Cool inventions for People with Diversities

Has anyone been watching the Olympics? I have been keeping track a bit. I had an amazing time in Vancouver when I went to the Vancouver Paralmpics and I wish I could go to another one. If any of you live in London or are able to travel therer to attend the games, you are lucky ducks! I have been watching the games on T.V. Usually, I don't like watching sports on T.V. but I figure the Olympics is pretty exciting so I should take part in viewing them. The opening ceremonies were amazing. The queen was even there. She flew out of a helicopter to get there! Paul McCartney sang that night. That was pretty cool. He sang "Hey Jude", which is my Mom's, Judy's favorite song so she was preety excited about that. I've been watching some of the sports. I like the swimming. In just heard from a friend on facebook that the Canadians won gold in womens swimming. Thats great! It always makes us canadians proud when our country wins a medal. I think the olympics is awesome. Some people say it cost too much money,but I think it's worth it. The Olympics and the Paralympics are for countries to be proud of who they are, and for the athlete to work hard and reach their best potentials! The Olympics are awesome! Go Canada Go! Anyway just a bit of an update on the Summer olympics and what I have been up to. Today, for this blog, I am going to write abou ten cool inventions that people with diversities use to make their lives a bit easier. I use quite a few of these inventions that I'm about to mention here, and they have opened up wide doors for me and have led me to some preety amazing adventures. I will also mention some inventions that I have seen that I think are really cool. It blows my mind how far we have come in including people with diversities and how much aparatisus and technology there is to help us get further and further in the world. People with the most severe diversities can do the most amazing things! Just take a look at the scientist, Stephen Hawking! We have come a long way, that is for sure. Here are ten inventions I've heard of or seen that have helped people with diversities get where we are today! 1. Computer- Isn't tecnology amazing! It has done wonders for lots of people with diversities. For me, it just helps me get assignents done in school, and has taught me how to type with one hand, whitch is something I love that I am able to do! For others though, it has made a world of a differencein their daily lives. Some computers help kids talks. My friend Oliva from camp uses one of those. She doen't use it to much at camp, but I think it is awesome that that it has given her a voice. She can be heard now, and I think that is one of her biggest wants in life, so it's pretty cool she has that option. There are Programs like Dragon Speak for people who can't use there hands. You just talk into the computer and and it types it out for you. Grace uses that as well as a keyboard that is on the screen of her computer. She clicks on the letter she wants to type and it types it for her. Where would some of us be without some technology. Things have chaged a lot since the olden days, true, some for the worst, but definetly some for the better People depended on these types of technology and it helps them be the best they can be. 2. Outrider- I have wrote about my Bugaboo trip and how amazing it was. I think I've shown you what the outrider I used looks like. Its like a big seat with wheels to get you up a mountain. It was a lot of stuff for me, probably more than I needed, but i still loved iit. I felt like a princess in it. The guys that took me up there were so friendly and helpful, and willing to do whatever it took to get us up there. It was preety heavy for them with me in it, but they did it. Ofcourse I got to walk up some, whitch was my favorite part, but I think I should advertize the outrider, because it is preety cool and can lead people with diversities to places they never thought they could get to. A friend of mine, who also has Cerebral Palsy, but has it quite severe and can't walk at all, has been up a mountain with an outrider. An Outrider are one more thing that shows people with diversitities that there are no limits, only amazing possibilities! 3. Sitski- I have talked a lot about my sitski and the sitsking program that is happening in my town. It's gotten kids out for two hours, once a week on the hill, something they never thought they could experience. I know I thought that before my first time skiing, and now look at what I do with my sitski. Grace has just begun to start her program in Fernie, B.C. For her, shes says, she has never felt this much freedom. That preety much says it all! Speeding down the mountain, with the wind blowing on their faces, you can tell that these sitskiers are having a blast. Freedom. Thats about the only way to explain the experience. Freedom. I can't wait to get out their this winter and start to ski again. People don't like hearing me say I can't wait for the winter but I don't care. I love skiing! 4. Cutting Board- Paige made one of these for me that I have at home. It helps me spread stuff like jam on toast. I just pop the bread in the toster, place the toasted bread in between the guards on the board and start spredding! I also have one in cook training. I think they bought it for me. It's a board with plastic guards and nails to sick whatever you want to cut on it. Using the toaster and the cutting board at home just makes my day go so much smoother. I don't have to wait for Mom to make me breakfast or just have plain old cereal for breakfast. With kitchen tools like thesae, meal options are endless. With these tools, and taking things one step, I'll be able to live on my own in no time. 5. Swings- I saw these on facebook. They lower to the ground and you just push a wheelchair on there, and just start pushing. There very cool! I'm not sure if elctric wheelchairs can get on them. They might be a bit heacvy, but, but it would be great for kids with manual chairs. I can get up off my chair and go sit on a swing. I love to swing! When I was little, swings were one of my favorite things. They were about the only thing I could do with no supervision. I could climb on the playground, but I needed someone with me the whole time. I could be all by myself on the swings. Some kids with diversities can't even go on on the playground at school. If these swings got put in at some more primary or elementary schools, it would intregrate children with diversities with all the other kids on the playground. Being equal means everything to kids with diversities, especially when they're little. If we can build some more equipment like swings for them in schools and in parks, there would be a whole bunch more happy kids ariund! 6. Shopping Carts- I think Costco in Calgary where I saw these. They were shopping carts with pieces of velcro or a belt attached to them. Someone in a wheelchair could just put the straps around them, or have help putting them around them, and the cart stays with them so they can just go shopping. I want to try one of those. I would be in my chair in a grocery store if I am shopping by myself. I could just strap the cart on and go! Simple stuff like that that enables me do something like shopping, just makes me so happy. I just conquered some new. I've done it once this summer myself and it felt awesome. Shopping is a daily chore that everyone needs to get done, so, these shopping carts would make people with diversities feel like they can funtion in the real world as much as anybody else can, whitch is what one of our biggest dreamms are! 7.Head comtrolled Remotes- In Novemer of 2009, Grace and I got to go to Ottawa to speck at the Senate Chambers on the "National Day of the Child" celebration, a day that celebrations all children and the diversities we all have that makes us unique.Grace and I went there to talk about Cannasisat, the group that invents diffrent technical apparatisus for diverse people to make their lives easier and to improve their independence. That was an awesome trip. It was probably one of my favorite things we did with SET B.C. Ottawa is such a beautiful province with lots of history. We'd walk around town and see all sorts of statues. I loved that trip and we went with a preety special group of people. Anyway, while we were at the Senate Chambers, we were showing all these kids diffrent tools that people with diversitties can use. One of them was a remote control headband. Someone with a diversity could strapthes headbands to there heads. These headbands have a remote inside them and a lazor. You set this remote to your T.V or lightswitch. Then all you have to do is point your headband at these things and it turns them on. Also, there is another cool device that is more for kids to use. A man named Darcy introduced this. He introduced it, saying imagine your a little kid who loves stuffed animals that talk, but can't play with them because you can't use your hands to turn them on For this problem,Cannasist invented a box that can flash. It's connected to the stuffed animal, and when you bend your head, so that the headband touches the box, the animal sings or dances or talks. Grace and I got to try these out. They were pretty cool. I think we got all three stuffed animals going. Kids love stuffed animals. When your little they're like your best friend, so these boxes give kids with divesities best freinds too. As for turning on light switches and stuff, the headbands just make it that much easier for a diversw person to strive for independence, whitch again is what they value. IT'S FREEDOM! 8. Ipads- I have an Ipad. My sister and I share it. We got it from our Mom. It has been easier for me because it's light and you can acess everything on it just like a computer. I'm writing this blog on my Ipad right now. You don't have to wait as long for things to load. It's just right there with the touch of a botton. I do everything on this. I write these blogs. I go on Facebook. Everything! It's easier for me because on a computer, I lean over a lot so it kind of hurts my back. I sit up straighter with these. I have a wireless keyboard that I use to type! It's great! I think they also can be used for school work too. When Grace and I were in Ottawa, we didn't have an Ipad,we had an adaptable Ipod. It had a big button attched to it, and each time you pressed it, it would do somethiing diffrent. It would turn on, turn off, switch songs, pause songs. It was the big hit of the day. We were showing it off, and one boy yelled out, "I want one of those We loved it when he did that. It was great advetising for Cannasist! Everyone wants to have fun! These tools help Diverse people do just that, because that's we really want! We just want to have fun! 9. Velcro- Oh my god! Isn't velco awesome! You just strap it over and away you go. I have had a lot of tye up shoes and I've had to ask for help, but with velcro,I can do it myself. Velcro shoes are hard to find, and usually the colour is just plain white. Recently, we have managed to find some purple and black shoes that are lace up and velcro. To get them on, all I have to do is do up the straps and try to tuck the laces in. It's a beautiful thing, velcro! In Cook training, Paige made me an apron with Velcro. I had a bit of a time reaching around and grabbing both sides with velcro with two hands. i have accomplished that now though. It's one more thing I can check off my to do list! I tell ya,Thank God for Velcro. 10. Bike- When I was about three in a half, maybe four years old, I got my first special bike from the Cerebral Palsy Association in Calgary Alberta. I didn't use the bike for to long. I think I grew out of it preety fast! it was neat though. It had four wheels to help with balance. It had a back support and a seatbelt for the seat. It also had straps on the pedals to strap you feet on. My feet always slide off things like bike pedals, so the staps on these kept my feet secure. I loved my bike. I could ride like all the other kids. I brought it to school for show and tell to show off how cool it was. I didn't use it for long, but I sure enjoyed it! A few years after I out grew my bike, I really wanted a new one. They were expensive though, and now I have my chair to get around downtown. The bike would be good for excercise for my legs but I do that stuff at physio too. The bike was fun. I was sad for a bit when I couldn't use it anymore, but I'm sure glad I have my chair though. With my chair, nothing can stop me! So, there are some inventions I have used or have seen or heard of. Simple things people do to tweak an object so it can be used by all, really can make a huge diffrence to someone. They can go anywhere they want or do anything they want! For people with diversities, adventures never stop, bigger and better ones just begin!