Project Self

02/29/2020

Roy Allela, a 25-year old engineer and inventor from Kenya, has found the ultimate solution to bridging the communication barrier between deaf and hearing people. He has invented the Sign-IO gloves that can translate signed hand movements to audible speech so deaf people can "talk" even to those who...

02/25/2020

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02/20/2020

🙌🏻 YES! 💙

02/15/2020

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02/15/2020

❤️

'Give Back Thursdays' were inspired by the dentist's son

02/06/2020

Yes!
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New emoji update💙

02/06/2020

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Thank you Target! 🎯😀👏 Oliver stopped me dead in his tracks and turned back around to see this picture that he spotted! He just stared at it in awe! He recognized another boy like him, smiling and laughing on a display at Target. I am so happy that other kids who pass through here with their parents will see this!

Target chose a child that uses a wheelchair over an able bodied child which cost them nothing extra. Representing is so important. Oliver has NEVER seen another child that uses a wheelchair. He's almost 2 and is starting to notice the differences. Target's decision to represent disabled people showed a 2 year old boy that there are other's just like him. Every time a company does something like this, it helps people like Oliver to feel like they are not so different!

Edited to add: This post was shared so much that it made it to the family and the boy in the Target display. Thank you Colton in Massachusetts for making a difference!!

*via Ollie's World (shared with permission)
To learn more about Caudal Regression Syndrome, go to www.isacra.org

01/11/2020

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"My name is Randy Walker Jr, I was diagnosed with autism as a toddler. When I was born the doctors told my mom that I wasn't gonna be able to walk, talk and hear and, by God's grace, I now have a job/career in CSP (Central Sterile Processing) at a hospital. Growing up, autism was tough but my mom always told me that autism is a part of you but not all of who you are. My message to people with autism is that you can do anything you set your mind to."

12/29/2019

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Dear Pope Francis,

Just when I think I can’t like you any more, I do. You talk the talk and walk the walk, there’s no quality that is more admirable in my mother heart. I have four children and my youngest has extra special needs and like you, my priest welcomes him even when he circles the altar. It means so much, a smile and words of acceptance. It means so much.

Yesterday, a little girl with extra special needs of her own escaped from her seat and I imagine her mother pondered what to do so as to not make a big scene. We all know chasing causes giggles and running. Her daughter made her way towards you and when your security guards moved in to return her to her seat, you waved them away, paused and spoke to her.

“Come sit next to me,” you said.

And so, she did. The little girl with Down syndrome climbed up in that big old fancy chair and you held her hand as you continued the service. You have remarked that people with disabilities face an “attitude of rejection” in today’s society. Not from you, they don’t.

Thank you for the gesture, thank you for seeing the child, thank you for your kind invitation and thank you for your example of real inclusion. That’s all special needs families really wish for their precious little people, just a kind hand, a welcoming word, a seat amongst the world.

Love,
Adrian H. Wood
Mother to Thomas, Russell, Blair, & Amos

One of my very favorite stories. ❤️

11/28/2019

Please share💙

We'd love to share our daughter's story with you and get a little feedback as we help her with a diagnosis, encouragement & support.

11/24/2019

Just came across this💙

You called Steve "a good friend who had some challenges." What a gift of inclusive language.

Dear Coach K,

I've never met you, though you've walked past me many times on a stretch of beach called Pine Knoll Shores. I didn't want to bother you, but wish I had known about your gift to Steve Mitchell. His departure from this earth has offered the story of a life well-lived. Steve was the man who sat behind you in Duke University's Cameron Indoor Stadium for the last 37 years and I know you miss him this season.

He did a lot in his sixty plus years. He was born with Down syndrome and his family shrugged off the doctors and took him right home. He was integrated in an era that made his parents ground breakers; school or church, Steve was there. I am a special needs mama too and with parenthood comes advocacy, their forging a path has benefited so many. You called Steve "a good friend who had some challenges." What a gift of inclusive language.

The story goes that in 1980 the only thing Steve Mitchell wanted for Christmas was a Duke basketball ticket, not an easy score, but Steve's brother had a construction company and was hired to renovate the new coach’s, Mike "Coach K" Krzyzewski, house. He asked you how one might find a ticket to buy and explained his brother’s Christmas wish.

“He can sit behind me,” you said. Did you know how life changing that gift would be?

The following season, Steve wrote you a letter saying, “Coach, I know we’re going to have another great year. I was hoping that I could sit near you again.” You said yes to a family that may have heard no far more often. He wrote you a letter every year for 37 years and this is the first season that a ticket, reserved for one Steve Mitchell, isn’t waiting at will call. Steve would collect his ticket and make his way to his seat behind you (usually with the help of his favorite usher, Fran), a tradition that was life changing for his self-confidence, according to his family. You shook his hand before every game.

Thank you, Coach K.

Mamas of special needs kids know that kindness extends far beyond team affiliation and we know that our team is the best of all. Welcome to the club. And to Steve? Godspeed, my friend and thank you.

Love,
Adrian (Amos's mom)

Of the hundreds of stories for 2017, this was my favorite to write. ❤️