Community Connections: October 2003 newsletter

The Community Connections Communicator -- October 2003

In this Issue:

Building a Bright Future for Your Child

	Tip Sheet: Why Create a Vision?
	This tip sheet provides a general overview of what a vision is and ways to develop a vision for your child’s future.
	Article: The Journey Begins
	This article has information on how creating a vision can empower a child to reach for the stars.
	Spotlight of the Month:
	Revolutionary Common Sense – The Disability Is Natural Newsletter This newsletter provides insight to parents, professionals and all those involved in shaping the lives of children with disabilities.
	Recommended Websites:
	Maryland National Capital Area Park and Planning Commission Provides inclusive activities in various areas for children with disabilities. www.pgparks.com Inclusion Network Trainings Provides trainings in the area of person centered planning throughout the U.S. and abroad. http://www.inclusion.com/N-Inclusion.Network.html

Tip Sheets

Why Create a Vision?

How many of us have heard children say with gleam in their eyes; “when I grow up, I want to be a basketball player”, or “when I grow up I want to be a ballerina”, or “when I grow up I want to go to college”? Children have dreams from the earliest of ages. They admire their parents or others in their family and aspire to be like them. And when parents are made aware of their child’s aspirations, they tend to focus on ways to get them closer to accomplishing their goals.

For example, the parents of the child who wants to become a ballerina may begin by enrolling her in a preschool ballet class at the local community center. They may start listening to various types of music to acquire a taste for the dance. They may also attend live performances at the Kennedy Center to see dance companies in action. The parents may also schedule play-groups with other families interested in performing arts in order to have their child socialize with similar children and to provide a means of networking for the family. These types of activities and relationships will provide the child with the opportunities to explore the arts and help her become a little closer to achieving her dream of becoming a ballerina. Vision building for children with disabilities falls along this same line of thinking; tap into your child’s interest and design activities and relationships around those interests to help create a bright, safe, and successful future for your child.

Vision building requires that parents and those involved in the child’s life, take an active part in helping understand the child’s interest, wants, and needs in order to help develop a mission for the child. Kids Together, Inc. has developed a Vision Building Tutorial, which will walk you through the steps needed to accomplish the task of developing a vision. Such steps include developing a mission statement for your child. The tips also discuss the power in being able to vision a future different from your reality. Other tips include thinking about where you envision your child living, working, and socializing. Furthermore, relationships and friendships are also considered a very important piece to vision building and questions regarding these areas are raised in this tip sheet.

Begin your journey of dreaming, hoping, and growing with the Kids Together, Inc.’s “Developing a Vision Tutorial”. Click on the link below to view the entire tip sheet as well as the full tutorial and Quality of Life Test:
http://www.kidstogether.org/visn1.htm

Check out the following link for more tips on how to include the community in the vision for your child’s future.
Let’s Play Together – this tip sheet provides information on how to foster friendships between children with and without disabilities. It gives tips on expanding a child’s social circle, and on making and keeping friends.
http://www.pbs.org/parents/issuesadvice/inclusivecommunities/friendships.html

Articles

The article “The Journey Begins” is an article written by a young adult with a disability label whose family used vision building throughout her preschool and school age years. This article gives practical examples of how a vision can be applied to a child’s interest through the selection of the school the child will attend, the activities the child enrolls in, and the friends the child will surround herself with. This article further discusses the need for developing a vision for your child to help her reach her goal of having an independent future. To read about the success of building a vision, please click on the link below to view the entire article. http://www.pbs.org/parents/issuesadvice/inclusivecommunities/independence2.html

Here are two additional helpful articles:
Building Life Long Visions: Where Do Professionals Fit In? - This article provides information on how professionals can support the child’s vision.
http://www.kidstogether.org/vis-lng.htm

Assistive Technology: How Technology Can Help Your Child Be More Active -This article provides an overview of what assistive technology is and how it can be used to help your child access his community, which may be vital in helping him reach his vision. http://www.pbs.org/parents/issuesadvice/inclusivecommunities/assitive_tech.html

Spotlight of the Month:

Revolutionary Common Sense
The Disability is Natural Newsletter
Brave Heart Press
PO Box 7245
Woodland Park, CO 80863
www.disabilityisnatural.com

Editor: Kathie Snow
1-866-948-2222

Kathy Snow, a parent of a child with a disability and author of the book entitled Disability is Natural-Revolutionary Common Sense for Raising Successful Children with Disabilities, has developed a bi-monthly newsletter geared toward helping parents, people with disabilities, service providers, and community leaders adopt new ways of thinking to make the future of all children and adults with disability labels, and their families, brighter and more inclusive. Her website, www.disabilityisnatural.com provides information on ordering her newsletter, books, buttons, and other memorabilia.

Following is an excerpt of Kathie Snow’s article “Dream Without Limits”, from the August-September 2003 issue of the Revolutionary Common Sense newsletter, which is fitting for this month’s theme of vision building.

A Path to Success – Dream Without Limits

The American Dream. It’s what motivates adults to believe they, and their children, can achieve their fondest hopes. Collectively, we may not share the same definition of The American Dream; to some it’s a house with a picket fence, to others it’s a college education or owning your own business. What we do seem to collectively hold dear is the idea that we can pursue and achieve whatever is important to us.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t always apply to individuals who have been labeled with disabilities. The dreams parents held for their precious baby often evaporate in the wake of a disability diagnosis and a doctor’s dismal prognosis.

The carnage may continue throughout a person’s life. Special services, interventions, and therapies are effective dream-smashers. Instead of supporting the heartfelt hopes of an individual, they generally focus on addressing a person’s “problems” (as assessed by others). This is enough to erode a person’s self-esteem and plant the seeds of hopelessness. Moreover, the time spent in these activities reduces the amount of time one can spend pursuing one’s dreams…

Interventions and unnatural environments aren’t the only dream-crushers, however. The words and actions of parents, educators, service providers, doctors, and others can devastate a person’s hopes and dreams, but so can the absence of words and actions. What we don’t do or say about dreams can contribute to a person’s belief that he can’t or shouldn’t dream.

Hopes and dreams are the daily fuel that energize people who don’t have disabilities. Some dreams are realized, others aren’t, and still others change. Again, the final outcome isn’t as important as the idea that a person can and should influence her present and future through her hopes and dreams. If we expect individuals with disabilities to succeed, they must be able to dream. Each of us has an important role to play, and there’s a cardinal rule that can guide us: help a person dream, but if you can’t help, at least do no harm…

“Jonathan,” a teenager with a disability, has dreamed of many careers since he was a young child, including being a firefighter and a basketball player. His parents never said, “You’re not being realistic! You can’t be those things-you have a disability and use a wheelchair.” Instead, they told Jon what they said to all their kids: “You can grow up to be anything.” They knew all children needed their parents to believe in them so they can believe in themselves. They also knew children change their minds countless times! (How many adults are doing the jobs they dreamed of as children? As children, we don’t know about the countless career opportunities that are (or will be) available, and our interests change as we grow. And once in a career, how many people stay there for thirty years? Many have enjoyed multiple careers in different fields!)

Jonathan’s parents also trusted in their children’s ability to learn what they’re capable of and what they aren't. In Jonathan’s case, they knew that (1) he would probably figure out fighting fires and playing basketball weren’t the best choices, or (2) if, as an adult, he still desired to pursue a career in a field that was considered “off-limits” to a person using a wheelchair, he would figure out how to make it work.

So, encouraging a person to dream requires trust. When we trust in a person, we also send the message that we believe in him, which enables him to believe in himself…

To support my son’s dreams of being an actor, we enrolled him in drama classes. For two years, he pursued this dream, via drama classes and performing in several plays. Then the original dream took him on a new path. He now wants to be a writer, specifically a movie reviewer. One-finger typing has served him to this point, but his dream may be more achievable with the notebook computer and voice recognition software we recently invested in. Does the person with a disability in your life have the assistive technology, accommodations, supports, and the opportunities and encouragement she needs to enable her to pursue her dreams? …

Dreams come in all shapes and sizes: seeing the latest movie, having a birthday party, going on a vacation, pursuing a particular career, or anything else! And respecting those dreams – whether we agree with them or not – is crucial.

To request a full copy of this newsletter, please contact Kathie Snow at 1-866-948-2222 or click the link below to view free excerpts of other articles in addition to items to order:
www.disabilityisnatural.com

Recommended Websites:

Maryland National Capital Area Park and Planning Commission
Provides inclusive activities in various areas for children with disabilities. In addition to their Therapeutic Recreation Programs and Inclusion Services, children with disabilities are encouraged to enroll in any activity of interest, and provide a two-week notice for accommodations and support staff. Activities include aquatics, crafts, dance, martial arts, performing arts, etc. For further information, please contact (301) 699-2480. Please check out the following link for additional information:
www.pgparks.com

Inclusion Network Trainings
Provides trainings in the area of person centered planning throughout the U.S. and abroad. Such topics include: Tools for Person Centered Planning, Better All Together: Inclusion Works, and Maps & PATH training. Click on the link below for further information.
http://www.inclusion.com/N-Inclusion.Network.html

We currently offer training and technical consultation to businesses, churches, and other community organizations to help make them more welcoming to families and children with special needs. If you know of a business or other organization that would like to take advantage of these services, please e-mail us at: communityconnections@umd.edu
OR
If you know of a business that is already welcoming to children with special needs and their families and you would like to share this information with other families and professionals, please send us your name as well as the name and contact information for the business with a brief description of why you believe they are welcoming to families. If appropriate, we will post the business on our website and we may even feature it as a 'Spotlight if the Month'. E-mail your submissions to: communityconnections@umd.edu

*Questions or Suggestions about our newsletter? Have an idea you would like to submit? Please feel free to contact us at communityconnections@umd.edu

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Disclaimer
Unless otherwise noted, all referenced articles are available at no charge to you. Community Connections provides this for informational purposes only and cannot attest to the accuracy of information provided by linked sites. The opinions and views expressed at these web sites do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of Community Connections. Any personal information requested by any of the web sites will be governed by the privacy policy at the site, and any questions you have related to the sites' use of information should be directed there. The information contained in this newsletter is not intended to make any offer or commitment to purchase, subscribe to, provide or sell any service or product or to provide any recommendations on which readers should rely.

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