Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Merry Christmas Everybody!

December 8th 2009

Wishing You a Very Merry Christmas! The season of being joyful at Christmas time.

Greetings!

We had a full year of activities. We had 6 major conferences in 2009. Dee drove to all of them except the NAEYC conference in November which was in Washington DC.

We met a lot of interesting people all over the U.S. from late April in Utah- to Tennessee -to Florida and back to Wyoming and then Iowa which was in October. We met many educators, parents and self-advocates. It was great meeting and learning from each other.

In June we gathered together with Ben’s family and friends in North Dakota to celebrate Ben’s dad’s 90th birthday. It was good to see everybody there from all over the U.S.

In 2009 we celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Marj and Wayne Nelson. Wayne was Ben’s supervisor on his first job as a public awareness person in Grand Forks, ND back in the early 1970’s.

2010 looks like it will be another full year of meeting people as we are looking at some major tours beginning in February. We will be touring from Texas through Kansas.

The book continues to be a good item for people to read as we receive emails from people who enjoyed the book. We haven’t made the million mark yet for sales LOL but we are looking at the focused groups of people that are gaining insight about disabilities rather than the quantity of sales. We are getting the message out about awareness and advocacy to help people with disabilities, their families, and educators to continue to bring inclusion and independence to persons with disability.

As we look forward to many awareness workshops in 2010 we are hoping that you will financially sponsor us with your gifts. We are offering a Christmas special of “IQ of 63, So What!” at the cost of $10. each plus $3. S/H. ( half price) You can send a check to Break Through Inc at PO Box 284, Amery, WI 54001 or order online at http://bendanderson.com/IQof63.htm It makes a great gift.

We will be celebrating Christmas here in Amery with Dee’s brother and friends. Dee has been busy working on a website business where she has some clients. She also enjoys singing at the Lake Wapogassett Christmas Dinner Theater.

Wishing all of you the best Christmas and New Year! God Bless!

Ben and Dee Anderson

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Upcoming events and travels

We received some other awareness opportunities for 2010. We are glad that people are looking at doing awareness at their universities. We are thankful that they are thinking of us to provide that training. In February 2010 we will be traveling down to Austin, Texas to present at a conference and then to Seguin, TX to be at a university. It will give us a break to get out of the cold of the Wisconsin winter.

Next week Dee and I are flying to Washington D.C. to the NAEYC Conference where I am doing a workshop and also a book signing. During that week we will be visiting the White House and the Capitol with tickets to be in the Gallery. We will keep you posted as to our "fun" activities of sightseeing tours. Have a great week.

Monday, November 2, 2009

My Thoughts

As I am thinking about my week I am reminded about taking one thing at a time as this week is somewhat interesting. On Tuesday afternoon I am going to deliver two presentations to the Hospitality and Tourism classes at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie, Wisconsin on the subject of disabilities and tourism. Then I move on to doing my deacon's duties on Thursday and Friday which is always long days but an important day to visit with "shut-ins". My wife is in the kitchen making bread for the weekends activities within our church. We spent all afternoon and into the evening on Sunday updating and re-furbishing our website so it doesn't look boring and "old" to people who have visited it in the past. On top of all of this stuff my wife and I are getting ready for probably the biggest conference we have been at since we got married and perhaps the biggest one in the last 30 years. We will be flying out to Washington DC for National Association for the Education of Young Children Conference (NAEYC) I will be speaking there as a workshop leader and presenting on Thursday November 19th (2009)

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Awareness about disabilities

Hello. I am Ben D. Anderson originally from Kenmare, ND now living in Wisconsin. I was born with a disability which is cerebral palsy. I went to a private school for children with disabilities back in 1957 until 1965. I then went to home and attended special education classes until I graduated from high school in 1972.

I married Dee Anderson on March 26, 2006. I am the author of "IQ of 63, So What!" Going Beyond Everybody Else's Expectations ( Aug-2007)

In 1992 I went beyond expectations by graduating with a degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Vocational Rehabilitation.

I am a speaker on the subject of disabilities sinse 1978 when I began Break Through Inc. a non-profit organization. I have spoken at groups and conferences throughout the United States. Sinse my marriage to Dee we have traveled together as husband and wife greeting individuals and giving them a hope and encouragement to go beyond expectations despite any disability. We are hoping that you will come along with us on this Blog journey to share experiences we all have encountered.