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| The first night they had a party on the beach.This was at Virginia Beach. I danced with my new friends. |
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| Here I am with my new friend Quntia Grummell. She lives in Newport News. |
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| This is Alison Barkoff and Aaron Zisser with the U.S. Department of Justice.They fight for the rights of people with disabilities all over the country. |
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| This is Shawn Kirk. He is the President of a great self advocate group named VAULT |
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| This is Maggie and another new friend from the group People for People. |
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| More people from People for People and Diana ( in red) from another great group People First. |
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| This is Harvey, Tracy, Pascal and Larry. They showed us their movie, Wretches and Jabberers. It was really, really good. I loved it. Some parts were funny and some were sad. |
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| Larry and (in red) is a really good artist. He uses his hands to paint. |
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| Here Larry and Tracy are typing and what they wrote showed up on the big screens. |
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| I got to meet the stars of the movie! It was exciting!! Tracy gave me his card and is going to stay in touch with me!! |
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| I asked a question in front of the very big crowd. I asked, "Was it difficult to communicate at first?" Tracy said it was like climbing Mt. Everest, but it was well worth it. Above is what Larry's answer was. My mom thought I was brave to stand in up in front of some many people. |
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| This is Jamie Liban. She is the Executive Director of the Virginia Arc. She works very hard for all the people in Virginia with intellectual and developmental disabilities! |
I had a blast at the conference. I met lots of new people and I learned alot of new things. When I graduate, I want to come back and be part of the Arc. I want to start my own group of self advocates here in Gloucester!
In two weeks I will be in school in Wisconsin. I told everyone at the conference about Shepherds College. They thought it was really cool!
love, Daniela
Daniela:
ReplyDeleteYou were a fantastic representative of Shepherds College at the Arc conference that weekend.
Wretches and Jabberers did and does continue to change many lives.
I wish you all success with starting a self-advocate group in Gloucester.
Great to see the photos of your new friends.
Virginia Beach is indeed a great and safe place to party.
Really appreciated the opportunity to find out about various groups. People First is quite established, and I did not know a lot about VAULT before I clicked the link. People for People are very impressive.
What a wonderful idea for Tracy and Larry to use a projector - and for Tracy to give you his card. I had known of the work of Bissonette (Larry) for some ten years now - since 2001 - through the Syracuse University Education faculty/department.
And again, what a great opportunity and privilege!