Scrapheap Adventure Ride returns for the eighth year - the biggest and best ride yet!

The Scrapheap Adventure Ride is a unique fundraising event which involves motorcycle enthusiasts from all over the country purchasing a bike for no more than $1000 and doing it up for an adventure ride through the Aussie outback, all while raising money for people with Down syndrome.

Last year we had a blast at Four Corners Farm Stay in Nymagee. We had 101 riders and together we raised over $97,000! This year we are aiming to top that and raise a new record of over $100,000 with100 plus riders.

Our destination for 2017 is Green Valley Farm near Tingha, which in turn is near Inverell in Northern NSW. We will be camping and Scrapping on the weekend of September 29 to October 1.

We will have the Adventure Moto Ride departing Wisemans Ferry at 8am on Thursday September 28. Warren Sakey, once again, has a great ride planned and we will be overnighting at Quirindi. More details to follow.

As always, there will be an Adventure ride loop on the Saturday where we are sure there will be thrills and possibly a few spills. On Saturday evening, there will be plenty of fun and entertainment for the whole family, including open mic music during our celebratory dinner auction and awards ceremony.

Of course, the best part of any Scrapheap is catching up with your mates and the friendly competition between teams and raising money for Down Syndrome Australia/NSW. However raising money is not our only objective as I am sure there will be a few drinks raised over the weekend as well.

Remember it is a family weekend and Green Valley farm also offers a wealth of activities for everyone including the kids, so why not bring the whole support crew!

Catering packages and accommodation options info will be provided shortly.

The registration this year is $100 for all bikes (Scrapper or non-scrapper), Please help us make this the most successful and fun year ever.

If you can't join us, we hope you will be able to sponsor one of this year's riders or teams. Make sure you connect with other Scrappers on Facebook by joining the Scrapheap group.

www.scrapheapadventureride.com.au

Women’s Health Learning Circle

Image description: text reads 'The Women's Health Learning Circle' Family Planning NSW is starting a Women’s Health Learning Circle for women with intellectual disability aged between 45-64 years of age. Image description: A woman in a blue top, smiling, looking up to her left. The Learning Circle will be a place for women to learn about their bodies and the changes they will experience as they age. The Learning Circle will run once a week for four weeks and be led by experienced reproductive and sexual health educators. If you know anyone who would be interested in attending The Learning Circle please forward the information on to them. Places in The Learning Circle are limited so it is important people register to attend the group. Some of the things you will learn about are: menopause health checks for you private body parts relationships how to keep your body healthy The Women's Health Learning Circle will meet once a week for 4 weeks. Where: Family Planning NSW,  328 - 336 Liverpool Road, Ashfield When: 2.00 - 4.00 pm Thursday 8 June 2017 Friday 16 June 2017 Thursday 22 June 2017 Friday 30 June 2017 If you would like to be part of this group contact: Abi Monaghan P: 02 8752 4388 E: healthpromotion@fpnsw.org.au It is important to contact us before 2 June if you want to be part of this group.

National Disability Strategy 2010-2020 to build inclusive and accessible communities: submissions invited

The Senate Community Affairs References Committee is currently conducting an inquiry into
The delivery of outcomes under the National Disability Strategy 2010-2020 to build inclusive and accessible communities

(one of six priorities identified in the strategy)

The terms of reference are:

• the planning, design, management, and regulation of:
• the built and natural environment, including commercial premises, housing, public spaces and amenities,
• transport services and infrastructure, and
• communication and information systems, including Australian electronic media and the emerging Internet of things;
• potential barriers to progress or innovation and how these might be addressed;
• the impact of restricted access for people with disability on inclusion and participation in economic, cultural, social, civil and political life; and
• any other related matters.

Details of how to make a submission are here.

Submissions should be received by 17 March 2017. The reporting date is 13 September 2017.

• National Disability Strategy 2010 - 2020

World Down Syndrome Day 2017: theme announced

From Down Syndrome International:

The theme for World Down Syndrome Day 2017 has been announced: #MyVoiceMyCommunity – Enabling people with Down syndrome to speak up, be heard and influence government policy and action, to be fully included in the community.
Tuesday 21 March 2017 marks the 12th anniversary of World Down Syndrome Day.

Each year the voice of people with Down syndrome, and those who live and work with them, grows louder.

In 2017, we will focus on enabling people with Down syndrome (and those who advocate for them) to speak up, be heard and influence government policy and action, to ensure that they can be included, on a full and equal basis with others, in all aspects of society.

Working with our global network, the campaign will:

• Explain why it is important for people with Down syndrome and their advocates to speak up and influence local, national, regional and international policy makers. 
• Explain what the key policies are which affect the lives of people with Down syndrome and how they can ensure full society inclusion if implemented. 
• Explain how advocates can get involved – from media campaigns to direct political advocacy. 
• Explain how to empower people with Down syndrome (and those supporting them) to advocate for themselves and provide accessible tools to facilitate this. 

We will be encouraging people with Down syndrome to say #MyVoiceMyCommunity and we will ask everyone to respond to our call by sharing and showing the world how people with Down syndrome participate in the community alongside everyone else. You can take part simply by sharing details of WDSD activities or by photos, messages, quotes or in any way you choose, using the hash tag #MyVoiceMyCommunity as well as #WDSD17.

Our WDSD Global Video Event and WDSD Conference will both explore this important area of focus.

Down Syndrome International encourages our friends all over the world to choose your own activities and events to help raise awareness of what Down syndrome is, what it means to have Down syndrome, and how people with Down syndrome play a vital role in our lives and communities.

We can share your WDSD World Events before 21 March and your WDSD Stories after 21 March on our dedicated WDSD website in a single global meeting place.

World Down Syndrome Day AwardsDown Syndrome International (DSi) announces awards in voluntary, professional and scientific categories to coincide with World Down Syndrome Day on 21 March. Going forward, the WDSD Awards will be presented every 3 years, with the next announcement on 21 March 2017.

Please email wdsd@ds-int.org to receive nomination forms and criteria.

Step Up! for Down Syndrome Sydney: Sunday 6 November

Sydney Step UP!

Sunday 6th November

Parramatta Park 

Pitt Street, Parramatta

Event time 10am – 2pm

Walk starts at 11am

Register now

Step UP! for Down syndrome is an annual event that recognises the abilities and achievements of people living with Down syndrome.

You are invited to join us and help celebrate Down syndrome awareness month.

You can help us support people with Down syndrome and their families by making a donation or by joining us at one of our Step UP! events and walking with family and friends.

The annual event brings people together to celebrate, connect and raise funds to support people living with Down syndrome.

There will be a barbecue, stalls, raffles and entertainment provided on the day.

Step Up for Down Syndrome 2016: Picton

Down Syndrome NSW would like to thank Anne Hearne and the wonderful community and businesses of the Picton area for supporting this year’s Step UP! for Down syndrome event last weekend, at the beautiful Picton Botanic Gardens.

If you would like to join us at the Penrith or Sydney Step UP! events please register here.

Resources

Phone app connects people with disabilities to carers with shared interests

Jodie Noce, 7.30 (ABC TV), 29 August 2016
Every day, hundreds of thousands of Australians with disabilities have to welcome strangers into their homes to help them meet their everyday needs, sometimes even for really personal things like showering or getting dressed. 

Now a new app is hoping to make that not just a business exchange but instead, a meeting of kindred spirits. It's matching carers and clients based not only on needs but also on interests and passions ...

Supporting informed decision making: something every direct support professional should do!
Joseph M Macbeth, Carol Britton Laws and Perry Samowitz, Service, Support and Success, Vol 5, Issue 9, September 2016
Each day, direct support professionals support scores of thousands of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities whose needs and desires are as multiple and varied as is their number. Central to this effort is a vast direct support workforce whose members have diverse ethnic, racial and educational backgrounds and whose different life experiences shape what they bring to the job. Our personal beliefs and values certainly guide each of us in our personal lives, but it gets really tricky once we enter our place of work because what we believe is “right or wrong” and what the person we support believes is “right or wrong” is often quite different ...

• Link to back issues of Service, Support and Success on the Vita Living Services website, here

Local elections: easy read voting guide from NSW CID

NSW Council on Intellectual Disability provides an impressive range of information and resources about the broad functioning of our communities for the benefit of people with intellectual disability, much of it through social media channels, making it readily available. Inclusion at work.

In case you are not following NSW CID on Facebook (and we would recommend that you do if you use Facebook), here is their helpful message  about the September NSW local council elections:

Did you know that many local Councils are going to an election on 10 September 2016? 

NSW CID has produced the following Easy Read guide for the NSW Electoral Commission. 

• You can download the guide on this link  

Councils that were not amalgamated will go to an election on 10 September 2016. 

Councils that were amalgamated go to an election in 2017.

Another step towards inclusion and visibility

Just a few days till Christmas, you'll possibly be at a large shopping centre sometime in the next few days ... so if it doesn't land in your letterbox first, make a note to pick up the new catalogue from Target, and find Caleb Jordan in it. It's more than an ad in a catalogue:

Ad inclusion:Caleb Jordan for Target Australia
Starting with Julius, 14th December 2015
... Today was a big deal for ad inclusion in Australia and an even bigger one for Caleb who features in the latest Target Australia catalogue. While it is not the first time that Target Australia has featured models with disability, it is the first time in a long time and we hope that it represents a significant step for the brand in adopting inclusive advertising as standard practice ...
... until people with disability are welcomed as equal participants in mainstream culture, it is difficult to see an end to their exclusion from schools, workplaces, community and all other areas of life ...

Added 17th december 2015:

• Dapto boy with Down Syndrome targeted for national catalogue, Lisa Wachsmuth, Illawarra Mercury, 17th December 2015

Love, intimacy and disabiity

We are increasingly hearing about people with Down syndrome and other disabilities in long term and intimate relationships, and/or getting married, but it can still be a difficult need to meet:

The barriers to romance for adults with disabilities
Chris Serres, Daily Life, 24th November 2015
... For people with disabilities like Rachel and Nicholas, such freedom to be intimate is rare. Disabled adults complain of having to overcome constant hurdles to engage in romantic activity and sustain loving relationships. The obstacles include arbitrary curfews, lack of transportation and segregated housing that cuts them off from mainstream social life and opportunities to date. Often, the barriers are imposed by group home operators that place safety above intimacy ...

Here comes the bride

Carly Findlay, Don't DIS my ABILITY (blog), 26th November 2015

I will be a bride in March. Although my parents encouraged me to be anything I wanted to be, I never thought I'd be a bride. I tried dating for many years, but it was hard to meet a man who was ok with my severe skin condition – Ichthyosis ...

... Outsiders often view getting into a relationship as the Holy Grail for people with disabilities. They see it as a big achievement, because disability is often portrayed as undesirable, unattractive even. Love is, in my experience, sometimes harder to come by because of disability, but not impossible ...

Friendship - A guide to finding friends and building community

Kay Mills, Centre for Welfare Reform (UK), 2015
Kay Mills is one of the leading experts in the UK in how to help people with learning disabilities overcome the risk of social isolation - by getting friends, building community and finding love. This guide is easy to read and packed full of good advice and inspiring stories.

Too little attention has been paid to love, friendship and community in the lives of people with learning disabilities. Instead organisations focus on housing or support services, but fail to deal with much more important issues of the heart and spirit. This is the next big challenge ...

What now: responses to abuse and neglect reports

We count what matters, and violence against people with disability matters
Anne Kavanagh and Sally Robinson, The Conversation, 27th November 2015
The Senate inquiry into violence, abuse and neglect against people with disability heard many horrific stories of violence experienced by adults and children with disability. They experience violence at the hands of intimate partners, parents, informal carers, service providers, teachers, medical professionals, co-residents in institutional settings, and others ...

(The photograph at the top of this article is of Jackie Softly, 

long-standing member of Down Syndrome Western Australia, 

and national advocate.)

The abuse of people with disability is a national shame that we're ignoring
Rachel Siewert, The Guardian, 26th November 2015
Right now there is a national shame hanging over our communities regarding treatment of people with disability in Australia. We would like to think that the notion of widespread violence, abuse and awful mistreatment would disgust the broader community and prompt us into action ...

Damning disability abuse report uses ACT death as warning
Christopher Knaus, Judith Ireland and Rachel Browne, The Canberra Times, 26th November 2015
A damning report on the neglect and abuse of people with a disability has used the choking death of Canberra woman Stephanie Fry to warn of the dangers of staff turnover and the increasing reliance on casual support workers ...

'Say it to my face' ... a video to share widely

International Day of People with Disability (IDPWD) is designated by the United Nations as a time to celebrate and recognise the achievements, contributions and abilities of people with disability and is celebrated on 3 December each year. 

• Community Event Calendar on the IDPwD website.

Don't DIS my ABILITY
International Day of People with Disability (IDPWD) is celebrated annually in NSW with the Don't DIS my ABILITY campaign. The 2015 campaign was launched yesterday by the NSW Minister for Disability Services, John Ajaka. The focus this year is on building an inclusive community through awareness and understanding. The Don't DIS my ABILITY campaign will be providing everyday Australians with the tools to help them interact with and be more inclusive of people with disability, all day, everyday.

NO OFFENCE, BUT! Comedy Cabaret is back for 2015 with a kids matinee and 18 + events on 30th November 2015.  Details and booking information here.

The campaign video, Say It To My Face, is designed to warm hearts and challenge preconceptions about people with disability - it does an excellent job on both counts. Sharing is encouraged.

We asked a bunch of kids questions about people with a disability.

Then they met two of our 2015 Don't DIS my ABILITY ambassadors, Tracy Barrell and Gerard O'Dwyer.

Congratulations Gerard O'Dwyer: 2015 Don't DIS my ABILITY ambassador

Ambassadors are the voice of the Don’t DIS my ABILITY campaign. Each year, our ambassadors share their powerful personal stories to raise awareness of the abilities and achievements of people with disability. They also support the campaign by engaging the wider community to think and act inclusively, in all aspects of life. 

The 2015 ambassadors are a diverse group of talented and passionate people from across NSW who are living life to the fullest, including participating in workplaces, schools, communities and at home.

Gerard O'Dwyer 

Gerard is an experienced actor and feels at home in front of the camera and treading the boards on theatre stages. He loves entertaining audiences through his roles, simultaneously challenging stereotypes about Down Syndrome and other intellectual disabilities. His list of credits include the Tropfest short film, Be My Brother, which won him the best actor award in 2009 among other dramatic and comedic performances in TV, film and theatre. Currently he's been working in his first feature length film and he will be making his first foray into opera in the production of Menotti-The Medium Opera Prometheus in 2016. Gerard says if he could give advice to both his younger self and people living with disability he would say: “Just go for it. Keep doing what you love and you can achieve anything if you set your mind to it.” He lives in Guildford in Western Sydney.

Read about the other 2015 Ambassadors, and other people with Down syndrome who have served as ambassadors in previous campaigns here.

• Don't DIS my ABILITY on Facebook and Twitter

A great day's (and ten years') work ...

Everyone who just watched Michelle Payne win the Melbourne Cup on Prince of Penzance, will also have seen her brother Stevie Payne, the horse's strapper, and Michelle's brother, taking his place as a successful worker, supported by and supporting his family and colleagues. Well done all round.

At the presentation ceremony, Stevie was awarded the Tommy Woodcock Cup for the winning horse's strapper. The photos are all over the media, and the story of his role in the win will be told and retold - you can't buy a campaign like that!

• Some great photos here
• Prince Of Penzance and Payne win the Cup, Seven Sport, 3rd November 2015
• Melbourne Cup dream comes true for strapper 'Stevie' Payne, ABC News, 3rd November 2015
• Melbourne Cup 2015: Strapper with Down syndrome 'challenging stigma' ahead of big race, Damian McIver, ABC News, 2nd November 2015

Every Australian Counts status on Facebook, 3rd November, 2015

• Melbourne Cup 2015: Stevie Payne making strapping cool again, Adam Pengilly, The Age, 3rd November 2015

Up Club Local

Down Syndrome NSW has received funding through the National Disability Insurance Agency that will provide additional opportunities for our members to connect with their local communities. As part of this funding, we are establishing Up Club Local groups.

These social groups are distinct from our successful and long-running Up Club and have been developed to increase the accessibility of Up Club to adults with Down syndrome. Membership to Up Club Local groups is open to current members of the Up Club as well as others who do not currently attend Up Club.

Current Up Club Locals - we have now established 4 Up Club Local groups in the Sydney area:

Up Club Inner West – meets monthly at a regular meeting spot in Newtown.
Up Club North – meets monthly at a regular meeting spot in Chatswood.
Up Club South – this group meets monthly at a regular meeting spot in Cronulla.
Up Club Blue Mountains – meets monthly at a regular meeting spot in Springwood.

These Up Club Local groups are open to adults with Down syndrome and intellectual disability. So far, the Up Club Local groups have had fun getting to know each other at a range of activities including planning meetings, Yum Cha lunches, live music nights, pub and trivia nights, visits to the local markets and the cinemas. Group members are encouraged to be actively involved in planning the activities that the group chooses to do together.

If you live in one of these areas and would like to join, please contact Lyb: lyb.makin@dsansw.org.au

New Up Club Locals:
Down Syndrome NSW would like to establish more Up Club Local groups in your area, and is looking to recruit energetic and passionate Up Club Group Co-ordinators in the following areas:

Hornsby, Ryde and North Western Sydney
South-Western Sydney
Central Coast and Newcastle
Wollongong
Mid-North Coast
Far North Coast

If you know anyone who would be suitable for a casual position with Down Syndrome NSW, please contact Lyb: lyb.makin@dsansw.org.au

Step Up! for Down Syndrome at Parramatta Park: this Sunday, 25th

Event details and online registration

Sunday 25th October 

Parramatta Park, at ‘Salters Field’

• car access via Pitt Street 
• or catch the train to Westmead and it’s only a 10 minute walk from there

Arrive from 9.30am (real coffee from a Coffee Cart will be available!), with the walk commencing at 10am. Followed by free lunch, entertainment and activities until 1.30pm.

The walk itself will be ‘Passport Style’ – a route with different stations where you collect a stamps. A special prize awaits all those finishing with a full ‘passport’!

After the walk, there will be plenty of fun activities:

Free lunch for everyone, kindly provided by CMP
Kindifarm Petting Zoo will be there with a variety of baby farm animals.
Badge making by our UP!Club
Balloon Artist
A visit from our local Fire Brigade with their truck
Parramatta Brass Band will be performing throughout the day
There is a children’s playground adjacent to our area and plenty of shade provided by big Eucalyptus trees
Don't forget to buy a badge on Sunday from our badge making social enterprise

The next Step UP! event will be at Picton Sunday 1 November - details here

People with Down syndrome ... being themselves, individually

Individual, personal stories told wherever stories are told in 2015 - on social media, in newspapers, through workplaces and community institutions have a different role, and are just as important as broad campaigns. Sometimes they are more important ...

A box is a box by any other name….

Alex McAuley, The Life That Max Built, 19th October 2015

... Max has risen to the challenge of living away from home brilliantly. He has shown us that he is more than capable of managing his own life as long as we ensure that the right supports are in place. So this brings me to my story ...

Down Syndrome Blessings

Jodi Myers, True North, 21st October 2015
I wish I knew then what I know now. These last twenty-five years have been nothing short of amazing. Let me take this opportunity to tell you about our daughter ...

Down Syndrome not getting in her way

Emma James, Waikoto Times, 20th October 2015
Cycling is just one of Courtney Duncan's favourite hobbies, and it is something she does well ...

#SeeTheAbilitySunday with Nick

Voices at the Table, 11th October 2015
“I was recently asked to give some advice to other people with Down syndrome? My answer was,
“When you have a goal, don’t quit, even if it takes more than one shot.”

I want to talk a little more about not giving up ... I wanted to apply to Campus For All because some of my friends were there, including my girlfriend. They all said, “Just get in. It’s great!” The first time I applied, I went for an interview but I didn’t get in. I didn’t really know why and that was that. I was disappointed but I knew that I would try again ...

Step Up! for Down Syndrome this weekend

Wishing a very good day to those 

Stepping Up! for Down Syndrome 

tomorrow in 

Wagga Wagga 

and in 

Nowra

Congratulations: Ann Sherry, Australia's most influential woman, 2015

Congratulations to Ann Sherry on this significant award, presented in Melbourne last night. Ann won the overall award, and in the 'Diversity' category.  Another example of good timing, coinciding with Down Syndrome Awareness Week/Month. In addition to all of the influential roles and activities highlighted in the awards media, Ann has been a generous and influential contributor to the Down syndrome community, both locally and nationally, along with her family. And of course, we know her as Nick's mother, too:

From social worker to CEO: Ann Sherry named Australia's most influential woman
Australian Financial Review, 16th October 2015

Ann Sherry, former prison social worker who rose to head a major cruise ship line, has been named Australia's most influential woman. 

Ms Sherry, the chief executive of Carnival Australia, was named the overall winner of the 2015 Australian Financial Review and Westpac 100 Women of Influence Awards from more than 500 entrants across 10 categories for her corporate leadership and the promotion of diversity and female representation during her nearly 30-year career.

"Women from all walks of life across Australia know of Ann Sherry. They know of her sustained work for women, minority groups, business and the arts and her outstanding reputation of making a real difference," BHP director and 2015 Awards judge Carolyn Hewson said. "She is a woman of great influence and we thank her."

Ann Sherry named Australia's most influential woman
Michael Sheather, Australian Women's Weekly,
first published January 2014, updated 16th October 2015
She is one of Australia's most accomplished chief executive officers,
but her greatest achievement is seeing her son, Nicholas, flourish ...

Good story, well told

It's easy to find fault with the ways people with Down syndrome and other disabilities are presented and represented in the media - we have aired our share of criticism, and will continue to do so. 

Alexander Darling's recent article in the Sunday Age, and Simon O'Dwyer's accompanying photos of Phoebe Mitchell's preparation for the 2015 City2Sea to be held in Melbourne in November, lift the bar considerably.

Phoebe speaks for herself about her race preparation, her previous achievements are acknowledged, and her mother adds some information about how some of the physical manifestations of Down syndrome impact running. Not a mention of 'overcoming Down syndrome', or of 'inspiration' - just how Phoebe gets on with her training, illustrated with excellent photos of an athlete looking as though she has been working hard, sweating, looking fit, focussed and determined, doing what she has to do to compete in such an event, in a beautiful setting. The support she has is acknowledged, but not lionised.

Phoebe is representing and raising funds for Down Syndrome Victoria, with none others. All the best, Phoebe and the DSV team. Thanks to the Sunday Age for a good story, well told. 

Go and look and those photos.

• Sunday Age City2Sea: Phoebe Mitchell steps up for another athletic challenge,  Alexander Darling, Sunday Age, 4th October 2015

Join us for Step Up!

Step UP! for Down syndrome is a national participation event aimed at raising funds and celebrating the achievements of people with Down syndrome. 

Step UP! is held in October Australia wide to celebrate Down Syndrome Awareness Week. There are events happening across the state, so come along for a day of family fun and connect with others in your area.

Wagga Wagga    Sunday 18 October 

Nowra                  Sunday 18 October 

Parramatta         Sunday 25 October 

Picton                  Sunday 1 November

• Register here