Photo Credit: Freddie B. Photography™ Bruck An Der Mur (Bruck on the Mur, i.e. Mur River) is one of your everyday picturesque villages located in the Austrian state of Styria, having a population of approximately 13,500 people, and rich with culture and history, including a trade in scrape metal that dates back to around 800 BC. But this year, Bruck An Der Mur is one of the Austrian cities chosen as a Host Town for Special Olympic World Winter Games Austria 2017. During the Special Olympic World Winter Games, host towns provide accomodations for the various athletes from around the world and transportation to the various event venues. In addition, for three days before the games, the various host towns introduce and immerse the athletes to the local culture and traditions, and hold interculteral social events – experiences that no doubt will impact the lives of these athletes and forevermore enrich them with memories that will last a lifetime. On March 15th, Bruck An Der Mur had a cause for celebration – after being ignited in Athens, Greece in early March, the Flame of Hope (Olympic Flame for the Special Olympics) arrived at the quaint town on the final leg of it’s 50 Austrian town journey by members of the Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR) comprised of 80 law enforcement officers from around the world; 10 which are from Austria, and 10 international Special Olympics athletes along with numerous police cadets from Austria. The LETR was founded in 1981 in...

Bruck An Der Mur welcomed the Special Olympics' Flame of Hope, celebrating with athletes, culture, and fundraising by law enforcement.

Special Olympic World Winter Games Host Town Bruck An Der Mur Welcomes the Flame of Hope

When the ABC sitcom Speechless premiers September 21, 2016, viewers will see a different kind of sitcom family. Minnie Driver plays Maya, the mother of three kids, one of which is a special needs child confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak. It has been over 25 years since a star in a TV show emphasized the life of a special needs child. Life Goes On (1989-1993) had Chris Burke as Corky, a young boy with Down syndrome. Speechless has Micah Fowler as JJ, a young boy with cerebral palsy. Driver’s character does everything in her power to make sure her kids have a “normal” life and goes out of her way to create a positive environment for JJ, often to the extent of overdoing her attention to him and his needs and possibly giving less attention to her other two children. Speaking to the media at the recent Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour, Driver explained, “You know, when I read this, it is a high degree of difficulty to pull this particular character off, because she’s a lot. And someone said that “Speechless” refers to JJ, the character’s nonverbal situation, but also [my character of] Maya renders people speechless with the stuff that she says. I think I understand her. I’m a mother. All mothers fight hard for their children. To have a child with special needs, you have to fight so much harder, from everything that I learned. So yeah, I was up for the challenge.”...

'Speechless' sitcom depicts a family with a special needs child, emphasizing the mother's fight for a 'normal' life for him.

‘Speechless’ Series Focuses on Special Needs

What a treat for this correspondent to be part of today’s press conference. April 16th 2015 marks “100 Days” until the Special Olympics World Games kicks off this July. As everyone gathered to hear from former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, President of LA2015 Patrick Mc Clenahan, and Olympian Julie Foudy, the energy was absolutely electric at the LA84 facility. The global messengers were excited to present the press and the world with the new medals for this year’s 2015 games. There will be 7,000 athletes from 177 countries participating in this global event.     Hearing cheers from the crowd as ambassador to this years games, Dustin Plunkett, introduced the former Mayor. Villaraigosa gave an inspiring speech asking that everyone participate by attending or volunteering, and he also asked the corporate Los Angeles to donate funds to the cause. He called Los Angeles, “The City of America’s hope and promise” and expects that the games will be successful.    It was fun to see a personal favorite of mine, Greg Louganis, winner of the gold in ‘84 & ‘88. In 1984 Greg received the James E. Sullivan Award from the Amateur Athletic Union as the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States. His presence was that of inspiration and strength. Julie Foudy, Olympic Gold Medal in soccer, gathered a group of the female Global Messengers for a fun photo opportunity. It was so sweet to see how happy they all were with her at the center,...

Special Olympics World Games begin in 100 days with 7,000 athletes from 177 nations; LA's elite gather to celebrate & seek support.

100 Days until we meet our Real Heroes

The Taylor’s Gift Foundation is all about giving the gift of life.  The Beginning with Taylor  Todd and Tara Storch started the Taylor’s Gift Foundation in 2010 when their thirteen year-old daughter, Taylor, passed away from injuries received in a skiing accident on a family vacation in Colorado. In the midst of coping with their unfathomable grief, Todd and Tara decided to donate Taylor’s organs. As a result, Taylor was able to save five lives through organ donation. In her memory, the parents organized the Taylor’s Gift Foundation and made it their mission to re-gift life through providing a way for others to hear their story and to sign up to become an organ donor.  Proud Spokespersons for Organ Donation  Over the years, I’ve had the honor to interview Todd as well as Taylor’s Gift celebrity spokesperson Alex O’Loughlin (Steve McGarrett, Hawaii Five-0). I’ve also had the privilege to speak with Producer Carol Barbee, who created and spearheaded the life-changing CBS series Three Rivers, whose theme was organ donation. Most recently, I had the pleasure to interview Survivor host Jeff Probst, who has in the last few months signed on as the newest celebrity spokesperson for Taylor’s Gift. What he had to share with me was priceless.  The Jeff Probst Show    Todd and Tara were guests on The Jeff Probst Show in May of last year. Probst was unaware of the Taylor’s Gift Foundation prior to that time, but after meeting Todd...

Jeff Probst advocates for organ donation after Taylor's Gift Foundation inspired him, highlighting life-saving impacts.

Survivor host Jeff Probst Speaks Out for Organ Donation

Our family’s story became a national discussion when, after years of unsuccessful advocating for support for our mentally and organically disabled daughter, we made a decision to send her to live with another family in another state where she would be able to get the support that eluded us. Many people assume that our story is just another adoption story and though I came to live it because we adopted, that is not at all what it is about. I am a huge proponent of adoption and I place blame on no one. Our story is our story. Our adoption, and only our adoption, was sadly built on a foundation of deceit. Perhaps for all the right reasons, our daughter’s birthmother chose to hide her prenatal abuse to find the best family for her baby. Her mindset was, no doubt, that the right family could undo any of the harm she caused to the baby by her drug and alcohol abuse, no less her own psychological problems. The trouble started when she didn’t tell us about that abuse. We never knew what we didn’t know to know. The moral of our story is that unconditional love is just that. You do what is best for your children because you love them unconditionally. That includes letting them go, whether or not they have reached the prime age of 18. After a series of events that left the integrity of our entire family in the balance, we were forced into creating a...

Family shares struggle with support for disabled daughter, sparking national debate on special needs and system failures.

Special Needs In Our Homes: A National Discussion That Must Continue

 News reports of abuse against individuals with disabilities have been exploding across the news. Stories of children being left on the bus, subjected to electroshock therapy, and even parents sending kids to school with a wire because of suspected abuse from teachers have all surfaced and are cause for concern regarding the disability care system.   Governor Andrew Cuomo says his priority for the next several weeks is to reform the system to better protect individuals with disabilities. With the end of the year’s legislative session on June 21 approaching fast, the governor has very limited time to accomplish this goal.   Part of Cuomo’s plan is to build a new agency that would investigate and record instances of abuse or neglect. This new plan would also make it easier to discharge those who engage in abuse or neglect of these individuals with disabilities.   200 New York State employees are under fire, and reports suggest these people will lose their jobs for “substantiated allegations of abuse.” The Office for People with Developmental Disabilities employs thousands of people, but they have been trying to fire about 200 people, some of whose cases have dragged on for over a year.    Governor Cuomo believes he can get support from parents and disability advocates; he believes their rally will be enough to get lawmakers to respond quickly.   You can read more about Governor Cuomo’s proposed plan at the Justice Center for the Protection of...

Gov. Cuomo aims to reform the disability care system by creating a new agency to tackle abuse, with plans to fire 200 NY employees.

Governor Cuomo: Protecting the Disabled

During the last twenty-five years I’ve been part, as a parent and/or a bookseller, of more than a thousand conferences on disabilities. They have been pretty much all over the map, both geographically and in terms of their subjects. I can remember one—only one—that I would just as soon have missed. And now that I think about it, I learned something valuable even there. All the rest offered nuggets of information, friendships and adventures that made them stand out in my memory as somewhere between “Wonderful” and “Well worth going!”  From time to time SpecialNeeds.com will feature particular meetings we believe you would want to know about. In the meantime, email me at Editor@SpecialNeeds.com with events you’d like to share.   Next week the Autism Institute of the University of San Diego holds its annual Summer conference.   The Institute was developed in 2005 through the vision of Dr. Anne M. Donnellan. Dr. Donnellan has been a pioneer in the field of autism since the 1970’s when she began her career in San Diego by opening the first pre-school for children with autism. This is not a conference about diet, legislation, or even, strictly speaking, about “awareness.” It is about understanding the condition, in particular from the point of view of those who have it. The Monday keynote is by the extraordinary Paula Kluth. On Tuesday, Kate McGinnity and Nan Negri discuss Kate’s new book/DVD about video modeling, Lights! Camera! Autism! followed by a booksigning. With a...

Introducing: CONFERENCE WATCH

For children and families living with Autism Spectrum Disorders in West Los Angeles, Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services has a whole lot of answers to the the question, “What can we do?” As CEO Dr. Elias Lefferman says, “You do everything you can whenever you can.” On November 3, 2011, Vista hosted the Third Annual Autism Conference for professionals and families. The theme was inspiration, exploring what people are engaging in as families, individuals and schools. This year in particular, the conference served to showcase Miracle Theatre, part of the Vista Inspire Program. Headed by Elaine Hall, a renowned autism educator and children’s acting coach, Miracle Theatre is a place for children with all forms of autism to socialize and put on shows. “When you see a show, you’re seeing a point in time,” says Dr. Lefferman. “What you don’t see is what led up to it.” Children with autism and other special needs who participate in the Miracle Theatre program may have language skills and some may not, but with the help of volunteer mentors, all children find that there is a place for them in theatre. Dr. Lefferman tells the following story “so that with one anecdote you get a sense of what goes on here.” There was one girl in the program who would arrive at rehearsals and immediately hide in a corner. Even with a mentor it was difficult for her to come out and interact with the other children, but after a six-month...

Vista Del Mar in W. LA supports those with autism through conferences, theatre programs, education, and community initiatives.

Vista Inspires Autism Community

Tim Tebow is the most talked about athlete in America right now. With his 80-yard OT touchdown pass in the playoffs against the Pittsburgh Steelers last week and subsequent 9,420 tweets about him on Twitter per second, Tim Tebow makes news wherever he goes. What fans may not know is that besides football, Tebow’s other passion is helping people with disabilities and those who have lost hope due to illnesses like cancer “find a brighter day in their darkest hour of need.” That is the mission of the Tim Tebow Foundation. One of the outreach efforts of the Tim Tebow Foundation is a partnership with Dreams Come True in Jacksonville, FL. Together, they formed the “Wish 15” (W15H) program, which fulfills the dreams of those who have life-threatening conditions, whose wish it is to meet Tim Tebow. Each week Tebow selects someone who is suffering due to illness or their disability and flies that person and their family to the Broncos game. He puts them up in a hotel, buys them dinner, gets them pregame passes and visits with them before the kickoff and even after the game. Remember that day when Tebow had just made the Twitter record-breaking, game-winning touchdown pass? He was spending the hour immediately after the game with 16-year-old Bailey Knaub from Loveland, CO. Bailey has had 73 surgeries so far for a rare disorder called Wegener’s granulomatosis, and she calls meeting Tebow “a bright star among very gloomy and difficult days.”  “He’d just played...

Tim Tebow Foundation aids disabled and ill people, forming wishes like meeting Tebow and creating playrooms worldwide.

Tebow Foundation Helps Those with Disability

One in 110 children in the U.S. are currently estimated to have autism, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With the rate of diagnoses skyrocketing in recent years, some newly proposed changes to the definition of autism would likely slow the rate of diagnoses but would also make it difficult for families whose children would no longer fall under the umbrella of autism spectrum disorders. A panel of experts appointed by the American Psychiatric Association has the task of reassessing the definition of autism for the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The new manual is expected to narrow the criteria for autism, possibly excluding people with a diagnosis who are “higher functioning.” It would also consolidate Asperger syndrome and “pervasive developmental disorder—not otherwise specified” (P.D.D.-N.O.S.) along with autism under the category of autism spectrum disorder, thus eliminating Asperger syndrome and P.D.D.-N.O.S. from the manual. As it stands now, the criteria for diagnosing autism allows for a person exhibiting six or more of 12 behavioral signs to qualify. Under the revised definition, a person must also exhibit three deficits in social interaction and communication and at least two repetitive behaviors for a diagnosis of autism to be made. While some say that these changes are an attempt to make it easier to diagnose autism, many advocates argue that if higher-functioning people lose their diagnosis status, they may not be able to receive the insurance coverage, special education, or other assistance that...

Proposed changes to autism's definition may reduce diagnoses, exclude higher-functioning cases, impacting service eligibility.

New Definition of Autism Worries Some

Phil Keoghan has been the impeccably dressed and proper host for 20 seasons of CBS’s The Amazing Race. On February 18, audiences will see him in a different role: as the subject of a new documentary, The Ride, which follows Keoghan as he bikes across America with a team of four other people. Keoghan set out with the goal of raising $1 million in funds for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and awareness for a disease that affects approximately 400,000 Americans. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, debilitating illness that attacks the central nervous system and can appear in children as well as adults. In The Ride, Keoghan travels from Los Angeles to the East coast with his father, his training partner Ben, cameraman and best friend Scott, and a protective former highway patrolman named Greg. Their journey takes them through 39 cities in 40 days. Along the way, Keoghan battles exhaustion, numerous spills, and even a dangerous crash in Ohio that leaves him bloodied and shaken. Keoghan, a native New Zealander, began his career as a camera assistant and has since worked in over 100 countries as an actor, host, producer, director, author and speaker. He has also won eight Emmy awards for his work as a producer and host of The Amazing Race.  Watch Keoghan and his team reach the $1 million goal for MS on the February 18 premiere of The Ride, airing on Showtime at 8 pm, ET/PT. Source: Tulsa World 


Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan bikes across the US in 'The Ride' documentary to raise $1M for MS, covering 39 cities in 40 days.

Amazing Race Host Bikes across U.S. for MS

After an autism-friendly showing of The Lion King on Broadway last fall, the Theatre Development Fund received interest in other shows from approximately 1,500 people. Now The Fund has bought out the 1,797-seat New Amsterdam Theatre and 1,677-seat Minskoff Theatre for a matinee performance of Mary Poppins and The Lion King, respectively.  The specially designed autism showing of Mary Poppins will be presented on April 29. Tickets are already nearly sold out, having been offered at discount prices on the Fund’s website. Tickets for the showing of The Lion King will go on sale in late spring, for the September 30 performance. Both shows will be altered to adjust to the sensitivities of children with autism. No jarring sounds or strobe lights will be used. Quiet areas with beanbag chairs and coloring books will be set up within the theatre and staffed by autism experts, in the event anyone feels overwhelmed during the performances. Disney Theatrical Productions consulted with experts and the Fund to identify moments within The Lion King where sounds or lights needed to be softened. The volume was toned down in the opening number, as well as on steam blasts and Mufasa’s roar. Actors still walked in the aisles, which the audience enjoyed in the performance last October.  The Fund also publishes a guide, which alerts families who have children with autism to what they can expect during the show, such as what ushers do and what happens during a curtain call. After the pilot...

Broadway plans autism-friendly shows of 'The Lion King' and 'Mary Poppins' with altered sound/light, quiet zones, and expert staff.

Autism-Friendly Shows Planned for Broadway

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Special Needs
Articles

Special Olympic World Winter Games Host Town Bruck An Der Mur Welcomes the Flame of Hope

‘Speechless’ Series Focuses on Special Needs

100 Days until we meet our Real Heroes

Survivor host Jeff Probst Speaks Out for Organ Donation

Special Needs In Our Homes: A National Discussion That Must Continue

Governor Cuomo: Protecting the Disabled

Introducing: CONFERENCE WATCH

Vista Inspires Autism Community

Tebow Foundation Helps Those with Disability

New Definition of Autism Worries Some

Amazing Race Host Bikes across U.S. for MS

Autism-Friendly Shows Planned for Broadway

Find Providers Near You

Special Needs Articles

Special Olympic World Winter Games Host Town Bruck An Der Mur Welcomes the Flame of Hope

‘Speechless’ Series Focuses on Special Needs

100 Days until we meet our Real Heroes

Survivor host Jeff Probst Speaks Out for Organ Donation

Special Needs In Our Homes: A National Discussion That Must Continue

Governor Cuomo: Protecting the Disabled

Introducing: CONFERENCE WATCH

Vista Inspires Autism Community

Tebow Foundation Helps Those with Disability

New Definition of Autism Worries Some

Amazing Race Host Bikes across U.S. for MS

Autism-Friendly Shows Planned for Broadway

Find Providers Near You

Special Needs
Articles