2017 Year In Review

2017 was a pretty good year for me. Lots of potentially good connections made, the blog saw a lot of action, and I had one of the best vacations ever!

2017 was pretty good to me in terms of professionalism. I got a lot more help with looking for work and even had a couple interviews. Nothing yet, so hopefully next year will be better employment-wise!

Lots of advocacy and networking opportunities this year. In the winter I spoke as part of a panel to social work students at one of the local universities, I attended quite a few Ottawa-based events for networking and public speaking, and in the summer I accepted a spot on the Joubert Syndrome and Related Disorders Foundation's Board of Directors.

This year had me writing. A lot! I managed to crank out over fifty posts here on the blog, the most since I started four years ago. A lot of that was because of Blogtober, a wacky idea I had this past October, which happily coincided with Joubert Syndrome Awareness Month.

The best part of the year was definitely the JS conference in Phoenix, Arizona! Not only was Arizona one of the nicest places I've been to (and am currently missing thanks to snow and polar temperatures here at home), the conference was a blast! New opportunities (like the Board position), good friends, and a great hotel made it one of the best vacations I've been on in quite a while!

And that's about it. Looking forward to whatever next year brings.

Cheers and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Given my last post about wanting to be someplace warm for the holidays, that image seemed appropriate.

Wishing everyone a safe, fun, and hopefully not-too-chilly Merry Christmas!

Cheers

My Christmas For A Beach

Sorry for sounding like a Grinch, but I'm just not feeling it this Christmas.

Maybe it's the extra long annoying wait for Para Transpo this afternoon, but right now, I'd give up the vast majority of presents I may get to be anywhere else, preferably someplace warm where, within reason, I can come and go without worrying about things like ice, snow, or Para Transpo.

Ideally with a swim-up bar and free Coke, like here!

Like back to Montego Bay, Jamaica. What a great Christmas that was!

No snow, no obligations. Just relaxing.

This was our view outside:

This was our Christmas dinner:

No boring old turkey and spuds here!

Even Santa was a change of pace!

Just feeling nostalgic and complainy, I guess. I'm sure I'll get over it in time for next Monday.

Cheers

Homes

Here's a wacky idea that will probably never happen, but I wanted to write about anyway: Why don't we modify some senior's complexes to accommodate individuals with disabilities.

Get rid of the concept and stigmas of nursing homes, group homes, and the like, and just create facilities for anyone that requires extra assistance and wants to live relatively independently.

I've been thinking about this for a little while now. My grandmother is getting older and getting to the point where she can't live independently. My mother has told her about a few places, including one close to us. Upon hearing about the services offered at these various locations, my grandmother was hesitant, not wanting to leave her house. I, on the other hand, would've jumped at the chance if I was the right age. These places had home care, recreational facilities, individual apartments, and the one by us was right next to a major shopping centre (complete with restaurants, a bus station, and movie theatre!)

I've also read quite a few stories about young adults with disabilities winding up in senior's facilities because there are no other age-appropriate options, and often resorting to filing human rights complaints to try and get some assistance.

That's what made me think. What if that age-appropriate environment was already there?

We build all these different facilities for disabled people, some of which can be run-down and require the individual to go through lots of red tape and waiting before getting in. We also create service organizations for those people, yet put a ridiculous amount of requirements and restrictions on those services in order for one to obtain them (speaking from some experience here.)

Wouldn't it be great if everything was in one place, and everyone was able to get the help they need and enjoy their lives in the process?

I know it'll never, ever happen, but wouldn't this be something awesome?

I can only dream, I guess.

Cheers!

A Volunteer Opportunity Appears!

Very fortuitous that I logged into my email yesterday. Not only did I find out an Amazon order I had placed shipped a little early, but I got a request for an interview for a volunteer opportunity I had applied to.

A little while ago, one of the people I'm seeing for employment help suggested looking into volunteer opportunities, both for experience and to keep my resume current. Initially I had been hesitant, since I was adamant on looking for paid employment, but I decided to go for it anyway. Almost immediately after creating a profile with a local volunteer website, I found a part-time position with an organization that promotes sailing for people with disabilities. I applied, and just heard back from them. They sound interested and would like to meet some time this week!

I'm still going to look for paid work, that's priority one, but I've been looking for a year now, trying to find the perfect thing to fit both my interests and needs, which is really, really, hard. So at this point, I'll take whatever I can get. The position's within the overall disability field I'm interested in, it's something to do, and could get me out of the house for at least a little while.

For now, an opportunity is an opportunity.

Cheers!