Guitar Hero Adapted for Persons with Disabililites

Enabling Devices Adapts Guitar Hero

Hawthorne, NY – August 24, 2010 – Enabling Devices today announced that it has adapted the bestselling music video game, Guitar Hero.

According to Steven Kanor, Ph.D., President of Enabling Devices: “One of the goals of our company is to adapt bestselling games and toys so that people with disabilities can enjoy them along with their family and friends. We are thrilled that we have been able to adapt the electronics of Guitar Hero and create an easy to use tabletop control center.

Gail Cocciardi, Director of Product Development, says: “Our development team at Enabling Devices wanted to create a device that would allow our customers to have easy access to this popular game. Now there is no need to strum a guitar to join in on the fun. What makes it even more exciting is that the user can play at different levels of difficulty from beginner to expert – all with our tabletop controller. We’ve put together a great package which includes the tabletop control center, two software packages, and a guitar, all at a very reasonable price.”

Guitar Hero #4065

Guitar Hero Controller

Features:

Our brand new unique state-of-the-art tabletop control center allows you to play five colored buttons in sync with the musical notes.

• Control has select button, an up arrow to select the song and a start/stop button
• Easy beginner level allows the user to hit any colored button to go to the beat of the music without having to follow a pattern
• The guitar is fully functional so others can join in the fun
• Package includes: Control Center, Les Paul Guitar, and Two Playstation 3 software packages: Guitar Hero World Tour (with beginner level) and Hero Legends of Rock
• The control center can also be used with your Playstation 2 and Playstation 2 software

About Enabling Devices

Enabling Devices is a company dedicated to developing affordable learning and assistive technology devices to help people of all ages with disabling conditions. The company specializes in creating custom devices for individuals with severe disabilities. Founded by Steven E. Kanor, Ph.D. and originally known as Toys for Special Children, the company has been creating innovative communicators, toys, switches, and sensory devices for the physically challenged for more than 35 years.

For Information: www.enablingdevices.com or

Thank you from the cast of Peter Pan

A special Thank You to Community Foundation Summertime Kids program, Cyberonics, Asheville Community Theater, Makeup at the Grove Arcade, Dave Bortle, Starr Hogan. A GREAT Big thank you to Debbie Lombard of Exceptional Theatre Company, Asheville Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Dept, TR Program and F.I.R.S.T.

GREAT job to all the actors and shadows.

Participate in One of the Listening Sessions Being Held Across the State -- We Want to Hear from You!

Over the next three months, Disability Rights North Carolina will host public Listening Sessions across the State. At these sessions, Executive Director Vicki Smith will lead conversations that will help define our organization's issue targets for the next three years.

This is a great opportunity for you to share your thoughts with Disability Rights NC. Don't miss these Listening Sessions if . . .

• You are curious about how Disability Rights NC selects the cases it accepts;
• You want to have input into the types of cases Disability Rights NC accepts;
• You want to share critical information with Disability Rights NC about the violation of the rights of people with disabilities in our State.

All Listening Sessions are open to the public. Pass this email along to other people you know who want to ensure that all people with disabilities in North Carolina are treated equally and fairly, and have full access to the community.

If you plan to attend and need an ASL interpreter, please contact Janice Willmott at janice.willmott@disabilityrightsnc.org to request assistance.

Thur., October 14

Asheville

2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Public Works Building

Room A11

161 S. Charlotte Street

other sites available across the state. Check their website disabilityrightsnc.org

“Recognizing and Treating Children Whose Minds Play Tricks on Them”

Family Support Network of WNC

Will present

“Recognizing and Treating Children Whose Minds Play Tricks on Them”

Children normally experience flights of fancy, including imaginary friends and conversations with stuffed animals. However, some of them are also having hallucinations and delusions which may included unprovoked aggression and nonsensical “lies”. These might be the early signs of psychosis. This family-oriented workshop will provide an informal discussion to learn more about ways that childhood psychosis presents itself, possible methods to manage and appropriate services to pursue. Discussion will cover some of the benefits and controversy of antipsychotic medications and the impact on individual well-being, social and educational function.

Linmarie, Sikich, MD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill. The majority of her work is focused on evaluating and developing treatments for severe neurodevelopment disorders such as autism and schizophrenia using standard efficacy measures, effectiveness measures that also consider the tolerability and acceptability of treatments, and neurocognitive outcomes.

Update on direction of NC schools

Keep your eye on the North Carolina Joining Our Businesses and Schools (JOBS) Commission that was established about a year ago. The lieutenant governor Walter Dalton heads up the Commission. Dalton was instrumental in establishing North Carolina's early college program which is nationally recognized. More info follow the link
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/education/08school.html?_r=1&ref=us

Top 20 Most Livable U.S. Cities for Wheelchair Users

By Sara Vigneri

Every American deserves access to our country's cities-it's the law. But what does it really mean for a city to be accessible?

For more info http://www.christopherreeve.org/site/c.mtKZKgMWKwG/b.6150343/k.F282/Top_20_Most_Livable_US_Cities_for_Wheelchair_Users.htm

Your Opinion is Wanted!!!!!!!!

http://rtc.umn.edu/fast/main/index.asp

You are invited to be in a national research study of supports for families of youth with disabilities. This Survey is for the parent or primary caregiver of a young person with disabilities between 12 and 22 years old. If you qualify please click on the above link to partake in this research study.

Getting A Life - Not A Program

by Derrick Dufresne, CRA cra@aol.com

Please read article, a must read for all families

People with disabilities in this country have been attending programs for the better part of 60 years. For too long, we have measured inputs (i.e., number of times the person attended) rather than outputs (i.e., did he/she want to attend at all?) It is critically important, as Tom Nerney once said,”

not to measure the number of times the person got out of bed in the morning, but why get up at all?"

Ultimately one of the things that separate us from lower forms of life is that humans seek meaning. For too long we have neglected this important truth and instead focused on an activity, a need, or a program. If we are really interested in quality, we must look to measure different things to get different outcomes.

First and foremost, it is important not to confuse quality and compliance. Systems determine compliance - people determine quality. Many years ago Michael Smull taught us true quality can only be measured by that which is important "to" someone other than that which is important "for" someone. This changes the nature of the discussion.

Systems are capable of compliance assurance, not quality assurance. Health and safety (now considered one word) have often been used as a reason to limit liability or to focus on a minimal set of expectations for the individual. This lowers rather than raises the bar. It is about time that we raised rather than lowered expectations if we truly are about helping people get a life.

The new barometer of quality is not about systems, but about people. We no longer measure community presence, but value community participation. We are no longer impressed when people are in the community, but value people being of it. We no longer value people being clients of programs, but being citizens of their community.

What an exciting change! This new reality in no way diminishes the importance of staff or agencies. It simply changes what we measure as success. We now measure not the program's success, but the individual’s success. We no longer measure how visible staff are in people's lives, but how visible friends, connections, and community participation are in someone's life.

Staff become invisible supports - there to nurture, to build bridges and foster connectors. Most importantly, I am now totally convinced that many people with disabilities will not get a life without us. At the same time, we need to make certain that we are not the person’s life.

Finally, personal outcomes are incredibly important and must be utilized as a benchmark to indicate the first layer of quality that we measure. However, this is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for true quality. Neither is choice any longer to be considered an icon or an absolute measure of quality. Maybe it is indeed about freedom and contribution. If we truly are seeking to have people be full citizens of the community, then we need to change the nature of the discussion

It is not just that it is better for people with disabilities to be in the community. It is also better for our communities that people with disabilities are there - side-by-side at our churches, schools and community events and truly part of, not just in the community. To truly value personal outcomes we must also promote community contribution. As citizens we have a responsibility, not only to ourselves but also to those who make up our broader community. We must all have the opportunity to contribute to the betterment of the communities in which we live and work.

To deny people with disabilities the same opportunity is to focus on clienthood rather than citizenship. If we truly believe that all people have gifts, then everyone must be allowed to make a contribution.

It is truly time to raise the bar. The people we support deserve no less.

-Written for Hammer Discoveries, Issue 85/Spring 2010, p. 1

www.hammer.org

Hammer Residences, Inc.

Wayzata, MN

If you or someone you know did not get a diploma because they did not pass the Competency Test - READ THIS!!

Please see the following from NC Voc. Rehab and NC Schools

Attachment: DPI letter.pdf

Attached is a letter from DPI-NC School Board regarding the “Competency Test”. Basically if any student did not receive a regular high school diploma because they did not pass the competency test they can go back to their high school and request and receive a high school diploma. The competency has been given since the 1980. The letter is attached for proof. The key is they had to have completed all other required course credits except passing the Competency test.

They passed all required credits for a high school diploma but did not pass the competency test so they received a certificate instead. Many of these students may have taken the GED so they would have that rather than nothing. So it may effect some GED graduates.

This would make a difference for students that need an actual high school diploma and not a GED or certificate.

Alma P. Taylor, M.S.

Program Specialist for Transition Services

N.C. Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services

Phone: 919-855-3572

Fax: 919-715-0616

Alma.Taylor@dhhs.nc.gov

http://dvr.dhhs.state.us.nc

Upcoming Events for Autism Community Center of Asheville

Parent’s Time Off
Once per month, we invite you and your children to visit us at our brand new location at Westwood Baptist Church in west Asheville. Our professional staff will engage your child in sensory, recreation, and leisure activities, while you have some time off. Siblings are welcome too!
Date: Saturday, Feb 13th 2010 Time: 2-4:30pm Fee: $25/child


Workshops
Local Resources
This workshop quickly goes through the roles various agencies play in the autism community. Who does music therapy? Where can I find a good tutor? Is there a summer camp my child can go to? The first 45 minutes will be an overview of the resources in our area, followed by a question and answer period. The second part of the workshop breaks into two sessions: one regarding resources for adults, and the other will detail the process of obtaining state and federal services for children. Childcare is available upon request.
Date: Tuesday, Feb 16th 2010 Time: 5-8pm Fee: $35

Home Program Basics
This workshop begins with choosing individual household priorities regarding rules, healthy routines, and behavior, and then walks through the steps of creating a home-program that smoothes out the difficult parts of the day. Schedules, token economies, visual structure and sustainability will be covered in a refreshing, empowering format that allows parents to address issues specific to their home and their child in an organized and constructive manner. Childcare is available upon request.
Date: Tuesday, Feb 23rd 2010 Time: 5-8pm Fee: $35

Creative Programming
This workshop goes beyond basic schedule making and token economies. Come hear some new ideas about how to keep your home program refreshingly fun for all of you. We will discuss creative community involvement, fostering friendships, and early employment ideas. Childcare is available upon request.
Date: Tuesday, March 2nd 2010 Time: 5-8pm Fee: $35

Please register online or by phone.
www.autismcommunitycenter.com (828)458-0313

Comment on Case Manager Cuts - Let them hear from you!

Limiting case mgt to 3 hrs/month is irrational. Such a limit defeats the purpose of Person Centered services and prevents case mgrs from doing their jobs. Inform your consumers & families of this planned cut and the negative impact it will have on their services. Encourage them to make their feelings/opinions known to the state by using the e-mail address below. Notifying their legislators or copying them their e-mails will also be very helpful.



Go to state Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, Substance Abuse website www.dhhs.state.nc.us/mhddsas/

Click Implementation Updates on right below Liza Wainwright photo

Click 1/5/10 Implementation Update #66

Very last article is "Limits for Medicaid CM Services" explaining that Targeted Case Mgt will be limited to 3 hrs/month effective March 1, 2010.

www.dhhs.state.nc.us/mhddsas/servicedefinitions/servdefupdates/update66/dmadmh66memo.pdf



At end of article is e-mail address for commenting:

"Unless noted otherwise, please email any questions related to this Implementation Update to ContactDMH@dhhs.nc.gov."



Consumers and families can send their concerns, comments, protests to the above e-mail address.

Great Opportunities for Teens with Autism

Here are some group and learning activities for persons with Autism. All groups will run for 6 weeks, and meet once per week. After 6 weeks, a new round of groups will start. The idea behind the groups is to facilitate activities that people truly enjoy, with enough structure and explanations that people know exactly what to do. Ideally, I would like people to come to these groups with an adult non-parent. If this is not possible, please contact me and we can negotiate.


TO REGISTER: email me at: sylvia@autismcommunitycenter.com

Include the name, and age of the potential group member, and a phone number where you can be reached. I will call you to finalize your registration and payment.

Autism Activity Groups for Winter 2010:

Writing and Illustrating for Teens:
This group is for teens. Each meeting will revolve around a theme, such as animals, travel, aliens, insects etc. Group members can write or illustrate (or both) about the theme, or do their own, non-thematic work. Structured collaboration on projects is encouraged and optional. We anticipate illustrations in a variety of themes, including cartooning, anime-style drawings, realism, and modern art. Group members who wish to share their work with the group may do so at the end of each meeting. Online publishing of writing and/or illustrations is optional.
Class fee: $120
Schedule: Tuesdays 4-5pm January 19th - Feb 23rd
Location: Westwood Baptist Church 150 Westwood Place Asheville, NC 28806


Writing and Illustrating for Adults:
For adults. Each meeting will revolve around a theme, such as family, jokes, music, foods etc. Group members can write or illustrate (or both) about the theme, or do their own, non-thematic work. Structured collaboration on projects is encouraged and optional. We anticipate illustrations in a variety of themes, including cartooning, anime-style drawings, realism, and modern art. Group members who wish to share their work with the group may do so at the end of each meeting. Online publishing of writing and/or illustrations is optional.
Class fee: $120
Tuesdays 2-3pm January 19th - Feb 23rd
Location: Westwood Baptist Church 150 Westwood Place Asheville, NC 28806


Recreation:
For youth. This group will participate in creative, active games each week. Weather permitting, we will hike or play games outside, like disc golf, or lightning. If it is too cold, we will play games indoors, like no-outs dodgeball, or obstacle course building.
Class fee: $120
Schedule: Mondays 4-5pm Jan 25th - March 1st.
Location: Fosters 7th Day Adventist Church Gym 375 Hendersonville Road Asheville, NC 28803


Gamers Group
For people older youth and teens. This group will play Nintendo Wii games together. Appropriate procedures for winning, losing, and waiting will be addressed and practiced.
Class fee: $120
Schedule: Fridays 4-5pm Jan 22-Feb 26
Location: West Asheville Recreation Center 970 Haywood Road Asheville, NC 28806

Bowling League for Persons with Disabilities!!

The AMF Star Lanes on Kenilworth off Tunnel Road will be beginning a Special Needs Bowling League starting January 30, 2010 from 10 a.m. until noon. Cost will be $8.50 for three games, includes shoes. This Special League will run for 12 weeks. Trophies and party will be held at the end of the 12 weeks.


For more information please contact AMF00024@AMF.com or call Kerri at 254 6161

Workshops about Special Education

F.I.R.S.T. is offering IEP Clinics for parents and family members to learn about advocacy, the Special Education forms and tips for writing good IEPs. Come and learn to be your child’s best advocate for more information at www.firstwnc.org. Special Education can be intimidating and confusing. Come to one or more workshops for a series of topics.

2nd Tuesdays 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm

Dec 8, Jan 12, Feb 9, March 9, April 13, and May 11

West Asheville Community Center

670 Haywood Road

Asheville, NC 28806

3rd Tuesdays 11:00 am to 1:00 pm

Dec 15; Jan 19; Feb 16; March 16; April 20 and May 18

Fletcher Public Library

120 Library Road

Fletcher, NC 28732

3rd Thursdays 11:00 am to 1:00 pm

Dec 17; Jan 21; Feb 18; March 18; April 22 and May 20

Marshall Public Library

1335 North Main Street

Marshall, NC 28753

Reservations are not required but appreciated. If you would like to have an IEP Clinic or another workshop in your community call the F.I.R.S.T. office for more information at 277-1315. If the schools are closed due to weather, workshops are cancelled.

Call your House Reps Today!!!!! All must ACT!!!!!!

The House Budget Threatens Our Lives
The House\'s proposed budget will destroy the economic fabric of our state. (If you would like to read the proposed budget go to our action alert page at:

http://72.167.22.100/action_alert/index.shtml . Click on the link for the House Budget Proposal)

Our service system will be set back 40 years. The House\'s proposed budget cuts to Health and Human Services and Medicaid will have a total impact of close to $3.5 billion.

The entire service system will be destroyed. Individuals and families will lose their services. It\'s not even a matter of trying to send people with developmental disabilities back to institutions - there won’t be institutions and there won\'t be community supports.

A few of the worst cuts are:
Reducing the budget for state-funded services by over $150,000,000
Cuts all Medicaid service rates by 4% causing salary reductions and layoffs
Cuts Medicaid Personal Care Services by over $50,000,000...reducing the services by over half. This is the only direct service other than case management that is a Medicaid entitlement for people with developmental disabilities
Eliminates continuation increases in Medicaid of over $500,000,000. This cut means serious reductions because any increases in CAP plans implemented during the last fiscal year will be eliminated
Cuts case management services by over $50,000,000 by \"consolidation\"
Eliminates the Medicaid service called Community Support which is the one Medicaid service that is designed to support people with mental illness in the community.
The House\'s budget will cause a depression in North Carolina. The massive reduction in jobs in health and human services and education, as well as in other areas, will result in a lower tax base, which in turn will necessitate further budget cuts and more losses in services. It’s a vicious, downward spiraling cycle.

THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW! We must all unite to fight the House\'s proposed budget, and we have no time to waste. The House may vote on the budget as early as June 8.
No one can afford to sit back and watch this budget debacle play out. The lives of people with disabilities, their families and the entire state of North Carolina depend on everyone getting involved. Don\'t think someone else will make the calls. YOU must make the calls!

The Arc of NC has a strategic advocacy plan. Today, tomorrow and Wednesday the leadership of the House must hear from you. We will send out an e-alert when it is time for the next steps, but today, you need to make three calls:

Speaker Hackney 919-733-3451
Majority Leader Holliman 919-715-0873
Minority Leader Stam 919-733-2962

Our Area House Representatives are:

Buncombe Bruce Goforth 919-733-5746
Jane Whilden 919-715-3012
Susan Fisher 919-715-2013

Henderson Carolyn Justus 919-733-5956
David Guice 919 715-4466

Madison, Yancey, Haywood Ray Rapp 919-733-5732

Parts of Yancey and Mitchell Phillip Frye 919-733-5661

Check to see who you have and make calls.


Tell them:
The proposed cuts in HHS and education will destroy our state, risking the lives of people with disabilities, our children’s future, cost thousands of jobs and drive our state into a depression! Raise taxes in order to avoid this disaster! We hold the House accountable!

These representatives must receive thousands of phone calls in the next two days.

To follow The Arc of North Carolina\'s activities on the House budget, read our blog at: www.thearcnc.blogspot.com.