Day on the Bay - Free Boat Rides on the Barnegat Bay

The Disabilities Advisory Board for the Department of Recreation in Barnegat Township is having their semi annual Day on the Bay Sunday August 14th. Here is all of the information.

The Barnegat Recreation
Disability Advisory Board
Invites You To Our 11th

“Day on the Bay”

Sunday - Aug 14th 11 am - 2 pm

Hosted By:
Sherer’s Boat Basin 482 East Bay Avenue Barnegat, New Jersey

This Day Dedicated to the Memory of Jerry Dey, one of our Loved Pirates

Come join us from FREE Boat rides for Children and Adults with Special needs. All participants must be accompanied by legal guardian or parent to sign waiver. Enjoy refreshments and short boat rides on Sunday during 11am till 2pm at Sherer’s Boat Basin.

If you have over 6 people in your group or have someone using a wheelchair please contact Walt Fernandez ahead of this date to make special arrangements.

For more info on this event or if you want to donate your time, boat and/or fuel to give rides during this event please call: Barnegat Recreation Department @ 609-698-0080 x 130 or Walt Fernandez @ 609-290-8741 / wjfern@aol.com

For any monetary donations please make check payable to;
“Township of Barnegat” and write “Day on the Bay” in Memo Area


I have been a part of this every year and it is a great day! Please pass this information along to anyone you think may be interested in going. Hope to see you there!

Audtions for ALL!, Feel Good Fridays

I am a theater appreciator, possessing no talent to act. I am absolutely on board with this newest community theater venture from Angela Anderson, in cooperation with the Theater Alliance of Greater Philadelphia. You can check out the Facebook events page here.

Don't have a profile on Facebook? Well here is all the info you need.

Auditions for ALL!
When: Monday, August 15, 6:30pm-9pm
Where: Philadelphia Room of William Way Community Center
1315 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA
Websites: Facebook Event, Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia
Contact: anderson.angela.marie@gmail.com


From the event page:
"Join the community theatre movement presenting shows that represent our ENTIRE beautiful society.

We want to bring everyone together, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual preference, or physical ability.
We want to see EVERYONE!

...For the audition, we want to see YOUR best performance. After the auditions, a play will be selected and cast based on the abilities of those who auditioned!

Please bring a prepared monologue. (Cold readings will also be available.)

Also, bring your IDEAS!! This is a community theatre movement for *you* - we want to hear what you have to say!

*******
FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES:
Productions will be accessible, both physically and in attitude, for the full participation of people with physical and emotional challenges and disabilities.

William Way is fully wheelchair accessible.

Those organizing the event have extensive education and experience working with people with disabilities in varied capacities.

We speak poor to moderate American Sign Language. (Because of finances, no interpreter will be provided at this event, but you're welcome to bring someone to interpret or volunteer to interpret.)

Please encourage any friends with disabilities in the Philadelphia who want to participate in theatre to attend the auditions. No experience required!!
*******

We are funding this event through Classic Baked Goods by Angela Anderson. Please visit the Facebook page if you enjoy delicious sweets and would like to contribute!

For more information, or if you would like to help out, please contact anderson.angela.marie@gmai​l.com.

Auditions will be open and first-come-first-serve, so if you have a scheduling conflict and must audition at a certain time please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate you."

Enjoy and may the best cast be selected!

Get Outside and Bike! - Feel Good Fridays

I love to bike ride. I am lucky to live in an area of the state that is bike friendly and also offers a plethora of bike paths as a safe haven from "visiting summer drivers".

I have thought about how difficult it would be for me if I couldn't ride my bike; so when a colleague forwarded me this story, I had to write about it.

Rob Thompson is a young man who experienced a Traumatic Brain Injury as a result of a motor vehicle accident. His father, Dave Thompson, built a tandem bike that could be part of Rob's road to recover (pun completely intended).


Read the full story here.

April is Autism Awareness Month - Feel Good Fridays

Meet Tracy Thresher and Larry Bissonnette, the focal points of the documentary Wretches and Jabberers. These two men have Autism and communicate with Augmentative Communication Devices.

Their film is about spreading the message that people of all abilities have ideas to share, thoughts to discuss and the desire to participate fully in life. Tracy and Larry are on a mission to change people's attitudes about disability, intelligence and communication.

Check out the trailer to the film below.

You can visit the website for the film here and you can read an article about the film here.

Enjoy and Happy Friday.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention - Feel Good Fridays

In keeping with the gaming theme from last week, take a look at this video. David Kotkin is an Art Teacher in Miami. A student in his class was born with Epidermolysis Bullosa Dystrophica, causing his hands to be very small. So small that he could not reach all of the controls on an Xbox hand piece. Therefore, he couldn't play the games he wanted to do because they required pressing a trigger to shoot or blow things up. David, being a gamer himself, decided to do something about this. The Avenger was born after many trials with superglue, rubber bands, duct tape and who knows what else. Read the whole article here.

The Avenger is currently retailing for $39.99. You can check it out here.




Enjoy and Happy Friday!

Gamers, Meet SpecialEffect - Feel Good Fridays

I am not a gamer. Never have been. I do remember my brother playing Super Mario Brothers a gazillion times a day on Nintendo circa 1986.

I digress. For people who are into video games and might need assistance with physical access, meet SpecialEffect; a charity located in the UK.

From their website - "SpecialEffect is a charity dedicated to helping ALL young people with disabilities to enjoy computer games. For these children, the majority of computer games are simply too quick or too difficult to play, and we can help them and their parents to find out which games they CAN play, and how to adapt those games that they can't."

SpecialEffect just launched UK’s first fully accessible Video Games Visitor Centre. The center would allows individuals the opportunity to try out a range of cutting edge games and leisure software and hardware, with the advice and support of specialist professionals.

They also have host a website called Gamebase. The purpose of this site is to provide information on games, have a forum for questions and a place to share ideas.


Below is a video of some of the things SpecialEffect is doing.

Are you a gamer? Work with someone who is? What gaming resources are out there that you can share? Let us know.

Enjoy, and Game On!

SpecialEffect from William Donegan on Vimeo.

iPad in the NY Times

This article has been going around and I wanted to post it here. It is a great story about a student with a disability using the iPad. Feel free to forward it if you would like. Oh the possibilities with the iPad. Enjoy.