Congrats, Ike!

Ike Ditzenberger -- a 17-year old student at Snohomish High School in Washington state-- scored his team's only touchdown during a Sept. 24 game against Lake Stevens.  He ran 51 yards with ten seconds remaining on the clock. The play -- called The Ike Special -- is below.

If you are anything like me -- meaning you aren't sure what a "first down" is and think football is played in innings -- the story appears to be a replay of a typical high school game. But, what makes this story so special is that Ike has Down syndrome.

Ike practices every day with his team mates and is on the school's junior varsity roster. He joins the varsity team's practice for their last plays. In addition, he hopes to join the school's wrestling team.

Here's the clip from KOMO-TV, Channel 4 in the Seattle area:

Congress eliminates the "R-word" from health, education, and labor laws

In a victorious move for people with developmental disabilities, the House of Representatives has approved a bill that eliminates the "R-word" in federal government language.  The bill -- also known as Rosa's Law -- changes the language from "mental retardation" to "intellectual disability," bringing it up to par with language used at the CDC, U.N. and the White House.

Proposed by Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland), the bill was named after Rosa Marcellino -- a girl from Maryland with Down syndrome.  After she was labeled "retarded" by her school, her mother Nina teamed up with other parents to change the terminology in Maryland's state law. 

 “The Marcellinos’ story is a perfect example of effective citizen advocacy. They pulled together to pull us all to another way of thinking,” Senator Mikulski said. “The bipartisan support of this bill shows that this is an issue where we can tip our hats to boys and girls with intellectual disabilities by checking our party hats at the door.”

The bill will now go to President Barack Obama's desk for his signature.

In honor of this terrific news, please enjoy the video from The Arc of the U.S.'s YouTube channel.  I think it sums up the feeling.

 

More information available here:

• Patricia E. Bauer's Disability News: "House OK's Rosa's Law"
• Senator Barbara Mikulski's Office:  Mikulski, Enzi applaud passage of Rosa's Law
• CNN.com's Paging Dr. Gupta: Congress eliminates the R-word

ARC Life available!

The agency's new newsletter is now available online and in print!  Enjoy!

Unique Opportunity at HWS

Mary Kelly, PhD, our liason, developed the class Transition and Disability: Life after high school. This allows the college students and the ARC individuals to be integrated in a class together, for the first time.

The ARC individuals are broken into groups with the college students. They have to participate, present and do all the homework that is expected of the HWS students. There are field trips, discussions, service learning projects, and various collaborative activies inside and outside the classroom.

Each and every individual is so pleased with themselves when they leave class, it is such a great feeling to see the inclusion on the HWS campus.

News Round Up

• SouthOrangePatch, serving South Orange, NJ:  Jepsy opens the doors of Judi's House
• Journal-Times, Racine, WI: Unified work group drives changes in special education
• WPRI-TV, Cranston, RI:  "Retardation" removed from agency name

Toronto Film Festival alert!

For you film and movie enthusiasts out there, the Toronto International Film Festival ends this Sunday on Sept. 19.  Many new stars come out of the movies viewed there -- but, there is one particular that everyone is buzzing about.

His name is Evan Sneider -- a 31 year old actor with Down syndrome and the breakout star of "Girlfriend."  Read The Wrap's article about him and view the trailer for his new movie below.

It's been quite some time...

It's been a long time, hasn't it?

Here's an update about what's going on at Ontario ARC!

FLCC College Experience volunteers for the Alzheimer Memory Walk

We were approached by Jody Thomas, Coordinator of Aging Services for ARC, to see if we would be interested in baking mini muffins for the upcoming Alzheimer Memory walk on Sept. 11th. Because we love to volunteer, we jumped on this opportunity to use one of our cooking days to try a nice healthy recipe for zucchini muffins. We used the kitchen at the Risser Road IRA house and each individual had a small part in baking the finished product. We had a great time and look forward to our next volunteer opportunity.

Giving back at Crosswinds Church

On Friday Septemeber 10, Kristen L. And Robert G. and myself went to volunteer at Crosswinds Wesleyan Church in Canandaigua. The church was having a training for it's sunday school teachers last weekend. We were asked to put together a training book and then put it along with an evaluation sheet and a pen into a bright orange bag for all attendees to recieve. We had a good time. We met Angie from the church and she was very excited to have us there to help her get ready. We hope to help them again in the future.

FLCC College Experience and the Community Experience volunteer for the Seniors Picnic!

Everyone at Ontario ARC try to live by our value words and put them into practice. On Friday, Aug. 27, the FLCC College Experience and the Community Experience individuals demonstrated one of our value words, being Teamwork by assisting at the Ontario ARC Aging picnic.

The Ontario ARC Aging Services and the Kiwanis Club of Canandaigua sponsored a senior’s picnic at Ontario ARC in the pavilion. Area seniors came from around the community to eat lunch, play games and enjoy music and good company.

We were not the only volunteers helping at the picnic. The Aktion Club, a division of the Kiwanis Club, and the Aging Advisory Panel, a committee made up of Individuals and community members advocating for our aging individuals in the agency also joined the volunteers. We all worked together in set up/clean up, manning the games, assisting seniors and socializing with everyone. We all really enjoyed spending our afternoon in the presence of some great people and look forward to helping next year.