Happy New Year all you Party People

Well time we said goodbye to 2010 and hi to 2011

CHEERS Everyone. Have a great night celebrating and I'll see you all next year.  Anne

Other ideas for Lacing Shoes

After the last article on shoe buttons, I decided to see what else was available for those of use that might need help with laces and thinks. I found another product that seams to be even better than shoe buttons.
Elastic Shoe Laces Turns a lace-up shoe into a slip-on shoe. Lace and tie shoes as usual but you only have to do it once. Shoes can be slipped on or off easily without tying and untying the laces. Ingenious.

 And here is another idea, there called   Lock Laces 
 I personally like the Apple green. Lock Laces are a patented "elastic shoelace and spring activated locking device"

How faith brought me shoe buttons

How faith brought me shoe buttons

By Maggie Delaney.


Having been born with an injured left arm I faced many unusual challenges at an early age. Tying my shoelaces proved to be one without an easy solution. Making knots and bows appeared to be impossible with only one hand. My parents and teachers, who were often helpful with other things, had no suggestions.

During elementary school, occupational therapists worked with me on this skill, but they ultimately had to admit defeat. I continued to have to seek help with this task. As I grew older, I became increasingly disturbed at having to ask for assistance; it made me feel helpless and embarrassed. About this time, I began to pray that God would help me with this difficult problem.

In junior high and high school, I continued to be persistent and keep a positive attitude, though the fact that I had to ask my parents or sisters to tie my shoelaces every morning made it harder for me to think positively. I constantly worried that my shoelaces would come untied at school, and I would have to ask someone publicly to retie them for me. I had to learn that those who teased me and laughed at me had no idea how hard it would be for them to tie their shoelaces with just one hand, and that they were just feeling insecure about my being different.



When I was eighteen my faith was rewarded.

An occupational therapist introduced me to shoe buttons, which are devices attached by small screws into the top eyelets of a shoe. For anyone who has limited use of his or her arms and hands, these shoe buttons allow an individual to wear ordinary shoes. Once the shoelaces that come with the footwear are laced and wrapped around the shoe buttons, they are tied. This knot may be sewn to keep it from coming untied, or it may be criss-crossed around the shoe buttons before they are tied. I found that they come in white, brown, and black, and I could use them with any of my shoes. I was able to go off to college relieved of the burden of asking for help with this task.

I now take great pride in tying my shoelaces. I am no longer dependent on others or fear what

they might say to me. I have taken on the responsibility to inform people with physical impairments about shoe buttons and their significance, and I continue to educate everyone that through the work of the Lord all things are possible.

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)
You may visit your local medical supply store or order these shoe buttons online at http://www.wisdomking.com/line100036.html

I've never heard of shoe buttons before. They look like a great idea. Does anyone know if there available in Europe
Anne

A thought for this weather.

How is snow white? -Pretty good, according to the 7 dwarfs.

LOL or you'll cry.

Solo Travel with a Disability by Scott Rains

Rolling Rains Report

This article was first published by Janice Waugh on Solo Traveler where Scott was invited to be a guest blogger and share his unique insights on traveling solo with a disability.

Janice Waugh exposed the heart of solo travel in her free eBook Glad You're Not Here: A solo traveler's manifesto. She found that solo travel is colored by whatever life stage the traveler is navigating.

Disability can make one life stage intrude on another when design and policies create barriers that limit one's independence. They complicate both the how and the why of travel. The skill is to anticipate collisions when they are predictable or embrace them with grace when they are not.

Solo travel can be a spiritual practice, a rite of passage, a time for reprioritizing – but Maslow's Theory of Development reminds us that basic human needs must first be met. For many people with a disability the motivation for solo travel is the same as for their non-disabled peers but the logistics can be many times more complex.

• Wayne Teasdale embodied the archetype of solo travel. As a Ganges-bathed sanyassin – a wandering monk – teaching was his calling. My wife and I were able to provide him with hospitality and companionship along his chosen way of spirituality until cancer brought him unexpected detours.
• Steven Dawes moved to a different call but from a similar depth. Shortly after going blind he turned inward from the coast near Sydney and began a solo Walkabout in the general direction of Ayer's Rock – Uluru. Over Australian quantities of beers in Perth he poured out his story and shared the depth of his motivation to test his new limits and explore his potential.
• Craig Grimes fell out of a tree. Discharged from the hospital in the UK he set out, backpack slung behind his wheelchair, to explore Europe. We met in South America, and then India, and later in Florida.

The simple truth is "nobody stops moving". Whether it is moving through space, or time, or relationships travel is both metaphor and a concrete reality. A few of us have dedicated significant portions of our lives to making travel possible for those who experience disabilities. Here is what we have discovered.

Inclusive tourism

We can create the built world around a more realistic and inclusive image of what it is to be human. Meanwhile we work with what we cannot change about our bodies and do the same things as everyone else – but sometimes a bit differently.

We call what we are promoting "Inclusive Tourism". We mean social inclusion; full participation.

The moral impulse for social inclusion is enshrined in national laws like the ADA, various Anti Discrimination Acts, and the UN's Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. The practical tools for achieving this inclusion flow from the seven principles and eight goals of Universal Design.

Universal Design is "a framework for the design of places, things, information, communication and policy to be usable by the widest range of people operating in the widest range of situations without special or separate design". As we succeed in convincing more and more destinations that it is not only the "right thing to do" (even where laws don't mandate it) we show them the studies documenting that it is the profitable thing to do. With the industry coming to an awareness of how it can profit from us as customers – the US market of people with disabilities spending $ 13.6 annually (OD Market Study, 2002, 2005) – solo travel becomes physically possible.

Disability – a motivation for travel

Sometimes the very predictability of daily activities related to a disability is enough to spur one to travel. Consider these routine-breakers:

• If regular kidney dialysis is part of your lifestyle then taking one of several dialysis cruises available each year might determine your itinerary – at least until Endeavour Safaris is able to secure funding for a planned fully accessible game reserve lodge with dialysis.
• If you want to cruise but need oxygen, or a machine to help with breathing, Special Needs at Sea specializes in what you are looking for.
• Your solo travel might be limited to a few stolen moments in port but, if you are Deaf, the annual RCCL Deaf Cruise provides hospitality unrivaled by any other experience on the water – with the possible exception of chartering your own yacht through Waypoint Yacht Charter Services.
• Trekking and backcountry camping offer a wrap-around silence that is appropriate to solo travel. If you have a mobility impairment maybe you want a Eureka wheelchair-friendly tent designed by Blue Sky Designs combined with a Marvel Wheelchair, the Kilmanjaro-climbing wheelchair used by Jesse Owens, or SideStix super-strong sport crutches. Consider carrying the Spot GPS device for safety.
• Adventure sports are a good antidote to stereotypes about disability. White water rafting in Canada, hot air ballooning in the UK, wildlife safaris and bungee jumping in South Africa, elephant rides in Thailand, or zipline trips in Brazil are all easy to arrange.

These days there are many specialist travel agents, tour operators, and publications to help with trip planning. I always suggest starting with Candy Harrington's work including herEmerging Horizons web site and magazine. She also has several books including "Barrier-Free Travel: A Nuts And Bolts Guide For Wheelers And Slow Walkers.

Going the distance

"Step over the finish line." That was the advice coming from the radio as I sped northward alone toward the Canadian border at dawn. Travel writer Rick Steves was interviewing Norman Fischer author of the mythic solo travelogue "Sailing Home". Steves' point was about being transformed at the end of a journey. When you get to the destination , Steves said, "Go beyond the souvenir shop. Go over the finish line. Discover what only that place has to offer".

Captivated by the radio dialogue, passing not far from Rick's home at the time, I was on my way to oversee modification of a 42 foot catamaran in Bellingham Washington. The project added a bosun's chair so that, with some help, I could "sling myself over the finish line" onto the boat and sail out onto the bay.

Too often the logistical barriers of travel become handicapping for someone with a disability. Little energy, imagination, or finance remains to wander beyond the finish line and be immersed in the spirit of a place. With projects like this catamaran my 89 year old father, and friends from his assisted living community, will be among the first to use the bosun's chair as they take the new "aerial route" aboard. A physical barrier is removed and a new set of life-enhancing possibilities becomes available to a whole community of people.

There's a paradox to solo travel. It is there in the value we call inter-dependence which forms the heart of disability culture.

Unfamiliar environments remind us that even the simplest activities require us to rely on others. Environments that were never built for people with disabilities in the first place open that level of awareness to us permanently.

Solo travel, from the outside, looks like the ultimate in asserting independence. Yet we know from the inside that it is really a way of deeply connecting with persons and place. By paring travel down to the essentials the solo traveler feels the consequences of their individual choices with a new immediacy. Solo travel is a lot like living with a disability.

We set up a facebook comment button for you, its on your right here.We would love to here what you have to say about anything.


HO   HO   HO
Only 9 days to Christmas tried to get some present shopping yesterday. I bought a very nice scarf (for myself ) The list of presents I need to buy has got no shorter. I think it might be nearly time to panic. Watch this spot.

The New Disability Bray website, launched yesterday

Fergus Finlay, the CEO of Barnardo's Ireland  launched the new website 'www.disabilitybray.ie' at the Bray Area Partnership Christmas community lunch on Monday 13th December.

This website is a “one stop shop” for parents and carers of people with disabilities and people with disabilities themselves.

The website has a clean easy to maneuver look, lots of relevant  information  about the service available in and around Bray. It is going to be a valuable and useful resource. You should check it out, just click on the headline. 

No News unless it Snow News from Bray

Well we have had a covering of snow over Bray since last Sunday and its loosing its charm. Its very nice to look at but we are not used to temperature this cold for more than one or two days a year, Most everything is closed, all the activities that were plan have been cancelled, no one is talking about anything but the cold and the snow. Even the children are tired of throwing snowball and making snow angel. Looking forward to next week and the great thaw, so at least we will have something else to talk about.

JST marks: International Day of People with Disability

Tomorrow Friday 3rd December 2010 it is International Day of Persons with Disabilities and we would like to celebrate this day by telling you about what we have done and what we plan to do in the future. The JST changes lives by breaking down the barriers between able bodied and disabled people, and promotes the integration of men and women of all physical abilities.
We do this via our two magnificent, fully accessible tall ships where every body gets the chance to participate in all aspects of running the ship.
We challenge perceptions of disabled people’s abilities – both of themselves and the perceptions of those around them.
The challenge of tall ship sailing with a mixed ability crew – who take responsibility for the ship during the voyage.

They sail throughout the year around the UK, Europe and the Caribbean, with a growing appeal from an international audience. Voyages are subsidised from fundraising to make them affordable and accessible to as many as possible. Since the charity’s inception in 1978 the philosophy has been that life should be about equality, sharing and celebrating our individual differences and working together to achieve greater things. During which, over 36,000 people have sailed with us. Of these, approximately 16,500 people were disabled, with 5,000 wheelchair users.

What have the rest of you done to Celebrate International Day of Persons with Disabilities ? I  would love to here what else is going on