Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Down Syndrome Connection of the Bay Area

  Last Sunday was the annual Step Up for Down Syndrome Walk.  I went because for the last few months I have been helping the Down Syndrome connection of the Bay Area bring Services to the Peninsula. I love helping them  because they have really cute kids and I feel that having services to meet the needs  of those with  DS is a great thing.  Here is a poster that I made on my own for the walk. I got lots of help from my facebook friends. I think the poster turned out  well What do you think?




 To learn more about the organization click here 




Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Did you know




 Of women with Developmental Disabilities are raped.  We need  to teach men to respect women. This needs to end.   It is not acceptable.  We must do better.

Monday, October 10, 2016

Stranger Danger




 I have a story about a guy  treating me badly.  It happened in 2011, on a rainy day in March . I was  running to  try to catch the bus and  missed it. This   junky  four passenger car comes up.  Inside it was  a white man.  He offered me a ride.   Stranger Danger  kicked in and I said no and continued to walk and did not think anything of it. Until  about two minutes later  when he came back again.  He asked me again if I wanted a ride, I declined.  He then asked if I wanted money to have sex with him.  I told him to leave me alone.  That was really  scary and I am glad that   he did not  try to get out of his car because I do have a physical disability so  he would have been able to  do what he wanted with me.  It wasn't funny , and not something to joke about.  It was just plain wrong,  Men need to treat Women with respect. 

Friday, October 7, 2016

On being left out -- Speechless episode three



 So today I am going to be talking about Speechless Episode three.  Something I want to relate to is JJ being left out.  In this episode, the students at JJ's high school have a homecoming bonfire at a place that in inaccessible which makes JJ feel left out . JJ's mom  talks to the principal and has it cancelled.


I do not agree with  Maya's decision because   it is not realistic.  For me in additon to Cerebral Palsy  I have NVLD which is similar to Asperger's making dances and social things in middle school and high school really hard  for me.  In seventh grade, I didn't have the social skills or friends to navigate the middle school dances;however,  my favorite general education teacher was  working at  the dances.  I went and hung out with her. While this was not socially appropriate    I at least got to experince a dance.  I think it would be more embarissing to cancel dances  because I did not know how to behave because that would bulid resentment towards me  and be counterproductive.  What could be done is  have a fun night. What that means is during the dance, or bonfire, or other special event, have something  fun that  the kid gets to pick.  Play a board game, have a movie night  or something enjoyable.

 Another option would be for schools to plan ahead for these social events with  staff and  parents.  Maybe that could mean having a quiet room during the dance with a movie playing which would be open to all students-- Bookgirl's  privite school  did this and I thought it was a great idea.  Schools should not promote activites for general education  students that are inaccesable for  disabled students.  It is not right.   This  can be easily avoided and its up to adults to  make sure that social  events are  held accessable   venues.

  For students that have problems making friends a good thing to have is a circle of friends.   Circle of friends is a program where students with disabilities have a circle of  able bodied peers that help them out. Their are plaining meetings that students parttake in to set the student up for social success.  I  really wish  I would have had something like this.  I wonder if it is to late to have one.  

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Communication difficulties can't stop me

hi guys no speechless post because I am really tried but I wanted to blog about something that happened today .I was walking down town and saw a man with his son with a sign for food .As luck has it today theres  a farmers market . I tried to have them come with m so they could pick up what they needed but they didnt speak English that well  and my speech is affected but that didn't stop me .I got two bags of pears and gave one to them People with disabilities can make a difference