Every day this month I am going to actively do something regarding disability awareness. Yesterday I wrote to 5 of the Greater Lancaster Chambers of Commerce to send a manuscript I wrote on the topic and a flyer. I asked each person to print the flyer and share it with others. If I do that in enough places, I should eventually get a response. I discovered that a Women's Business Expo will be held on October 11 in Manheim and there is a ames Street Community Development Project in downtown Lancaster in which many many local businesses are involved. I have a meeting about getting involved with that next week. I really want to help businesses reach out to customers who can't come in due to steps at the enterances. I'm on the right track.

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month and I'm going to honor it with a "toolkit" for employers based on a compilation of a variety of information. I've been waiting to work on the vocational aspect of disability. Waiting for what? No longer. My new motto is "Just Do It." Something will work out and lead to referral$. Part 1)Introduction & Working statistics; Part 2)What ADA means to employers; Part 3)Communicating with People who have Disabilities; Part 4)Examples of common reasonable accommodations; Part 5) How my program "Windows Shopping" can help.

I have my speech organized for next Monday at the Lancaster Library. I hope that people attend, I'm going to the Lancaster Nursing School with flyers. I think it would be really appropriate for those students to attend and do my "Working on Wheels" program. I want to meet some of the staff from the school, this past summer I contacted them but they were all on vacation. I'm still trying to get my therapeutic respite program out there. I expect to meet many people on Tuesday at the rally in Harrisburg. I will report the reaction to people in the area who did not attend. I'm sure I'll learn a lot from that and meet a lot of good people.

I attended a meeting of the Autism Society, on budget cuts and the future of services. No matter how bad it for people who have physical disabilities, it's much worse for those who have autism. The people who make the big decisions do not have a clue what it's like to care for a child this disability. Nor do they see the ramifications of these horrible decisions. The end result will be costing the taxpayers so much more than if they let things alone and just continued to implement the laws such as Act 62. This is the Autism Insurance Act which deals with payment of services. Really unfair!

"Helping someone else helps oneself." I've said that and read that but now it's coming truer than ever. I'm filling a resource table for my temple's Special Education Forum. I've been contacting and meeting with a number of local agencies requesting brochures about their programs. In return I've discovered an autism resource center and met 3 different people who were thrilled to hear about my therepeutic respite program and they insisted that people have asked for this type of service. I can't wait to pursue this further.

Rather than trying and trying to create a new disability program in order to make some money I will consider a different angle. Why should I re-create the wheel? I should just grow what I already know and am good at. I have been working with a girl who has autism for weeks now. I decided to try loom loopers with her in order to get her interested in a specail "talent." It's worked wonders. Everything about what we do while making the potholders is therapeutic. The therapeutic skills include these components: Concentration, differentiating colors, counting, following directions, improving speech, learning patterns and learning patience, comprehension, confidence self-esteem. Many partents don't have the time or energy to discover "Specialness" in their kids who have special needs, I do. The "Working on Wheels" program will also become more frequent.

I must always consider other ways in which to get my disability programs sponsored so I'm working on a few. One will be to reach out to some local physical therapy facilities. There are two just up the road from me in Mount Joy. The other idea is to meet with a representative from the agencies who will be sending literature for the special needs forum at my temple. Everything is a potential opportunity but I must first make a brochure to share with people.