We are deeply grateful for your support of Astonished! especially in these times when we are all experiencing so much uncertainty and change. Together with your help we are finding new ways to experience the mutual benefit of social inclusion. We hope this newsletter will help to brighten you heart like you brighten ours. Happy Valentine’s Day. To read more….
2020 has brought lots of change to all our lives. Our December e-newsletter shares some of the changes at Astonished! This has been/is a challenging year. The joys and concerns of one individual or household are held by others in the community. Check out our December newsletter to learn more about all the changes at Astonished! and how we are living with them.
PHOTO: Bonnie, Oaklynn, James, Anna, Lauren
In harmony with the UN International Day of Disabilities, Astonished! is hosting its 6th Annual Walk & Roll. It will be a virtual event, for the first time ever, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Walk & Roll is a family-friendly pledge event that aims to raise funds to support the work of Astonished! We invite you to create a team or join a team and come walk and roll with us. December 3rd at 7:00 via Zoom. To learn more, create a team, or support someone, click here.
We hosted our first Walk and Roll in 2015. Students in Dr. Brenda Rossow Kimball’s Kinesiology 342 (Developmental Disability and Well Being), at the University of Regina, had the opportunity to put their learning into practice. Student groups partnered with community groups to recognize the International Day of Persons With DisAbilities. It was a steep learning curve for all of us; but together we carried out a successful event. Since then we have hosted four more Walk and Rolls and they have been getting bigger and better. BUT, now it is 2020 and the pandemic creates some new challenges for us. We hope you are up for a challenge!
The past six months have been times of challenge, worry, change, and finding new ways for everyone. This is especially true for us at Astonished! Many Core Members have been at home not been able to go to work, some have changed where they live, have missed summer camp, have not been able to be with friends in ways that are familiar to them, and some have been isolated from family because of the protocol for their housing. It has not been easy, but we are so impressed with the way the Astonished! staff, Core Members, board, volunteers, and families have worked to create new ways of being together. The photo above of Emma and Sean is a great example of these new ways – outdoor, physical distanced, together. Click here to see more…..
Robert Frost wrote ‘Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference’. Abbey Patallas knows this experience of the roads diverging. Five years ago, Abbey set out on the road of a degree in Kinesiology and Health Studies with a major in in Human Kinetics. Abbey is now in the last semester of her degree. In January she began her major practicum with Astonished! Some things have become clear to Abbey; she is really interested in the ongoing relationships with A! Student researchers, enjoys working one-to-one, developing and delivering programming, teaching and learning, and the social aspects of Astonished! She has discovered through experience that she is less interested in the clinical aspects of assessment and rehabilitation, but that knowledge of the human body will serve her well wherever her future takes her.
Abbey is working on the Astonished! Gala, approaching businesses and following up on sponsorships. She is part of the Astonished! Teaching and Learning Centre program three days a week with Melissa Turbuck, and she is working on a web-based sign-up-form for A! volunteers.
Outside of her work at A! and being a student, Abbey has a part time job working in administration at SaskTel. To balance all of this, she enjoys staying active and spending time outdoors. We are happy to have Abbey with us this semester and wish her all the best on the roads of her future.
At Astonished! our creativity originates in, and responds to, the unique lives of the A! Core Members. Mia Bell is a good fit for this creative process. Mia is in the first semester of her Interdisciplinary Masters Program in the Faculty of Media + Art + Performance (MAP) at the University of Regina. As part of her studies Mia is the support person working at the VOICE Lab.
Mia completed her undergraduate studies in Psychology with a minor in Visual Arts. With Dr. Rebecca Caines and Dr. Michelle Stewart , Mia worked on a community arts and disability project relating to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Being able to do her master’s studies across disciplines allows Mia to bring together her interests in disability studies, disability arts, improvising arts, and trauma studies.
As the support person in the VOICE Lab Mia recently introduced A! Student Researchers to the app ‘This is Sand’. The app encourages focused, creative, play, and self-expression. Mia is interested in visual arts as a way of expanding the expression of ‘VOICE’. Mia will be available to A! Student Researchers until September and we look forward to the unique expressions that will arise out of this collaboration. Welcome Mia.
