Saturday, November 20, 2010

"YOUR DONATIONS ARE APPRECIATED"

Your donations are appreciated to Break Through Inc.

Dear Friends,

It is time again for our 10/10 Team letter to invite you give your monetary “gifts” to help support Break Through Inc. and its mission. Here is what Break Through has been doing for the past several months.

It has been an interesting summer and fall as I (Ben) received an email one day inviting me to come down to San Antonio Texas to a Gala at “Morgan’s Wonderland”. I was one of five people to be honored for my work for the last 35 years. I should have not been surprised to realize that my wife (a few months before hand) had put in my name to be honored. So on the 18th of September we were at this event in San Antonio. What an honor it was to be involved with the first and only “accessible family park” for people with disabilities. I am very much honored to have my name involved with that park.

Here is the link to Morgan’s Wonderland.--- www.morganswonderland.com/

Dee and I traveled to Minot, ND as I was the “kick-off” speaker for Disability Awareness month at Minot State University. Minot State is one of the two universities that is using my book in the special education department classes. On that same trip I also had the honor to speak to 7th -12th grade students at my hometown high school in Kenmare, ND. Dee and I were also able to visit family and friends in North Dakota.

We also traveled to Illinois in October to a Transition Conference in Effingham where we had a booth. There we visited with a lot of people about coming back to speak at various venues in Illinois. It was one of the better conferences in terms of Transition and Inclusion.

One of the most fascinating things we have done this year is doing an in-service staff training at a company in Algoma, WI. It is a company that makes commercial and home mops. The company’s mission is to hire people with disabilities and help them to succeed and integrate them into the community for a fulfilling life.--- www.missionmop.org/

2011 looks like a very busy year again. We are awaiting some proposal acceptances from education and parent conferences and from schools. We are again asking you to consider a “gift” to the 10/10 team as we close out this 2010 year and proceed into 2011.

Here is a link on our website that gives you the link for online donations through “Guidestar” or our mailing address.

Here is the link for our 10-10 Team
Your donations are truly appreciated and help to educate about people with disabilities.

Have a wonderful Holiday and Christmas Season.

Sincerely,

Ben and Dee Anderson

Break Through Inc

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Using Language that Hurt Other People

The other day I received a request to write a piece on the subject of using the word "mentally retarded" that is being used by students to make fun of other people.

I would like to share with you the open letter that I sent to that individual. Let's remember that words hurt people as we face a big problem in bullying in this country. I have been bullied as a kid and realize that now as an adult I would like to be part of the solution. I hope think about my comments as you read them.

Dear Students,

It came to my attention that students across the country are using the word mentally “retarded”. I would like to plead to you that you quit using the negative word “retarded” as it is a slang word against people that have disabilities. In effect, telling anyone that they are retarded is bullying and not acceptable conduct.

The word describes someone that has a low IQ or does not do things at the same pace as others. A person like me that was born with cerebral palsy finds it a very hurtful word because it wrongly describes people. I believe that all people have gifts and talents in their own way. We all have disabilities even though they might not be visible. You too might have a hidden disability and it would be hurtful to you if someone found it out about you and began using that term of “retarded”.

As of October 5th 2010 our President signed “Rosa’s Law” into effect which requires that all Federal Documents must use the word “intellectual disability” in lieu of “mentally retarded”.

I hope this helps you not to use that negative word. Thank you.

Your friend,

Ben D. Anderson