Depression

I have been thinking a lot about depression and how it affects the friends and family of those who struggle with depression. I came across this blog that has some great tips.

http://www.literallydarling.com/blog/2013/05/29/loving-someone-with-depression/

A link shared by a classmate of mine that I really liked is
 http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/in-depth/depression/art-20045943

One of my classmates shared this talk by President Dieter F Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It is called the Hope of God's light.  I really wanted to share this in regards to all physical and mental disabilities.

Type I Diabetes

This one thing I wanted to share on my blog this week was some information about Type I diabetes. Anything about type I diabetes kind of hits home for me. My little brother was diagnosed when he was six years old.  This video "things diabetics say" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGCjKPmegdU  really made me smile. I have seen my brother go through all these things.

Another video by the same girl who did the last video is a video about "dumb things people say to diabetics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2tzeWp_rvk

My little brother testing his blood sugar before he eats.

I really like these two videos. I have seen my brother go through things in the first video and I've heard things said to my brother from the second video.

Lessons from others

I read this on one of my classmate's blogs. I really like her story and how she applies it to what we're learning about in class right now.

Here is a link to blog where I got this story. http://recreatinsocks.blogspot.com/

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2014

Innovative Therapeutic Riding Program

This week I got to volunteer with the Innovative Therapeutic Riding Program down in Idaho Falls, Idaho. I was really impressed with what I saw there. If you don't know what Equine Assisted Therapy is, it's a type of therapy that uses horses to help communicate with and strengthen disabled individuals. It's scope includes children with autism or physical deformities to adults with PTSD or trauma victims. One of the kids there had some developmental and physical delays and was doing a lesson that involved guiding the horse to certain colored cones, stopping, backing up, and trotting. While he was trotting, he landed in the saddle slightly off balance and slipped off the horse onto the ground. I thought because of her disability he probably wouldn't get back on but he did, and without hesitation. It takes a really strong personality to recover from a fall and I was really impressed with him. I wouldn't consider his disability to be something that holds him back at all, if anything it's made him stronger.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2014

JUST ASK

Two people with sensory disabilities share their insights on disability.

TALK TO ME

The story of an amazing young girl with a disability that won't disable her. 

Lesson on "R" Mountain

The video that really stood out to me was the one about a man who couldn't see and yet climbed to the summit of Mt. Everest, one of the most dangerous peaks in the world. I think it stood out because it changed my perspective. I think I was in the same mindset of the man who said it would be hard to get a blind man up to the top of the mountain. It also stood out to me because just a couple days before I watched the video I had a similar experience. (I'll be changing names.)

For those of you who've been to rexburg you probably know about "R Mountain" or Menan Buttes. I come from a background of frequent hiking and backpacking so R mountain barely counts as a warmup in my book. With this mind set I invited 2 of my roommates and an FHE brother to climb it with me one night. I already knew that one of my roommates, Jane, has severe anxiety and asthma so I planned on pacing the climb with her to keep her from having an asthma or panic attack. The second roommate, Megan, had never left Manhattan, In the parking to the mountain Joe (FHE Bro) also told me that he was afraid of heights. Jane wanted to get to the top quickly so she and I ended up ahead of Megan and Jo even with me making her slow down or stop when I noticed her breathing getting gaspy. Once we got to the top I decided to head back down as the sun was getting low and I wanted to check on the other 2. What I found on my way back down taught me a fast lesson. Megan was sitting on the ground looking panicked and Joe was on all fours looking terrified, unable to move. After a lot of calming I was able to talk both of them off the mountain but I will never again disregard chronic fears, or handle a group of people like this one the same way again. Knowing about the emotional states of my group members,  I should have kept the group together and watched for discomfort in them before it got paralyzing. All of them were determined to get to the top, it was just poor leadership that got in the way.

Although it's not the same as guiding a blind man up Everest, it taught me about paying attention to, learning about, and ajusting for peoples needs. This was the foundation for my outline this week. Fears, anxiety, asthma, and panic attacks are fairly common minor disabilities that need to be accounted and ajusted for. My question however, is how to do this in a way that isn't demeaning, patronizing or that makes people feel disabled or how to handle groups of people with different needs and dynamics."  -Brittney Crisp 2014 

"Jesus the Perfect Leader"

This week I will be posting an Ensign article by Spencer W. Kimball. The title is "Jesus the Perfect Leader".  Although the article talks about Christ as a leader and how we can emulate that, I feel it applies to what we are learning in class right now.

Here are a few leadership qualities Christ exhibited according to President Kimball. You will see we can apply them to working with special populations.:
1- Jesus was a listening leader.
2- Jesus was patient and loving.
3- Jesus saw sin as wrong, but also saw sin arising from some unmet need.
4- Christ was selfless.
5-  Christ was not controlling. He sought the freedom of those who followed him.
6- Christ knew how to involve his disciples in the process of life.  He gave them important and specific things to do for their development.

For more information read the talk at https://www.lds.org/ensign/1979/08/jesus-the-perfect-leader?lang=eng

Improve Language

“People First language” It’s the Person First; Then the Disability

1. What is the proper way to speak to or about someone who does not have a disability?
2. Why say it differently for a person with a disability?

Tips for improving language related to Disabilities and Handicaps

1. Speak of the person first, than the disability
2. Emphasize abilities, not limitations
3. Do not label people as part of a disability group—don’t say “the disable.” Say “people with disabilities.”
4. Don’t give excessive praise or attention to a person with a disability are don’t patronized.
5. Choice and independence are important; let the person do or speak for himself of herself as much as possibilities.
6. If addressing an adult say “Bill” instead of “Billy”
7. A disability is a functional limitation that interferes with a person’s ability to walk, hear, learn, etc. A handicap describes a situation or barrier imposed by society, the environment, or oneself
8. Focus on what the person can do and not on what they can’t do. Each participant can add excitement and variety to the group and/or program.

Consider the Impact of our Language:

Instead of	Say.
Disabled or handicapped child	Child with a disability
Palsied, spastic	Person with cerebral palsy
Afflicted, suffers from	Person who has
Mute or dumb	Without speech, nonverbal
Slow	Developmental delay
Crazy, Insane	Mental illness
Confined to a wheelchair	Uses a wheelchair
Retard, mental	Person with retardation
Mongoloid	With down syndrome
Normal	Without a disability
Crippled	Has a physical disability
Invalid	Paralyzed
The Blind	Visually impaired