WELCOME

Among those of us who care deeply for and about people with developmental disabilities, I hope to hear emerge a new voice, ours, rising together for the benefit of all, harmonizing with reason, respect and hope, and transcending divisions, giving birth to a new era of creative cooperation.

Toward this potential, DD EXCHANGE is for conversation, civil sounding off, sharing of stories, experience, information, resources, and inspiration, giving and receiving support, and creative problem solving.


Finding Your Way Around

TO SEE OTHER'S INPUT: below each post on the right, click "links to this post;" or in the left side column, under "Labels," click the discussion link that interests you.

If there is no comment box below the post, click on
"# comments." It should open one.

TO CONTRIBUTE: add comments to posts in comment boxes &/or submit an article. Comments may also be sent for posting on your behalf. Email address as follows:

EMAIL: ddexchanges@gmail.com

MAILING LIST: add or remove name:
send request to email address, above.

WEB LINKS: to access other websites of interest, in the list to the right, just click on the underlined name.

FOLLOWERS: interested people, websites, organizations, businesses
who follow our discussions & choose to be public about their support.
Become a follower. Public support is a good thing!




Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Developmental Disabilities Exchange:

Everyone's Input is Welcome

This evening, I finally can invite everyone to participate in this blog. Until now, the "comment" section has been locked; and it seemed wrong to invite you to conversation and then prohibit it, so I've been waiting. I am new to this business of blogging, so I'm just feeling my way along.

Part of my background is as a facilitator of peer support groups. Our groups were premised on the belief that when each person truly feels heard, s/he has or can find all his/her own best answers. I am also depending on that premise as I begin this blog. Additionally, I am depending on synergy, the concept that the creative sum of a group is greater than the simple sum of it's members. We all have experience to share for the benefit of others. All of us have felt frustrated and mired, at one time or another, by the system. We can use this blog to ask others how they got past the same hurdles or strategize to do it together. Among us we have resources we perhaps do not even realize others are aching to learn about. And we all have experience that can help others broaden their perspective.

There has been so much division in our collective of dd advocates, caregivers and families, I hope to see healing of that rift. My vision for this blog is open sharing and caring, passionate dialogue which, while acknowledging differences, also respects them, bright, new ideas, and, eventually, a sense of safety, belonging, trust and mutual support: a sense of community and discovery of creative solutions.. Conversely, it will not be productive to disrespect the choices others have made for their loved ones or cast blame. People who feel the need to do that are encouraged to try on a sense of curiosity and interest, instead. It is amazing how transforming it can be when curiosity and interest can replace judgement. It takes real work, sometimes, to accomplish it, but it is always worth the effort.

Thanks for visiting. Please explore the site & leave something for us in the comment box. Your comment on something in the blog, a resource recommendation, your story, your self introduction, a need, whatever you are inspired to write.. It will help me to know you and it will give others courage, too. Thanks. "Comment Moderation" is turned on, but unless it is spam, or something truly crude or rude, I will post it as written. Saskia

4 comments:

  1. Great Blog, Skaskia. Thoughtful and provocative. Now if only people will become involved it reading and posting.

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  2. Hi Sass,

    Cool blog and great opportunity for folks to interact, especially in Shoreline.

    Janet

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  3. Hi Saskia,

    I know it is July and you wrote this post in January, but I thought it would be a good idea to say hello to you back on the post where you said hello to the world with this blog.

    Thank you for taking the time to create your blog for the benefit of the DD community. I hope that the synergy this blog will create can help improve the lives of individuals with DD and their families.

    Our own daughter who is now 18 has a profound set of multiple disabilities, is on the autism spectrum and she will require lifetime care and supervision. Every day has been a learning experience and often times a fight and struggle as we have tried to identify and obtain the best services for our daughter. We have definitely found that there is no one person who has all the answers and even when we think we have figure things out pretty well, we find that that target has moved.

    I look forward to reading through the rest of your blog. Keep up the good work!

    Best,

    Chris Hartzog

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  4. Thank YOU for having taken the time to find this post! Welcome aboard.

    "Moving target," in deed! I can certainly relate to your words with my own experience, but can you give an example in your experience so I am not jumping to the wrong conclusion about what you mean?

    ReplyDelete

Comments are encouraged. By sharing perspective, personal experience, both positive & negative, ideas, resources and support, readers can enhance each others&; understanding and we will all benefit.