down the Christmas   stuff and did a great  job  by myself now all the boxes  are down.
3.  I went  to a soccer game at my high school.  The team tied  when they should have  won  and  thus  Mr C  did not want  to  talk to me that much. That was discouraging but then  I am disabled   teen and  he had  a  newborn baby  and  his wife   but    at least I talked to Mr,MCG ( AP us history teacher)   Mr C wanted to  talk to one of  the older soccer player which  made   me feel invisible  but    i am disabled so it is ok.
4.  I  got to see LM.  I went to his house  after the soccer game ( much too my dad not so best wishes) and on  Sat  I  got a ride  with him and his friend who also has DS.  We had a fun time even though they were messing  with me   (  our high schools are ,or in my case former high schools,) rivals.
5.  I went to 2 basketball practice. On sat it  was rrc special Olympics and  today was the hmb  pre practice. I  think we will have a great season  .  At today's  pre practice I helped  one  a kid who is  my age with CP  sooo cool. This Saturday is  the first practice so  I will  take pics then. If anyone  who is reading this  and  lives in the area   hmb  is far but it is worth it.    
6. I am doing  grains of Gratitude again
7.  I went out to lunch with my mom Saturday afternoon.
8.  For MLK  he  made  my life so much better .  As an American American  disabled  female  his work  impacts me soo much,  I watch  the Imitation of life  and it was  interesting  to  see  the hate between a child  and her mother due  to  skin tone.  I hated the girl by the  way   I was   that into the movie

 Happy Sunday

Deedah: the movie review

        How I got the movie 

to find out more about the movie  please visit http://www.deedahandme.com/

       In the fall  of 2010   I came across a  trailer for a movie made by  a sister about  her brother with down syndrome .  (This was  of course Deedah)    I watched it  over and over again   and wished I could have it  but I doubted that my parents would pay for it ( I have wanted the Child King for a while now but have not  yet seen it). I then found out about the blog and facebook group and I quickly  signed up for  both of them.  On the blog  in October -which is Down Syndrome and  Disability Awareness  month - the  blog  was giving away  a free copy of the DVD. I left a lot of comments   and  even though I did not win I still got a DVD for free due to my  "persistence and passion".    It was put in the mail  and  I waited  and waited  for the  DVD to show up. I would come home every day from collage and look in the mailbox  - which resulted in me taking the  mail in but after it came  the mail  was  not  that interesting  anymore - and  when it finally came I was  thrilled and excited  to see it.  Now a couple of months latter i have had the time to  review this movie.

    Review

 the  two kids from the film they are soo cute

  Like I said before Deedah  is a seven year old perspective about her brother with Down Syndrome.   The  two kids are -in the movie which was made  in 2009 so  they are a bit older now-  seven and five years old. Seven and five are  two cute  ages  and  these kids are no exception both kids are soo cute and fun to watch. The  sister is  the older one in the family with   her brother years behind him.   There names are John and Charlotte The name of the film comes from  the way john first said  his sister's name. John  was born with Down Syndrome  but the film  really shows how normal  his life really is.  John can   go down water slides, play mini-golf, and    goes to school in a inclusive program with  other   kindergartners.  The music  is  really  good , I found myself singing the songs in the film,  and  it  adds to the overall  positive tone of the documentary.  The documentary is extremely positive  from  Charlotte  perspective on her brothers disability. She  tells the audience   that everyone  has different  finger prints and  that her brother is   great just the way  he is.   John may have a speech delay but he able to articulate  his  disability as being UP Syndrome  instead of Down Syndome extremely loud and clear .

 The film also takes a brief  view on bulling.  This is where I think any kid   can  take something away from the movie. The film talks about  how bullying  hurts  even  if the Victor is disabled. It  gives kids   ideas  on how to deal with bullying and  how important it is to help  kids develop strategies  to stand up to those  mean kids.

  In conclusion I think Deedah  is a great movie. I wish it could have been longer.It  is 30 minutes  without bonus features) The songs are great and the kids are even better.  I think this type of video should be shown  in elementary schools   to help kids understand  Down Syndrome.   I would love to see more movies like Deedah  showing other  disabilities.  I think  movies like this have the potential  on how other kids  will view a child  with Down Syndrome.  After you see the movie there is  still the blog that  keeps you up to date about life after the documentary. I hope more movies  like Deedah  will be  made to show that all people with all types of disabilities  have more abilities then disabilities.

Wrapping presnts with CP and NVLD ( aka without good fine motor control)

As u know if u have been reading I bought presents for the first time this year for all my siblings and parents. so that means wrapping. Wrapping presents with cp means that the perfect wrap job will not be archived but it is the gift the counts.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Year in Review

    2010 was defiantly a eventful year  for me.  It was not a great year , it was  hellish for meany months, but   I got though it and  hopefully 2011 will be better . now  here  comes the changeling part    finding something positive to say about every month.    

 Me  (in white) handing the ball off to E( in purple

   January 2010:    I met  E, my best friend,  at basketball and   got second in the MLK  writing  contest

 February : I  played knockout in my high school rally and was  ball girl  for my high school.

 Me signing the pledge  March 3 2010

  March  : My cousin has her baby  girl. My school did Spread the word to end  the word  via the  club . I got to speak in Mr.T's classes and he signed the pledge.   I signed up for my high school track team and    joined the special Olympics track team  for the first time.

 April :  I  got honorable mention for  a poem and got dressed up and went to prom

 May :  Book gal turned 17.  Had DDAC's first ever end of the year party.   I graduated high school at 18  with  an award  for community service    I also enjoyed  the senior Activity day  even though it was wet.  

 Dad and me  on Mount Tam

 June   Climbed to the  top of mount tam.I began my collage career at  CDS  2010. I  enjoyed  it and made a lot of friends.

 My fourth of  July  face paint  I got from a carnival

July Celebrated  fourth  of july  by getting   my face painted

 August: Princess turned  16 and got her liscence. T  left our family . I  started  comminty collage

September  I  turned 19 .   my team won gold in softball.  I  did the Joe Jonas fun run and  helped raise money for Special Olympics.  I celebrated the first ever EKS Day

 Lauren Potter and me October 2010

October :  I pet Lauren potter from Glee  I craved a pumpkin for Halloween  but did not  trick or treat. I also moved  the wii  into T's old room.

November  watch book gal win CCS   and make it to state. Celebrate  Thanksgiving  and helped  cook for the first time.

 December  Mom became vice chancellor of diversity at  UCSF.   Mom and  Dad  had their 20th wedding anniversary. I went to the Alumni soccer game.  We had a great Christmas (see below), I  bought presents for the first time  this  year   Zoe  got  a rabit and  she celebrated    her sixth b day

  

 I hope everyone  has  a  happy new year and  a great 2011

 

 I love this photo of my dog    and the thing is  that I  took this fall 2010

 ps  here are  some disability Awareness post that I like that I wrote in  2010

 Life as an adult

   passed ap  but aged out of speech

 It should not be a  fight

 Life as a collage student 

Christmas Recap

the tree  before presents on X mas morning

  Hi  blog readers   I am so behind in blogging   so  I will  try to catch up starting with Chrismas recap.

 New this  year I  bought presents for everyone so I had   a try at wrapping  presents.  They did not turn out so well  wrapping  wise  but  that is a whole  other post i will  try to put up in the next three days

  On Christmas eve  my  parents and i  went to Christmas eve  mass  and    looked at Christmas lights. When we got  home  my mom told me that  we did not have Christmas pj's   It was  disappointing  but then she surprised me  (thanks  mom)\

    I got some video games closes   movies   on Christmas morning  I then proceed to play   one of my video games, Donkey Kong Country Returns, until we went to our friends house for dinner. 

Christmass Card 2010  i

 

  Like I said  I have lots to blog about so stay with me  I hope everyone had a happy holiday and a great new year.

comeing soon

 hay blog readers  so  I have been on break (since  thursday night)    i have had  some fun and plan to use the time to write some post  on here  on the follwing

  CP montage

 Refelctions on independce

 Deedah Review

Holiday posts

   A book review

 stay toon i have a long  break   You can help me out by commenting on what you want me to do first,

Life and times of a collage student with disablites

Well guys welcome to Inclusive school week on my blog I am going to try to post something every day this week about Inclusion and how beneficial it has been for me as a result. Lets get started. here are some pictures of my day as a collage student.

I ate this once when I couldn't find waffles

A typical day for me starts long after my sister go to their high school. I wake up around 9:00 and jump into the shower to begin my day. I get dressed and head down stairs where i take my morning medication and have some brekfast. If we have any waffles in the house I will put them in the toster put way to much syurp on them and gobble them down while watching my shows on the DVR. If I am done with breakfast by 10:45 I grab my hat and head to school. I enjoy the walk to school it is about an hour give or take but it is good excersise I have to go up a big hill but the only the first third is steap. If it is late I take a bus or my parents drive me, if they are home. I go to the local Comminty collage which i am hoping to change and start over as a freshman at a four year school next fall.

First stop for me when I get to collage

The first order of business when I get on campus is to go to the Asstive technology center and get Something cheak back tomorrow to see what it is . I then go to my class which starts at 12:10. It is Intermediate Algebra. I sit up front in a seat that is reserved for me, The sign that is in the picture is taken off but no one sits there. The instructor is a guy named Will (not his real name) He is really nice and has high expectations for me. He does not think I a pain to teach and trust me enough to let me lend money. After his class I head upstairs for an English class with Jone( again not real name) the class is pretty easy for me. It is a step below collage English but I will be doing Freshman English in January. I have two friends in that class who went to my rival high school but we get along alright. I also have an old friend that I had in high school when I was friends with DD. I thought that collage would be so scary but Mr T was right I would be fine.

Tuesday post will be on what I pick up at the office

If you have a child in middle school make sure you tell them about the I am norm video contest happening this week for more info click here

Favorite pics of me brought to you by To the max

Mini Me

 

I love the  bright colors 

 

  I enjoyed Summer  2009

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

No school

   Tomorrow I do not have school   I  normally have one class on friday  but the instructor is sick .  I hope  he gets better   but I am  happy for the day off. 

Wordless Wednessday Feed the birds

Sad soccer story

  As  some of u know this year I  am playing soccer  for the local special olympics. it has not been working out so great. 

See there are two teams  on the pratice site  the  A team and the b team. I have been playing ayso for  a long time on the regular leagues(U6 -u14) I also watch my high school  soccer games and I know a thing or too about  soccer. I would classify my slef as intermedite to  pre advance  in terms of soccer skills. The coach does not so she put on the  lower team  the first pratice   with the hope that  if I coraporated I would be on the A team.   

Well yesterday  the head coach was'nt at pratice  so two nice men filled in. I did my drills and stuff and come scrimidge  I  tried to seneak over to play. The others got soo mad  telling  me i was not on the  team.  Most of them are friends with DD and it did not help that two weeks eariler  at bowlingI  got mad with DD and put  mutiplea ball in the guter  and  yesterday's pratice was the first  time  I had  seen everyone and  some new people got  anoyed with me.   Let me tell you right now  people with intelicual disablities can remerber bad things.  


 I ended up scrimigeing on the lower  team yesterday and did great got some goals saved some goals  on defesne too. When the coachs called  quits  I headed over to get some soda and some guy told me " Hay,ifyou play on the A team everyone will quit. "


 I got mad  partly cause I was caught off guard .  I had played on the b team  I was playing good. I started yelling i do not understand. Me and the guy have gotten along well up until this point. 

Big Wave the resson why it's needed (I spy az and her enimies too)

can u spot  me  in it  enjoy the  video  pics are  taken  from  the last  two  years .  U  can  spot  E as well   do  u  know  what one he is?

The I Phone family

 Our Family is now an official I phone  family.    Princess got the first  i phone  for Christmas a while back then  Dad ,  and Mom joined  in.   Book gal and laid back athlete  got theirs this past summer.  I had my first full day with it  today. It is sooo coool