Each day, we will bring you a recap of events, plenaries, workshops and discussions surrounding the excitement of the Believable Hope Conference. Please visit the UCPeople Blog daily for an update of what is happening in Washington, D.C.
For those of you coming to Washington, D.C., we would like you to help us cover the Conference by bringing your cell phone/camera to capture and share your perspective with the UCPeople audience and other affiliate staff unable to attend. We want your pictures, captured video and take on events as they happen. Please help us make this year's coverage the best coverage possible by being everywhere and sharing it with the UCPeople audience.
UCP of Delaware: Camp Improvements Sparked by One Volunteer
Over the past few months, news from UCP of Delaware's (UCP-DE) summer day camping program, Camp Lenape, has been incredible. The list of improvements made to the camp's grounds, buildings, and pool is long and fulfilling.
And it all started with one incredible volunteer!
The success of these efforts is really due to the work of Camp Lenape volunteer Walt Zettlemoyer. Walt, who has been a long time supporter of the camp, felt strongly that the camp grounds had to be improved, and in 2004, he issued a challenge to UCP-DE. He would contribute $25,000 to the camp, if UCP-DE could match his contribution. UCP-DE did match his donation through grants from local foundations and donors, and the result was a new addition to the Center's main building, completed in 2005.
Camp Lenape is UCP-DE's summer day camp for children with Cerebral Palsy and other disabilities in Kent and Sussex counties. The program is open for six weeks in July and August, from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm.
The thrill of Walt's success spurred the camp's volunteers and staff to push for more improvements. With new grants from The Longwood Foundation and Crystal Trust, UCP-DE was able to vastly improve the camp's pool. The original pool, built over 25 years ago, was a small rectangle that camp children have outgrown. Further, the pool was not accessible for wheelchair users. Using Foundation funds, UCP-DE turned the rectangle into an L-shaped pool and added an in-pool ramp. The new design was ready in time for last summer's camp.
One of the most exciting things that has happened to Camp Lenape, however, was when Comcast adopted the camp this year. The Comcast management in Southern Delaware visited the camp and knew they could create a miracle and transform the camp. On October 7, 2007, Comcast Cares Day, 70 employees from Comcast descended on the camp and performed a major makeover. They installed new landscaping around the camp grounds, and inside the main building their staff put up new walls and painted the inside of the building. They also provided new equipment, such as a television, refrigerator, power washer, landscaping tools, and much more. They also installed new cable and provided free internet service, something that UCP-DE never had at Lenape. It was truly amazing to see how 70 dedicated Comcast employees and their families transformed a camp for children with disabilities in a single day.
Most recently, on Saturday, May 17, 2008, UPS (formerly United Parcel Service) employees and their families came to Camp Lenape and volunteered their time and money to help spruce up the camp. There was a lot to be done. They went right to work — cutting grass, fixing the ceilings, landscaping and planting flowers, painting the Camp Lenape sign, power washing the handicapped ramps and buildings, and painting picnic tables.
In the two years since Walt's challenge, there is now a new addition for the main building, a greatly improved pool with an in-pool ramp for accessibility, new landscaping, a complete makeover of the old section of the main building, and internet service. There may be more improvements coming too. The volunteer group now has their sights set on a new pool changing house for the kids at camp and an accessible playground.
More than 3,000 nominees worldwide submitted case studies to the 2008 Computerworld Honors Program, of which 50 finalists were selected to represent 10 categories. These finalists, as well as the 10 organizations selected as first among their peers within each category, were presented with 21st Century Achievement Awards during the 20th annual Laureates Medal Ceremony and Gala Awards Evening on June 2nd in Washington, D.C.
UCP of Huntsville and Tennessee Valley was chosen as one of five finalists in the non-profit category for its implementation of networking technologies supported in partnership with ADTRAN at the new UCP of Huntsville and Tennessee Valley Technology and Training Center in Huntsville. ADTRAN is a local networking company based in Huntsville, Tennessee. UCP of Huntsville and Tennessee Valley's Technology Assistance for Special Consumers (T.A.S.C.) program formed a partnership with ADTRANn to be the first organization to use the new technology.
UCP Executive Director Cheryl Smith said, "UCP is thrilled to have been nominated for this distinguished award and is proud to have the opportunity to potentially share ADTRAN's newest technology with similar organizations. Most importantly, UCP clients have expressed appreciation for the consideration taken to make our center safer and more accessible for persons with disabilities," Smith explained.
Smith represented UCP of Huntsville and Tennessee Valley in Washington, D.C. on June 2nd at the Computerworld awards ceremony.
The Computerworld Honors Program unites Chairman and CEOs of the world's foremost information technology companies to recognize the most outstanding user achievements in technology each year. Members of the Chairman's Committee, a group of 100 Chairman/CEOs of global technology companies, nominate individuals and organizations around the world, whose visionary applications of information technology promote positive social and economic progress. For two decades, Computerworld Honors has acknowledged those individuals and organizations that have used information technology to benefit society.
BBC's Ouch Web site recently reported that the unusual news production troupe from How's Your News?, who produced a funny and poignant trilogy of films featuring people with disabilities on a roadtrip across America, are about to get their own show on MTV.
The group is a production team composed of a cadre of reporters with disabilities that including Down Syndrome and cerebral palsy that put together newscasts featuring interviews with celebrities, politicians and the average public. Their man-on-the-street style has gained a cult following including South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone among others.
These videos were originally produced with friends and family in mind, according to the New York Times. Adding to their success, one of their films had the opportunity to screen at the Toronto Film Festival in 1999.
Be sure to watch the clip below of this group in action during the 2004 election season. This short clip features Peter Jennings, Ben Affleck, Rob Cordary, Hillary Clinton and G. Gordon Liddy among others.
» UCP National Office: Roy Morgan, who after leaving UCP National Office served on the UCP National Board, passed last week.
» UCP National Office: Vickie Schachter who left UCP program staff in the early nineties and then served on the UCP National Board for approximately three years, passed last Saturday, June 7, 2008.
» Department of Justice (DOJ) is soliciting comment on proposed amendments to its regulations implementing Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA).
» The Society for Disability Studies & New York University's Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality Presents an ALLIGER ARTS Production: Outside the Box/Performing Disability (New York, NY, One Night Only, June 20, 2008, 8:00PM).
Wal-Mart will pay $250,000 to disabled woman it fired Baltimore Sun, 6/10/08 (Blog) Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will pay $250,000 to a pharmacy technician who suffered a disability resulting from a gunshot wound and was subsequently fired from one of its Harford County stores, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced yesterday.
What Should We Tell Them? Disability Studies, Temple U., 6/10/08 (Blog) So what advice can we give a young person with a disability who has dreams and aspirations and may still be innocent of the thorns that may wound the spirit and bruise the ego?
Disabled earthquake victims face tough road in China Los Angeles Times, 6/9/08 About 50,000 of the injured are likely to suffer permanent disabilities, including many with amputated limbs. They face a social stigma and hurdles getting rehabilitation.
Judge backs e-bingo; play allowed to continue Sacramento Bee, 6/5/08 Local charity halls will still be able to use e-bingo machines, as a result of a temporary injunction issued late Thursday by a federal judge.
Pam Carroad Selected as 2008 'Woman of Distinction' Hudson Valley Press, 6/4/08 Senator Bill Larkin (R-C, Cornwall-on-Hudson) today honored Pam Carroad of Walden, NY at a special ceremony in the state capital as the New York State Senate’s 2008 'Woman of Distinction.' Ms. Carroad was honored for her outstanding work as the Executive Director at United Cerebral Palsy, Inc. in Kingston and for her incredible community service throughout both Orange and Ulster Counties.
Spy Museum to Make Exhibits Accessible Washington Post, 6/4/08 The International Spy Museum yesterday announced a wide-ranging agreement with the Justice Department to make exhibits more accessible to persons with disabilities, especially those with hearing or vision impairments.
Students Speak Out About Their Disabilities WCAX TV Vermont, 6/4/08 An excited crowd packed into the Harwood Union High School, Wednesday night, for the premiere of Speak Out for Understanding, a student made documentary about people with disabilities.
Autistic and Proud: A Movement Takes Hold National Public Radio (NPR), 6/2/08 (Audio) As its name suggests, the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network aims to help people with the disorder represent themselves, instead of relying on families and care providers to speak for them. They share a credo with other disability groups: "Nothing about us without us."
Quit passing the buck; bills simply are noncents The Herald News, 6/1/08 Hey Mister Roy Exum, what's in your wallet? Do you see a $5, $10, or how about a $20? Yep, you don't have to be bothered folding your $1 bills lengthwise or your $5 bills another direction in order to identify the currency.
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For those of you coming to Washington, D.C., we would like you to help us cover the Conference by bringing your cell phone/camera to capture and share your perspective with the UCPeople audience and other affiliate staff unable to attend. We want your pictures, captured video and take on events as they happen. Please help us make this year's coverage the best coverage possible by being everywhere and sharing it with the UCPeople audience.
