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 Previous
Articles - September 2008 |
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disabledsouthwest.co.uk |
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 Not
so long ago, society considered romance unusual if not impossible
for people with disabilities. Thankfully, with the recognition
that physical disabilities don’t change the emotional need for
love and companionship, that’s no longer true.
Now, a new online dating service,
DisabledCupid.com
is dedicated to helping its members meet that need.
Founder Andrea Carless developed the site specifically to help
disabled men and women find love and romance while giving them a
chance to have plenty of fun at the same time. “Making it easier
for them to connect with other disabled singles who are seeking
friendship, dating and marriage is really important,” Carless
said. “That’s why I made it my goal to provide a safe Internet
dating service for individuals looking for romantic partners who
see beyond the wheelchair or the prosthesis to the real person.”
The site is already
bringing members together romantically. One couple who met online
recently is Ben and Hajnal. “After few days we both realised we
were born for each other,” Hajnal said. “We spent a wonderful week
together in Budapest. We both fell in love before the first
meeting, and it's getting stronger."
DisabledCupid.com uses the latest high-tech search tools to
allow its members to connect with one another in many ways. Video,
photo and voice options are available to make online communication
more enjoyable. Members can communicate with one another using
instant messaging, mailboxes, mobile messaging and even
reduced-rate telephone services. The site lets members find their
ideal romantic match based on a wide range of criteria from
personal interests to Zodiac signs to sexual energy. Members build
their personal profiles by selecting options in dozens of
categories with hundreds of different preferences to choose from.
A special section even provides etiquette and safety tips for
members who may be new to the dating scene
Safety and privacy are important elements of the
DisabledCupid.com site, too. While “HotLists” let members
connect quickly with their friends, special user names allow them
to remain anonymous even while communicating with other members,
and the “BlockList” feature gives them complete control over who
can contact them or see their profiles.
DisabledCupid.com, which adheres to the U.K. Data Protection
Act of 1988, combines accurate searching, interactive matching,
and a safe community environment for its members.
DisabledCupid.com is a part of World Dating Partners.
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Is diabetes a disability ? ... This is a moot point
... some people with diabetes live perfectly 'normal' lives, in that
their condition does not affect in anyway their day to day living.
For other people, myself included, diabetes leads to greater
problems, which can result in disability.
When diabetes comes up in conversation, nearly always someone knows
someone who is diabetic, or repeats the nugget they have gleaned from
TV advertising that there are a lot of people in the UK who are diabetic
and don't know it. And this is the problem I have. Everyone seems to
know a little about the subject but it doesn't seems important enough
for anyone to do anything about it.
Well here are the facts ....
There are 180,000 people in the South West with diabetes.
It is estimated that there are another 50,000 people who have
diabetes and don't know it.
And please don't think that diabetes is just an adult or older
persons disease ...
Globally ...
Type 1 diabetes ... usually diagnosed in children and
adolescents .. is growing by 3% per year in children and adolescents and
at an even greater 5% per year among pre-school children.
Type 2 ... which is normally associated with adults is growing
at alarming rates in children and adolescents.
A third type of diabetes, gestational diabetes, is a temporary
condition that occurs during pregnancy. It affects approximately 3.5 per
cent of all pregnancies and involves an increased risk of developing
diabetes for both mother and child.
Is diabetes serious?
If left untreated or improperly managed, diabetes can result in a
variety of complications. Worst case scenario ... you could go blind or
lose a limb.
If you are aged 40 or over, you are at risk for type 2 diabetes and
should be tested at least every three years.
Most people I talk to seem to have a basic understanding of the
symptoms, being thirsty all the time, the need to keep going to the loo
etc. BUT ..
It is important to recognize, however, that many people who have type
2 diabetes may display no symptoms.
Diabetes UK is the
largest organisation in the UK working for people with diabetes,
funding research, campaigning and
helping people live with the
condition. Their South West Regional
Office, based in Taunton has been open since 2005. Their
website can give you all the
information you should need.
Try taking the online ...
diabetes risk test
Please discuss this with your friends or email them
this page ... Remember ...
We don't know who those 50,000 are ... it could be
anyone !!! |
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 The
Bishop’s Forum was established in 1989 by a group of 12 individuals with a
background in industry, public service, land owning, private business and
the church. This group included the Bishop of Truro; hence the name. Its
mission was defined as promoting the advancement of education of young
people in Cornwall who through their social and economic circumstances are
in need and unable to gain employment. The Forum established its main
activity centre at Goodygrane Quarry, near Mabe, Falmouth, with outposts at
Baldhu, near Truro and on the river Fal.
The main site covers approximately 60 acres,
incorporating disused quarries Goodygrane and Palestine (with Jobswater and
Trevone quarries in the surrounding landscape). From information we have
gathered from historical documents and local stories we understand that
granite aggregate extraction from Goodygrane quarries was carried out by
several companies
up until the mid 1980’s. The BF began with a bank of 5 or 6 part time
instructors, who were employed on an ad-hoc
basis when their specific skill input was required. Today, we have a
management team of 7, 2 office members – finance and admin, 8 Level 2
instructors, 5 Senior Instructors, and 13 volunteers – a total of 35 members
of staff, and we have approximately 7,500 people visit per year.
Our activities include on and off-site canoeing, abseiling,
climbing , mountain boarding, swimming, snorkelling, kayaking, problem
solving, team building, archery, power boating, orienteering, survival
skills, surfing , sailing and coasteering.
We also have new for summer 2008 a dual zip wire, education
sessions for key stage 1-4 and improved disability access including a
cable car ride!
We tailor-make all our programmes to suit the needs of
groups and individuals. This can include on and off site trips and
residential experiences.
The Bishop’s Forum liaise with statutory bodies and voluntary
organisations concerned with the wellbeing of young people, particularly
those disadvantaged through social deprivation, physical and mental
disability and behavioural and / or learning difficulties. We provide
outdoor activity programmes, focussed on transferable life skills, with
certified instructors for young people referred to us through various
agencies, including Social Services, Probation, Education-out-of-School,
Leaving Care Team and The Youth Offending Team.
While this core work represents two thirds of the BF’s
work, the youth activity centres are equally popular with mainstream groups
such as Guides, Scouts, schools, external groups, businesses for corporate
team building events and even birthday parties hen and stag activities. This
additional work helps to finance our core work which therefore supports
community, social and economic issues in Cornwall.
To find out more, become a volunteer, corporate
partner or to book an activity day please contact
01326 340912 or visit
www.bishopsforum.org |
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ITV launches £1.5m online project to
bring storytelling to deaf children ITV is launching a major web-based
initiative to improve the literacy of thousands of deaf children.
A new website, www.signedstories.com, will build into
the world’s first free, fully accessible online library of signed books and
is ITV’s contribution to the 2008 National Year of Reading. Backed by
eight leading UK publishers and a host of stage, screen, literary and
sporting icons, Signed Stories will feature the best of contemporary
children’s books in British Sign Language (BSL) with audio, animation and
text. Each story will be sponsored at a cost of £5000 – with 100 going onto
the website in the first 12 months after launch, and a further 200 to follow
by 2011.
With a £1.5m sponsorship target for the first three years, the initiative is
designed to enable deaf children to access stories at a much earlier age,
and share in the joy and benefit of storytelling with hearing family and
friends. It follows a report from the National Deaf Children’s Society last
year that the UK education system is “a national scandal” because only a
third of deaf children achieve five A-C GCSE grades compared with 60% of
hearing children. Poor literacy is blamed for the growing attainment gap.
ITV’s Executive Chairman Michael Grade said: "ITV has a proud tradition of
creating on-screen access for deaf people. Web technology is enabling us to
extend inclusion. We hope the Signed Stories initiative will make a real
difference to the lives of deaf children and their families."
Successful trials of signed stories have already been held at schools in
England and Scotland. The National Literacy Trust is supporting the project.
And Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen is backing the initiative. He said: “I
am delighted to give my support to Signed Stories, an important and timely
project which has the potential to change lives.”
Celebrity supporters of Signed Stories include Robbie Coltrane, Joanna
Lumley, Bill Oddie, Zoe Wanamaker, Julia Sawalha, boxer Ricky Hatton and
Jonny Wilkinson.
www.signedstories.com |
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Editor: Alan Dawe - admin@disabledsouthwest.co.uk
Registered Office: No.2 - 13A Fore Street - Camelford - PL32 9PG - 01840
210264 |
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