The first UCP "Casual Day" was held on June 20, 1990, in Baltimore, Maryland, and raised more than $20,000. Since the success of the Baltimore program, UCP Day, as it is now known, has become more and more common in other markets, growing to become one of the most successful fundraisers for many UCP affiliates. On UCP Day, participating employers give their employees an opportunity to wear casual attire for the day instead of their formal business attire in exchange for a suggested donation.
On Thursday, June 12th, hundreds of Detroit-area employees will pay $7 each to participate in UCP Day. This year marks the 17th annual and final UCP Day, hosted by United Cerebral Palsy of Metropolitan Detroit, titled Comerica UCP Day.
This year's UCP Day includes a raffle with prizes including a night out at the theatre or at a comedy club and gift certificates valued up to $100 each. Additional merchandise with this year's UCP Day logo is available for purchase, with items ranging from plush stuffed "Show You Care" bears to t-shirts and lapel pins.
This year's artwork was designed by Kevin O'Rourke of Postique, a division of the Farmington Hills-based production company Grace & Wild, Inc. By the end of UCP Day, UCP of Metropolitan Detroit hopes to raise over $25,000.
In the future, according to Taryn Reid, Director of Marketing and Development for UCP of Metropolitan Detroit, they hope to incorporate UCP Day as part of another event called the Rutka Run, a 5K & 8K run for the affiliate that raises annually around $4,000.
Two people with disabilities were among Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People this year. Oscar Pistorius, a South African double amputee Paralympian athlete who runs on carbon blades, and Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroanatomist professor at Indiana University School of Medicine and author of A Stroke of Insight, studied her own stroke and reported her personal experiences.
Erik Weihenmayer, the only visually impaired person to climb Mt. Everest, wrote the article about Oscar Pistorius, whose lower legs were amputated at the age of 1 but now challenges world-class sprinters. He is so good at running that the International Assocation of Athletics Federations (IAAF) ruled recently that he couldn't compete against "able-bodied" athletes at the Olympic games this year in Beijing, China because they felt that his carbon blades gave him an unfair advantage.
In fact, as Weihenmayer reported, "An IAAF initated study found that more energy is returned to Pistorius' upper legs from his blades than from ankles and calf muscles and that he uses less oxygen."
Pistorius is appealing the decision on the basis of other studies that found different results.
Weihenmayer closes, "we mustn't lose sight of what makes an athlete great... It's too easy to credit Pistorius' success to technology. Through birth or circumstance, some are given certain gifts, but it's what one does with those gifts... that is at the true heart of a champion."
TV host and personality Dick Clark writes about Jill Bolte Taylor. In 1996, she realized she was experiencing a brain hemorrhage as it was happening. She took this experience and the following decade to recover and published her study in her new book, A Stroke of Insight. Clark writes, "Through her writings and lectures, she has done perhaps more than anyone else to explain, both to the healthy and the stricken, what a stroke is."
Anyone can benefit from staying active- no matter what their age or ability level.
People with disabilities are less likely to engage in regular physical activity and are more likely to be overweight or obese than people without disabilities. These are common secondary conditions in people with disabilities and leads to poor health outcomes. The increasing rate of obesity in children with disabilities is particularly alarming. However exercise and recreational activities can help both children and adults improve health and well being.
Individuals with disabilities can gain very similar benefits from physical activity such as enhancing the functioning and health of their heart, lungs, muscles and bones. Flexibility, mobility and coordination can be improved, lessening the negative effects of some conditions or slowing the progression of others. Physical activity is fun and provides a chance to meet people and make new friends.
A little creativity, along with adaptive or customized equipment, can make almost any activity possible, including swimming, horseback riding, cycling, waterskiing, and even rock climbing. People with all types of disabilities - physical, cognitive or developmental can participate.
The National Center on Physical Activity and Disability provides a wealth of information on sports, physical fitness, and recreation including fact sheets, reports, and a national database of adapted sport and exercise programs.
As a continuing report to educate our audience about the significance of transitioning UCPeople into a blog, we would like to discuss some basics - what a blog is and what it is used for.
Blog is short for "Web log," a journal, or a publication, frequently updated, consisting of periodic contributions and hosted on the internet with a mixture of what is happening along with the latest news.
As a benefit for visiting the UCPeople blog, you can always retreive past postings via the blog archive on the right side of the page and you can respond to any article with comments at the bottom of every post at http://ucpeople.blogspot.com/.
For more information please contact Will Hull at (202) 776-0406 x7106.
2008 Believable Hope Conference Online Auction
The Believable Hope Conference, sponsored by United Cerebral Palsy (UCP), will be held June 18-21 in Washington D.C. In conjunction with the conference, and to help raise awareness and funds to support the services UCP affiliates provide to more than 176,000 children and adults with disabilities every day, UCP is hosting an online auction. Participating in the auction is your opportunity … opportunity to create real hope, hope to transform the lives of people with disabilities and hope for a future where our children can live Life Without Limits.
For more information, please contact Emily Dolenz at 202-973-7100.
Don't Delay - Register today for the 2008 Believable Hope Conference, sponsored by United Cerebral Palsy.
» Disability Public Policy Calendar:Past & future events discussed in the Capitol Insider are now posted on UCP & The Arc's web sites. This dynamic tool allows users to post events automatically to their MS Outlook calendars and receive updates on items added since they last viewed the Calendar via an RSS feed link located below the calendar. Visit: http://www.ucp.org/ucp_generalsub.cfm/1/8/16333
Families will make case for vaccine link to autism Washington Post, 5/12/08 Families claiming that a mercury-based preservative in vaccines triggers autism will challenge mainstream medicine Monday as they take their case to a federal court.
A Walking Inspiration at The Players ABC 25 First Coast News, 5/10/08 D.J. Gregory is traveling to every tournament on the PGA Tour schedule and walking along every single hole. This long journey is an impressive feat on its own, but when you add in the fact that the 30-year old Gregory has Cerebral Palsy and walks with a cane, it's downright amazing.
A Walking Inspiration at The Players ABC 25 First Coast News, 5/8/08 (Video) D.J. Gregory is traveling to every tournament on the PGA Tour schedule and walking along every single hole. This long journey is an impressive feat on its own, but when you add in the fact that the 30-year old Gregory has Cerebral Palsy and walks with a cane, it's downright amazing.
The toughest man on Mount Kilimanjaro The OC Register, 5/8/08 Then Paddock decided to do something more, something that no person with CP probably has ever done. Last winter, he began training to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. His goal is to raise $250,000 to help launch the United Cerebral Palsy OC's Early Childhood Learning Center.
Allie Watkins of Highland Park: Bringing down barriers Dallas Morning News, 5/8/08 Although it has been 18 years since the passage of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act, most U.S. playgrounds are only minimally accessible to the 5 million American children who have some kind of physical, developmental or emotional disability, experts say.
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