FEARLESS CAREGIVER CONFERENCE APRIL 05

[Pamela]

FROM THE EDITOR

Inclusion

Last week, I attended the Bubel/Aiken Foundation's Hawaii Voices for Change Gala and the Pacific Rim Conference on Disabilities which were held in Honolulu. Both events were run by Steve Potts of the University of Hawaii at Manoa Center on Disability Studies. I don’t think Steve or his wife Angie slept three hours in a row during the entire week.  I’m sure that you wouldn’t believe that I didn’t leave the conference hotel for the first three days that I was in the city, so I won’t even try to tell you that (although it’s true).  It was an extremely educational trip as we will be hosting the Florida Voices for Change Gala in conjunction with our Fort Lauderdale Fearless Caregiver Conference on April 16th.  

One other thing that I found highly educational was addressed by Clay at both the Voices for Change Gala and the Pacific Rim conference and that is the issue of inclusion.  When Clay spoke of inclusion he was talking about the concept of including children living with developmental disabilities within social and educational settings, a goal in which I firmly believe. But, as I watched the attendees at both events, I realized that inclusion also has another meaning, one addressed in the subtitle of all of our Fearless Caregiver Conferences, and that is sharing wisdom. It was a real joy to see adults and seniors, in wheelchairs and not, dealing with health issues or not, all sharing wisdom on the matters at hand. The wheelchairs, walkers and differences became invisible as people talked about a wide range of challenges and possibilities.  I truly believe that only through open exchange between caregivers, care professionals, doctors, loved ones and educators, regardless of illness or disease, will we start to really make things better for those for whom we care.

Sharing wisdom? Include me in.


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Jacksonville
Ft. Lauderdale - Keynote Speaker: Clay Aiken


Dates are still available for the 2005 Fearless Caregiver Conference Tour.  Bring a conference to your community. Contact us for more information.

Sincerely,

Gary Barg
Editor-in-Chief
gary@caregiver.com

CAREGIVER

[Pamela]

FOCUS ON FLORIDA

(snip)

Then we were joined by a recently graduated special education teacher from North Carolina, Mr. Clayton Aiken. We presented Clay with a Robert M. Barg Memorial Achievement award which is not often given and is well-deserved. I was honored to present the award to Clay with Ms. Nicki Grossman, President of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, who immediately garnered the envy of Clay’s fans everywhere when she hugged Clay as he was leaving the stage. But before Clay left, he showed his stuff as a teacher as he spoke of the need for caregivers to fearlessly care for themselves as they care for others and he reiterated the message at the fundraising gala later that evening. It was gratifying to hear our message of fearless caregiving being shared by Clay. He was at once funny, warm and inspirational. We were also honored that many of his fans who are also caregivers joined us for the day. I learned of a great controversy buzzing around the fan websites when we first announced the event and that was should they come to the Fearless Caregiver Conference if they are a Clay fan and not in need of the information presented. It is a great tribute to him and his fan base that those who came were also caregivers in need of support and information.

Read the rest at CAREGIVER MAGAZINE (photos at the link)