No Limits to Life Blog

It’s Graduation Time and Four Students with Mental Disabilities are Walking

I am so happy to see that Bellevue Community College in Bellevue, Washington - in the Seattle area, has developed an associate degree program for students with mental diabilities to be sense the accomplishment and pride that comes with earing a degree. An article in the Seattle P.I. Newspaper (link here) stated:

“To earn the degree, students must complete 90 credits over four years — twice as long as traditional associate degrees. But unlike transitional programs at high schools and expensive private academies, the degree pushes students to flex their academic muscles while also developing life skills.”

The director of the program, Mary Allason, said that the goal is to see everyone become self-sufficient and advocate for themselves. The program is the first of it’s kind and the cost is approx. $300 a credit. The program involves 90 credits over a four year period, and students must have an IQ of 70 or above and a minimum of fourth-grade reading, writing and math skills.

 Check out more on the article at the link above.

All the best to you!

Lon

There are approximately 30 million people in the United States who are disabled, unemployed and under 65 years of age. These statistics came from CODI “Cornucopia of Disability Information” by CAT (Center for Assistive Technology)  at University at Buffalo, New York  State. I bring up this issue, because I had a wonderful conversation this morning with a new friend, Ofer Chermesh. Ofer is the CEO and creator of “Ghotit“, pronounced “got it!” which is a spell checker designed to pick up dyslexic-specific spelling errors. 

As we talked and planned for an upcoming interview on No Limits to Learning Live on Blog Talk Radio next Tuesday, May 2o at 10:00 am pacific time, (check out the schedule here) we got to discussing the expectations of employers and the issues facing professionals who struggle to keep their jobs. Ofer explained that his years in management and marketing were stressful with dyslexia. “We are expected to be as efficient and error-free as everyone else.” He was willing to work twice as hard as everyone else to succeed. He will be sharing his philosophy on success vs. limitation when we talk next week.

“I wanted to design a tool that would help people like me be able to have a level playing field to work from along with everyone else.” shared Ofer. He has succeeded in delivering a unique tool that works online with a browser for Internet typing and access. He is working on new versions to expand use to other applications on the computer.

If you will humor me, I would like to share a recent example of the expectations put on folks with disabilities. I am not saying it is a bad thing - actually there are probably a lot of independent folks out there that appreciate being treated like everyone else, but I thought it illustrated the point I am trying to make:

 My wife likes to watch “Dancing with the Stars”. This last series featured Marlee Matlin, the hearing- impaired award winning actress. She was amazing as she followed her partner and danced to music she could not hear. They practiced the dances til they could do each move with or without the music. Now…my point. The judges judged her just as strict as anyone else. They held Marlee to the same standard as everyone else. When they docked her points and critiqued her, they always started with or finished with a statement praising her for the amazing feat she was accomplishing on the show and how they were inspired by it…but shoot, by golly, we still have to give you a lower score.

When this happens to you, it is all up to you to decide what you are going to do. Ofer will be sharing his opinions on that. You can too by calling in or posting a comment next Tuesday. For all pertinent information, call-in number and more information check it out at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nolimits2learninglive

Reminder:the AT Blog Carnival deadline is a next Friday, May 23. You can submit a blog post on synthesized speech to: lonthornburg@nolimits2learning.com

All the best to you!

Lon

All the best to you!

Craig Phillip’s blog, Second Chance to Live, was brought to my attention when Craig emailed me awhile ago. He shared his story with me and I found it amazing. He shared how at 10 years of age, he had a traumatic brain injury that caused him to have to re-teach himself how to walk, talk, read, etc.

His parents were told that the diagnosis didn’t look good. Craig might finish high school, but any hopes of education beyond that would be cognitively and physically impossible. Craig’s parents chose not to tell him about the diagnosis and he went on to earn his masters degree in counseling and vocational rehabilitation. He shares his philosophy on life and steps to healing through his blog and articles that have been published in journals and publications in print and online.

I have asked Craig to visit with us on No Limits to Learning Live, this Friday, May 9 from 10:30 to 11:30. Listen in as Craig shares his story about his injury, his experiences in rehabilitation and the message and mission of his blog. Craig will share how technology has helped him, his published articles and why he calls his condition the “invisible disability”.

The link to the blog talk radio show is:   http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nolimits2learninglive

Listen and call in live, or catch the archive after the show.

All the best to you!

Lon

It’s Friday and I am looking at the weekend coming. I have put lots of work into my No Limits to Learning Blog this week with links to resources. I have had an online talk show segment and put up this past months AT Blog Carnival along with all my regular work duties as an AT specialist. I am going to ask you to indulge me a little and let me ramble about something I am passionate about, but don’t know how to talk about sometimes. It comes from a conversaation yesterday…

I had a wonderful conversation yesterday with a friend whose disability has created an inability to maintain a regular job. Being on disability and reduced to “no-brainer” jobs can be really depressing for someone who is really a genius but can’t use it within the parameters of regular social and vocational expectations.

This is where the World Wide Web becomes a “God-send” for avenues of expressions and employment. For folks like my friend above, it allows an opportunity to work at one’s own pace, be your own boss and do as much or as little as you can handle at a sitting. The ability to choose the amount of time spent and when it is spent puts the disabled person in control.

There is a common viewpoint out there that information for the disabled should always be free. If it isn’t, it is taking advantage of them when they have few resources already. I agree with that to a certain extent (I may be stirring up a hornet’s nest here - but I am going to go with it anyway), but lets not carry that over into the disabled creating an income for themselves online. I think there are plenty of disabled people that have an expertise in writing and are an authority in one field or another to be able to produce reports, ebooks, guides, audio tutorials, etc. on all sorts of things to folks that AREN’T disabled. If you are home and have nothing but time, what could you take 3 or 4 months researching and compiling to offer folks that don’t have that time to find it? I bet the convenience of collecting  all those resources would be worth something that folks would pay for. Having a dependable and cost-effective transcribing ghost-writing service for people to send audio files to be transcribed is a great online service for someone who has nothing but time at home and needs an extra income. Think outside the box a little.

I have wanted to compile a guide to help folks do this, complete with tutorials and videos and guides on how to get something up and going - and integrate it with AT solutions. BUT…I don’t want to put a lot of time into something and have folks think I am just trying to take advantage of them by selling it.

Think about yourself. How often do you download a free report or article or Mp3 file, etc. to listen or read something that interests you? How often do you shop online and find interesting and helpful things that make your world easier and better? I do. I subscribe to one online ezine I get every month that is great and I love it. I right-click and “save target as…” all the time for free downloadable files from safe and respected sites and people I know and trust. There is alot of information out there online for free. I buy audio books now and then from itunes that are self help and motivational books that I listen to over and over to encourage, inspire and train me. I know I am not alone.

All I am saying is that there should be room for folks to be providing positive, constructive material that contributes and adds to society for a fee to create an income for home-bound folks that are disabled. We don’t think anything about ordering a book from Amazon, but if someone has their own website where they are selling a product, we look for the scam that has to be there some where. I know we do that because there are plenty of give money and get nothing offers out there and we need to be cautious and check things out, but, this type of thought prevents many disabled folks from venturing out and learning how to create an income online because they don’t want to be viewed that way. We need to change that opinion.

I shared some of these thoughts with my friend yesterday and gave him some ideas to think about as far as what kind of information marketing he could create. I think he was challenged and inspired to think outside the box a little bit. I will challenge you too. If you have an interest or knowledge base in an area, think about sharing it with others. Develop your ideas. Give some away as well as offer more detailed versions for sale.

Instead of thinking you don’t want to take advantage of someone, think about how maybe you have the perfect information that others want and you would be offering a service to them. When people say “Thank you for providing that,” you realize that you can sell something for a fair price, support yourself and help others too. It can be a win-win situation, but first you have to get over the hump of that initial mental block.

This blog was originally developed with the idea in mind that I wanted to offer free and for-purchase information to the disabled on success principles and ways to create an income in the information market. I am not there yet, and I have gotten side-tracked a little. I have been enjoying the posts and building my blogs and sharing with folks. That will continue, but the conversation I had yesterday made me realize that I have a responsibility to share my ideas and make them accessible to motivate, educate and encourage others. I plan on developing a lot of information available for free and any hard work I spend  and develop into valuable information and materials, I will make available for reasonable and affordable prices. I don’t have any plans to do this soon, (time is a killer isn’t it?) but as I listen to the needs of folks out there, it breaks my heart to hear that they are approaching retirement or that health care costs are high, they are alone, they were in an accident and left without a vocation, etc. I want to help them get a source of their own income and their self esteem back again.

I know of several disabled folks with thriving online enterprises. It can be done and be fun too. If you are in the position where you are wanting to do something or know someone who does, challenge them to look at the great resource the Internet is and how it could just be the right place to start creating a resource that can be a blessing. That’s all I have to contribute on the subject today - no hard sell - I don’t have a course to buy today. I just have these thoughts going on in my head and needed to express them.

All the best to you!

Lon

The red light was on my voice mail yesterday morning when I came to the office after being out with one of “my boys” yesterday who is back in school after surgery and is in a recline-gurney type chair until next Wednesday. I was helping him with a sip and puff access switch to his boardmaker communication boards on his laptop.
I listened to the message. It was the boy’s mother from my previous post yesterday who is battling Muscular Dystrophy along with several other complications.
“My son came home with your card and told me you talked to him about recording his voice. I’d like to talk to you.”
I couldn’t tell from her tone whether I detected excitement or anger. I wondered if maybe my reference to losing his voice was premature and she was upset. I knew the therapists had met with her but I also knew he didn’t have speech services and was in the process of getting the evaluation to be qualified for that.
I braced myself for the worst and called.
“My son came home from school for the first time yesterday excited and happy about his day. It took me a long time to understand what happened and I still don’t quite get it, but he told me, “These people came, mom, and they showed me how I can talk!”, so tell me what he is talking about.” She was obviously happy about the conversation with her son and I could relax.
I explained the way we could record his voice with a free program, Audacity, and then he can archive the files as Mp3’s or WAV’s to save for later.
“All his life he has been told he should be learning sign so he can communicate that way. We even had a specialist show us a clicker to use with one for yes and two for no so he would be limited to only yes and no response. My son said “I want to be able to talk mom.”
My research had turned up that they were relatively new to this area so these were recommendations from somewhere else.
I explained the Tango lab software that allows the user to import sound file messages later into the device. She explained she has access to funding for him and can get most things for him. that was wonderful. This meant we could look beyond basic school services and get an SLP involved in looking at a real AAC device.
“He was given a big expensive Mac last year from Make A Wish Foundation that he uses for his music but none of us know how to really use what is on it.”
I set up an appointment to do a home visit next week so we can start the job of showing him how to archive his voice and access his music recording and production. At school we will utilize Co:Writer, the Cruise Trackpad and the Click n Type Virtual Keyboard for him to access his writing/schoolwork that he needs to do. As his condition worsens, print disability access for etext will be a big help.
I hung up the phone remembering what she had said when her son came home from school yesterday: “Yesterday was the first time he has come home excited about school. No one can understand him anymore so he has just given up but yesterday he found some hope.”
Hope. wow. What would I do if my life had no hope anymore? What if my son had no hope anymore? And here we were giving it back to him. The mom had shared, “My son and I both know this is a terminal illness and he knows he will die, we have talked about it, but mostly we talk about how he can live.”
I need to take that lesson to heart. I need to focus on what I can do to really live my life - not look at all the limitations to it. I need to instill hope in everyone around me and allow it to thrive in my own life everyday.
As I have been preparing the AT Blog Carnival Edition 2 for Monday’s release, I have been amazed at how many folks have submitted posts that are just like this young man I have just met. Some of them have had insurmountable-looking odds, yet they are not only surviving but going way beyond what most of us do on a day to day basis. Their daily level of wellness would be a day I would wimp-out and want to take a sick day and stay home. But they continue to push themselves forward. I can learn a big lesson from that.

I hope you have a great Saturday and a wonderful Sunday.
All the best to you!
Lon

Upcoming Events:
1. AT Blog Carnival will be up Monday at: http://atblogcarnival.blogspot.com/
2. No Limits to Learning Live, I will host Patricia Sublette, Ph.D on TBI and education, Tuesday, April 29th at 10:30 am Pacific Time. Tune in and call in with questions or listen to the archive later. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nolimits2learninglive

P.S. I am sharing this on both blogs today because this has been appropriate for everyone. I have a few things coming up that will be duplicates so forgive me. It’s not because I am lazy and just want to write one post!

I had a wonderful day today. You want to know why? I discovered “buried treasure”.  The treasure was in a 15 year-old high school boy who I visited today to give some recommendations to for assistive technology. We had never met before, but I had been hearing that his condition was worsening and that there needed to be some new access method for him over the summer to be able to work at his computer. My son had gotten a Taco Bell Comic Book Maker CD software in his kid’s meal and had been dragging the background, characters and bubbles to make comic pages. He was typing text in the bubbles to write the story. I thought…why not take that with me today for my visit to make a fun and motivating activity with writing and practice using the AT too?

I took a USB Ablenet Cruise Trackpad for him to try because he is losing fine-motor. I put the comic book software with it and he practiced using the track pad to navigate. Then we opened the Click-n -type virtual keyboard and he practiced interfacing with it to add text to the bubble in the comic. It worked great. Every now and then he would turn in his wheelchair and grin from ear-to-ear at his assistant, a male of about 26 or so that seemed like a great guy to have work with him.

I had him use Click-n-type with a Word document and with Co:Writer by Don Johnston. He was doing very well and I was beginning to see he knew his way around a computer very well. I thought how great it was showing him what he could do with this technology.

The team had talked about  looking at a speech device for him because he is having more difficulty communicating too. I showed him how he could use Audacity, a free open-source recording software at home with a microphone headset to make WAV or Mp3 files of things he would like to archive to put on a Tango or an on-screen communication device we could make for free on a laptop. I made an Mp3 file saying “I want a big fat hamburger.” He grinned again.

“He has recording software on his computer at home,” said the assistant. “What?” I asked. “He makes rap recordings with his computer software, mixes them and makes CD’s. He sells them.”

I was dumb-founded. The case manager, school counselor and other team members had known nothing of this. This was a kid who had a body that was shutting down and no one understood him. He had progressively gotten sullen, angry at times and was having behavioral issues. The boy I saw was a motivated, creative and enterprising kid that no one understood. Somehow, we had happened to meet today and all of a sudden we hit the jackpot and found out how to help him. He obviously doesn’t need motivation, he has that. What he needs is someone to help him tap his inner creativity and the person inside screaming to get out.  Now that we know where we can go to support him, the sky is the limit.

“I didn’t know I had a celebrity here!” I said. He beamed. “I am so proud of you! You are so far ahead of what I thought. Here you are a musician creating CD’s and needing a way to keep doing what you love to do. We will get you going with this.”

This student looked relieved. He conveyed that, yes, he wanted to use the equipment and he could make it work. I left a loaded laptop, comic maker CD and the track pad with him for a trial today. It is a no-brainer that he can use the track pad for access - for now. I showed him a head tracker by Natural Point that can be used when the time comes.

I found a treasure inside a kid that I really didn’t expect to find. I was surprised and encouraged to find that we can really make a difference in this boy’s life. I have funding to purchase one of the track pads for him so that he has it by summer. I offered to do home visit to help him get a speech/communication voice archive started and help with any access issues.

Treasure sometimes comes in unexpected places. I found a motherlode today.

All the best to you!

 Debbie Wooten: Living a Life with No Limits…

Pretend you are 7 years old, then imagine you have Spina Bifida. Then let’s pretend you contracted polio at 5 months of age. Then let’s pretend you are black and live in Chicago in the late fifties and sixties, then add having an alcohol-abusing mother and being a victim of abuse. Then let’s add one more thing - you won’t accept the word “can’t”. You are getting an idea of the amazing personal strength of spirit that bubbles forth from the monologue of comedian Debbie Wooten.

Sitting in the theatre of Blue Mountain Community College tonight for the 10th Annual Spring Arts and Culture Festival keynote lecture, Debbie Wooten wowed the crowd. She shared her experiences as a young girl growing up in the ghetto of Chicago, wanting to be normal and attending a school for crippled children. Segregation came in more than color for Debbie as she grew through high school in a system that segregated  all disabilities to their own school. “When the polio shots stopped the polio kids,” shared Debbie, “ we got a new group, the gang-bangers that got shot and didn’t die. Their attitude was so bad - they would say, “What are ya gonna do to me - shoot me?” They had attitude just moving in their wheelchairs!”

Debbie’s monologue took us from laughter to serious thought as she shared her meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a child. She shook his hand and he spoke to her, giving her his undivided attention for a moment. After sharing that rare moment with us, she shook hands of some members of the audience and asked them to pass on the dream she had been carrying on from Dr. King. One by one, everyone passed the handshake on until the entire room had been touched.

The phrase that left with me from the evening was her mandate to be a “box cutter.” Debbie shared, “People will want to put you in their idea of a little box to live in based on their statistics about who you are, what color of skin, what disability, what gender, what amount of education you have, and so on. Be a box cutter and cut yourself out of the boxes -don’t let anyone tell you what you can or can’t be” 

Popular with the college lecture circuit, Debbie’s profile can be found on her link from her booking company’s website, “Portland Day and Night“. She combines humor with a serious message of not accepting defeat and living a positive lifestyle. Debbie informed us of her pending appearance this summer on a CBS reality show as well as her work with many great stand-up comedians.It is rare to find a speaker and a comedian that can make us laugh at our adversity and feel encouraged. If you ever get a chance to hear Debbie, go and you won’t be disappointed.

All the best to you!

Yesterday, Ron Graham left a comment on my post concerning Colleges and Universities having their Presidents use wheelchairs to get around in and see how accessible their campus is. It is a revelation for them.
I went to Ron’s Blog, Access Ability ( great name) and found someone who has a strong belief in having a positive outlook on life to achieve great things. He obviously knows what he is talking about because after being blinded in an auto accident in 1993, Ron went on to earn an AAS (Criminal Justice), BS (Behavior Science), and MA (Clinical Psychology). He has done a lot of work at the University and Community College level with disability services.

He has some great posts on assistive technology and education as well. Please check him out. I am putting his link on my list on the sidebar.

All the best to you!

Lon

 A One-armed Major Baseball Pro

I want to comment on a post put up today on the Disability Studies Blog by Temple University. Pete Gray was a one-armed baseball player that played in the majors as an outfielder. March 6th was his birthday (1915 - 2002). He lost his arm in a wagon accident when he was 6. Since he grew up in a coal-mining community where accidents and lost appendages were common, he was not discouraged in his desire to play baseball with others there. 

He played in the minor leagues while many players were in the war and was picked up in 1945 by the St. Louis Browns. He had a technique of catching a ball, throwing off his glove, catching the ball and throwing it in a single long motion.

Penny Richards, Phd at UCLA Redondo Beach, CA posts some wonderful biographical sketches of famous role models with disabilities on this blog. These people represent what I see as the perfect example of the no limits lifestyle. This is also a representation of the best in us all, the determination and ability to contribute to society in spite of what others might see as a disability . What a testament to the human spirit!

Penny is also the moderator of the Disability Blog Carnival. Check out the first edition post (it is from 2006, but gives you a great idea of it’s conception and purpose) and then check the links to it on my sidebar.

I reached out to shake a hand of a father at a birthday party my son went to last Saturday afternoon. As I reached out and gripped his hand, it felt different to me. I realized that he had a smaller and different-shaped hand. Without skipping a beat, I tried to cover any indication I had shown about it and finished saying hello. It had caught me by surprise and I wondered why.

 “So what?” I asked myself. “What does it matter whether his hand is one way or another?” He was very pleasant and we visited about his job as an accountant. Because of my assistive technology work, I was dying to ask him about how he accessed his computer, did he have an adaptive keyboard, was he fast with a keypad? I stopped… took a breath and tried to analyze my behavior. I needed to look at this as a situation where I could forget his hand and focus on the person. I imagine he wouldn’t have cared at all if I would have asked him about it - especially if I told him I was interested in light of my profession, but I decided it was not the right time.

I watched as he got up, got his 2 kids food and I was very impressed. He had spinal issues and it was a labor of love to take each step and attend to his family’s needs. I thought how he had lived this way his whole life and he was good at doing everything he did that day and certainly didn’t need my help. He was self-sufficient and being a regular dad to his kids.

Again, I was brought to the “No Limits Lifestyle” way of living in my mind. “This man is living the no limits lifestyle whether he knows he is or not,” I said to myself. He obviously has been determined to succeed and has. He is a professional, father and a terrific person - and has accomplished this with a disability.

There are a lot of people that have all their limbs in perfect working order that are hung up by excuses they have for why they can’t get a job, can’t seem to make good choices or never get the “lucky” breaks. There are people today with disabilities - the same one my friend has even - that have excuses too. I KNOW that no matter who you are, where you are, or what your condition, you can do incredible things to impact the world. How you do it  just might need to look a little different. That’s OK, we are all unique anyway.

It seems to me, that it doesn’t matter who we are or what are circumstances. We need to decide for ourselves what we want and not except anything less. When you make demands on yourself that stretch you, you grow. When  you sit around and maintain a “life as usual” attitude, before you know it, you turn around and it has been 15 years and what do you have to show for it. I know, I have been there.

I made a conscious decision a year ago after being in the hospital with a stroke, that no matter what happened to me, my life was going to be different from then on. I was going to stop making excuses for why things didn’t work out for me and believe that there were good things waiting for me. I live every day in expectancy that something good is going to happen. And you know what? When I expect something good, I get something good. If I expect something bad, I get something bad. If I expect the “same ‘ol, same ‘ol” that’s what I will get.

What do you expect? Are you able to believe there is something incredible in you and for you? I want to encourage you. There are principles that can super-charge your life to empower you to be more than you thought possible - no matter what your situation. Believeing in yourself and expecting good things are two of the hardest things to truly discipline ourselves to believe and live out daily, but they are foundation stones of success and freedom.