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| Another Successful JuneFest Event |
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Despite the wind and rain in the early part of the day, the 8th Annual JuneFest event which was held on Wednesday June 16, 2010 at Mel Lastman Square in Toronto, Ontario was still a huge success.
Special thanks to all of our booth participants, who braved the weather and were there to provide information about deaf-blindness and other related services, as well as M&M Meat Shops who hosted our fantastic charity barbeque and Starbucks who had their fabulous beverage sampling station.
The day wouldn’t have been complete without music from Maximum Music Service and children’s entertainment from Malibu Bob. A very special thank you to all of our sponsors who helped make the event including our silent auction and ebay auction great successes.
Special thanks also to David Zimmer, MPP Willowdale for his ongoing support. In addition, congratulations to Joyce Thompson on receiving the JuneFest Award of Excellence. It was nice to see many of Joyce’s friends and family at the event to help celebrate her achievements.
Most of all thanks to all of the consumers, service providers, friends, families and the general public who came out to celebrate Deaf-Blind Awareness Month at JuneFest. We look forward to seeing you all again next year. Stay tuned for information on JuneFest 2011.
Please
visit www.junefest.ca
for for more information on JuneFest. |
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All
programs and services are funded by the Ministy of Community
and Social Services
JuneFest
Album


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| 4th
Annual Intervenor Symposium |
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The Annual Intervenor Symposium presented
by the Deafblind Coalition of Ontario (DBCO) is proving
every year to be an important, informative and exciting
event for Intervenors from across the province.
This year’s event held at the Sheraton
Centre Hotel in Toronto, Ontario February 24th - February 27th was no exception.
The Spirit of Intervenors: Sharing the Torch of Knowledge was the theme used by organizers to build the
strong foundation of the 2010 conference. This year, over
350 professionals who work in the field of deaf-blindness
attended the symposium to learn from presenters and
from each other, focussing on the crucial role that intervenors
who work in both the congenital and acquired field play
in the lives of people who are deaf-blind.

This four-day event featured remarks from
The Honourable Madeleine Meilleur, Minister of Community
and Social Services followed by a variety of knowledgeable
speakers from Canada, the United States and Finland.
Topics included orientation and mobility, plain language, social haptic communication,
using creative technology to provide information, and many more. In addition, Intervenor
Peer-to-Peer presentations were extremely well received
by the attendees.
Kevin Frosst, a Deaf-Blind speedskater presented the closing keynote speech
of his remarkable and inspiring mission.
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2009 Symposium Album

Anindya
"Bapin" Bhattacharyya, Helen Keller National Center

Katherine
Hesson Bolton
and stage interpreter

Shared
Communication
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RCH is pleased to present the eighth edition
of our in-house publication, The HOT Wire. This newsletter
connects deafblind consumers living in the community, tenants
at RCA, intervenors, volunteers and board members. The HOT
Wire is available in print, Braille, by email and on our
website to ensure access for all members of the community.
To download the The HOT Wire, please go
to our Resources section where editions of the publication
are archived. Please take a few moments to read this excerpt
from our most recent issue profiling RCH Board member Elio Riggillo.
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Table
of Contents

From the Desk of the ED

Consumer Profile
Craig MacLean
 
Board Profile
Kim Wrigley-Archer
 
Intervenor Profile
Gordon Johnston
 
The Spirit of Intervenors:
The Quest Continues
 
Upcoming
Events
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RCH Board Profile - Elio Riggillo

Hello to everyone! My name is Elio Riggillo and I have Usher Syndrome, type one. I am a Board member for RCH/CHKC, and I am president of the Ontario Usher Syndrome Association.
I just wanted to tell you a true story about me. I was born deaf and did not know until I was 16 years that I had Usher Syndrome. When I was in high school with my friends, all of them got their driver’s licenses after their 16th birthdays. My friends and I were always competitive from the time we were young. We were the same when it came to us getting our driver’s license. I went and wrote my written test and passed.
Next was the test for vision. I passed it second time but only because my friend warned me that there were two lights on the left or right side. I tried to catch the lights the first time and was caught and failed. I was disappointed so I tried for a second time and passed. I was showing off my license when my teacher saw it and told me that I can’t drive! I asked why? They tried to explain it to me but I ignored them. I later asked my dad to help train me to drive. I didn’t know that my teacher had phoned my mother. My father always gave me an excuse why he couldn’t take me to practice driving. I later found out my parents didn’t know how to explain to me about my vision problem.
After I was told by eye doctors about my vision problem I started to realize and understand about my life and remembered how I missed everything, banged into things, couldn’t see well in the dark etc. It took a long time for me to accept I would be deaf-blind.
I try now to think positive and I don’t accept any barriers in my life. I had to accept many new things. People from the deaf-blind community and my wife always told me to use a white cane. I refused as I was not comfortable and was embarrassed. I finally agreed to use a cane after a good friend told me about their accident - they bumped into someone and they fell and broke their arm. My friend felt so guilty. It is always better to have safety first. I work two jobs, am married for 14 years and have 3 beautiful children. I am now enjoying my life as a deaf-blind person and all the challenges. I look at everything as an experience from which I can learn.
To download the most recent and archived issues
of The Hot Wire, click
here.
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The HOT Wire
Profiles

RCH
Outreach Consumer
Craig Maclean

RCH
Intervenor
Gordon Johnston
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Canadian Helen Keller Centre
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Donate to RCH online |
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Charity Number
121266423RR0001
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Cheshire Homes Inc.
101-422 Willowdale Avenue
North York, Ontario
M2N 5B1
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