Communication Bill of Rights

All persons, regardless of the extent or severity of their disabilities, have a basic right to affect, through communication, the conditions of their own existence.

Beyond this general right, a number of specific communication rights should beensured in all daily interactions and interventions involving persons who havesevere disabilities.

These basic communication rights are as follows:

1. The right to request desired objects, actions, events, and persons, and to express personal preferences, or feelings.

2. The right to be offered choices and alternatives.

3. The right to reject or refuse undesired objects, events, or actions, including the right to decline or reject all proffered choices.

4. The right to request, and be given, attention from and interaction with another person.

5. The right to request feedback or information about a state, an object, a person, or an event of interest.

6. The right to active treatment and intervention efforts to enable people with severe disabilities to communicate messages in whatever modes and as effectively and efficiently as their specific abilities will allow.

7. The right to have communicative acts acknowledged and responded to, even when the intent of these acts cannot be fulfilled by the responder.

8. The right to have access at all times to any needed augmentative and alternative communication devices and other assistive devices,

--to have those devices in good working order.

9. The right to environmental contexts, interactions, and opportunities that expect and encourage persons with disabilities to participate as full communicative partners with other people, including peers.

10. The right to be informed about the people, things, and events in one's immediate environment.

11. The right to be communicated with in a manner that recognizes and acknowledges the inherent dignity of the person being addressed, including the right to be part of communication exchanges about individuals that are conducted in his or her presence.

12. The right to be communicated with in ways that are meaningful, understandable, and culturally and linguistically appropriate."

~National Joint Committee for the Communicative Needs of Persons with Severe Disabilities

A scar cream that really works.

Try using the scar cream, Mederma.

Reddish scars, whether they are from stretch marks, acne, or burns, will heal quicker than colorless scars.

You apply it to recent scars three to four times a day for two months and four times a day to old scars for up to six months.

I had heard that most of the creams and lotions didn't really work--just made your skin smoother/softer, so I didn' t try any other treatments than this one, which was recomended by our Doctor. But this one actually worked.

My son has had 16 operations. We used to think that scars were a way of life--so he wore them as a badge of courage. But when I went to a dermatologist myself to check for melanoma, I asked her what might help my son, and she suggested Mederma. That was several years ago, and you can't see the scars now without him actually pointing them out.

Its a clear gel, doesn't stain clothing, and is pretty much odorless. Some day I will start putting it all over my body......LOL

The cool thing about it is it is a refined and tested version of an old folk remedy, Allium. Which is the onion. I guess you could put onion juice on the scars to save money--but you would smell like onions!

Gratitude

Beatitudes
for Friends of Persons With Disabilities


Blessed are you who take time to listen to difficult speech,
For you help me to know that if I persevere I can be understood.

***************

Blessed are you who never bid me to “hurry up”

and take my tasks from me and do them for me,
For often I need time, rather than help.

***************

Blessed are you who stand beside me as I enter new and untried ventures,
For my failures will be outweighed by the times I surprise myself and you.

***************

Blessed are you who understand that it is difficult for me to put my thoughts into words.

***************

Blessed are you who never remind me that today I asked the same question two times.

***************

Blessed are you who respect me and love me just as I am,
And do not wish I would be otherwise.



WEAVE, WEAVE US TOGETHER, TOGETHER IN LOVE.


"God has given each of you some special abilities;

be sure to use them to help each other."
(1Peter 4:7-11)

And God Said...

...No

I asked God to take away my pride.
And God said, "No."
He said it was not for Him to take away, but for me to give up.

I asked God to make my handicapped child whole.
And God said, "No."
He said her spirit was whole, her body was only temporary.

I asked God to grant me patience.
And God said, "No."
He said patience is a by-product of tribulations. It isn't granted, it is earned.

I asked God to give me happiness.
And God said, "No."
He said He gives me blessings, happiness is up to me.

I asked God to spare me pain.
And God said, "No."
He said suffering draws me apart from worldly cares and brings me closer to Him.

I asked God to make my spirit grow.
And God said, "No."
He said I must grow on my own. But He will prune me to make me fruitful.

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life.
And God said, "No."
He said He will give me life, that I may enjoy all things.

I asked God to help me love others, as much as he loves me.
And God said, "Ah, finally you have the idea!"

© Claudia Minden Weisz


"When we look back and wonder how we ever made it through,
we realize it's not because we are clever, but because God has been wise."

--Author Unknown

The Chair
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A poem about the Power of Positive Thinking

It sits there at the crest of the beach,
on the rise just before the sand dips towards the water's edge.
A lone beach chair, seemingly abandoned.
It's a jaunty chair with its yellow striped canvas seat and sailboats floating on its blue and yellow back support.

It lists just a bit to the left, almost rakishly, as it nestles in the sand, surveying the sea.
It is a chair made just for sitting, and sitting on the sand at that.
It has no legs to get in the way of stretching out, relaxing,
and letting the sun seep into your bones and warm your soul.

It is so unlike another chair I know. A black chair with wheels.
A chair that does not survey the vastness of the ocean with a jaunty air,
but rather a chair that defines a narrower kingdom.

And yet, I think this other chair is a happier chair than the one that sits and stares out to sea,
for it is a chair with wheels that take the place of legs no longer able to propel their owner forth.

This other chair is not made for sitting and looking at the world.
It is a chair built for exploring, for meeting life face to face and tasting of its spirit.

Perhaps this chair should have a seat of yellow and white stripes,
and a back support adorned with sailboats.
A far better statement of its adventurous and joyous possibilities.

~Suzanne Mintz
From The National Family Caregivers Association
http://www.nfcacares.org/improving_caregiving/believe_in_your_family.cfm