Weekend reading and viewing: 16 - 17 January 2016

RUCKUS is a 'Sydney based disability led contemporary performance ensemble who through their original, thought provoking and powerful performances smash stereotypes and challenge audience’s preconceptions of what people with disability are capable of achieving.' Visit their brand new website to see who is involved and what their plans are for 2016, especially SPEED OF LIFE - 'an innovative new performance currently being devised by RUCKUS in collaboration with Epic Encounters an ensemble of performers with disability from Kampot, Cambodia.'

I want to be a Dr ... like the one who took her Down syndrome away.

Christen Riegel, 19 December 2015

... I also believe in encouraging my children to become anything they want. I know myself without my parents support I don’t know if I would have ever really chased my dream of becoming an artist ...

"Loss" - excerpt from Heartbreak and Beauty (2m 11s)
Bus Stop Films, 14 January 2016
Over the next few months we will be releasing various scenes of our powerful, award winning experimental film Heartbreak and Beauty. This week we're launching 'Loss', starring Digby Webster and Audrey O'Connor. Stylised movement, dance, visual metaphor and poetry are used within the scene to explore the heartbreaking emotions that come when experiencing the loss of a loved one.

Within all experimental films you can read the text and find meaning, what meaning can you find in the symbolism?

• Direct link to 'Loss' on You Tube

Obstetricians’ 2016 Resolutions for Prenatal Genetic Testing
Mark Leach, Down Syndrome Prenatal Testing, 5 January 2016
With the start of 2016, obstetricians, like everyone else, are making their New Year’s resolutions. Here are their resolutions for counseling their patients about prenatal genetic testing ...

Talking To Your Children About Disability

Anne Penniston Grunsted, Role Reboot, 12 January 2016

... It’s not that his peers are deeply insightful, able to “see past” his disability. It’s certainly not the case that young children are little angels, somehow “above” the bullying and shunning that older people fall into. The beauty of children is that they plainly see a simple truth: My son’s disability really doesn’t impact them much. Bobby is just a kid in their school, in their class, in their neighborhood ...