"HOW WIDE IS THE WELCOME"

On September 27th my wife Dee and I left home to have dinner with friends in Minneapolis and the next morning we flew out to Columbus, Ohio to attend the "Widening the Welcome" Conference.

Dee and I truly enjoyed our time there. This is my reflections on the conference that I had previously written and now share with you.

'About thirty-five years ago, shortly after I began the non-profit organization Break Through Inc., I previewed a movie called "Belonging". It was about an orphanage in Mexico. A young priest was out one day walking and discovered a boy that was crying. After the priest came upon him he realized that he was disfigured from being burnt in a fire. He took pity on the boy and wondered how the other children would accept him back at the orphanage. As he walked into the courtyard with the boy, the priest was hesitant but very surprised as one of the children said -"You are my brother" and the children welcomed the boy into their midst.

Three weeks ago my wife and I attended the second annual "Widening the Welcome" conference for persons with disabilities and mental illness held in Columbus, Ohio. It is sponsored by the United Church of Christ Disability Ministry and Mental Health Ministry. We heard presentations from people from all over the map and about how wide the welcome is and should be. The conference was attended by about 110 individuals from across the United States and Canada. I don't know what kind of insights and knowledge we all came home with from this conference but one thing for sure was that wherever people came from or how severe their disability may have been they were welcome. We not only experienced that welcome in the presentations and workshops but we saw it at mealtimes. We also saw the "welcome" during the evening social function when everyone was having a good time chatting, listening to music, dancing and enjoying some food.

Widening the Welcome conference took me back to the movie "Belonging" where that little boy had been burnt and how that community welcomed him with open arms.

The conference was based on the text where Jesus told the servants to go into the streets to gather people for the banquet. (Luke 14:23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.") The metaphor is to cast your nets wide to include everyone in the community.

One of the speakers talked about "Enlarging the Size of Your Tent" to include everyone and not to forget those less fortunate among us. We are called to get out of our comfort zone and include people that are not included in our everyday experiences. Widening the Welcome conference was about including everyone into the body of Christ. To welcome everyone to come and eat at the table that Jesus invited us all to come and join him.

The question is "How Wide is the Welcome” in your church and communities?'

Awareness-from local community to global neighbors. All is good.

Summer has been a busy time for Dee and I as I continued to work at Lake Wapogasset Lutheran Bible Camp here in Amery, Wisconsin. For the last 30 plus years I have been a summer resource staff. It has been an honor to be able to be involved with young people's lives over the past 30 years and to be able to be a piece of their life and shape their attitudes towards other people in a positive way.

I spoke on Tuesdays. This year I spoke at chapel using the theme "In the Midst". I had about a 5 to 7 minute chapel time to incorporate my life with a disability and trying to relate to the young people about people with disabilities that have gifts and talents.
I also had the opportunity to spend time with Teams in mission. (Tim Teamers) I would spend about 60 minutes with them and also have a dialogue with them to ask if they have persons in their life that have a disability.

We were surprised by an email contact we received the other day from a group in Kuwait called "Training Gate International"--they have a website at http://www.tg-i.com/

It is an organization that is educating teachers and others in how to include people with disabilities within the schools and community. Our friend Dr. Ashleigh Molloy (who wrote the foreword to my book "IQ of 63, So What") is going to spend a week teaching in Kuwait in October. We also received a very nice letter email from one of the organizers of Training Gate. They read about Break Through Inc. and its mission. They were interested in my book and programs so we mailed them a book. I see this as being a very important beginning in that part of the world to begin accepting and including persons with disabilities within the public school systems. We are blessed to be a part of that conversation. Thanks Dr. Ash for connecting us with that organization.

FYI my book (“IQ of 63, So What!” Going Beyond Everybody Else’s Expectations) has been received by many people around the world in at least seven different countries. (Australia, Norway, Sweden, Canada, UK, China, and now Kuwait).

I was one of the keynote speakers for a CD Conference (Cognitive Disabilities) that was sponsored by CESA 6 that was held in Madison, Wisconsin this past August 2011. Our friend Dr. Ash Molloy flew in from Toronto, Ontario as he was also a keynote speaker. It was good to visit with him as we compare notes about upcoming conferences that we may be involved with around the U.S. and Canada. We have not seen him for a few years although we keep in touch by phone and email.

This week my wife Dee and I will journey up to Minot State where I will lecture to the special education class that is using my book. This will be the second time I have been to Minot State classes. I was there in October of 2010 as I was invited to kick off disability awareness month at Minot State.

My book has been read by a lot of students as the book is a textbook at two universities. It is a textbook at The University of Wisconsin-Stout in the Vocational Rehabilitation Department and in the special education Department at Minot State University, North Dakota. Many of you may know I graduated from UW-Stout in 1992 in the Vocational Rehabilitation Department. It is a great honor for me to have them read my book as part of their classes.

It is always interesting to make connections and how connections fall into place. For Minot State it was that I was the keynote speaker for the "Pathfinder’s of North Dakota" parent conference in May of 2010. After my presentation there were many educators from Minot State who invited me to speak.

Late in September Dee and I will be flying to Columbus, Ohio to attend the Second Annual Disability Conference - "Widening the Welcome" Conference which is being sponsored by the United Church of Christ Disability Ministries and Mental Health. We will have a booth there and perhaps be on a panel discussion about inclusion of persons with disabilities within the church and community. We will be looking how churches will minister more effectively to persons with disabilities.

Break Through is continuing to seek financial support in order to provide its mission --

"Our mission is one of rehabilitation education and advocacy for and about people with disabilities to encourage and enlighten the public about people with disabilities in that they are people first and have rights and needs and that they also have gifts and talents to bring to the community"

We hope that you will keep us in mind as we continue our endeavors with a donation to Break Through Inc. You may donate on line via our website at www.bendanderson.com and click on the "Guide Star" donation link or you can mail a check to Break Through Inc.-PO Box 284, Amery, WI 54001
Your gifts are very much appreciated and will be used for Break Through's mission.

Thank you and have a nice day.
Ben and Dee Anderson
Break Through Inc.
PO Box 284
Amery, WI 54001
www.bendanderson.com

"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

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

Morgan's Wonderland honoree Ben D. Anderson, author & speaker

SURPRISED BY AN EMAIL!

I got up one morning and my wife received an email which she forwarded to me. I was surprised by what it read. I was one of the honorees for the Walk of Fame award in San Antonio, Texas at Morgan's Wonderland and we were invited to come down.

Dee and I took a flight and on the 18th of September 2010 and we attended a Gala called "Free to Soar" . What a wonderful night it was. Not only to receive that award but to see the excitement in the room of 400 people. There were five of us that received this award for their positive involvement with people with disability whether they had a disability or were a friend, parent, teacher or anyone who put a positive influence on that person or gave of themselves to give a positive outlook about people with disabilities.

One nice part of the evening was when everyone stood up to honor Morgan who became 17 years old and got to sing "Happy Birthday" to her. Morgan's Wonderland is named for this lovely young lady. Named by her parents who founded the park which opened in April 2010. It is the first of its kind accessible family park in the world.

After the wonderful dinner Dee and I took a walk in the park to look at the "Walk of Fame" pathway where there was one of the first lighted stepping stones that had all five of the honorees names on it. It changes colors and has a butterfly logo in the middle. So pretty. I can now say that my name is in lights, i.e. "Ben Anderson"
You can go to my website at www.bendanderson.com to see some photos and links.

On the road again!

5 months ago I told you about a totally accessible park in Texas called "Morgan's Wonderland". This Saturday night ( September 18th 2010) Dee and I will be at the park for a "black tie" banquet. It is called the "Free to Soar" Gala which is a fundraiser for the park and it also will honor five people who have in someway contributed to advocating and supporting people with disabilities. Their names will be put within some lighted walking path stones on the "Walk of Fame" around the park.

Without me knowing about this event my wife Dee submitted my name as a possible honoree because of my over 30 years of advocating and speaking around the country to educators and families in support of people with disabilities. Well. lo and behold. about a week ago Dee received an email from the general manager of the park inviting us to San Antonio to attend this $100. per person Gala.

We will be flying off to San Antonio. I felt very honored to be the first of many that will be named in the coming years on this "Walk of Fame".

If any one is in the area you are invited to attend. You can read about it online at www.morganswonderland.com

We will put up some photos when we get back home.