New Hampshire Teacher gets Bacheolor's Degree a day before dying: Truly inspirational

Many will say that life is hard, difficult, miserable, and full of pain. Yet I beg to differ. It is about learning to embrace both the ugliness and the happiness in all that is and exists in our universe and our World. The ability to know that logic does not go with everything and that we should be easy on ourselves with failures and continue to be patient with others around us is very important. Many times spirituality is more important than money but money is a representation of energy in people and resources surrounding us. Many like to complain about getting older as if getting older meant that they were getting worse. Once again this is just a figment of our imaginations and our perspective weighing down on us. Getting older should mean getting wiser and we should also learn from those less fortunate as time goes on for they teach us very good lessons in life. We are more similar than we are different. As a World more than before each one of us should find our purpose and meaning in life and strive for what makes us feel fullfilled.
A woman who reached this sense of fullfillment before she died was a woman named Harriet Richardson Ames who was awarded a Bacheolor's degree at age 100 before she died. This exemplifies true ability and Mrs. Ames was located in Concord, New Hampshire and was respected by all of her colleagues for being loving and caring to them. Back in 1931 Ames was awarded a two year teaching certificate from Keene Normal School which is now known as Keene State College. She was a teacher for twenty years in a one room schoolhouse in Newbury, New Hampshire and in Pittsfield as well.
Ames went to the University of New Hampshire and Plymouth Teachers College, and also Keene State. Due to failing eyesight she stopped taking classes in 1971 and was not sure if she had enough credits in order to receive a college Bacheolor's degree. Ames had wished for a degree and this realization became true when a Keene State film professor interviewed her for a piece on the college's centennial which was celebrated in 2009. After research into whether or not Ames could receive her college diploma it was found out that she indeed could and did the day before she died on January 25th, 2010.
Norma Walker of the Golden Circle Society which is an Alumni group for classes that graduated fifty or more years ago said of Ames that, "She wanted to be the best that she could be." Ames when knowing that she could receive her college diploma said, "'If I die tomorrow, I'll know I'll die happy, because my degree's in the works.'" Ames died happy for teaching students how to read and for being caring, loving, and compassionate for others as well as receiving her college degree the day before she died. That to me is true ability and was done at the age of one hundred years old. The spirit is infinite and the body is limited. We should all know that age is only a number and like disability is not something that should define us.

Community Exchange System for transportation and the aims of an economic complex with the system

The aims of a community economic complex are stated below as well as videos.

CESDISCUSSIONS
The Community Exchange System for transportation and the proposal for a possible pilot with the Ability Alliance of West Alabama and the Western Heights Cooperative District which is run by Robert Johnson of Adamsville, Alabama.
CESDISCUSSIONS2

Alliance For Full Participation Newsletter calls for employment opportunity

One of the partnerships that the Ability Alliance of West Alabama has is SABE(Self Advocates Becoming Empowerd) which is a national organization that represents the rights of people with intellectual disabilities to work and to actively participate in their communities. A partnership of SABE's is The Alliance For Full Participation which aims to create work opportunity for people with developmental disabilities,and it has launched a new campaign called "Real Jobs-It's Everybody's Business." The AFP goal is to double employment rate for people with disabilities by 2015. Employment is the prime focus for the organization which is a part of the Self Advocates Becoming Empowered national organization for rights of people with intellectual disabilities.
Real jobs mean that there are real paychecks involved and employment work shops will not be as useful anymore as done before. Preferable employment allows individuals to afford housing, food, clothing, and the supports necessary for them to live and to work in the communities that they choose to live in. This is a goal we can all identify with although the employment rate for people with intellectual disabilities is very unsatisfactory and is at approximately 22% compared to 79% for typical Americans. Therefore people who could live on their own are sometimes forced to depend on the support of others to make their choices for them.
Employment opportunity being a major problem for people with intellectual disabilities places burden on governments, community development, social services, and on Medicare/Medicaid. Discovery of more employment opportunity means not only do people with intellectual disabilities benefit but so does the communities surrounding the individuals finding employment contributing to economic growth. The Alliance for Full Participation's campaign begins at the state level that combines the efforts of businesses, governmental officials, family members, advocacy organizations, service providers, and other community members. Please visit their website for more information about their campaign.

www.allianceforfullparticipation.org

Americorps Stronger Together Ability Alliance of West Alabama: Partnered with VISTA

“Stronger Together” is an Americorp/VISTA program which is a volunteer based project designed to bridge community programs in an effort to empower the people in it, through the use of Grassroots Organizing techniques to built capacity and or resources in our community.
Project goals of the program are:
1.Employment Opportunities/Volunteerism
2.Self Advocacy
3.Self Determination
4.Organizational Collaborations
5.Community Involvement

What do VISTA(Volunteers In Service to America) members do?

Members commit to serve full-time for 1 to 3 years at a nonprofit organization or local government agency and work to fight illiteracy, improve health services,create businesses, and strengthen community groups. Members also create or expand programs designed to bring individuals and communities out of poverty. Americorps VISTA members gain the ability to solve problems and achieve objectives with their resource development and management of community relationships Aims to strengthen parties ability to work together for the benefit of every person involved. Skills and tools are provided to define problems and issues and formulate solutions.


What is a community?
A group of people who share a position in social and/or economic disadvantage
Disability or membership of a particular ethnic group
Geographical area.

Benefits
Increases in skills, competencies and self confidence
Effective, efficient and sustainable delivery of services to communities
Promotion of social cohesion or inclusion.

Grassroots fundraising
Raises money and contributions of goods and services
Requires face-to-face asking, rather than grant application
Publicizes the work of your organizations, build networks of relationship in the community, more people actively involved.

Volunteering
Volunteering is the practice of people working on the behalf of others without being motivated by financial or material gain. It is an altruistic activity, intended to promote good or improve human quality of life. Volunteering also helps to build more cohesive communities, fostering greater solidarity and trust between citizens.

VISTA ADVISORY Committee
The VISTA Advisory Committee members are selected to support and oversee the ideals and recommendations of the “Stronger Together” project.
Advisory Committee Members are expected to participate in (2) planning meeting annually.
Advisory Committee Goals/Focus:
Develop positive inclusion/integration for individuals with intellectual disabilities
Establish/Strengthen self-advocacy groups
Support opportunities for leadership/leadership training
Create collaborations/partnerships with community organizations

Sponsoring Agencies:
1.Tuscaloosa’s One Place
2.Easter Seals of West Alabama
3.Arc of Tuscaloosa
4.Indian Rivers Mental Health Center
5.United Cerebral Palsy of West of West Alabama
People First of Alabama

Designated Collaborations/CO-OPS/SELF ADVOCACY:
1.Gettysburg College
2.Tuscaloosa Childrens’ Council
3.Self Advocacy Becoming Empowered (SABE)
4.University Of Alabama
5.Kentuck Art Festival

The Interaction Style Assessment Test

This is a quiz administered by a career blog I have been referred to by an online connection of mine called Careeralism.com. It is a website for career advice and interview advice, resume building, and also quizzes for job readiness and personality assessment. The Interaction Style Assessment Test is administered by a company called J.T. O'Donnell and determines what kind of an interactor you are in the workplace. Are you a empathizer? Are you a energizer? Are you a contemplator? or Are you a commander? Based on the 18 question quiz I am an empathizer.
An empathizer is known to create harmonious relationships, create conflict free environments, and to seek positivity amongst all. I believe that this is an accurate assessment of how I operate in a workplace. I intend to see the emotional aspects as being more important than logic most of the time because people tend to make decisions much more so on their emotions than on their logic based on my general observations of how people act in society as of lately. This may be me generalizing a bit but there is much evidence to back this up and also the advertising World is largely based on emotions. For clarity is all knowing and wise and is seen with our dollar bill being the all seeing eye of the sun. Below are my results and the link to the 18 question two part quiz.


http://www.jtodonnell.com/assessment/index.phtml


These are what the QUiz Results of the ISAT state and I am an empathizer. The results are categorized as such:

EMPATHIZER Comfortable, casual, and organized. Fun, friendly, kind, positive, team players. Warm, sympathetic, tactful, positive,but decisive to offset your emotion and avoidance. People first, profits second. Customer service, client and/or employee relations, office improvements. Excel at key support roles and team-based project work.

ENERGIZER Attractive, comfortable, and up-scale. Fun, outgoing, competitive, positive, quick-minded team players. Energetic, decisive, positive, supportive, but tactful to offset your passion and directness. People and profits achieved simultaneously. Sales, client and/or employee training, roll-out of new products or company initiatives. Anything that involves coaching ,training, motivation and engaging others.

CONTEMPLATOR Well-organized, private, casual. Respectful, pleasant, focused, fastidious, independent workers. Logical, articulate, honest, tactful, but decisive to offset your conservatism and avoidance. Profits with ethics. Accounting, quality assurance and service evaluations need your attention to detail. Computers, financial operations, engineering, processes and systems are great fits for your style.

COMMANDER Efficient and private, up-scale. Decisive, focused, quick-minded, competitive, independent workers. Logical, decisive, articulate, honest, but tactful to offset your seriousness and directness. Profits are not personal. Management, troubleshooting, reorganization, goal-setting. Any kind of project management, facilitation, or multi-tasking that is time-sensitive or requires critical thinking.

An introduction to Reiki healing

Reiki is a Japanese word and Rei means universal and ki means healing.Reiki is natural healing by touch, senses, breathing, affirmations, intentions, and visualizations, and can be learned by anyone interested in alternative medicine and healing. Reiki started in Japan and was discovered by Dr. Mikao Usui in 1922 and then spread throughout the World. Reiki healing promotes deep natural breathing and deep visualization techniques using objects such as crystals, gems, and other various symbols.

Disability can actually be ability

When I think of disability I think of what I am limited to and what I can't do in life. Disability is not what I would like to be known for or recognized for as much as anyone with an intellectual disability of any kind. Yet our society can be discriminatory towards those who have more difficulty doing every day tasks than people with "normal" mental capability. Is it normal mental capability? No. I don't think so. Humans aren't even done evolving yet for me to say that. When there are 22 main DNA chromosomes that are not male and sex chromosomes. Therefore when we haven't activated most of our DNA it makes me believe that we are not totally evolved yet and are still very much amongst the "physical" World and not the "Spiritual" World yet which is the next level beyond where humans are presently at which is also known as the third dimension of reality and the fourth dimension is time and space or the astral plane. If humans are lead to believe that approximately only 5% of the brain is used then what does the other 95% hold? What kind of power does it produce along with cellular growth? Along with DNA activation? Spiritual practices of Qi Gong, Yoga, meditation, Reiki, and other various forms of healing the Ability Alliance of West Alabama can consider for more effective treatment of the physche and mental illnesses. Unity has always been here on Earth yet we may have forgotten its true existence within each of us being intellectually disabled or not.
Healing practices such as the Ancient Chinese practice of Qi Gong pronounced (chee gong) can actually help clients of the Ability Alliance of West Alabama with stress management, the immune system, and over all health. Therefore creating more physical and spiritual well being for individuals experiencing intellectual disabilities and turning disability into more ability.
Another benefit of this is that Medicare and Medicaid can actually be applied to it as well because it is a healthy practice just like exercising is for the body and mind and can save money for health care providers. This is a good suggestion for mental healing and spiritual bliss as well. The video below is a 10 minute PBS special on Qi Gong by Francesco Garri Garripoli on what Qi Gong is and what the ancient Chinese healing practice can do for your health, and also displays some basic stances of practice.

Grandmaster Doo Wai Healing QiGong Meditation

QiGong Chi Kung:Six Healing Sounds

Easter Seals Of West Alabama

Easter Seals Of West Alabama is an organization that provides transportation for those who need it and are employed with intellectual or physical disabilities with Tuscaloosa County Parking and Transit Authority. Easter Seals has a rural-urban network for employment transportation.
Easter Seals Of West Alabama
1110 Drive Edward Hillard
Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
1-205-722-1004
*Only in Tuscaloosa County

Tuscaloosa One Place

Tuscaloosa One Place is a family resource center for parent counseling, teen and child support, and four week career development classes. The career development classes focus on resume writing, work ethics, interviewing skills, and barriers to successful employment.
Classes are from Monday through Friday from 8:30 A.M.-3:30 P.M.
Referrals for career development classes are made by Department Of Human Resources for Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Tuscaloosa One Place and Family Resource Center
1(205) 462-1000
867 Redmond Drive
P.O. Box 40764
Tuscaloosa, AL 35404

Indian Rivers Mental Health Center (IRMHC)

Indian Rivers is a mental health center that provides:
-Substance abuse assistance prevention services
-An ADRS counselor will tell you when you need to contact Indian Rivers
-Medical assistance, family and individual therapy
-Indian Rivers is in Bibb, Pickens, and Tuscaloosa
-Supported employment

3701 Loop Road East Building 39
Tuscaloosa, AL 35403
205-562-3700

Ala-WIN

Ala-WIN is a work services program for individuals with disabilities. Your questions can be answered about health insurance, work benefits, employment, and social security work incentives at Ala-WIN. Ala-WIN also coordinates the Social Security Administration's "Ticket to Work Program."
202 Skyland Boulevard
Tuscaloosa AL 35403
Phone Numbers:
888-803-0118
Bibb, Chambers, Chilton, Clay, Coosa, Randolph, Shelby, St. Clair, Tallapoosa, Talledega

800-654-4483
Calhoun, Cherokee, Cleburne, Dekalb, Etowah, Jefferson, Marshall

866-259-1745
Blount, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Lamar, Perry, Pickens, Sumter, Tuscaloosa, Walker
866-739-4366
Colbert, Cullman, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marion, Morgan, Winston

Tuscaloosa Career Center

Tuscaloosa Career Center is an employment agency that provides career services, job help, and work placement. This is a place to go if you don’t wish to receive ADRS services. This career center is a place where you can get assistance with any job or career related services that you need or require. This office operates with the state of Alabama directly and with the Tuscaloosa county region as well.


202 Skyland Drive
Tuscaloosa, AL 35405
1-205-758-7591

Palk Enterprises and Supported Employment

Palk Enterprises Supported Employment is a place where you can go for help with jobs, job coaching, and supports for jobs. An ADRS counselor will tell you when you need to contact PESE for services.

PESE building
711 17th St.
Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
205-758-1875

Alabama Department Of Rehabilitation Services

The Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services is a partnership of the AAWA and is also a place who you can contact if you need help for disability services for employment. You can still have your check if you are not on services for Medicaid/Medicare for up to 93 months after your disability benefits are finished. The ADRS service is for people with physical or intellectual disabilities who need services for employment.
VRS Tuscaloosa
1305 17th Street, East
Tuscaloosa, AL 35403

Phone number
1-334-293-7500

Americorps National Planning Grants

The purpose of the Americorps National Planning Grant is to support the development of Americorps programs and to build the infrastructure of Americorps in general. This grant opportunity has a deadline of January 26th, 2010 and the grants are awarded for 12 months. This grant opportunity is for organizational purpose only and does not support actual Americorps members but instead helps the sponsoring organization of an Americorps program plus a VISTA program such as that of the Ability Alliance Of West Alabama's. This grant is a multi-state grant and applicants must be interested in working with two or more states.
The organizations that are eligible for this grant opportunity is faith based organizations, non-profits, labor organizations, institutions of higher education, indian tribes, governmental entities, and other communtiy organizations. Also organizations whom currently are operating in more than one state are encouraged to apply.

The Social Security Administration:Ticket To Work Program

Social Security Administration issues tickets to individuals ages 18-64
Individuals must be eligible for receiving cash benefits under SSDI(Social Security Disability Insurance)
-Tickets obtain services for individuals
-Service providers are called Employment Networks
-Provides vocational rehabilitation
-Education
-Training
-Placement services
-Supports for employment
-SSI recipients receive benefits
-Is voluntary for recipients of SSDI
There is no cost for you to receive vocational services to obtain employment
Works towards maintaining independence and self sufficiency
Social Security Administration pays employment networks once you achieve milestones and outcomes. Also the Milestones and outcomes are associated with work and earnings.Does not conflict in medicare or medicaid coverage
You may remain eligible for up to 93 months after you stop receiving SSDI benefits and medicare coverage can continue. The Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security part of the Ticket to Work Program provides client assistance and state agency aid. MAXIMUS the program operations manager of the Ticket to Work Program reviews clients file’s every 12 months.Tickets can even be used for recipients who would like to start their own businesses as well but must be listed under their goals.

Portable Farms for farmer sustainability

Portable Farms is an Aquaponics farming system and Aquaponics is growing of vegetables and fish completely in water. Portable Farms Increases food security,
Offers dramatic reduction in water usage, and is Very cost effective.No chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, fertilizers, nutrients, antibiotics, or buffers need to be added. Portable Farms that users buy Only require routine maintenance and
self regulate in extreme environments. A portable farm takes 25 minutes to operate daily and runs on 60 to 260 watts of electricity. A portable farm produces its own food with proper lighting and can even operate in a basement with grow lights. You can take your portable farm with you if you move to another location unlike regular farming. The video below explains in detail how a portable farm works.