Undercover policeman in wheelchair sees acts of kindness

After two robberies of wheelchair-bound people that were carried out at knifepoint, a Vancouver police officer went undercover as a paralyzed man in a wheelchair with brain injury.

Much to his surprise, instead of being victimized, he saw repeated displays of human kindness in this rough neighborhood.

Sometimes he asked people to buy something for him, to see if they would steal his money. At the end of the operation, the officer had $24.75 more than he started with. People chose to give rather than steal.

We usually see news stories about people doing bad things, but those aren’t the only stories.

The reality is that there are lot of kind people in the world who treat others with respect and consideration.

Operation Wheelchair – YouTube.

More detail here:

Upworthy-wheelchair undercover

Toys representing handicapped children

The “Toy Like Me” campaign have asked to have more toys representing children with handicaps or disablilities. That way those kids ca, have dolls and characters they can relate to in a positive way, which is good for their image.

toys handicap

This is a recent message from the Playmobil Company in the UK:

“We always take on board a lot of feedback from children and fans across the world and design our toys to reflect this. The “Toy Like Me” campaign has been inspiring for us – we’ve listened to our audience and are delighted to offer our full support.

We are in the planning stages to release a PLAYMOBIL set which will include characters with disabilities, with part of the profits to be donated to a charity hand-selected by “Toy Like Me”. And moving forward, we will be looking into including more characters with disabilities in our ranges.

We receive a lot of positive comments from guardians of deaf and disabled children on how well our toys stimulate their learning and creativity, so we are thrilled to be able to champion their representation in the toy box.”

Playmobil handicap

 

The Sisters of Invention – “This Isn’t Disneyland”

The Sisters Of Invention are an Australia-based vocal group who write and produce all of their songs. The five girls in the group — Aimee, Annika, Caroline, Jackie and Michelle — all have a learning disability.
Read more at http://blog.theautismsite.com/sisters-of-invention-music/#b2zhI4vIvsXyetbB.99

The Sisters of Invention – This Isn’t Disneyland – YouTube.

New York survivor

Here is how this New Yorker describes his life:

“After I was born, I was the subject of a 45-minute dissertation at Columbia University. Almost all of my organs were born externally, and had to be sewn into my body. I don’t have a belly button– only a scar where my feeding tube used to be. My mother even tells me that she wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to stand, eat, or drink. But now I can rollerblade. I can do a handstand on my crutches. I’ve got a core group of friends, a girlfriend, a college degree, and I’m helping to manage a radio station at the age of 23.”

Humans New York handicap

Read more about ordinary and extraordinary New Yorkers at www.humansofnewyork.com/

Blind man sees his wife with bionic eye

After being fitted with a “bionic eye,” a blind man has been able to see his wife again for the first time in a decade, and they are both pretty overwhelmed…

The device needs further adjustment alongside some physical therapy. However, Mr Zderad can already see things like human forms and outlines of objects in intermittent flashes, and is even able to see his own reflection as a silhouette. He will probably never be able to see the details of faces, but he will be able to navigate his way around without a cane, which is a big boost to his quality of life.

“What an exciting, emotional thing to say:  ‘Yes, that is my wife,’” Zderad said. “I am grateful they made this as much about the person as the technology.”

via Mayo Clinic patient’s first impressions with bionic eye – YouTube.

Stop using the R-word!

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Here is what famous athlete Kasey Studdard has to say about being in Special Education for Learning Disabilities as a child:

“I was teased, ridiculed, and isolated.”

“It wasn’t for a lack of intelligence, but I simply couldn’t comprehend things in the same ways the other kids did.”

“Though I often nodded my head to signal that I understood, I did not.”

“Kids can be very mean…” ““Ha-ha, you’re in the RETARD class now!,” they mocked. “Kasey’s so stupid, they had to kick him out of our class,” they teased.”

“In my early teens, to my surprise, I found that I could do things on the court and on the field that other kids could not. Sports became my salvation.”

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t live solely on sports fields. That meant years and years of remedial coursework, time spent before and after school, and countless late nights just to keep up. My mother always made sure the work got done — and for that I will be eternally grateful.”

“it wasn’t the hard work that impacted me most growing up. It was the other students, my special education classmates — the ones with severe mental and physical disabilities who had it far worse than I did — who taught me more about life than any lesson plan ever could. For them, the struggle wasn’t just about self-esteem or fitting in or being “normal,” it was about survival itself.”

“That’s why I have always stood up for the less-fortunate.”

“Whenever I saw a disabled or disadvantaged child at one of our training camps, I would always take time to greet them with a smile and a hug, and to ask how they were doing .”

“I was one of the lucky ones — with sports providing salvation just in time — but everyone deserves an opportunity to shine.”

spread-the-word-badge-photo

Here is a video showing how the R-word (“retarded”) can be as offensive as any other insult against minorities.

https://youtube.com/R-word

You can take the pledge to stop using this mean word!

http://www.r-word.org/

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Fashion photographer takes photos of kids with disabilities

NYC-based photographer Rick Guidotti was in Cincinnati photographing local families of kids living with genetic, physical, and behavioral differences. His non-profit, Positive Exposure, aims to show the “beauty in human diversity.” Film produced by Carrie Cochran, September 2014. Exhibition in Cincinnati, October 2014.

NYC-based photographer Rick Guidotti was in Cincinnati photographing local families of kids living with genetic, physical, and behavioral differences. His non-profit, Positive Exposure, aims to show the "beauty in human diversity." Produced by Carrie Cochran. September 2014

via Former fashion photographer trades supermodels for kids with disabilities on Vimeo.

Boys speaking up for their sisters with Down Syndrome

When their house got spray-painted with hate grafiti, this family reacted to make people understand that their handicapped girls are NOT “retards”, an ugly word that we must stop to use…
If their story moved you, please click this link to go and pledge not to use that word yourself.
http://www.r-word.org

The Hollis Boys, 6 and 7, “Speaking up for our sisters” with Down Syndrome – YouTube.

Hugging experiment

▶ Jung von Matt/Limmat: Pro Infirmis Get closer. – YouTube.

When this handicapped man, Fabian, rides on the bus, some people will not want to sit next to him. When he wears a bear costume everyone wants to hug him…

What they are saying in this campaign is: get closer, don’t be afraid of handicapped people, everyone should be able to get hugs without a disguise!