Aimee Mullins has 24 legs: Now what disability would that be?

First of all, go to college online by visiting the TED talks. Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world. Their words. All sorts of topics, all types of people, all walks of life, all corners of the globe. Ideas worth spreading, they call the concept. Hell yes. And when you see Aimee Mullins you better bet they’re worth spreading. She actually pushed me that bit further when I saw this vid, into the Am I actually a bit envious category. Watch, and listen for the ‘That’s not fair’ bit. I love this.

Thanks to my very good friend Karen Ardiff for bringing this to my attention.

And one more thing! If by chance you are in the Leinster region, are free this Saturday 21st, and can help with some focus group research to help newbie Ds parents, then Down Syndrome Centre could do with your help. Get in touch with Sheila.

On Saturday 21st November Down Syndrome Centre, with the generous support of Price Waterhouse Coopers, will be organising a focus group to establish recommendations/guidelines that parents of children with Down syndrome will make to support new parents with their child’s development in their first year. This will take place in PWC’s new offices on Spencer Dock in the IFSC from 9.30am to 1.00pm.

We hope this information will form a ‘roadmap’ of sorts which will greatly assist new parents in knowing what they should be doing/feeling etc in the first months of their new baby’s life.

Using blogs and social media to spread positive news

I mentioned that I was meeting the staff from Special Olympics Ireland recently. I had a talk with them about the benefits of using social media – such as this very blog – to help causes like themselves. There are a lot of online ways to talk to people, get their attention, give them your message, fundraise and so on.
The presentation I made to Special Olympics dealt with just three of these: Facebook, Twitter and blogging. People who blog, like many of you, are more often than not up to speed on just how useful tools like blogs are, but it’s easy to forget that not everyone is aware of how powerful online communications can be. My friend Hammie, for instance, uses her Facebook page as a fantastic outreach point for parents or guardians of children with autism, and it is a shining example of how to maximise new communications. Still, there’s a leap to be made for a lot of people, and very often a fear of launching into the unknown.
This is the presentation I put together to try to give the gang at Special Olympics Ireland a perspective on the many benefits of social media. If some of it makes no sense (seeing as I’m not actually standing there in front of you boring the arse off you) then just ask and I’ll try to fill in any gaps.

Soc Media For Special Olympics Ireland