Bless your heart Becky.  I can't think of what it would be right now.  The
most we can do at this point is to have nature hikes.  Because of the
situation with Mom I can't focus on more.

I do have some thoughts to throw out about this.

Originally, my thought was "wouldn't it be nice to see children with
disabilities in this park.  This place is so accessible."  That was in the
beginning of my disability and I didn't know the score about a lot of things.
 As I began to learn more about the problems in the disability community
(i.e., employment, housing, etc.) I began to wonder why I would focus my
attention on something like this when I should be thinking about how some of
these kids are going to have major problems finding total community
inclusion.

I had to take some time to settle down about this.  Children learn best in
the environment they are learning about.  They can sit in a classroom all day
and listen to a teacher talk about biodiversity and wetland management, but
it will not mean nearly as much as if they are in the wetland around the
biodiversity.  The idea was to make provisions for accessible nature hikes,
but the children will get so much more from their experiences than a nice
morning at the park.

We have one teenager on the board of directors who has a learning disability.
 He's a joy and I've known his parents for nearly 30 years.  Having a place
or two on the board reserved for older children with disabilities seems like
a good thing to do.  They will learn some things about the nonprofit business
world, and this will be a little something they can slam on their first
resume.

I want this program to be something that works in concert with their formal
education.  Most of all at this point, I want for them to be able to have
good experiences in that environment without the begin exposed to the "humans
second" philosophy.  Children can learn to be good stewards of the
environment without being made to feel devalued because they are human.

Becky, I just don't know what you could do at this point.  I don't like the
idea of having a stagnant program, but until I can devote serious focus to
it's growth, Wings will have to be limited to nature hike adventures.  That's
just fine for now anyway.

I will tell you though, I've played around with a website on Homestead, and
if there is anyone who has time and would like to pitch in, I'd surely
appreciate a helping hand with that.  I just don't have the time to devote to
website management.  Fund raising is also an issue, although not right at
this time.  I had planned to do a lot of this myself, never realizing how my
own disability would eventually interfere.  Just thoughts for the future.

Those are the ins and outs.  We can do some hikes this spring and summer as
soon as the old power chair arrives.

Thanks for your post Becky.

.











In a message dated 05/14/2000 2:07:56 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<< I remember you talking about the nature program is dream of yours.  I guess
 I didn't realize what stage you were with it.  Is there anything that a
 busy computer person can do from CA?  Keep up the determination!
  >>