There have been some great memoirs published over the years, and reading them together gives us a chance to share our reactions. The Story Club is the place where we can read about how one family faced a bump in the road, and brainstorm about how we might do things the same, or differently.
We're all about sharing stories here on The Road, so it's only natural that we'd start a book club - and call it a story club.
There have been some great memoirs published over the years, and reading them together gives us a chance to share our reactions. The Story Club is the place where we can read about how one family faced a bump in the road, and brainstorm about how we might do things the same, or differently.
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Vivian is 20 years old and counting the days (literally) until December 21 when she turns 21. She is in a program called TRACE through the public schools and is currently working 2 jobs. She volunteers at a Library where she works on the returned materials, scanning, sorting and shelving the books, DVDs and music. Her second job is at Pet Food express where her tasks include putting out new merchandise and maintaining clean shelves and displays. She is very involved in church where she is an usher and assists with the offering collections and passing out the communion elements. Like any other girl she has a boyfriend and over the years has followed the teen hotties like Zac Efron, Jesse McCarthy and most recently Justin Bieber. She loves cooking, camping and most of all listening and watching music videos on her Ipad. She is a loving and caring individual and very easy going. Her family considers her a blessing and a gift from God.
Rion is 20 years old and attends Clemson University at part of the Clemson LIFE program. Like other college freshmen, he lives in a campus dorm and enjoys socializing with other college students as well as attending the football games. In addition to taking literacy, math, technology, and cooking classes, Rion enjoys his bowling and equine classes, working out every day in the gym, and volunteering as an assistant with a children’s soccer league. A busy guy! Next semester Rion will begin an internship. He has worked as a busboy at Paul’s Wood-fired Burgers in Roebuck, SC.
Have you heard of "Sam's Secret Journal" ? The three book series was featured in a recent article on "The Mighty." The books are based on a real young woman who we've met here on The Road before. She's also been featured in our posts and photo campaign for Down syndrome Awareness this month. But for today, I asked her Mom, Sue, to talk about the books. I'm working on a project that looks at Down syndrome in books for children and young adults so I wanted to know - "What made you write a kid's book?" Her answer blew me away!
Down syndrome research is one those topics that divides our community. Some feel strongly that research can provide answers to medical questions and new drug therapies are necessary to improve cognition. Others point to the less than ethical tests that have been forced on people with intellectual disabilities in the past and feel just as strongly that research is too dangerous and unnecessary.
Marianne is sister and long time co-guardian to her oldest brother, Joey who has Down Syndrome. She recently authored a children book called Will YOU Be My Friend? A book about teaching children we are more alike than different with her brother as the main character. She earned a dual degree in Elementary and Special Education from Northern Arizona University. Before becoming an author, Marianne taught for five years and then became a professional advocate at a center for parents of children with special needs. Outside of her sibling speaking presentations Marianne also works as a statewide trainer for AZ Bridge to Independent Living. Recent experiences with Joey’s services and agencies have given Marianne the motivation to affect positive changes. Her goals include educating, empowering and encouraging families, providers and agencies through improving accessibility and dissemination of quality resources through her children’s book series and speaking engagements. To have Marianne come speak about her sibling experience young and old contact her at joeysupswithdowns@gmail.com and www.joeysupswithdowns.com.
Change.org Petition Today we posted a petition to gather support for advocacy around an important issue - here's why. The Research Back in March, and again in July, I wrote about a discrepancy that I found unacceptable and frightening. Hey world! It’s time you met Beth. Beth is 30 years old, just. She just had a birthday and what a party weekend it was! Beth’s mom Cindy gives the “short version” here: “Beth is the oldest of our three girls. She was born in October of 1984, before cell phones and home computers. She started preschool at 2 and was always in a special ed classroom throughout school. She got her diploma and graduated from high school in 2004. She attends an art class, is on a bowling league and works at Little Caesars Pizza.”
But we all know, the story of a life is so much more than that. Adventures with Beth isn’t the story of one, it’s the story of a family. And Cindy has been blogging on this site since 2009. 2009 People! So when you peruse, you can “Start in the Middle,” go Back to the Birth Story, or the recent celebration of Beth in the local production of Grease. What Fun! As a reader/follower, I’ve enjoyed Cindy’s story-telling, her honesty, and also her photos! She’s really gotten to be great with the photos! Cindy’s family is currently going through some big changes, and even with that she has not neglected us readers, she shares the whole story. It’s real life people and now is a great time to hop over, look around, say hi and get hooked on Adventures with Beth. Now more than ever, news travels fast. Why, here at The Road, we're publishing stories daily on Facebook and Twitter, and writing editorial comments on the news on our blog on a regular basis.
We realize that not everybody has time to read everything as it happens; and some people don't subscribe to Facebook or Twitter. That's why we created a weekly overview of important stories from all over the internet. Every Sunday we give our community a chance to sit back with a cup of coffee and catch up on events from the past week. Signposts on The Road is an online newspaper hosted on Paper.li. Each week you'll find copies of stories that we published on our different social media outlets, plus new stories from different venues. Everything has to do with adults who have intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. So if you're looking for the latest on research or politics, or you just want to see what photos were shared during the week - Signposts is for you! The best way to stay informed is to subscribe to Signposts and get weekly emails in your inbox. It's your one-stop source for loads of information that's important to you. Troy is 20 years old.
He loves music, Naruto, & Special Olympics. He participates in bowling, basketball, baseball, & track. He will graduate with the class of 2016. Batman is his best friend. He is his mom's whole world. |
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