Special People North will be at Disability Awareness Day in Warrington

Disability Awareness Day is this Sunday 10th July from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hope you can make it!

 Disability Awareness Day (DAD), is Europe's largest voluntary-led disability exhibition, and is held annually in a huge tented village within the grounds of Walton Hall Gardens.

Organised by Warrington Disability Partnership, recent shows have attracted over 25,000 visitors. There’ll be events to watch in the main arena, sports activities to watch and join in, new products to see and lots more.

I hope the weather is good because Special People North will be outside on stand CT-26 near the Seating Area – do come and say hello! Nearly 500 spaces will be taken by exhibitors all working to this year’s theme "Promoting Independence Throughout Life & Work", with support groups and services, equipment, transport, technology, holidays, benefits, employment, education, training, mobility, leisure, recreation, sport and much more.


Take a look at the DAD website, there’s a full list of exhibitors and lots of information about this year’s and previous years’ DADs.


follow the link: http://www.disabilityawarenessday.org.uk/


Disability Awareness Day will be a colourful and entertaining day out. The free programme provided on the day will give you full details of:
Entertainments
The 2011 programme features Batala Liverpool Community Samba Band, Revive Dance School, Liverpool Harmonic Gospel Choir, ELLA, Carly Ryan, Martin Finn, Hollie Caddock, Urban Gipsies, Wired For Sound,Dee-sign- BSL Choir, and Alan Martin the dancer.
Paralympics Sports Zone 2011
This year the sports zone will have a theme to include the 'Paralympics Games 2012'. There will be opportunities to try the sport and have a go at participating on the Climbing Wall, Wheelchair Basketball, Rowing, Archery, Football Beat the Goalie, Scuba Diving, Body Zorbes and Small Bore Rifle Shooting. The activities are provided by qualified coaches and instructors.
Arts
There is an exciting programme in the Arts Marquee for 2011. With Carly & Martin from BBC 3’s “Autistic Superstars, the Batala Samba Band, ELLA Performance group, “Wired for Sound” –Warrington’s community choir, Alan Martin- wheelchair dancer, Dee Sign Choir transforming singing into sign, and Stars Drama. The “Urban Gypsies” will be mingling with the crowds.
For the Children
Children's Entertainment include something for all abilities with all the fun of the fair provided by Chadwick's Family Fairground Rides and the hugely popular Bouncy Castles. Professor Fiddlesticks will amaze you with his circus skills, Walton Hall Rangers will be pleased to see you visiting the Walton Hall Zoo.




At Special People North we hope you have a wonderful time during the summer holidays!

If you are in need of some additional support during the summer holidays… or any other time… don’t hesitate to contact me. We are here for you and your family; no-one is too young or too old!

We will provide a carefully selected support worker for your exact needs, and no need for you to worry about recruitment, job descriptions, training or dealing with the tax man – the list is endless – we can do it all for you as the employer. We listen to your needs, and you tell us what you are looking for… and we do the rest.

Youth in Action! is a charity I have just found out about, which provides activities for children between the ages of 5 and 18 during school holidays. Activities range for arts and crafts to music, day trips and much more.

Geographically they mainly cover the Congleton and district area but if you are outside this area and interested do get in touch as you may still be eligible.

Upcoming events include bowling in Crewe on 23rd July from 3 – 5.30 p.m. and a summer play-scheme in August daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The activities co-ordinator to contact is Louise Lovenberry (also one of my support workers!) on 0781 3025237 or louiselovenberry@yahoo.co.uk

Easter, Dementia, World Autism Awareness Day 2nd April 2011, Business Woman of the Year Award

At Special People North we hope you have a wonderful time during the Easter holidays.

If you are in need of some additional support during the Easter holidays… or any other time… don’t hesitate to contact me. We are here for you and your family; no-one is too young or too old!

We will provide a carefully selected support worker for your exact needs, and no need for you to worry about recruitment, job descriptions, training or dealing with the tax man – the list is endless - we do it all for you as the employer. We listen to your needs, and you tell us what you are looking for… and we do the rest.

I have been reading with interest the recent developments in dementia.

Did you know that speaking a second language has been shown to slow the rate at which the brain declines with age? Also did you know that scientists have found a way to deliver drugs direct to the brain to improve their effectiveness?

Bilingual people are better protected against Alzheimer's disease than people who use only one language. Several studies have now demonstrated a clear link between using a second language and cognitive decline, which can be explained by the idea that bilingualism acts like a "mental gymnasium" that keeps the brain active in later life, scientists said. In fact, “the effect of speaking a second language produced a stronger effect on delaying the onset of Alzheimer's than any drug currently used to control the disease” said Ellen Bialystok, professor of psychology at York University in Toronto, Canada.

I read recently about new drugs treatment in the local Manchester Metro paper:

Joy is finalist for Cheshire Business of the Year!

Thanks to the nomination by Cheshire business woman, Michelle Kay (who also designed and produced my website) I was successful in becoming a finalist in this prestigious event. Organised annually by “Network She”, the business community organisation exclusively for Women, the Awards event itself was held in November 2010 and then on 24th February 2011 all the finalists, winners and sponsors of the Network She Awards 2010 were brought together at the Adobe hotel in Chester for an evening of social networking and celebration. Here’s a picture of Michelle and me with my certificate!

World Autism Awareness Day 2nd April 2011

4 years ago the United Nations declared April 2nd World Autism Awareness Day, to increase and develop world knowledge of autism. By bringing together autism organisations all around the world, this helps to give a voice to the millions of individuals worldwide who are undiagnosed, misunderstood and looking for help.

This Friday lunchtime, 1st April,  I will be at Wilmslow High School as part of their support for this important day. The school is helping to raise awareness and perception of autism. SPACE, the Macclesfield-based support group, will also be providing first hand information representing parents of autistic children.

Wilmslow High School ensures equal provision for all and supplementary provision for those with special needs. The Learning Support Team aims to ensure that all students who have special educational needs have access to a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum, helping students make every effort to meet these aims by working in conjunction with all curriculum teams using different and varied teaching and learning strategies to enhance their self esteem and reach their full potential. Parents are fully involved in the identification, assessment and delivery of SEN provision within Wilmslow High School.


If you would like further information on any of the above topics please get in touch! Tel: 01625 583957 (home/office) or 07774 230168 (mobile), or joy@specialpeoplenorth.org.uk


Resources and links:
Steve Connor, The Independent Newspaper, Saturday, 19 February 2011
Network She www.networkshe.co.uk
http://www.yourwebstar.co.uk/
http://www.worldautismawarenessday.org/
http://www.wilmslowhigh.com/
http://www.space4autism.com/

Events involving Special People North in Spring 2011

There are an increasing number of events that I will be attending and a few that I will be speaking at in the near future, if you are able to and interested do come along, you are most welcome!

Wednesday 26th January - CWAC Parent Partnership, held at 7.30 pm at St Michaels Church Coniston Road, off Plas Newton Lane, Chester, CH2 1PX. I am speaking about Special People North and how we can support families with our range of appropriate services and skilled support workers.

Tuesday 8th February - Information Day about transition from primary to secondary school to be held at Ellesmere Port Civic Hall CH65 OAZ from 10 am to 4 pm, organised by CWAC Parent Partnership Service.

There will be a Market Place of stands from lots of services and charities including Special People North where you can ask questions and collect information to help you.

There will be five optional sessions in the afternoon where you can find out more information about ways you can help support your child to get ready for High School if they have the following special educational needs:-
1. Dyslexia
2. Speech and Language difficulties
3. Autistic Spectrum conditions
4. Behaviour difficulties
5. Educational Psychologist talking about the anxieties you or your child may have about moving up to high school and strategies to help.


For a booking form and more information e-mail: carol.longoni@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk
or visit the link to the website:
www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/parentpartnership

Wednesday 23rd February - Information Day about transition into adulthood - the young person in your family becoming an adult. To be held at Ellesmere Port Civic Hall CH65 OAZ from 10 am to 4 pm and organised by CWAC Parent Partnership Service.
There will be a Market Place of stands from lots of services and charities including Special People North where you can ask questions and collect information to help you. Additionally there will be optional sessions.
For a booking form and more information e-mail: carol.longoni@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk
or visit the link to the website:

www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/parentpartnership

Thursday 28th April - ChAPS meeting at the Blue Cap in Sandiway, 7-9 pm. This time it's Special People North in the front line speaking about our services. This is their flyer about the event.

Full address is : The Blue Cap,Chester Road, Sandiway, Northwich, Cheshire CW8 2DN












If you'd like to receive regular email updates when we post articles, just let me know by emailing joy@specialpeoplenorth.org.uk and as ever if you need to call me please do so on 07774 230168.

Very belated happy new year to everyone! What’s happened since my last blog: a Radio Manchester interview, lots on personalisation and some PR updates!

Last Thursday, very early in the morning my phone rang, and on the other end was a researcher from BBC Radio Manchester asking if I had read a particular news article in the papers that morning. Tricky – I was hardly out of bed! But I was asked if I could comment – live on the radio – and when I asked when it would be the researcher replied “oh… in about 10 minutes?” The adrenalin was going instantly!

It was all about a lady who had posted a comment on the internet that she couldn’t cope with her disabled child any longer and would have to put her in to care because no further help was available from the council in Bristol where she lives. Had David Cameron not given her a personal assurance during his election campaign about the support she would get this news story probably would not have made the headlines. However it does bring to the attention of the public just how much support is needed for families.

If you are interested in hearing more about this and my listening to my interview the link is below, you will need to start 1hour 45 mins 50 secs into the programme for my 5 minutes of fame!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00d5738/Beswick


I am sure you are all on the edge of your seats wanting to know who won the balloon race that started last September in Sandbach at the Cheshire Voice Family Day. Well let’s just say that we weren’t deluged with returned tags… in fact just one found its way back!

But the balloon had gone as far as the village of Priddy near Cheddar in Somerset 158 miles away from where it was released; we were amazed! It was found in October in a field by a couple walking their dog! So my thanks to Becky and Mark who received an M&S voucher for returning it to me. Sadly the tag had not been filled in before it was released so I have no-one to award the prize to. The photo shows the table at the event with our “pink tree” displaying our flyers and the balloons ready to be released just behind it.

The Christmas Tree Festival in Alderley Edge at the end of November was a great success and raised over £4000 for the church’s spire appeal; we were delighted to be a part of such a great fund-raising opportunity.

Alderleyedge.com wrote a great piece about its success and had some super photos on line too. If you want to read more about it follow the link www.alderleyedge.com/news/article/3343/alan-garners-opens-christmas-tree-festival

This was our tree – the only one there that was white so it really stood out well along with Santa on the top with the Special People wave!

I have been to a number of events dedicated to informing people about the personalisation agenda. These have been run by Cheshire East Link, Cheshire West and Chester Link, Cheshire East Council and others. This is me on the right explaining personalisation at the CWAC “My Life My Choice” event on 23rd November. The events have been extremely informative and lots of information was provided for families and carers.