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| Announcing
JuneFest 2009 |
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Rotary Cheshire Homes (RCH) and the Canadian
Helen Keller Centre (CHKC) are proud to announce the 7th
annual JuneFest.
JuneFest is the largest public awareness
festival recognizing and celebrating the month of June as
Deaf-Blind Awareness Month in Ontario. This year's festival
will be held on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 from 12:00 pm - 6:00
pm at Mel Lastman Square, 5100 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario.
The goal of the festival is to promote
greater public awareness of persons living with dual sensory
loss and the organizations that provide support services
to them. The festival also provides an opportunity for members
of the deaf-blind community to get together and network
with their peers, meet new people and learn about the services
and resources available to them.
There will be information booths hosted
by various organizations and agencies to provide awareness
about the dual disability of deaf-blindness, the latest
technology and devices, and the services and resources available.
In addition we'll have the usual JuneFest mix of entertainers
and activities including a charity barbeque, live music,
children's games, silent auction and a great environment
for people of all ages to both have fun and learn about
this unique disability.
JuneFest invites members of the local and business
community to come out with their friends, families and colleagues
to learn about the disability of deaf-blindness, while enjoying
great music, food and many other fun and informative activities.
Please
visit www.junefest.ca
for for more information on this year's event.
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All
programs and services are funded by the Ministy of Community
and Social Services
JuneFest
Album
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| 3rd
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
on the Falls in Niagara Falls, Ontario from February 18
– 21, 2009, was no exception.
The Spirit of Intervenors: The Quest
Continues was the theme used by organizers to build the
strong foundation of the 2009 conference. This year, almost
300 professionals who work in the field of deaf-blindness
travelled to Niagara Falls 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 and the United States.
Topics included seniors’ issues specific
to deafblindness, consumer technologies, creative communication,
promoting independence through braille and other tactile
marking systems, and many more. In addition, Intervenor
Peer-to-Peer presentations, and the presentations made
by three deafblind presenters were extremely well received
by the attendees.
Alvin Law presented the closing keynote speech
of his remarkable story. Born without arms, Alvin lives
his life believing anything is possible in a world full
of challenges. It was a motivational and fitting end to
a conference with an enduring theme, one that truly brought
out the spirit of intervenors.
Copies
of many of the conference presentations are available
in PDF format.
Please click
here to view the conference program and to download
copies of the workshop materials. |
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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 sixth 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 Kim
Wrigley-Archer.
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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 - Kim Wrigley-Archer
Hi! My name is Kim Wrigley-Archer. People
ask me if I am related to the Wrigley's gum company. I wish!!
The only relationship is between my mouth and their gum.
I have been on the RCH Board for a decade and
am proud to see the changes in recent years. Thanks to MCSS
funding, I now have access to intervenors through RCH's
Community Outreach. I have also been on the CNSDB Board
for the last 5 years.
I grew up in Scarborough. I attended classes
for hard of hearing students from nursery school to grade
4. I was mainstreamed into my local school from grade 5
on. It was hard because there were no supports in place.
I found out about my Usher Syndrome II when I was almost
21 years old. I decided to go to Brock University to prepare
for my future. It was very hard because I could not hear
the lectures and nearly dropped out. Luckily, I met my husband,
Bruce, at Brock and he was a big help in encouraging me
to stay in school. I appreciate having a good education.
It is a very important privilege I wish for all deaf-blind
persons.
Eventually, I wanted to do something different.
In 2000, I enrolled part-time at Ryerson University's School
of Disability Studies. I loved this education! It is NOT
about "how to live with my disability". It is NOT about
rehabilitation. It is about how society (people) responds
towards persons with disabilities and why. It was very empowering
just like when women take Women's' Studies or black people
take Black Studies. Many of the Disability Studies courses
are online and I did them on my computer. In the classroom
courses, the professors were very accommodating. RCH provided
intervenors for the last two classroom courses I took. In
some ways, Disability Studies has some of the same principles
as Deaf Studies (but without the sign language).
Bruce and I will celebrate our 30th wedding
anniversary this fall. We have a beautiful teenage daughter
and a cute 2-year-old dog named Sam. He is a schnoodle (half
schnauzer and half poodle). He has curly hair just like
me!
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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Registered
Charity Number
121266423RR0001
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Rotary
Cheshire Homes Inc.
101-422 Willowdale Avenue
North York, Ontario
M2N 5B1
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