Discussion about education for students with special needs in NSW: Thursday 16th February

Parent/activist Jane Salmon has asked us to pass details of this meeting on:
I'm a parent of children with additional needs concerned about the state of special needs education in NSW.  I am hoping that parents, therapists and staff with concerns about special needs education (including the imminent rollout of a scheme trialled in the Illawarra region) will come together to discuss solutions.


Hoping for a rosy future for Special Needs Education?

Want to end dysfunction and cuts?

Want to show your support for teachers aides and learning assistance in mainstream settings?

Are you a parent, aide, teacher, principal, unionist, lawyer, therapist, politician, itinerant support teacher or counsellor wanting a brighter future? You'll be in good company.

We're stronger together.

Bring your ideas and info along to a public meeting on 
Thursday 16th February at 1pm and/or 7pm.

Parliamentary Theatrette
Parliament of NSW
6 Macquarie Street
SYDNEY 2000

Tel: 0417 919 354 or email upstream2005 at yahoo.com.au for information.

Playing to their strengths: workshop for teachers, 23rd March, Rosehill

Playing to their strengths
A workshop for teachers and school personnel working with students who have Down syndrome in Primary School.

• The potential impact of Down syndrome on students - what does the developmental profile look like?
• Supporting communication for students with Down syndrome at school
• Short term auditory memory impairment – management
• Using visual tools to support learning, communication and behaviour
• Resources for teachers and students
• Examples from practice


Speaker: Judy Davidson, Parent Support Manager, Down Syndrome NSW


9.30 am - 3.00 pm, Friday 23rd March 2012
Rydges Hotel, 116 James Ruse Drive, Rosehill


$99 per person (DS NSW members); $132 per person (non-members)
Includes GST, morning tea and lunch
Prior registration is essential.


Enquiries: Down Syndrome NSW on 9841 4401 or email workshops@dsansw.org.au


Click here to download a brochure and registration form or register online here
Registrations close 19th March 2012

After school - what then? Family Advocacy workshops in Newcastle, Gosford, Blacktown and Burwood

This workshop is about preparation and planning for when a student with disability, who will need ongoing support, leaves school.

It is suitable for families of students who are approaching the end of high school.

Click here to view the flier with registration details for events across NSW in March 2012

Our members who have attended After school - what then workshops with Family Advocacy recommend them to other families.

Accessible Arts Newsletter #1, 2012

The first Accessible Arts Newsletter for 2012 is now available online.  Well worth reading for information about all aspects of the arts in NSW:  events, people, programs, courses, classes, opportunities ... everything you want to know!

National Disability Insurance Scheme progress stalled at COAG meeting

Stepehn Lunn and Sue O'Reilly report in today's Australian that last Thursday's Council of Australian Governments' meeting on the NDIS did not go well:

PROGRESS towards a no-fault national disability insurance scheme has stalled amid a standoff between the Gillard government and two state Coalition governments over whether start-up funding will be allocated in the May federal budget.

A meeting of federal and state disability ministers in Canberra last Thursday ended in acrimony and stalemate after federal Disability Reform Minister Jenny Macklin rejected Victorian and NSW ministers' demands for a guarantee in the federal budget, and confidential advice on how much is to be allocated. ... read on

Every Australian Counts campaign
NDIS government website

Report into Assisted Transport failure: NSW Dept Education and Communities

Dr Ken Boston's report of his investigation into the failure of the NSW Dept of Education and Communities to provide transport to and from school for over 700 students with disabilities who had qualified for assistance at the beginning of the 2012 school year, was released on Friday (10th February).  The DEC now says that all students have at least interim arrangements in place.

Full text of the report

Commentary - see here, here and here for a small sample of the media attention this matter has attracted, and responses in today's Sydney Morning Herald letters to the editor here (under the heading 'Sack incompetents').

Trevor Parmenter Lecture: Tony Holland

The Centre for Disability Studies presents

The Trevor Parmenter Annual Lecture

supported by AADDM (Australian Association of Developmental Disability Medicine)

Speaker: Professor Tony Holland, Cambridge University

Vulnerability and risk: managing tensions inherent in the support of people with intellectual disabilities

There are potentially competing and contrasting tensions in the support of people with intellectual

disabilities – the importance of promoting autonomy and social inclusion; the risk of harm and the

need to safeguard vulnerable people; the risk adverse nature of our society and the fear of the

consequences if something is perceived as having gone wrong. These issues will be explored within clinical, research, policy and human rights frameworks.

To celebrate the contribution of Emeritus Professor Trevor Parmenter, the Centre for Disability Studies announces an annual lecture series in his honour. The 2012 Trevor Parmenter Lecture will be delivered by Professor Tony Holland.

Professor Tony Holland is an internationally renowned Psychiatrist in Intellectual Disability. He holds the Health Foundation Chair in Learning Disability at the University of Cambridge and leads the Cambridge Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Group. His interests include mental health aspects of Prader Willi Syndrome; Alzheimer’s disease in people with Down syndrome; and clinical/legal issues relevant to the needs of people with intellectual disabilities.

Wednesday 7th March 2012

Lecture 6pm – 7pm followed by light refreshments

No charge, however bookings are essential

Venue Main Auditorium, Kolling Building, Level 5

Royal North Shore Hospital, Pacific Highway

ST LEONARDS NSW 2065

Bookings By 29th February 2012

Phone: 02 9036 3600 Fax: 02 9036 3613 Email: margaret.carrick@sydney.edu.au 

Flyer and registration form

'CREATE IT' Art Class for children and youg adults with a disability

CREATE IT is an initiative of Everyone Can Dance.

Join us on the first Saturday of each month for a 1 1/2 hours of fun and expression through art.

Beginning on Saturday, March 3, 2012
11:00 am - 12:30 pm


Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre
1 Casula Road, Casula 2170

To register or for more information please email Tara Grech at tara_grech@hotmail.com

Website of the week: Visual Aids for Learning

This is a reminder of one of our favourite websites - we refer to it often ourselves, and refer others to it regularly. 


Most people with Down syndrome manage their environment and everyday activities better when they have adequate visual support for all aspects of communication. Visual supports can be simple and low tech, or high tech and complex, or an appropriate mix. Finding just the right image for many circumstances is made easier by the Visual Aids for Learning website, where the products are of excellent quality, produced here in NSW, and they are FREE! Jennine and Wayne Addison are the parents of a son with Down syndrome, and are making a generous and substantial contribution to the Down syndrome community through Visual Aids for Learning.

Visual Aids for Learning has created downloadable visuals to help people learn everyday activities. The images are ideal for children, particularly those with learning difficulties. Where appropriate, the images are gender specific. Each pack is in Printable Document Format (PDF) and must be read by Adobe PDF Reader (Version 6.0 or later)

In addition to providing images, the site includes advice about how to use the images - for example, detailed advice about how the 'sequences' can be implemented to provide individualised support, and an online help feature is provided. Gender and age-specific images are provided when appropriate. The images are available at various sizes, and are organised by topic as complete packs, sequences, and as individual images:

Complete Packs
The Complete School Pack
The Complete Early Childhood Pack
The Complete Adolescent Pack
The Complete Home Pack
The Complete Toilet Training Pack


Sequences
Bus Travel
Swimming (Girl)
Hair Cut
Toilet Training

Hand Washing
Morning Routine 
Night Routine
Bath Routine 


Various individual visuals in a range of sizes
Emotions - A range of facial expressions.
Food - Common foods
School - School activities and behaviour
Behaviour - Gender specific behaviour visuals
Toilet Training

You can subscribe to an online newsletter for notification of  new releases.


If you are a parent, pass this link on to your school or service provider - it could become the single most useful resource they could use to support your son or daughter. If you are a professional, pass it on to your client's family - it could become the single most useful resource they could use to support their son or daughter.

Healthier lives: 15th March 2012, Armidale

NSW Council for Intellectual Disability is going to Armidale on Thursday 15 March to hold another of its highly regarded forums on strategies to improve the health of people with intellectual disability in the New England region.

Speakers include: 
  Dr Bruce Chenoweth, Senior Developmental Psychiatrist  - Diagnostic and Assessment Service, SESIAHS
  Dr Cheryl McIntyre, General Practitioner
  Helen MacLean, Clinical Nurse Consultant,  ADHC Northern Region
  Gillian Woodward, Dietician
  Jim Simpson, Senior Health Advocate, NSW CID
  Plus representatives from local health care services and disability service providers 


The day is for:
* Family members and carers 
* People with intellectual disability  - easy to understand sessions for people with intellectual disability (limited places to ensure accessibility) 
* Service providers 

To register your interest contact the NSW Council for Intellectual Disability: 
Phone: 1800 424 065      Email: katie@nswcid.org.au

Click here for more information

Library Thursday: e-book for teens, adults

How David Met Sarah is an ebook, written by Anne Kelleher, in response to her brother's need for story that he can read, that is interesting to him as a man in his 30s.  The first in a planned series of five, it is described as

	... the heartwarming story of a young man with Down Syndrome who falls in love with a young woman with autism.

Anne says ... I wrote this story for my brother because I wanted to give him not only a story he could read and enjoy, but also give him a hero to which he could relate. The real David is 36 and has Down Syndrome. This story is both age and reading level appropriate for someone with my brother's reading skills. However, average readers praise it for the insight it offers into the world of the developmentally disabled.

To download the eBook for Kindle (you can also download a Kindle reader for PC and iPad), go to How David Met Sarah at Amazon,  where it is on special for February (in honour of Valentine's Day) for a very reasonable $0.99. A proportion of the proceeds are being donated to the National Down Syndrome Society in New York.

There is also a Facebook page and blog about the book, which might is also scheduled for release in print.




In the journals
We compile a list of recent journal article for each issue of our members' journal, Voice.  The list was prepared for the December 2011 issue, but an editorial decision had to be made to fit the content into the allocated space, so we have published the December 2011 In the journals list as an online appendix only.  This page includes links to each of the In the journals lists previously published in Voice.

Disability is not a cute little joke

Stella Young knows a thing or two about jokes, from her experience as a comedian. Today, as editor of Ramp Up and contributor to The Drum, responds to yet another 'harmless' joke at the expense of people with intellectual disability: 


Disability is not a cute little joke
When Joe Hildebrand used disability to joke about poor customer service at an airport, he revealed just how rife ableism is in our culture really is. More

Scrapheap Adventure 2012: April, Kosciuszko

SYDNEY DAD UPS THE STAKES FOR HIS DAUGHTER THIS EASTER

He may have no legs, but that won’t stop Perry Gilsenan from riding cross country for Down syndrome this Easter

He's a man who's had a tougher ride than most. But to watch Perry Gilsenan tear along the Newell Highway on his old BMW motorcycle, no one would everguess he was missing what most of us take for granted: legs. At age of 12, the Baulkham Hills father (pictured above) lost both legs in a horrific train accident. Several years later, disaster struck once more when Perrywas involved in a car crash, with injuries (including five fractured vertebrae and fourteen broken ribs) nearly claiming his life.

But despite these early misfortunes, this big-hearted fellow has always been one to count lifeʼs blessings rather than toils. For Perry, the word "disabled" has never even entered his vocabulary. 

"I hate the word 'disabled'," he says."Any word that has "dis" or "in" in front of it, I feel, does a disservice to people and their worth and how they can live their life. It implies that people are not "able" when they are. It's not your identity; it's something that has happened to you. You have to rise above that. I feel I'm capable of anything I set my mind to. The only thing that limits me is my heart, my mind and imagination."

It was this passion and zest for life that led Perry, a motorcycle lover from way back, to create the Scrapheap Adventure Ride, an adventure rally which sees enthusiasts build bikes from spare parts, and make an intrepid journey to a set destination on recycled (and occasionally rickety) steeds.Thanks to word-of-mouth publicity, in just three years the ride has grown from a handful of participants, to a fully-fledged national event, attracting dozens o friders from all over the country keen to test their mettle on hand-built “scrappers”.

This year's destination, McPhersons Plains Alpine Retreat, Mt. Kosciuszko, promises to be the “best yet”, according to Perry, and riders wonʼt be disappointed.

"The scenery is stunning up there," he says. "In my opinion, there's no better way to experience the Australian countryside than on a motorcycle. Plus we'll be having a party once we get there to celebrate, and families are welcome!"

While the Scrapheap Adventure Ride may boast enough camaraderie and rugged terrain to make any adventure-lover swoon, it will also be raising funds and awareness  for  a  noble cause. Last year, buoyed by Perryʼs unwavering support for his daughter Grace (pictured), who has Down syndrome, the Scrapheap Adventure team raised $65,000 for Down Syndrome NSW, a small charity in Sydney's greater west that supports families and children touched by the condition.

"We're a small organisation and receive little government support, so it was fantastic to have funds donated by the Scrappers," said Stephen Clarke, CEO ofDown Syndrome NSW.

"Donations of this kind allow us to continue supporting people with Down syndrome and their families, particularly now in regional areas where families can be more isolated and may find support harder to access. We are so very reliant on community support to sustain what we do and fully support the Scrappers in this year's ride!"

Perry is already busy rallying the troops for the Easter event, and hopes that this yearʼs efforts for the association will be even more successful. He also hopes that  this event  will  encourage  people  with  disabilities  and  their  families  to  believe  that  anything  is  possible.

"I may not have legs, but as far as I'm concerned, there's nothing I can't do,” says Perry. “I want Gracie to grow up secure in my love, knowing she can do anything she sets her mind to. Like I said, we believe in "ability" in this household, not "disability. No limits. That's why I love motorcycling so much: there are no limits."

Indeed. And what could be better than spending a long weekend riding your bike with a few mates, all for a great cause?

Riders from all bikes of life (not just scrappers) are encouraged to register and attend. The Scrapheap Adventure Ride is a family-friendly event.

For more information about the Scrapheap Adventure Ride, to register or to make a donation, please visit www.scrapheapadventureride.com.au

PERRY GILSENAN IS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW & MEDIA ENQUIRIES

CONTACT  JESSICA CHALKER on 0434 840212  or  jesschalker@gmail.com

Employment opportunities: Disability Services Australia

Passing on a message from Disability Services Australia (DSA) Employment: 

"We have some new and exciting work at our factories, and we currently have a number of vacancies at Mascot, Condell Park and Braemar. The new contracts coming in are a range of onsite and offsite work. We are looking for people wanting to do something different and who are interested in trying something new.

Do you know anyone who wants to work? Please contact DSA's Service Access on 1300 372 121 or serviceaccess@dsa.org.au

Applicants must be receiving the Disability Support Pension and able to work 8 hours per week.

A very generous donation: thank you ICAP

Cheque Presentation yesterday at ICAP! Our huge thanks for their wonderful donation of $35,000 to Down Syndrome NSW.

The money was raised through a network of corporate charity fundraising events held on a single day, that last year took place at more than 60 ICAP offices internationally that distributed the proceeds to over 200 charities worldwide.  Pictures from the Sydney event on 7th December 2011 are here.

Promoting resilience in young people with disabilities: seminar for parents

The National Disability Coordination Officer Program (NDCO) at University  of Western Sydney is proud to be supporting a FREE seminar for parents of young people with disabilities:

Parents Promoting Resilience: Preparing young people to negotiate the ups and downs of life

Resilience is an important quality for all people, but especially for people with disabilities who may face additional challenges. This seminar will provide practical strategies to parents and others who support adolescents and young adults with disability, including learning disabilities, chronic medical conditions and mental illnesses.

Monday,  20^th February 2012  5:45 pm - 8:00 pm

Narellan Library Building, Cnr Queen and Elyard Streets, Narellan

• Flyer 

New resource, Getting young people ready for life after school: A guide for parents, will be launched at this event.

Relationships and Private Stuff: seminars and workshops

Liz Dore supports anyone who wants counselling in the areas of friendships, relationships, sexuality and/or grief. Liz also offers coaching in dating skills for singles who would like to maximise their opportunities of meeting people and finding a partner. Currently working with individuals, couples, professionals, families, and people with disability, Liz helps people aged from ten to seventy-plus years to develop and maintain good personal relationships. See Relationships and Private Stuff for more information,


This Dating Life
Liz has often been asked to cater for the needs of single un-paid Carers and for single professionals. The following seminar is suitable for single carers and professionals from any field, and is aimed at assisting individuals to network for themselves (for personal – not professional – development).
Tuesday 14th February 2012 6.30 PM – 8.00 PM
Woodstock Community Centre, 22 Church Street, Burwood

Liz Dore, counsellor and dating coach from Relationships and Private Stuff will deliver a talk entitled “This Dating Life” in which she will highlight ways busy people can maximise their opportunities to connect to people and build relationships. Some professionals hide behind their titles and their suits but ultimately it’s skin to skin when the lights are out. The truly, madly, deeply in love phase is different to the long bonding phase. How do you ­ find a partner who will want to be by your side supporting you while you’re vomiting from a virus or receiving an award for excellence in your ­ field?

Registration Fee: $130 includes the seminar and an individual follow up consultation. To register, send registration form and cheque to Liz Dore PO Box 1060 Burwood North 2134 or email completed form to lizdore@bigpond.com and discuss other payment options.


Friendship and Relationship Skills Workshop
Saturday 3rd and Saturday 10th March 2012, 3 PM – 6 PM 
Woodstock Community Centre, 22 Church Street, Burwood
For people with intellectual disability, ASD or brain injury aged 16 and over.

This workshop is held over two sessions, giving the participants an opportunity to meet and socialise with others, while learning through structured education activities. Topics include: Conversation and turn taking; Making friends; Steps in forming relationships; Touching, timing and consent; and Protecting yourself from unwanted touch. Informal activities, such as going to a local coffee shop, are used to reinforce learning.
To register, send registration form and cheque to Liz Dore PO Box 1060 Burwood North 2134 or email completed form to lizdore@bigpond.com and discuss other payment options.


Supporting people with disability in regional NSW: Workshops
On behalf of Northcott Disability Services workshops supporting the needs of people with disability will be presented by Liz Dore in Dubbo, Coonamble, Warren and Broken Hill in late February, March and April.  This workshop series will include three-hour Relationships and Private Stuff sessions for parents and Carers, and full-day Train the Trainer courses in Friendship and Relationships Skills for professionals.

Flyer for Dubbo events 20th and 21st February
Flyer for Broken Hill event 27th March
Flyer for Bourke event 17th April

For more information, contact Laura Hayden at Northcott in Dubbo by phone (02) 6882 1099, email Laura.hayden@northcott.com.au or mobile 0458 330 190.



Counselling
Relationships and sexuality counselling and consultations sessions are available in Dubbo
Wednesday 22nd February 20112
To make an appointment for a private session, contact Liz Dore on mobile 0416 122 634 or email  lizdore@bigpond.com

Independent Living Support Initiative presentation at NDS conference

Scott Bridges, the Down Syndrome NSW Project Manager for the Independent Living Support  Initiative  (ILSI) will be speaking about ILSI, along with Karen de Mar from ADHC at the National Disability Services Conference in Sydney next week.

Scott and Karen's presentation is scheduled for Concurrent Session 10, on Tuesday 14th February

Details of the two day conference (13th - 14th February) are available here (see p 9 for the ILSI presentation).

Remote therapy and support via NBN

The National Broadband Network will come into its own providing support, therapy and health services.  Here is a report about a scheme that will deliver support and therapy services to children with vision and hearing impairments in regional Australia.

Minister's media release on the Remote Hearing and Vision Services for Children Initiative (1/2/12)

© 72soul | Dreamstime.com

T4321 on World Down Syndrome Day

This year, World Down Syndrome Day is officially recognised by the United Nations for the first time.

It's time to show off your coveted secret recipes! You have six weeks to start planning your T4321 Tea Party for World Down Syndrome Day on 21st March!

To order a free event kit and for some great ideas on how to host the party of the year, contact Priscilla at Down Syndrome NSW: priscilla@dsansw.org.au or call 9841 4444.