Spring Break Activities

The Easter break was full and busy.

My talk at the Learning Disabilities Parliament on 10 April went really well. Adult Services want to put a video of my presentation on their website. We will edit it as soon as possible.

The middle weekend I went to the Holiday Inn at Coventry, to be with friends who have Apert Syndrome and other craniofacial conditions. Our group, Headlines, is 15 years old this year.

We went bowling and had a barn dance on Saturday, and a movie-making workshop on Sunday. In between times we went swimming in the hotel pool.

On Wednesday of the second week I went on a bush craft day with Durham Area Disability Leisure Group.

On the Tuesday and Thursday I got together with friends to do art and story planning workshops. We painted pictures of ourselves, ready to put labels on and start building character profiles.

We started a story-writing group.

I gave a talk on my Pathfinder on the Tuesday about the story-writing contest we are entering, and how to plan a story.

Some friends were away and couldn’t come. Let me know if you want to write stories with us, and I will invite you to our next story workshop.

We need to meet at least once a week between now and end of May, to write our stories.

We could meet on weekdays after school, or Saturdays.

We might meet at Chilton College, The Store at Dipton, Clayport Library, or ask if we can have a room at Gilesgate Community College or Framwellgate Secondary School.

We have booked a room at Clayport Library for Friday 9 May from 5pm to 7pm. We hope to meet before then, one day next week.

The lady we spoke with at Clayport today was very interested in our project and she is going to contact our school, other schools, and other libraries to help us promote the writing contest and the October reading events.

I'll keep you posted with whatever we arrange.

Story Planning Workshops

I am getting together with friends at Chilton Community College on Tuesday 15 April, and The Store at Dipton on Thursday 17 April, both days from 10 am - 3 pm, for art workshops and to design characters for our stories for Many Stories, One Voice.

Many Stories, One Voice is an international AAC and Literacy event for people who have communication difficulties and physical disabilities. People who would benefit from AAC.

AAC is the name for the many things that help people with communication difficulties, like talking boxes, computers, books and boards with letters and symbols, and sign language.


The writing Contest is part of International AAC Awareness Month in October, when people with speech, communication, and physical disabilites will read aloud stories, poems and essays from one big online collection, in libraries around the world.

Entries are welcome from all ages. People can work alone or in teams. They can have as much help as they need, including having their stories written for them.

The events are being arranged by the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication, ISAAC, http://www.isaac-online.org/.

There's a special website for Many Stories, One Voice events http://www.aacawareness.org/.

Don't forget to phone me to let me know if you are coming on 15 April and 17 April.

Chilton is a big venue but places are limited at Dipton.