9 Aug: Back Home

Been home a few days now - with 13 hours of video tape to make running lists for, so that we can match the footage from both cameras - and I've been on two days ot with DADLG in between - snow tubing at Whickham Falls, and on a Pirates BBQ on the Prince Bishop boat.

My stills camera broke on the first day at Montreal so all the pictures I have will have to be grabbed from the video footage. We have done Thursday to Monday so far and my PA, Craig is putting them on FaceBook with me tonight. We'll do a few each day.

I'm not sure how you will find my FaceBook, but my profile name is Michael Reed, and I'm in the Newcastle network.

1-9 August: ISAAC: Montreal

Here I am, in the Chinatown area of DownTown Montreal, a French-speaking Canadian City.

Our hotel is the Holiday Inn, right across the street from the Palais des Congres where the ISAAC Biennial Conference is on from Monday 4 August to Friday 7 August.  

Our taxi driver told us that just five minutes up the road from our hotel was a free music festival - there are stages set up on the streets for bands and DJs, and we had a great time there on Thursday night and Friday.

On Saturday we watched China's display for the International fireworks competition in Parc Jean-Drapeau.

Since Monday we are at the conference - we are filming it so we can share the highlights and make an AAC documentary. We are just back from the President's reception. We will be on a Canadian night out with ISAAC tomorrow night. We have filmed some of the workshops, and hope that some of AAC's leading lights will speak on camera for us the next two days.

Back soon...

28 July: DADLG: Batman

Met up with friends from Durham Area Disability Leisure Group at the Gala Theatre to see the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight. Thoroughly enjoyed it. And went for a meal at the Bishop's Mill after.

We were going to stay out all day and have a session at Clayport Library with our story writing team, but, with only a couple of days to go to my Montreal trip, we thought we'd better get home and work towards that.

18 July: 1 Voice: Transition

This year's teenage project was called 'Lost in Transition'. We had workshops, gave our own presentations, were filmed by Scope as part of their BT funded 'No Voice, No Choice' campaign, had a great time with friends that we only see once a year.

We hope we can get together again and work some more on Transition and becoming AAC Role Models, maybe even make a joint presentation.

24 June: DADLG: Quads BBQ

Always worth getting a bit dusty and wet for, the DADLG Quad bikes and BBQ night - good friends, good fun, good grub - will upload pics when I'm back in the UK.

20-22 June: Headlines Adventure

I had a great weekend with Headlines teenagers and families at the Pioneer Centre in Shropshire.

We climbed, abseiled, built rafts, went indoor caving, outdoor swimming, and played some really funny games round the campfire. I will write more and post some pictures soon but I am abroad right now.

13 June: MSOV: The Stories

I got together with my friends 17 times between April and June, and we wrote 2 stories for the ISAAC Many Stories, One Voice writing contest.

Around 100 stories were received from around the world and they are all going online shortly after the MSOV press conference at the ISAAC Biennial Conference in Montreal 4 August.

Everyone will have from August to October to practice reading the online stories ready for the reading events in libraries in October.