#nwacs

[pixierainbows]

Being a Good Communication Partner Tip 6: Create space - Pause and Wait

The people around an AAC user are communication partners. AAC users interact with many communication partners across their day. Good communication partners are critical! Our actions during a communication interaction influence the "vibe" of that encounter. This month, we are talking about how we can grow and improve as communication partners!

Our next tip is to create time and space for active participation from the AAC user.

AAC Users: what would you add or change?

[ashleysdesign]

Tired of the uncomfortable bleachers while cheering for your favorite athlete? Or maybe your athletes needs a duffel bag to keep all their gear together? We embroider stadium seats with your team’s logo as well as sport and school bags so you can have it all and show your team pride. We even offer personalization.

[verbaldiaryofcoachjt]

Wow. What a year. This group committed to trusting each other and the process. They committed to being ambitious, self-aware, and supportive. The trusted A.S.S. is always reliable. This team embodies that spirit. Good habits and great character. We want to make @camosunchargers and @camosun the best place in Canada to play college ball. We want it to be a joyful experience. While we may not be 100% there, we definitely took a giant step in that direction. I'm so grateful and proud to be their coach. I've learned so much from everyone in these pictures as we've grown together. We did the dirty work and took home the dirty gold. A 5 win improvement including 7 wins over teams ranked in the top 15 and the #nwac north region champs, 10th in 🇨🇦 and 🥉 in BC. Stay hungry my friends, there are great things ahead. #camosunchargersbasketball #camstate💙 #PACWESTBC #CCAA #chargerswbball #character #yearofthedonkey (at Camosun College Chargers) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpgCpRaPdVp/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[humanrightsconnected]

It’s International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples! Learn from Cordillera Peoples Alliance, Illuminative, Lakota People's Law Project, Native American Rights Fund, Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), NDN Collective, and PINGO’s Forum how to defend Indigenous rights! 

[awetistix]

Introduction!

• hi! you can call me Juni, Blue, or by my blog name. they/them or name only ( favorite )

• I am an adult with developmental and acquired disabilities

• diagnosed with: ASD, ADHD-PI, GAD, PTSD, eczema, plus a history of torsional deformities, pABI ( brain bleed, high ICP, CFS leak, and temporal bone fracture ), more concussions, and very preterm birth*

• part time AAC user

• my mobility needs include using forearm crutches or a rollator as needed for chronic fatigue and polyarthralgia

• this is a side blog for sharing my thoughts, feelings, and experiences

Tags, user boxes, resources, and footnotes below the cut!

Tags!

#awetistix highlights (link) - my "featured" posts

#awetistix originals (link) - all of my posts

#awetistix polls (link) - polls I have made

#awetistix answers (link) - asks

" secret " bonus tag! sometimes I say stuff in the tags n tag it with "awetistix yaps"

Credit @box-life-hermit ( link )

Credit @puppyuserboxes ( link )

Credit @autisticdreamdrop ( link )

Credit @adhdoofenshmirtz ( link )

Credit @timberbark ( link )

Credit @another-userbox-blog ( link )

Resources!

• Communication Bill of Rights PDF (link) - PDF. The Communication Bill of Rights ensures the basic rights of people with disabilities to use communication to take part in managing their own lives.

• Northwest Augmentative Communication Society (NWACS) (link) - Website.

• SPELLERS (link) - Video.

*Footnote: ASD = Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD-PI = Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Predominantly Inattentive, GAD = Generalized Anxiety Disorder, PTSD = Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, pABI = Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury, ICP = Intracranial Pressure, CFS = Cerebrospinal

[mountrainiernps]

Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than what we could learn from books.” – John Lubbock

When it comes to learning from nature, winter can be a very clear and crisp teacher. If you see one avalanche, you know immediately that the natural processes at work in this season are strong and dangerous.

Avalanches can occur on many slopes in the national park. The wonderful folks at the Northwest Avalanche Center, NWAC, (their forecasts cover our mountain hint hint) have great educational opportunities for learning about avalanches. The science is just as incredible as avalanches are dangerous.

Before you venture away from the parking lots, it is a good thing to find out about avalanches and what you can do to stay safe.

What do you do to learn about winter recreation before you visit the national park?

Have you taken an avalanche class either in person or online?

Are you now a snow geek, sending observations to NWAC to help out your fellow winter recreationists?

Park information on winter safety can be found here https://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/winter-safety.htm  Northwest Avalanche Center is at Home - Northwest Avalanche Center (nwac.us)

NPS/S. Lofgren Photo. View looking up a snow blanketed Panorama Point after an avalanche has come down. Crown of avalanche visible at top of ridge and snow debris in chunks at the bottom of the ridge. January 2019. NPS/C. Roundtree Photos. Side by side images of Comet Falls. Left image from July 31, 2011 shows Comet Falls water falling over cliff into a narrow canyon with evergreen trees on each side. Right image from July 16, 2012 show Comet Falls water falling over cliff into canyon partly filled with snow from a winter avalanche with some broken trees showing.

[marklyndersay]

Nefta Kojo performed Dance of Hope with Kaiso House in 2023. She made her debut with the tent in 2006 after performing with Klassic Russo for 17 years. She began singing professionally at the age of 15. Kojo has been a finalist multiple times at the NWAC Calypso Queen competition. She wrote new work during the two years of the pandemic and started a natural fruit juices business. #calypso #kaiso #tent #music #Carnival #singer #performance #trinidad #trinidadandtobago #tuco #kaisohouse #portofspain #queensparksavannah #motherofallcarnivals #2023 The Calypsonians 2020 began as an attempt to survey and record in portraits the calypsonians working in tents during each year's Carnival season. It is an imperfect record, dependent on the willingness of individuals to participate and tents to accommodate the project. The first photographs were made in 2020 with visits to five calypso tents. During the pandemic, it was continued in 2021 and 2022 with photos done in an office at the studios of WACK TV during streaming sessions hosted by the station. (at Queen's Park Savannah) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpOmJBTu7qV/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[nwacs]

New on the NWACS Blog! As we wrap up December 2022, we are highlighting Right #15 of the Communication Bill of Rights: The right to have culturally and linguistically appropriate communications. 

From the blog:

"At its core, we all have a responsibility to confront our own biases and continually learn to do better by our AAC users, full stop. We have an obligation to respect and uphold their right to culturally and linguistically appropriate communication. And the entire Communication Bill of Rights."

Visit the blog to explore resources, strategies, and considerations for culturally and linguistically responsive AAC practices.

[coochiequeens]

Canada .....

The Native Women’s Association of Canada isreeling after Ottawa cut $48 million from the advocacy organization, resulting in a staff of 75 being reduced to 30.

“Leaving us to start the fiscal year with $10 million — that’s a very significant decrease,” CEO Lynne Groulx told Global News.

A national apprenticeship program and several smaller programs administered by NWAC ended in March and with that ended the federal funding.

Groulx said NWAC has long lobbied for stable core funding to operate, and not just project funding, which comes and goes.

The organization has found itself in the crosshairs of critics over how it has spent money in recent years, renovating its head office in Gatineau to include high-end event rental spaces, opening luxury “resiliency lodges” in Quebec and New Brunswick, and until this funding cut, planned to start a boutique hotel.

Also Canada

By Shay Woulahan. April 12, 2024

A trans-identified man and diaper fetishist in Canada who identifies as “non-binary” has won his legal case against the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) to have them pay for an experimental surgery that would leave him with both his penis and a “neo-vagina.” Ontario taxpayers will now be forced to spend up to $70,000 flying him to Texas for the surgery due to its unavailability in Canada.

The man, 33, was simply identified as KS in the lawsuit, and made international headlines last week after Ontario’s Divisional Court began deliberating on whether he was entitled to have an “penis-preserving vaginoplasty” covered by the province’s public health scheme.

See rest of article

[drmaqazi]

SAHIH AL-BUKHARI, Book 8, Hadith 35

Chapter (22): To offer As-Salat (the prayers) on the bed

باب الصَّلاَةِ عَلَى الْفِرَاشِ

وَصَلَّى أَنَسٌ عَلَى فِرَاشِهِ.

وَقَالَ أَنَسٌ كُنَّا نُصَلِّي مَعَ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فَيَسْجُدُ أَحَدُنَا عَلَى ثَوْبِهِ

Narrated `Aisha (RadiyAllahu ‘anhaa) :

Allah’s Apostle (SallAllahu ‘alaihi nwac Sallim) prayed while I was lying like a dead body on his family bed between him and his Qiblah.

حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ بُكَيْرٍ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا اللَّيْثُ، عَنْ عُقَيْلٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ شِهَابٍ، قَالَ أَخْبَرَنِي عُرْوَةُ، أَنَّ عَائِشَةَ، أَخْبَرَتْهُ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم كَانَ يُصَلِّي وَهْىَ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ الْقِبْلَةِ عَلَى فِرَاشِ أَهْلِهِ، اعْتِرَاضَ الْجَنَازَةِ.

Reference

: Sahih al-Bukhari 383

In-book reference

: Book 8, Hadith 35

USC-MSA web (English) reference

: Vol. 1, Book 8, Hadith 380

(deprecated numbering scheme)

[pixierainbows]

Being a Good Communication Partner Tip 7: Be an Active Listener

The people around an AAC user are communication partners. AAC users interact with many communication partners across their day. Good communication partners are critical! Our actions during a communication interaction influence the "vibe" of that encounter. This month, we are talking about how we can grow and improve as communication partners!

Our next tip is to be patient and listen for understanding.

AAC Users: what would you add or change?

[Image 1 text: Being a Good Communication Partner Tip #7: Be an Active Listener. www.nwacs.info

Image 2 text: Be a Good Communication Partner. Good communication partners are patient and listen for understanding. Be sure to allow time for the AAC user to finish what they are saying. Stay non-judgmental and non-directive. Focus on trying to understand their idea or message.

Image 3 text: Be a Good Communication Partner.

- Give your undivided attention.

- Listen with all your senses. Gather information from all their signals to help you understand their intended message.

- Show that you are listening (e.g., look at them, move closer or change body position, nod, make sounds to indicate you are listening, etc.).

Image 4 text: Be a Good Communication Partner.

- Ask clarifying questions to help develop your understanding.

- Confirm you have understood their message.

- Help repair communication breakdowns.]

[aventurinedeep]

Study in Canada.

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IELTS overall 6 or above & PTE score of 50 or Above & TOEFL score of 70 or above

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✔ Finish Degree in 2.5 – 3 years

✔ Post Graduate work permit for up to 3 years

✔ All Boards Accepted 10+3 years Diploma / Open Schooling / NIOS/ NWAC

Contact for the Application. No charges.

[nwacs]

CoughDrop has some great features! It's a highly customizable application that is worth exploring.

Disclaimer: NWACS does not endorse any specific companies, products, or services. Content shared is for informational purposes only.

Hey fellow disabled/ND folks!

For anyone who has speaking/communication difficulty, I found an AAC app for Android that has built-in eye tracking and starts with 120+ boards! You can customize any of them. My favorite is to do entire phrases text to speech and then just click that say a whole phrase.

Usually I use ASL or the app "Big Word" for Android (due to deafness) but I switched to AAC recently, it's way more convenient text-to-speech (TTS) and symbol based is easier if words are hard that day, for me it's usually due to burnout.

Coughdrop is seriously next level for how low $ the subscription is, it's 2 month free trial and $6/mo after.

This is an example default board tracking my eyes, using Dwell as the selection criteria on "want":

I also have a daily board for at home where I programmed a bunch of full TTS phrases with symbols:

It's a little complicated to set up at first but if you have support or you're a tech-oriented person it's a breeze 🙌🏼

BTW you're always "disabled enough" to communicate with alternative methods if you need to!! Don't deny yourself the ease of communication, you should always explore ways to express yourself 🤟🏻

[everyoneskyoki]

How the fuck can a person save for a car and not be willing to break thier body in the process on top of paying everything else? (Bills and rent)

Is there something better for someone that has a Highschool degree and to poor for college? I'm think about calling an NWAC counselor and try to get a trade job or something. I even considered being a realtor because I know the money would be plentiful, but I think my morals are getting in the way.

How much blood and tears do I need for a car and a license?

[izatrini]

17 to compete for NWAC Calypso Queen title - TT Newsday http://dlvr.it/Sgpf5x