"The Internet Magazine for the disAbled woman. The 'dis' is small, it's the Ability that Counts"

We have been delighted by your responses, keep the articles flowing. Arts article Firing Neutrons is a short punchy poem by Bill Burke, and is followed by another short and lovely poem about fairy-like tiny life by Warren Roff-Marsh, co-author of Tintota an Australian web site.

Next comes a prose poem about destruction, and the last is a simple but lovely poem about a toddler’s fascination with butterflies.

In Beauty and Fashion an enquiry about where to find wedding outfits for wheelchair users is answered by a list of suitable websites; next is a list of cosmetics that contain high levels of lead, which may cause cancer; The Wardrobe Study is an in-depth article about clothing for disabled women, research into body dress and identity.

Features information regarding a website that gives details of fully accessible holiday accommodation in France; followed by information about free deafness training for small business, Feature Facts gives news about a web page on holidays, informative snippets, sports, visits to Hong Kong and body art, and information on the 2011 Census in Scotland, followed by details of children’s games and the Junior Quiz. This section closes with information on all-terrain and beach wheelchairs.

Fiction contains two short stories, and a light hearted horoscope for Aries, Taurus and Gemini.

Food recipes containing artichokes, how to cook and eat them property, described by our food expert from her villa in Spain.

Violet Lutea is here once again with her helpful gardening tips.

Health: Advice from Jeni.

Regulars: the links page increases each issue, and our Quizzes become easier!

Quarterly Quote 1

Extra Challenge

8 miles of Accessibility on the West Highland Way - 17th June 2006,
The Extra Challenge is back, bigger and better!

Alongside the Caledonian Challenge, the Extra Challenge promises to be a stiff outdoor Challenge.

Anyone with a disability can apply. The first 3 miles are on a tarmac road, ensuring that any wheelchair would be able to travel along. After this weather you are using a wheelchair, scooter or your legs the real challenge starts with rough terrain and an undulating path. While travelling through the finest of Scottish scenery, you will pass lochs, Scots pine and the most glorious of mountains… to your destination 8 miles on.

For more information please contact Fiona Lindsay, Chartered Physiotherapist at:

extrachallenge@scottishcf.org
telephone 0131 524 0354

www.caledonianchallenge.com/extra

or you can write to:

The Extra Challenge
Scottish Community Foundation
126 Canongate
EDINBURGH
EH8 8DD

and once you have done the challenge you can do some of the trails mentioned.

Quarterly Quote 2

Walking on Wheels
50 Wheel-friendly Trails in Scotland

A guide for wheelchair and electric scooters users who wish the enjoy the Scottish countryside published by Cualann Press.

Eva McCracken began rambling in the Scottish countryside on her wheels in the year 2000.

She kept the information on the accessible trails ranging from two to twelve miles.

 

Six years later she is publishing her book Walking on Wheels which will be in Scottish bookshops by May 2006. The trails she has chosen spreads from Dumfries and Galloway to the Central Belt, spreading east to west from the Atlantic to the North Sea, continuing through Perthshire and the Cairngorms National Park, and finally along the new Great Glen Way.

If you wish to reserve a copy of this wonderful book please contact Eva McCracken at email address eva.mccracken@getreal.co.uk or contact:

Cualann Press (email) cualann@btinternet.com
Cualann Press (Website) www.cualann.com
£10.99 plus postage

Quarterly Quote 3

Hope you are well. I have been forwarded your contact details by our Scottish representative Yvonne, who tells me you are interested to know about our forthcoming activities.

Scottish running events

BUPA Great Edinburgh Run (7th May 2006) - A 10k race with over 7,500 taking part. Raised £35,000 last year
Glasgow Women's 10k (21st May 2006) - Last year 11,000 women took on the run in Southside!
Edinburgh Marathon - (11th June 2006) - Famously tougher than London Marathon, raised £20,000 last year
Great Scottish Run (3rd September 2006) - Choice of half marathon or 10k starting at George Square
Pedal for Scotland (27th August 2006) this year in aid of Leukaemia Research. The 50-mile route stretch across the central belt of Scotland, starting in Glasgow and finishing in Edinburgh. Last year cyclists from all over Scotland showed true grit and determination, overcoming some difficult conditions.

This year Leukaemia Research's very own patron Liz McColgan, former 10,000m world champion, will be saddling up among participants! For more information and to register, please visit: www.pedalforscotland.org

Botham Walk 2006 Cricket legend Ian Botham's 11th walk will start on 9th October and finishes on 17th October, stopping at a number of UK locations including Edinburgh, one of Leukaemia Research's key research centres.

Let me know if I can be of any assistance with anything you may be interested in using in your magazine.

Regards,
Gary Hartley
Press Assistant

Click here to connect to the international disability news ticker

Here is a new facility. Click on the picture of international flags above, and you will be connected to a new site that gives up-to-the-minute information on disability issues. If you just want the UK page, click on the flag below.

Click here to connect to the UK disability ticker

anAurora readership increases daily and has already reached Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, and India. Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, UK and the USA, which is fantastic. Please, continue to support anAurora by sending in your articles to: editor@anAurora.co.uk

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If you want to try out another edition of anAurora, click on the pull-down menu at the left of the page and make your selection. To move from one edition to another, please use this pull-down menu from now on.

We have the facility for you to read Text as many of us still use browsers which are not able to recognise pictures. The icon is at the top of each page. As yet we still have no sound but are working on this.

Please feel free to sign the guest book as well as continuing to send your emails and articles, your poetry and stories.

Last date for articles to go into the next issue is 1st May, 2005, email them to editor@anAurora.co.uk. All articles will be available in back issues for a minimum of two years. Some issues since Spring 2000 have been withdrawn, but if you would like us to email you an electronic copy please email your request to editor@anAurora.co.uk. The file is quite large, and you should be sure that your email provider will allow you to download a file of 3Megabytes in size.

The views expressed in this magazine by readers are personal and not necessarily those of anAurora, but she will not print any offensive material regarding ability, creed, race, religion or gender.

The contents of this Internet Magazine may be reproduced without seeking permission from anAurora, but please mention your source.

This is a free magazine, in that anAurora is not supported in any way by either charity funds or advertising, and she would like to keep it that way. But the Magazine will dry up after a short time unless you contribute your articles.

anAurora does not have a "Mission Statement" but her intention is to continue to develop, with your help, a magazine that women with any disAbility can contribute to and read with enjoyment.

Goodbye until June!

Firing Neurons is a short punchy poem by Bill Burke, and is followed by another short and lovely poem about fairy-like tiny life by Warren Roff-Marsh co-author of Tintota an Australian web site.

Next comes a prose poem about destruction, and the last is a simple but lovely poem about a toddler’s fascination with butterflies

If anyone would like to send some of their own poetry, paintings, and crafts, etc, please contact: editor@anAurora.co.uk

Firing Neurons

By Bill Burke

After glow, the seizure left
It wasn’t my first it won’t be my last
So I’ve negotiated peace at
The neural bargaining table
My lobes work overtime
They deserve time and a half
And if that pink slip ever arrives
You’ll see a synapse with
A gold watch and a free me

If you are an artist with some work to share, would you like to send some of it to us? Email editor@anAurora.co.uk

Peeping Over a Rock

By Warren Roff-Marsh ©

Peeping over a rock,
Dodging behind a daisy -
Jumping over a frog,
Climbing a stalk like crazy!
Drinking from a dew-pool,
Searching among the leaves -
Scattering the rosebuds,
Snuggling beneath the eaves.
That's the life of wisdom,
That's the life of ease -
'Tis the thing a fairy does,
When she wants to please!

If you are an artist with some work to share, would you like to send some of it to us? Email editor@anAurora.co.uk

Poetry in Still Life

by Ryan Gastone

Destruction of centre is long but not forgotten.
I remember the force, the face, the factors;
the memories are embedded, not wanted.
Lives of warmth and need are replaced by chemical thought and induction.
Connectivity is relinquished to the fear of abandonment and pain.
Actions were not intended to destroy and alter cerebral beginnings.
Love was the hope and hate was the result.
Space now fills the relationship.
Unresolved, un communicated feelings
float in the void that was once family.
Gastone!

If you are an artist with some work to share, would you like to send some of it to us? Email editor@anAurora.co.uk

To Watch Butterflies

by Robyn Gardam©
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

She's only small,
But already she knows
The simple pleasure
Of watching butterflies.
Blues and greens,
Golds and browns,
Four wings fluttering...
She watches laughing.
Birds delight her,
She points them out.
I laugh with her,
We watch them fly.
She'll grow older,
And so will I.
May she never forget
To watch butterflies.

If you are an artist with some work to share, would you like to send some of it to us? Email editor@anAurora.co.uk

An enquiry about where to find wedding outfits for wheelchair users is answered by a list of suitable websites in Beauty Bits.

The Wardrobe Study is an in-depth article about clothing for disabled women, research into body dress and identity.

Remember, if you have any fashion and beauty tips or ideas or know someone who has, please contact editor@anAurora.co.uk

Beauty Bits

Editor

I am looking for suppliers of bride and bridesmaids outfits for wheelchair users which are both glamorous and also give ease of access when using the bathroom.

Suppliers in Germany would be good particularly round Berlin and Dusseldorf but British suppliers would also be good. Can you help at all with any information?
Many thanks
Sue

Sue
Pretty difficult request but I hope the list of web address below will give you some help. I also found an article on clothing for the disabled woman which I have included in anAurora’s Spring 2006 Beauty Section
Regards
Editor

http://www.dlf.org.uk
http://www.aboutwheelchair.com/misswheelchair/
http://www.communigate.co.uk/york/
friendsoffashionservices/

http://www.ryerson.ca/ds/files/Wardrobe_Study.doc

Remember, if you have any fashion and beauty tips or ideas or know someone who has, please contact editor@anAurora.co.uk

The Wardrobe Study

Into/out of the closet: Discovering the life worlds of disabled women through their clothing
a.k.a. The Wardrobe Study

A Proposal for One Time Only Funding Submitted to:
Scholarly Research and Creativity Committee
Faculty of Community Services
Ryerson University

From:
RBC Institute for Disability Studies Research and Education
Ryerson University
Research Team
Kathryn Church PhD (Principal)
Catherine Frazee (Honorary Doctor of Letters)
Melanie Panitch MSW (ABD)

Into/Out of the Closet was conceived last September in the transition that Dr. Church made from guest curator of a museum exhibit to Research Associate at the Institute for Disability Studies Research and Education (Church in press a; in press b; 2001a; 2001b; 1998; online; Church and Church 2003, 1998; Church and Martindale, 1999).

As she recalls:
The exhibit featured my mother’s work as a small-town seamstress and the women for whom she sewed custom-made wedding dresses. This project taught me the power of clothing in my own life, in mother-daughter relationships, and in the lives of women generally. When I began work at the Institute for Disability Studies, my only regret was the prospect of losing touch with this material. And then it hit me: re-entering my research on disability need not preclude considerations of clothing!
Viewing disability and clothing practices as separate spheres is an able-ist act. Are not disabled women clothed? Do they not wake up each day and -- contemplating the demands and joys that lie ahead -- enter into a “wardrobe moment?” How is that moment constituted for them? These initial questions opened a floodgate of others.
What kinds of garments are hanging in the closet? How do they come to be there? Who tends to them (cleaning, mending, alterations)? On any given day, how do disabled women choose one garment over another? What do those selections say about the way they constitute their identities, primarily at the intersections of disability and gender but also sexuality, race, class and age? What do they say about the women’s relationship to their bodies, the physical point at which all of these social locations meet and find expression? Further to this, what do their selections reveal about contemporary social organization and the place/s (space/s) of disabled women within it?

Description of the Study

These questions begged to be investigated. They sparked immediate interest within the Institute for Disability Studies for a study that would discover disability through women and their clothing. The proposal we want to develop will focus primarily on women who use wheelchairs or some other mobility aid. In addition, it will focus on middle class women with sufficient resources to express them through the creation of a wardrobe. We recognize that these choices leave out women who are disabled in other ways, as well as those living in different socio-economic strata. But this is merely a starting point and not intended to represent all women with disabilities. The study is a door opening in our broader consideration of disability through clothing practices and their connected social worlds.

Method

Our intent is to create a study in the ethnographic fieldwork tradition, with particular attention to the unique contributions of institutional ethnography. Institutional ethnography is a qualitative method that originated with sociologist Dorothy Smith in the context of the feminist movement of the sixties and seventies (1987, 1999, and 2002). The researcher proceeds into the field – however defined – to discover how things are put together. She begins in the actualities of people’s lives, and seeks to explore how those actualities are brought into being with specific attention to processes of management and administration.

Because it places such a high priority on discovery, institutional ethnographic inquiry is open-ended. It has been likened to grabbing a ball of string, finding a thread, and then pulling it out (DeVault and McCoy, 2002). Studies are often organized around Smith’s generous conception of “work,” described as “the linchpin between the everyday experiences of people and larger institutional processes” (Luken and Vaughan, 1991: 41).

In this study, we will enter the field by inviting a selected group of physically disabled women to open the doors of their closets and let us in. Beginning with the actual materials of their clothing – shape, style, color, texture, organization, use, history, and meaning - we will proceed to trace the relations of power that shape the ways these women live.

Like a fashionable ensemble, we will arrange our work in three coordinated layers:

  1. We will ask each woman for an in-home interview during which she would describe her wardrobe, piece by piece and as a whole. By actually looking at and handling her clothing (and perhaps asking her to model certain pieces), we seek to elicit clothing and body stories. We are interested in what is actively worn, as well as what has been set aside, in what is present as well as what is missing. In keeping with an institutional ethnographic orientation, the notion of the “clothing work” actively undertaken by each interviewee will act as a central organizing concept for our inquiries.

  2. We will ask each woman to keep a clothing record for a two-week period. Here she will document not only what she wears each day but the reasoning behind each selection, how well it worked or did not work, or any other considerations that come to mind in her intimate engagement with her wardrobe through this time. We offer reciprocity to these women by keeping similar records ourselves, taking accounts from both groups as data.

  3. We will ask each woman, if possible, to write a reflective essay on clothing, her experience with it, what it means for her, or any thoughts, feelings and/or memories, struggles, triumphs that she considers relevant to this relationship.

Dissemination of Results

While the data-gathering phase of this project draws on ethnographic methods, its dissemination phase works the research team’s connections to a more recent development in qualitative research. We refer to the rapidly growing practice of arts-informed research. Arts-informed practitioners seek to incorporate artistic genres, visual methods and narrative forms to enhance the accessibility and comprehensiveness of their research. While clearly situated as social scientists, they draw as well on fiction, poetry, theatre/drama and visual arts, installation, film and video.

In the spirit of this fresh, multi-disciplinary work, we propose to disseminate the results of our study as a fashion show – with a twist, of course. Our fashion show will still be organized around clothing but the models (perhaps including study participants) will be women whose bodies -- and mobility aids -- are generally considered inappropriate to and excluded from this forum.

Playing with multiple narratives, our commentary will highlight not just the material properties of the clothing but also the wearers’ stories and the analysis we derive from them. In other words, we anticipate transforming the traditional fashion shows by infusing it with a number of other artistic modalities so that it performs a critical analysis of disability. Thus, one of our contributions will be to add fashion shows to the list of performance vehicles that arts-informed researchers can use to communicate their scholarship.

While we can conceptualize this aspect of the work alone, we cannot implement it without skilled partners. Thus, we anticipate building it as an inter-disciplinary project with help from two other Ryerson Schools: Fashion, and Theatre. The Fashion School has the clothing expertise and retail connections we need to stage our research. Instead of beginning from scratch, we anticipate working with them to plan, fund and implement a successful event. The Theatre School has the artistic expertise and connections we need to bring clothing, props and text together in a successful dramatic performance.

We have had positive preliminary discussions with the heads of both schools about collaboration. Participation could come in the form of student projects, thus contributing in unique ways to student involvement and education.

Significance of the Study

Into/Out of the Closet would address an enormous gap in research and writing on body, dress and identity. In the past number of decades, there has been an explosion of theoretical and philosophical work on “the body” that takes it up as much more than just flesh and blood (for example Butler 1990, 1993; Foucault 1978, 1987, 1988). We draw from this work while at the same time contributing research that originates from the often overlooked “sitpoint” of the transgressive body, or bodies-in-chairs. In current theory, the body also tends to be viewed as unmediated by clothing, surely an example of something being taken-for-granted that is unparalleled in the history of social science. We have a major opportunity here to demonstrate the difference that clothing makes (and how clothing mediates difference) to the life of the body.

In their assessment of literature, educators Weber and Mitchell point out, “in the rush to re-define the body in more sophisticated ways, (there is a ) tendency to almost theorize our “real” bodies out of existence, peeling them, fragmenting them, or portraying them as so diffuse and fluid that they seem at times to disappear altogether” (2002).

Disability theory has suffered from a slightly different dilemma. In their attempts to counter the bodily pathologizing of the medical model of disability, social theorists have focused almost all of their attention on critiquing social, political and environmental barriers as the root cause of disability. Feminist such as Thomson (1997a; 1997b) and Wendell (1997; 1996) have begun to articulate the limitations of this approach. Their efforts to bring the disabled (female) body back into theorizing have generated some of the most interesting debates in recent years.

Our study provides an interesting bridge. As feminist scholarship, it promises to position disabled female bodies centre-stage but without separating them/us from the material realities that are of such concern to social model theorists. Indeed, it is difficult to get more “material” than the actual text/lies that constitute the fabric of this study.

A growing number of contemporary feminist scholars are weaving dress (for example school uniforms, costumes) into their work on other topics. Examples include Annette Kuhn, bell hooks, Carol Mavor, Valerie Walkerdine, Sandra Weber and Claudia Mitchell. Several of these women will be featured in Weber and Mitchell’s upcoming book of narrative essays in which dress is the organizing feature for looking at body and identity in women’s lives (Weber & Mitchell, in press; Church, in press b). In their assessment “there is a pressing need to expand, synthesize and theorize this body of work explicitly around dress and ritual across the lifespan” (personal communication).

As if in response, a British book entitled Through the Wardrobe: Women’s Relationships with their Clothes recently appeared on the scene (Guy, Green and Banim, 2001). Like Weber and Mitchell, this book points to the thin state of dress research. Its authors argue that, while there has been intense consideration of women and fashion, clothing as a lived experience is an underdeveloped topic. Few studies are grounded in women’s own accounts of clothing use and the reasoning given by the wearers themselves. The book includes two chapters written by women whose bodies were surgically altered in cancer treatment. However, there were no chapters written by disabled women, nor were they included in the categories that shape other chapters, most significantly youth and professional women. Our study would address this absence.

To reinforce this point, our websearch using the keywords “disability and clothing” turned up a number of interesting sites. However, most of them were commercial sites geared towards selling garments for people with “special needs,” including the elderly. A search using the keywords “disability and fashion” yielded one reference – the term “disability” presumably acting to preclude any reference to fashion. The single reference was also organized around the notion of “special needs,” including the need to “improve their morale as well as help to camouflage deformities.” Clearly, the field is open for anyone willing to step outside these particular clichés and into the discourse of disability pride.

Contributions

1. To Ryerson University
The study connects easily with Civil Society as a primary Research Theme for Ryerson University, and expands its interpretation of diversity and accessibility as a contribution to the university community. Looking beyond technical solutions, the study includes itself in broader considerations of culture and communication, and how disability culture lends itself to social cohesion. “Social cohesion” is a complex and challenging concept but one which is fundamental to strengthening civil society (including that sphere of association, free press, public forums and a life well-lived in community). It goes beyond political rights and social and economic claims on the state. It needs to be anchored in people’s lived experience and touch the worlds of the people we want to reach (Novick, 1999). Conferring recognition of diversity and difference, whether based on race, disability, religion, culture or gender, illuminates the limits of social homogenization or the “one-size fits all” approach where some are often marginalized by a dominant political culture. The policy implications of an understanding of Social inclusion is twofold. It brings focus onto the ways in which knowledge is produced about certain groups, and investigates the status that different kinds of knowledge are given. Secondly, it challenges our “collective social imagination” by stimulating public consciousness to recognize more widely the disability experience (Bach, 2001).

2. to the Institute for Disability Studies Research and Education
This study is an integral part of the Institute for Disability Studies Research and Education. Only recently funded, the Institute has just begun to develop its Program of Research. Since September 2002, we have been intensely involved as follows:
We have successfully launched one SSHRC-funded study. Entitled “Doing Disability at the Bank: Discovering the Work of Informal Learning done by Disabled Bank Employees,” it is one of twelve case studies that, along with a national survey, constitute the Network on Work and Lifelong Learning organized through OISE/UT (Sociology).
We have three small but related studies pending with the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship. Under the umbrella title “Art/Works: Discovering “Accessibility” through the Work of Disabled Artists/Entertainers in the Era of the Ontarians With Disabilities Act,” they demonstrate our interest in this overlooked group within the economy. Funding for these studies is currently frozen but we have been able to proceed with a comprehensive literature review on disability arts and culture.
We have two studies in development. “Help Wanted: Discovering the Give and Take of Personal Care” explores the work of personal care attendants in relationship with the disabled people for whom they work. This study exists as a concept paper; our intent is to move it to full proposal within the next year. “In/Out of the Closet” is the other developing study; this proposal seeks to advance that work.

All or these projects demonstrate a flexible combination of three qualitative traditions: feminist participatory action research; ethnographic methods with particular attention to institutional ethnography, and arts-informed research. Taken together, they produce an approach with distinctive characteristics.

As their titles convey, Institute projects are not hypothesis-driven nor are they pre-fabricated. Instead, they are oriented to discovery through informed but open-ended processes that build from stage to stage. This does not mean that the projects are naïve, formless, or uncertain. The problematic is clear but it is not static. It is something that evolves along with the research. In terms of method, we rely heavily on talking to people – informally through conversation and/or formally through interviews. We favor techniques that create dialogue because we want to analyze the ways that people talk about experience.

Our selection of participants is often, though not exclusively, purposive. As qualitative researchers, we avoid statistical samples that are organized by general category (e.g. age, gender and other characteristics) to correspond to the total population. Grounded in multiple points of contact with disability groups and political movements, we seek instead to represent a range of experiences.

These core practices enable us, as much as possible, to break with the historical tendency for researchers to produce disabled people almost exclusively as medical zed or “othered” objects. They enable us to relate to them/us as vocal social and political subjects who are the primary actors and knower of the practices that shape their worlds. Thus, our research projects do not study disabled people as a special population. Instead, we consider participants to be expert witnesses. Rejecting the focus on individual deficits, we are oriented to individuals and groups in continuous interaction with their environments. By learning from their embodied presence and participation, we seek to provide a fuller, more accurate account of society.

3. to Students
As indicated throughout the proposal, there are numerous opportunities for student involvement in this project, particularly in a creative, dynamic dissemination strategy. We anticipate strong student interest from three schools: Disability Studies, Fashion and Theatre. Part of our collaboration with these Schools would be around strong supervision.

As Research Associate at the Institute for Disability Studies, Dr. Church is currently supervising the work of two Research Assistants. Because her appointment is not for teaching position, she does not supervise students as part of her regular Ryerson workload. However, as Associate Faculty for the Sociology Department at OISE/UT, she has been a
Committee member for two successfully-completed Master’s theses, and is currently an active committee member for one doctoral student.

Our Request

To support Into/Our of the Closet, we are requesting $10,000 in one-time-only funding from the Faculty of Community Services at Ryerson University. The money would be spent by the Institute for Disability Studies Research and Education on developing a full proposal for grant funds from SSHRC in one of two programs:

We would like to be in a position of already knowing which of these funding streams is most likely to support this project. However, the Creative Arts program has just been announced and is still in the process of defining its parameters. Because arts and culture elements are integral to our proposal, we see ourselves as good candidates but we cannot yet assess whether that opinion would be shared by SSHRC. Those adjudicating the awards may see us more as researcher-artists rather than as artist-researchers (the latter being the identified priority for these grants). We would like an opportunity to probe these and other questions in more detail before we make the final decision for program submission.

Budget

In terms of the budget, our primary need is to hire a graduate student capable of doing three things:

Specific Costs

22.5 hours per week@ $24.00 per hour (Masters level) X 20 weeks + $10,800
All other costs will be covered from within the Institute for Disability Studies.

Research Team

Kathryn Church has been researching issues of disability since the mid-1980s. Trained as a clinician, she moved into community organizing and policy development as the first Coordinator of “Building a Framework for Support,” a national initiative of the Canadian Mental Health Association. Her doctorate in sociology explored psychiatric survivor involvement in community mental health policy.

In the course of producing this work, she became a strong ally of the survivor movement. Dr. Church has spent the past ten years doing community-based research with survivor organizations engaged in knowledge development, specifically in defining their own approach to economic development. She has become skilled in attending to insider/outsider relations with respect to disability communities, in using qualitative methods that are sensitive to the subjectivities of disabled people, and in using alternative forms of writing and research dissemination that meet community needs.

Author of Forbidden Narratives: Critical Autobiography as Social Science and a range of academic papers, Dr. Church’s research output also includes a dozen plain-text documents, as well as production consultation for a documentary length film called Working Like Crazy. From 1997 to 2001, she was curator of an award-winning museum exhibit entitled Fabrications: Stitching Ourselves Together that completed a three year tour of Canada.

Melanie Panitch has been a “founder” of the School of Disability Studies at Ryerson, first as Coordinator to develop the new program proposal and since 1999 as Director of the School. She was instrumental in attracting a lead campaign gift from the Royal Bank to establish the Institute for Disability Studies Research and Education, which she co-directs. For thirty years she has been an activist, advocate, researcher and educator, and has strong roots in the community living movement. She has designed and taught courses on human rights and disability at the Universities of Guyana and the West Indies. She has lectured at international conferences in Guatemala, Mexico, Ecuador and Uruguay. Throughout the nineties she was Coordinator of Social Development and Public Education at The Roeher Institute; she was also part of a research team examining disability-related policies in Canada. Her work focused on child care, literacy, violence and abuse, and care-giving from which she published numerous articles, chapters, reports and books. In 2000-2002 she was the Research Coordinator for the Liberated Learning Project (Ryerson site). Ms. Panitch has a Masters in Social Work and is completing a Doctor of Social Welfare (DSW) from Hunter College, School of Social Work, at the Graduate Centre of the City University of New York.

Catherine Frazee has been involved in the equality rights movement for many years, most notably during her term as Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission from 1989-1992. Currently she is the Co-Director of the Ryerson-RBC Institute for Disability Studies Research and Education and a sectional instructor in the Disability Studies Program. Ms. Frazee is a committed activist who has lectured and published extensively in Canada and abroad on issues related to disability, rights, disability culture and the disability experience. Her work has been published in textbooks and scholarly journals as well as a variety of popular and speciality magazines. Included among her academic assignments are special lectures presented in 1998 at the University of Manitoba as part of the Faculty of Law Distinguished Visitor Series and the Bertha Wilson Visiting Professorship in Human Rights at Dalhousie University during the academic year 2000-2001. In 2002 Ms Frazee was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the University of New Brunswick.

Preliminary Bibliography

Bach, M. (2001). Social Inclusion as Solidarity: Re-Thinking the Child Rights Agenda. Toronto: Laidlaw Foundation.
Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge.
Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex. New York: Routledge.
Church, K. (in press a) Try this one on for size: Poetic notes on wedding dress research. In Weber, S. & Mitchell, C. (eds.) Not Just Any Dress: Explorations of Dress, Identity, and the Body. London, UK: The Falmer Press.
Church, K. (in press b) Something plain and simple? Unpacking custom-made wedding dresses of Western Canada (1950-1995). In Foster, H. &Johnson, D. (eds.) Wedding Dress Across Cultures. Oxford: Berg.
Church, K, & L. Church (in press) Needles and Pins: Dialogue on a mother/daughter journey. Journal for Research on Mothering (details to come)
Church, K. (2001a) The hard road home: Towards a polyphonic narrative of the mother/daughter relationship. In Bochner, A. &Ellis, C. (Eds.) Ethnographically Speaking: Autoethnography, Literature, and Aesthetics. Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira.
Church, K. (2001b). Fabrications: Clothing, generations, and stitching together the history we live. In Cook, S., McLean, L. &O’Rourke, K. (eds.) Framing Our Past: Canadian Women’s History in the Twentieth Century. McGill-Queen’s Publishing.
Church, K. (1998) The dressmaker. Elm Street Magazine Summer: 54-62.
Church, K. (online) Fabrications: Stitching Ourselves Together
Church, K. & Martindale, W. (1999) Shall we dance? Looking back over a community-museum collaboration. Muse 17 (3) 43-50.
Church, K. & Church, L. (1998) Behind the Scenes at the Red Deer Museum. L Shorten (producer), This Morning, CBC Radio.
DeVault, M. & L. McCoy. (2002). Institutional Ethnography: Using Interviews to Investigate Ruling Relations. In Handbook of Interviewing. Gubrium, J. and Holstein, J. (eds.) Thousand Islands, CA: Sage.
Foucault, M. (1978). The History of Sexuality: Volume I: An Introduction. New York: Random House.
Foucault, M. (1987). The History of Sexuality, Volume II: The Uses of Pleasure. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Foucault, M. (1988). Technologies of the Self. In Martin, L, Gutman, H. & Hutton, P. (eds.) Technologies of the Self: A seminar with Michel Foucault. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.
Guy, A., Gree, E. & Banim, M. (eds.) (2001). Through the Wardrobe: Women’s Relationships with their Clothes. Oxford: Berg.
Luken, P. & Vaughn, S. (1991) Elderly Women Living Alone: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations from a Feminist Perspective. Housing and Society 18: 37-48.
Making Care Visible Working Group (Bresalier, M., L. Gillis, C. McClure, L. McCoy, E. Mykhalovskiy, D. Taylor, & M. Webber) (2002) Making Care Visible: AntiRetroviral Therapy and the Health Work of People Living with HIV/AIDS. Toronto: Canadian Public Health Association
Novick, M. (1999). Confronting the Dilemmas. Report from a roundtable organized by the Child Poverty Action Group. Toronto.
Smith, D. (1987) The Everyday World as Problematic: A Feminist Sociology. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Smith, D. (1999). Writing the Social: Critique, Theory, and Investigations. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Smith, D. (2002). Institutional Ethnography. In May, T. (ed.) Qualitative Methods in Action. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Thomson, R.G. (1997a). Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature. New York: Columbia University Press.
Thomson, R.G. (1997b). Feminist theory, the body, and the disabled figure. In Davis, L. (ed.) The Disability Studies Reader. New York: Routledge. pp. 279-292.
Wendell, S. (1997). Towards a feminist theory of disability. In Davis, L. (ed.) The Disability Studies Reader. New York: Routledge.
Wendell, S. (1996). The Rejected Body: Feminist Philosophical Reflections on Disability. New York: Routledge.
Weber, S. & Mitchell, C. (2002) Reconceptualizing the Body through Innovative Research Methods. Unpublished funding application.
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Remember, if you have any fashion and beauty tips or ideas or know someone who has, please contact editor@anAurora.co.uk

Feature Facts begins with information regarding a website that gives details of fully accessible holiday accommodation in France.

This is followed by information about free deafness training for small businesses.

Feature Facts gives news about a web page on holidays, informative snippets, sports, visits to Hong Kong and body art.

Next information on a 2011 Census on disability, followed by details of children’s games and the Quiz in Junior Crew.

This section closes with information on all-terrain and beach wheelchairs in Natural Access.

Please contact the editor@anAurora.co.uk with any stories or features that you would like us to publish for you.

Disabled People Need a Holiday, Too!

 

I Need a Holiday, Too! opens its doors this year to all disabled people to provide a fully inclusive holiday environment, in the beautiful area of Côtes d’Armor in Brittany, France.

Jacqui Alban, a disabled woman herself, and her husband Carl are meeting a need that has been overlooked for years by the “regular” tourist industry.

Jacqui has previously worked with disabled people and it became very clear to her through her own experiences and when talking to many other disabled people that holidays, instead of being a break that we all look forward to, were, for disabled people, a stressful time for both them and their family, that’s if they managed to get away at all. Jacqui remembers one conversation that she had with a disabled woman when she was asked ‘Why do all my friends and family have a holiday and go somewhere that is fun and warm and I have ‘respite’ in a run down County Council home in the middle of a housing estate?’

Offering a fully compliant AAA validated, accessible website, accessible accommodation all with level access showers, accessible transport and personal support workers, there is now no reason why any disabled traveller can’t have all the information required to have control and choice over their holiday. With six new apartments available from July 2006, in a former cotton mill on the banks of the River Jaudy, in La Roche Derrien, they are doubling the amount of accessible accommodation available in the area and have had a great demand from disabled people to date.

The appeal of this service is that as far as Jacqui and Carl are aware, this is a unique venture into an unknown territory, as no one has offered so much in one package previously.
Jacqui says “There are companies that offer holiday packages, but they don’t appear to have understood fully the equality issues for disabled people. We need to ensure that all elements of the holiday meet the needs of all disabled people from the booking procedures right through to obtaining a passport, we can help with all of these issues in a way that the disabled person needs.

Holidays for disabled people can be stressful particularly if you travel abroad without having to worry about if you can get in the property, use the loo and go to bed”.

Jacqui, herself, has visited up to 150 properties in the area, reputed and labelled to be accessible. “The majority of properties that I visited, including large hotel chains, bed and breakfast and self catering properties are not accessible, they often have baths instead of showers, steps and no ramps, narrow doorways and no essential equipment. I went in with a tape measure and an open mind and found out of 150 advertised accessible properties, there were 6 that I considered to be truly accessible”.

Please contact the editor@anAurora.co.uk with any stories or features that you would like us to publish for you.

Feature Facts

Click here to go to the RNID website

Free deaf awareness training offered to small business

Free Deaf and Disability Awareness Training is now available to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) - including not for profit organisations -across the UK, thanks to a three year project being delivered by RNID with financial support from the Community Fund.

In October 2005, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) comes into full force, yet there is still confusion about the steps small businesses should take to ensure they are compliant with the legislation.

Last year, a survey commissioned by RNID revealed that 69% of small businesses do not intend to make any changes as required under the Act. Small businesses that don’t comply risk litigation by dissatisfied customers.

Deaf and Disability Awareness Training give organisations an introduction to the Disability Discrimination Act, deafness and disability. Employers and employees participate in group discussions and practical exercises, and learn how to apply simple solutions to improve communication with deaf and hard of hearing people.

The free training is delivered at companies’ own premises or at venues across England, Scotland and Wales. To benefit from the free training, organisations should have less than 250 employees and an annual turnover of less than £11.2 million. For further information and to book please contact:

training.services@rnid.org.uk
or tel: 020 7296 8060


Accessible Holidays

Dear Heather
Please do take a look at my web page - there are several photos of my home (inside & outside) which you are welcome to use.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/susan.fisher33

Have a Happy & Healthy Easter. Do keep in touch.
Warm wishes
Sue &, Rita (Mom)


Click here to go to the Abilities website

Our Spring 2006 issue will be an exciting one…don’t miss out on the opportunity to advertise with ABILITIES in the New Year. Ask about our package advertising campaigns – a great deal and a highly effective way to reach a targeted audience!
Abilities Editorial Outline
Issue 66 (Spring 2006)
Features

Body Art and Disability

Since the beginning of history, people have used body art, such as tattoos and piercing, as a means of personal and cultural expression. ABILITIES’ managing editor talks to people with disabilities about their body art and what it means to them.

Spring/Summer Sports

This spring and summer, try a new sport – we’ll show you the possibilities and how to get started. Activities include water sports, horseback riding, cycling and much more.

Sacred Spaces

Whether it’s through nature, meditation or self-help books, everyone has their own way to find space to breathe, relax and rejuvenate. Our writer talks to people with disabilities about “sacred space,” a concept that is becoming increasingly elusive in our hectic society. Perhaps sacred spaces are actually closer than we think.

Departments

Travel: Hong Kong
One of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities, Hong Kong is an exciting destination in transition from old world to new. Whether it’s high tea at the Peninsula Hotel or bartering with vendors in Stanley Market, there’s something for everyone. Hong Kong is also surprisingly accessible.

Health Sleep Problems

Sleep problems plague many people with disabilities and chronic conditions. Our writer talks to experts to find out how to get a decent night’s rest.

Profile Erika Schmutz

Abilities talks to quad rugby dynamo Erika Schmutz. Not only is she an amazing player, but she’s the only woman on the Canadian national team!

Education Children’s Fiction

Kid lit involving disability has changed a lot over the years. Our writer, a children’s author herself, highlights the latest offerings with diverse characters and stories in which disability is secondary to the plot.


There is to be another census in 2011 and the Census Office is currently consulting on the user friendliness of the questions. SDEF is one of a group of organisations looking at the matter from the perspective of people with disabilities. If you have any comments on the attached draft, please relay them to the Census Office using the contact details given on page 3 of their
document. They, of course, give their email address there along with other details. I am afraid the deadline for responses is 16th September 2005.

Thank you for your help.

Wyn Merrells
Manager
SDEF

Please contact the editor@anAurora.co.uk with any stories or features that you would like us to publish for you.

Junior Crew

There are two contributions to the Junior Crew in this edition. First we have an article on bullying in Scottish Schools, and then the Junior Quiz. Also, we have the answers to the Adult Quiz.

a Homophobic Bullying in Scottish Schools: Survey
b Junior Quiz

Homophobic Bullying in Scottish Schools: Survey

LGBT Youth Scotland is carrying out research for the Scottish Executive into homophobic incidents in Scottish schools. They want to find out what young people in Scotland think about homophobic bullying so they have designed a short survey for young people.

Please complete the survey if you are a young person who is currently at school or who has recently left school - be sure to pass it on to your friends too. If you are a professional working with young people please do let them know about it.  We hope to encourage as many young people as possible straight as well as gay, bisexual and transgender –to return the survey. 

For more information and to complete the survey: www.lgbtyouth.org.uk/?id=27&sectionID=27&a=d&sr=4&surveyid=18

Kind regards,

Millicent Scott

Forum on Discrimination
Scottish Civic Forum
www.forumondiscrimination.org.uk

JUNIOR QUIZ

Here is our Junior Quiz. The answers are in the Regulars front page. Click here

1

How many weeks are there in a year?

2

Red sky at night is whose delight?

3

From which country does lasagne and spaghetti come?

4

Who ranks higher, a Marquess or an Earl?

5

What relation is Prince Charles to Prince Philip?

6

How many tens are there in a thousand?

7

What part of the coffee plant is harvested to make the drink?

8

Which buildings have blue lamps outside them in Britain?

9

Which is longer, a foot or a yard?

10

In which city would you find the shop Harrods?

ADULT QUIZ: ANSWERS

1

What is phobia? A fear, aversion or hatred

2

What is the medical conditions called myopia? Shortsightedness

3

What did Sir Walter Raleigh discover in Trinidad in 1595? The Great Pitch Lake, the world's largest deposit of asphalt

4

What is a satellite? A small body, such as the moon, which orbits a planet

5

What colour is the gem called aquamarine? A pale bluish green

6

The patella is another name for which bone? The kneecap

7

What is measured in knots? Speed (knots are often used for the speed of ships and aircraft)

8

What is a Bofors? An anti-aircraft gun

9

What instrument did Adolphe Sax invent? The saxaphone

10

What does a thermometer measure? Temperature

Please contact the editor@anAurora.co.uk with any stories or features that you would like us to publish for you.

Natural Access

All-terrain and beach wheelchairs

Introducing Landeez, the all-terrain and beach wheelchair that is reshaping the lives of people around the world.

Until now, wheelchairs could not provide access to parks and beaches.

Thanks to the Landeez all-terrain wheelchair, all of that has changed.

Press Release

Call 1-800-411-7789 to speak with a representative.

International callers, please call 310-392-9864. e-mail natural@superlink.net

For more information and a free glossy photo, please contact:

John Egan, Product Manager at Natural Access
(310) 392-9864
Or, Toll Free (800) 411-7789

International callers, please call 310-392-9864. e-mail natural@superlink.net

Please contact the editor@anAurora.co.uk with any stories or features that you would like us to publish for you.

Junior Crew

There are two contributions to the Junior Crew in this edition. First we have an article on games, and then the Junior Quiz. Also, we have the answers to the Adult Quiz.

a Games
b Junior Quiz

Games

Spot

This game is from Argentina

Number of participants: All who want to play (no less than 3).
Rules: Initially, one player takes the ball. At that moment the rest start running away from the one who has the ball.

When the one who has the ball says: "Stop there, John" (he has to name one of the participants), the one named has to look for the ball, and once he has the ball he says " stop there!" and everybody has to stop.

The one who has the ball can give three steps to get nearer, to his closest partner, and throw him/ her the ball.

Two things could happen:

1. If he touches the person with the ball, that person has a spot, and he is now the one who has to say "stop there!" and name one person.
2. If he doesn't touch the person with the ball, that person is "clean" (has not a "spot"), and the one who threw the ball is called "spot". He has to throw the ball again and say "Stop there" naming someone.
3. Whoever who gets 3 spots has to do something required by the group which called "prenda" (a kind of punishment), it consists of doing something funny or embarrassing, it's not a physical punishment!
4. If he doesn't want to do it, he is punished with 2 more "prendas", if he still doesn't, the game starts again and all players are "clean".
5. If he does what the group requires, the game goes on.
6. The game does not have a time limit, it finishes when most of the players decide it.

Tag

In this game, kids sit down in a circle facing each other. One person is IT and walks around the circle. As they walk around, they tap people's heads and say whether they are a duck or a "goose". Once someone is the goose they get up and try to chase IT around the circle.

The goal is to tap that person before they are able sit down in the goose's spot. If the goose is not able to do this, they become IT for the next round and play continues. If they do tap the IT person, the person tagged has to sit in the center of the circle. Then the goose become IT for the next round.

The person in the middle can't leave until another person is tagged and they are replaced.

Bulgarian Version

All of children sit down in the circle. One of them is chosen as Pesek. Everybody (except Pesek) close eyes and Pesek walks around the circle of children and sings: "Pesek walks around us, don't look at him, who will have a look at him, he will be bang to by Pesek."

Meanwhile Pesek bangs someone. He must run after Pesek and catch him. Provided he doesn't catch Pesek earlier than Pesek sits down on his place, he becomes a new Pesek.

Ghana Version

Antoakyire Game. That is an Akan folk game literally meaning "it was not put behind you".

The children all sit in a circular fashion. Then one of them is made to carry a cloth and run around them singing:

anto akyire o anto akyire o

then they will all respond

yie yie yie!
anto akyire o anto akyire o

then they will all respond

yie yie yie!
obiba bewu o

(somebody's child is about to suffer or die)
yie yie yie
Kapoi poi

All ( yie yie yie)

The song is repeated as many times as one continues to run around.

He/ She does so many revolutions and the rule of the game is that for those children sitting, no body should look back. In the process, the moderator or the one whose turn is to run around secretly and quietly dumps the cloth behind one of those seated and continues to sing as if nothing has happened.

The fast person should have a way of making sure that when the cloth is put behind him or her he/she will know and pick it and run after the moderator/person. If he or she is able to catch the moderator before he or she sits down, the new person becomes moderator and has the right to give the cloth back to the fellow who dumped the cloth.

But if the seated fellow is absent minded and does not realize that the cloth is behind him or her and the moderator goes round and comes back to meet that person still sitting. He/ she will hit lightly at the back of the fellow and they will all laugh.

Afterwards it is that person's turn to run around. The game continues till they decide to stop.

JUNIOR QUIZ

Here is our Junior Quiz. The answers are in the Regulars front page. Click here

1

How many lungs does the human body contain?

2

What phone number is usually dialled for the emergency services in America?

3

What are the three emergency services?

4

In cockney rhyming slang, what does apples and pears mean?

5

Where would you find woofers and tweeters?

6

If you were born on March 7, what would your star sign be?

7

Can you give the first name of Victoria and David Beckham’s son?

8

What are Danish Blue, Brie, and Gouda examples of?

9

Which colour was the Beatles’ submarine?

10

Which British soap has a pub called Rovers Return?

ADULT QUIZ: ANSWERS

1

What is the official language of Pakistan? ... URDU

2

Lake Volta is the largest reservoir in the world (2006) and is located in which country? ... GHANA

3

What does 3G mean in the mobile phone ads? ... THIRD GENERATION

4

Which organisation has the motto: Fidelity, Bravery? ... THE FBI

5

What is a more common name for a polygraph? ... A LIE DETECTOR

6

Before the Euro, the Irish Punt was divided into 100 what? ... PENCE

7

Of all the -ologies (study of), which has the shortest name? ... OOLOGY, THE STUDY AND COLLECTING OF EGGS

8

Which country joined the G7 which then became the G8? ... RUSSIA

9

On what day does Easter Sunday fall? ... THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER THE FIRST FULL MOON AFTER THE VERNAL EQUINOX!

10

What does the word 'Islam' literally means? ... SUBMISSION

Please contact the editor@anAurora.co.uk with any stories or features that you would like us to publish for you.

The first one - Have a Nice Day - has a moral and the second one - What Love's All About - is about love and acceptance.

And, in the middle, a light hearted horoscope for Aries, Taurus and Gemini.

If you enjoy writing, and have a story, poem or narrative that you would like to share, send them to editor@anAurora.co.uk If you wish to attach a drawing or sketch, then so much the better!

Have a Nice Day

An old man, a boy and a donkey were going to town. The boy rode on the donkey and the old man walked. As they went along they passed some people who remarked it was a shame the old man was walking and the boy was riding. The man and boy thought maybe the critics were right, so they changed positions.

Later, they passed some people that remarked, "What a shame, he makes that little boy walk." They then decided they both would walk! Soon they passed some more people who thought they were stupid to walk when they had a decent donkey to ride. So, they both rode the donkey.

Now they passed some people that shamed them by saying how awful to put such a load on a poor donkey. The boy and man said they were probably right, so they decided to carry the donkey. As they crossed the bridge, they lost their grip on the animal and he fell into the river and drowned.

The moral of the story? If you try to please everyone, you might as well... Kiss good-bye. Have A Nice Day!

Careful with your donkey

If you enjoy writing, and have a story, poem or narrative that you would like to share, send them to editor@anAurora.co.uk If you wish to attach a drawing or sketch, then so much the better!

Horoscope

anAurora's horoscope is here with her light-hearted view of the stars.

In the Stars

SIGN

HOROSCOPE

ARIES
21st March – 20th April

Attractive personality... Affectionate. Shy and reserved. Sensitive. Naturally honest, generous and sympathetic. Loves peace and serenity. Aggressive when provoked. Sensitive to others. Loves to help others. Not easily angered. Trustworthy. Defends others. Appreciative and returns kindness. Observant and assesses others.Varied interests. Loves to dream and fantasize. Loves travelling. Loves attention. Strong belief system. Hasty in trusting others. Loves home decors. Musically talented. Depends on friends. Loves special things. Moody and easily hurt. A giving lover. Very loyal. Deep Thinker. Feels deeply. A romantic. Loves to be loved. Thrifty. Loves down time alone.

TAURUS
21st April – 20th May

Active and dynamic. Decisive and haste but tends to regret. Attractive and affectionate to oneself. Strong mentality. Loves attention. Diplomatic. Consoling, friendly and solves people's problems. Brave and fearless. Adventurous. Loving and caring. Suave and generous. Emotional. Aggressive. Hasty. Good memory. Moving Motivates oneself and others. Sickness usually of the head and chest

GEMINI
21st May – 20th June

Stubborn and hard-hearted. Strong-willed and highly motivated. Sharp thoughts. Easily angered. Attracts others and loves attention. Deep feelings. Beautiful physically and mentally. Firm Standpoint. Needs no motivation. Easily consoled. Systematic (left brain). Loves to dream. Strong clairvoyance. Understanding. Sickness usually in the ear and neck. Good imagination. Good physical. Weak breathing. Loves literature and the arts. Loves travelling. Dislike being at home. Restless. Not having many children. Hardworking. High spirited. Spendthrift

For those who want a more personal horoscope: Please contact your local newspaper!

If you enjoy writing, and have a story, poem or narrative that you would like to share, send them to editor@anAurora.co.uk If you wish to attach a drawing or sketch, then so much the better!

What Love's All About

It was a busy morning, approximately 8:30 am, when an elderly gentleman in his eighties arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He stated that he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am. I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would to able to see him.

I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound. Upon examination, it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound.

While taking care of his wound, we began to engage in conversation. I asked him if he had a doctor's appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told me "no", that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat
breakfast with his wife. I then inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer's Disease. As we talked and I finished dressing his wound, I asked if she would be worried if he was a bit late.

He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in the last five years.

I was surprised, and asked him, "And you still go every morning, THIS IS even though she doesn't know who you are?"

He smiled as he patted my hand and said, "She doesn't know me, but I still know who she is."

I had to hold back tears as he left, I had goose bumps on my arm, and thought, "That is the kind of love I want in my life."

True love is neither physical, nor romantic. True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be and will not be. With all the jokes and fun that are in e-mails, sometimes there are some that come along that have an important message, and this is one of those.

Just had to share it with you all. Oh, by the way, peace is
seeing a sunset and knowing who to thank. The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything that comes along their way.

If you enjoy writing, and have a story, poem or narrative that you would like to share, send them to editor@anAurora.co.uk If you wish to attach a drawing or sketch, then so much the better!

A –Z for Happy Bellies
A Wee A –Z for Happy Bellies
By Pade Ross

Extracts from her Receipt Book Artichoke Contains:

Recipes for sensual, caressing, warming, cooling, heartening, comforting, delicious, exciting, harmonising, smooth, rough, sophisticated, tough, tasty and easy

Food for Friends

The celebration of being alive, large, small, poor, or rich, Christian, Buddhist, Moslem, Jewish, Japanese or Communist, vegan, vegetarian or omnivore, together at one table.

Wee Notes

For the “wee notes”, which you can read – or not - I am grateful to:

Earl Mindell for The Vitamin Bible and The Food Medicine Bible
Thorsons, for The Complete Guide to Vitamins and Minerals
Prevention for New Foods for Healing
Dr. Christina Scott-Moncrieff for The Vitamin Alphabet
Michael van Straten and Barbara Griggs for Super Foods
Phyllis and James Balch for Prescription for Nutritional Healing
Arnold and David Bender for Oxford Dictionary of Food and Nutrition
James Duke for The Green Pharmacy
Denise Mortimore for The Complete Illustrated Guide to Vitamins and Minerals

If you have any recipies or hints on cooking, would you like to send some of it to us? Email editor@anAurora.co.uk

Artichoke Parcels

Artichoke Parcels

Ingredients:

Handful of rice p.p.
3 or 4 artichokes p.p.
Syboes
Garlic
Smoked tofu
Instant puff pastry

Put the rice on to cook. Put the oven on to medium.
Wash, peel and roughly slice the artichokes, the syboes and the garlic and sweat them together in a little of the olive oil on a very low heat while till the rice is cooking. Strain the rice and let it dry out a bit in its pan. Grate the smoked tofu into a bowl and add the rice and the vegetables .

Cut the pastry into several squares and place a heap of the roughly mixed vegetables in the centre.
Dampen the edges of the pastry and fold over to make an interesting shape, all corners to the centre, a triangle, a half bit and so on.

Method:

Put the filled shapes onto a greased baking tray and cook in the centre of the oven for about 20 minutes. Remember to make a wee hole in the pastry dough to let out the steam, other wise the little shape will swell up and fall over!
Serve hot or cold.

A Wee Note

Jerusalem artichokes contain vitamin B1. As does brown rice. Thiamine (vit B1) is good for a healthy brain activity. It is good for energy production. It is good for an efficient digestion. It is good for carbohydrate metabolism.

Another wee note : Brown rice contains manganese. Manganese is necessary for the efficient use of glucose. It is necessary as an antioxidant. It is needed for fertility and good bone and cartilage structure.

Yet another wee note : brown rice and garlic contain molybdenum. This is a trace element, or mineral, which acts as an antioxidant. It also helps to protect against male impotency, rotten teeth and can help protect against cancer, just eat loads of parsley so your friends don’t walk away!

If you have any recipies or hints on cooking, would you like to send some of it to us? Email editor@anAurora.co.uk

Artichoke Pizza1

Pizza Dough (take a pound of strong flour, 3 tsps dried yeast, a half tsp sugar, a half cup warm water. Mix the water, sugar and dried yeast together. Put the flour in a large bowl and add a little salt, a little oregano or other herb that takes your fancy, and mix well. When the yeast mixture starts popping to the surface of the water make a well in the centre of the flour and pour the lot in. You will need more warm water probably, but start mixing the water and the flour together. You can add some olive oil and keep mixing till the dough is soft and silky and not sticking to the bowl or your hands. This is kneading and it takes a lot of time and energy. Great fun and a good way of getting rid of murderous thoughts as you pound away at the dough, only to find that IT’S THERE!!! The amount will make loads of pizzas).

Artichoke hearts
Olives
Olive oil, salt, pepper, onions (if you are allergic to onions use syboes instead), smoked and plain tofu, grated.

Method:

Put on the oven to medium/high. Cut off about a sixth of the basic dough and roll it out thinly.
Cover the rest of the dough and leave to one side.
Place pizza base on a thick baking tray and spread with olive oil.
Mix the two tofus together and spread round the edges of the pizza.
Turn the edges over to cover the tofu.
Layer the artichoke hearts and onions/syboes over the dough.
Dot the olives over the pizza, sprinkle with olive oil and dust with a little salt and pepper.
Pop it in the oven for 20 – 30 minutes and serve with salad.

A Wee Note

globe artichokes contain vitamin C. Bodies need vitamin C because it is a natural antihistamine. It also is a great antioxidant. It helps to repair tissue and heal wounds. Great for people who bruise easily, then! Another wee note: folic acid is one of the B vitamins and is very good for bodies. It is necessary for red blood cell production. It boosts the immune system. It is essential for a healthy skin and mucous membranes and it is a natural analgesic. Soy contains folic acid.

Yet another wee note : olives contain iron. Iron is good for your body. Globe artichokes contain calcium. Calcium is also good for your body. Calcium is essential for the formation of bones and teeth. It is also good a healthy heart. It is also good for menstrual cramps, muscular cramps, osteoporosis, high blood pressure and insomnia. How wonderful!

If you have any recipies or hints on cooking, would you like to send some of it to us? Email editor@anAurora.co.uk

Artichoke Pizza2

Ingredients:

Ingredients: a sixth of the basic dough

Artichoke hearts
Red and yellow tomatoes
Garlic
Syboes
Marinated tofu
Lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper

Method:

turn on the oven to medium/high. Roll out the pizza dough thinly, spread with olive oil, a little salt and pepper, a layer of sliced garlic, a layer of sliced syboes, a layer of grated marinated tofu, a layer of sliced artichoke hearts, and a layer of sliced tomatoes. Sprinkle with squeezed lemon juice and a little olive oil. Pop into the oven for 20 – 30 minutes and serve with salad.

A Wee Note

globe artichokes contain vitamin C. Bodies need vitamin C because it is a natural antihistamine. It also is a great antioxidant. It helps to repair tissue and heal wounds. Great for people who bruise easily, then! Another wee note: folic acid is one of the B vitamins and is very good for bodies. It is necessary for red blood cell production. It boosts the immune system. It is essential for a healthy skin and mucous membranes and it is a natural analgesic. Soy contains folic acid.

Another wee note : bodies need vitamin A to protect against free radicals, to help reduce inflammatory conditions, and to ensure the baby develops properly in the womb

Yet another wee note : bodies need zinc to grow, to produce energy, to taste and smell properly; they need vanadium to metabolize glucose, to help prevent heart attacks and to reduce high blood pressure. Bodies need selenium as an anti-oxidant, for male potency and libido, to improve the liver function and to maintain healthy eyes, skin, nails and hair. Molybdium is needed for its anti-oxidant activities, to help protect males against impotency, to detoxify alcohol and to prevent anaemia. Bodies need germanium to maintain a balanced supply of oxygen to all parts of the body; to protect against osteoporosis, to protect against cancer and to be a natural analgesic. WOW! Live long and prosper, friends, eat garlic!!

If you have any recipies or hints on cooking, would you like to send some of it to us? Email editor@anAurora.co.uk

Globe Artichokes

Ingredients:

Globe artichokes can simply be boiled in lightly salted water, drained upside down, and then served on a warm plate or ashet.

Method:

Each person helps themselves to an artichoke and has an empty bowl in front of them. A bowl with a fairly simple dipping sauce is also in front of each diner and a leaf is pulled from the artichoke, dipped into the sauce, gripped between the front teeth and pulled gently through the teeth. The soft part of the vegetable is then enjoyed and the remains of the leaf are put into the empty bowl.

This is repeated till the leaves that are left are too tiny to eat so they are just pulled off and deposited in the bowl. What is called the choke is now revealed and should be carefully cut off the vegetable. Make sure none of the choke is left, because it will make you choke!!

Now you have the artichoke heart and should dip it and just eat away! It is delicious and the hearts can be bought in cans or bottles. Perhaps not so much fun, but definitely not as messy!!

If you have any recipies or hints on cooking, would you like to send some of it to us? Email editor@anAurora.co.uk

Our usual Armchair Gardener article is followed by an interesting article about gorse and its usefulness in cooking.

Please keep them coming. Send your articles on Gardening and Home to editor@anAurora.co.uk

Armchair Gardener

Window Dressing

Window boxes hanging baskets or a few pots on the doorstep can be uplifting and create an enticing entrance to your home. Almost anything that grows can go into a pot or a window box so long as it fits. Even small trees can be accommodated just if they have room for their roots, plenty of water and regular feeding.

You can use almost anything as a container if you can make drainage holes in the bottom. All plants need water but only bog plants like to have their roots saturated in water all the time. A drum from a washing machine, an old chest of drawers and catering olive oil cans are some of the many and varied containers I have seen. Use your imagination and use anything which you find attractive and will hold soil.

It will of course have to endure at least one season so you may need to do a bit of water proofing. A layer of acrylic varnish will do most surfaces. Create customised planters by painting low price terracotta pots in a single colour or with a pattern (leave the bit round the top in the natural terracotta). Even acrylic based emulsion paint will withstand the rigours of a British summer. Most D.I.Y. shops sell crafters acrylics in a stunning range of colours. It is a good idea to use colours that blend with and enhance the colours of the plants you choose.

For an easy and inexpensive show of summer colour combine calendulas and dwarf nasturtiums or red geraniums with yellow bidens. You could go for the classical combination of petunias and lobelia. A single planting of white daisies or osteospermum or diascia can look stunning. One thing to look for is a planting scheme that will flower profusely all summer. Pull out all the stops and cram in as much as possible and don’t try to be subtle.

Please keep them coming. Send your articles on Gardening and Home to editor@anAurora.co.uk

Gorse

Is Gorse one of the trees of the Celtic Alphabet? It is native in the Mediterranean region of Western Europe.

Gorse is an evergreen shrub that grows up to about 4 or 5 feet in height. It can tolerate many different soil types and can be found growing from sea level up to quite high places on hill sides.

Gorse loves full sunlight and its vigorous growth can quickly form an impenetrable thicket. Gorse like nettles can often be overlooked as a weed species. However its importance as a shelterbelt plant should not be overlooked. It tolerates sea spray well and is good for sheltering less hardy plants.

Its bright yellow flowers which stand out against its dark green foliage make it easy to recognise.

The flowers have a sweet and pleasant scent which attracts many varieties of insects. Perfumes can be made from the flowers. Gorse appears to flower all the year round.

The seeds of Gorse are contained within dark pods covered in fine hairs. On a hot day these pods can be heard bursting open releasing their seeds. One shrub can produce 8000 seeds annually.

In spring the gorse used to be burnt so the young tender shoots provided valuable food for cattle and horses. The burnt ashes also provided a good fertile dressing for the soil. The dry wood of the Gorse burns well and is ideal when camping to light a fire.

The flowers of Gorse can also be used to a make a tasty tea. Put two tablespoons of freshly picked Gorse flowers in a mug of boiling water. Infuse for 7-10 minutes then strain. The tea can be sweetened with honey if desired. If the flowers are dried use one tablespoon per mug of water.

Please keep them coming. Send your articles on Gardening and Home to editor@anAurora.co.uk

Jeni gives information on three useful websites on disability and accessibility.

And an article on concerns of people who had the polio virus.

If you have a question that you would like to ask, then email: jeni@anAurora.co.uk

Jeni's Column

Seeking advice on care

Counsel and Care is a charity providing advice and information for people aged over 60 and their families. Information includes, Community Care, Benefits and Grants, Care at Home, Housing with Care, and Care in a Care Home including choosing a paying for care3. It has a useful website with downloadable fact sheets.
www.counselandcare.org.uk

Shopmobility

Shopmobility is a UK scheme which lends manual wheelchairs, powered wheelchairs and powered scooters to members of the public with limited mobility to shop and to visit leisure and commercial facilities within the town, city or shopping centre. You do not need to be registered disabled to use it.
www.shopmobilityuk.org

Accessible Loo for You

ITAAL’S Guide to Accessible Loos in England was launched in October 2000 It contains details of the location of over 40000 loos – 1400 have lots of detail, not only about where they are, but also what to expect. The guide includes a special rail section to help plan train journeys.

ITAAL is a group of mainly disabled people who understand how vitally important it is to find a loo that meets your particular access needs.
www.itaal.org.uk/

If you have a question that you would like to ask, then email: jeni@anAurora.co.uk

Personal Concerns On Polio Virus

A I love your wisdom and totally follow it myself, marvelling everyday at how human bodies are able to function so well and compensate as they do, in spite of the ravages of age & disease.

After a few devastating medical predictions about my own tragically short and limited life, I learned to develop my skills and philosophy and marvel at what the mind and beliefs can do.

I've been totally quadriplegic and vent dependent since age 9 but got through school and university with a Masters in Psychology, worked for 30 years in a large kids rehab centre, have served on many community boards, travelled to many countries speaking & writing - and, even though I'm now retired, (age 62) and obviously able to do less & more easily tired, I'm still busy and travelling and writing and involved in my community - as well as looking after my 94 year old mother who lives with me - co-ordinating her care needs as well as my own.

Many of my polio friends who are severely disabled and are now dealing with the added effects of "getting older" recognize (as I now do) that you have to feed your endorphin/immunity response system by "enjoying" yourself and doing positive, pleasurable social things rather than thinking too much about the physical defectiveness or dwelling on it!

About 5 of us go out regularly every week or two to a park or the Island or a movie or dinner - and none of us talk too much about our health or physical challenges - although they obviously do exist.

Remember that doctors are specifically trained in "pathology" and this is what they try to fix - when often they can't. Sometimes (well meaning) they impose more than you really need or something which impedes rather than helps - YOU have to find the balance for yourself in conjunction with others, Medical specialists are not experts in any person's overall life picture.

Margaret Attwood (that famous Canadian writer) once said in one of her books - to paraphrase - "I know my problems aren't all in my head and it's not my body that's totally letting me down either. Rather, it's my neck that I have a grievance with because it creates the illusion the two are separate." I had this on my wall at work for years!!!

I'm not saying that attending to physical needs is wrong - I'm just saying that each of us has to find the balance and make sure mental/spiritual needs are equally addressed - those endorphins can sure do a lot for feeling well but you have to work at positive, pleasurable things - nice times don't just happen by themselves - and fit them into your schedule too.

The young man in question would benefit by finding and socializing with positive polio peers (or people his age with other disabilities) who can share advice and mentor and be role models for what a good life (in spite of disability) is all about. It might take a while - but he'll get there with encouragement and support. Peers who have "been there" themselves are far better than any health professional (even psychologists!! Ha Ha).

B I want to make it clear this is what I believe. I believe the brain has a huge impact on helping us to heal our bodies and to recover and live in joy. If he buys what the doctors are saying to him that is what will happen. I remember a doctor telling me I would never ride a bike. I am so grateful that I didn't believe him.

Moderation in everything is essential except where our minds are concerned. If you believe you will have a productive life then you will. My mother was diagnosed with severe lung ailment and was given a year to live. So she moved in with me and we started one day at a time. She went home to live another 12 years on her own. Depression causes a lot of stress on the body and causes diseases to be worse. That is why it is called dis-ease.

I no longer allow anyone to limit my beliefs in my body or others. I believe your young friend has been given an opportunity to grow past the limitational thoughts of others. So many others have done it. We all get so caught up in limitations, that we forego the opportunities that we are given. The opportunity to focus and participate in our own healing.

The thought today is that you don't over do because of damaging the nerve endings further. I think rehabilitation at all ages help. If he needs someone to vent to I would be willing to support him. I hate all the doom and gloom around polio. It does not have to be that way.

C I have met a friend through the web who got polio in Africa while he was there with his family while his dad was managing a business there. He's in his early twenties just about to graduate from college. Evidently he was an athlete before getting polio in his teens. Now he is in one kafo and one afo.

He complained about back pain to his Dr and the Dr is putting him in a back support of some type and getting him back in two kafos. The Dr suspected he was putting stress on his back with the one kafo one afro arrangement and the back support is temporary, hopefully. He is in England so his treatment is covered by the health service.

He was really depressed yesterday by the news from his dr. He is wanting to get better and the Doctors are saying be happy how you are, I am afraid. They don't have him on any therapy. He rides a motorized bike some and swims some. They told him to keep it up but don't over do it. I don't know if this is a concern about future PPS problems or what. I grew up in the use it or lose it generation and everyone wanted you to get as much back to where you were as possible. I recovered pretty well and have no PPS problems.

I am concerned for my friend. I don't know if it is the nationalized health that is the problem or what, but it seems they are not doing all they could for him to rehab him, maybe out of fear of PPS. I don't remember such a laid back approach when I was recovering. He was really depressed by all of this when we talked yesterday. I know that is not good. I tried to encourage him any way I could and urged him to keep up with the exercising. Any ideas?

If you have any information on health that you would want to share, you can email jeni@anAurora.co.uk

Life is fragile handle with care

Emails on trendy, colourful crutches, information about a popular Canadian ezine called Abilities

News on fundraising

An email about free parking for blue badge holders at the Western General Hospital Edinburgh

Hints and tips to ask your friends

We have again extended and sorted our list of links

and our quiz is here again easy as always.

Just remember
every silver lining has a cloud

Junior Quiz Answers

Here are the answers to the Junior Quiz for the Spring 2004 issue. If you want to visit the Junior Crew quiz first, then click here.

The answers to the Adult Quiz are in the Features section, after the Junior Crew quiz. Click here

1

How many lungs does the human body contain? ...TWO

2

What phone number is usually dialled for the emergency services in America? ... 911

3

What are the three emergency services? ... POLICE, FIRE and AMBULANCE

4

In cockney rhyming slang, what does apples and pears mean? ... STAIRS

5

Where would you find woofers and tweeters? ... LOUDSPEAKERS

6

If you were born on March 7, what would your star sign be? ... PISCES

7

Can you give the first name of Victoria and David Beckham’s son? ... BROOKLYN

8

What are Danish Blue, Brie, and Gouda examples of? ... CHEESES

9

Which colour was the Beatles’ submarine? ... YELLOW

10

Which British soap has a pub called Rovers Return? ... CORONATION STREET

Emails

Hi guys'n'dolls
Was shopping the other day and spotted a lady with really trendy coloured elbow crutches. I plucked up courage, as you know how shy I am!!! And I asked her where she bought them and she gave me the following website. The crutches are £17.50 (less VAT relief) and given that most of us only need one (at the moment!!!!) I reckoned we could afford to have them in all 3 colours sharing the cost if someone else fancies the same colour. They're such a refreshing change from the boring NHS ones!! Quite a good site this and lots of good ideas.
Happy shopping

http://www.disabledaccessories.com


Abilities is Canada's foremost cross-disability lifestyle magazine. It is widely read by people with disabilities, their families, friends and professionals. The publication is available in print, on audio cassette and on computer disk.

All past issues can be accessed in the Abilities Archives section of this website. In addition to its subscriber base, Abilities is circulated to every organization across Canada committed to the advancement and well-being of people with disabilities, as well as thousands of professionals, corporations and government agencies.

If you are interested in sharing comments and/or feedback on Abilities, click on the Magazine Message Board


Hi
I was having a look at your website and thought you would be interested in the work you we are doing.

The Disabled Workers Co-operative is a ‘not-for-profit’ organisation that is creating an online Database of the skills, products and services that disabled people have to offer. Registration on the database is FREE and it is FREE for anyone to use.

We have an eJobs Portal aimed at disabled jobseekers where you are able to advertise your vacancies and search for employees FREE.

We also have a popular Directory of websites that list organisations, service providers and useful products for the disabled such as Assistive Technology, mobility products and holidays. Listing in the Directory is FREE in return for a link on your website.

For further information please visit our website at: www.disabledworkers.org.uk
or contact me at neil@disabledworkers.org.uk

Regards
Neil Wood-Gaiger
Project Manager


Amongst the top three pre occupations for the majority of voluntary and community organisations is the continual need to raise money. Some people are more confident that others in the task but whatever your experience or skill level it's always useful to review and improve your approach.

Profunding has organised two training courses for fundraisers (see attached flyers)

€ Improve Fundraising Effectiveness 8 & 9th June
€ Developing a Funding Strategy 20tth & 21st June
There are a few places still available and we thought you might like to circulate the information to colleagues, organisations you support, members, etc, or you might just want to book yourself a place?

If you need further information do not hesitate to contact us on 0191 250 1969

ProFunding
Crane House
19 Apex Business Village
Annitsford
Northumberland
NE23 7BF
Tel 0191 250 1969
Fax 0191 250 2563
stars@fundinginformation.org
www.fundinginformation.org


Blue Badge Holders - car parking fee exemption. Western General Hospital Edinburgh
With immediate effect holders of blue badges will be exempt from paying car parking fees. To gain free exit the driver will identify them self as a holder and will be requested to quote their badge registration number, which should be entered in the log provided.

If you want to send an email to us on any subject at all, then email editor@anAurora.co.uk

Hints & Tips

Ask your friends these and you will know about them, enjoy!

1 First name and middle name?
2 Were you named after anyone?
3 Do you wish on stars?
4 When did you last cry
5 Do you like your handwriting?
6 What is your favourite lunchmeat?
7 What is your birth date?
8 What is your most embarrassing album?
9 If you were another person, would you be your friend?
10 Are you a daredevil?
11 Have you ever told a secret?
12 Do looks matter?
13 How do you release anger?
14 Where is your second home?
15 Do you trust others too easily?
16 What was your favourite toy as a child?
17 What class in high school do you think is totally useless?!
18 Do you have a journal?
19 Do you use sarcasm a lot?
20 Favourite movies?
21 What are your (acceptable) nicknames?
22 Would you bungee jump?
23 Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
24 Are you strong (mentally and physically?
25 What is your favourite ice cream flavour?
26 Shoe size?!
27 What are your favourite colours?
28 Who do you miss most?
29 Do you want everyone you send this to send it back?
30 What are you listening to right now?
31 Last thing you ate?
32 If you were a crayon what colour would you be?
33 What is the weather like right now?
34 The first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
35 Do you like the person who sent this to you?
36 Favourite Drink?
37 Hair Colour?
38 Last Movie?
39 Favourite Day of the Year?
40 Scary Movies or Happy Endings?
41 Summer or winter?
42 Hugs or kisses?
43 What is Your Favourite Dessert?
44 Who is Most Likely to Respond?
45 Who is Least Likely to Respond?
46 Where Would You Want to Go on your Next Vacation?
47 What Books are you reading
48 What did you Watch Last Night on TV?
49 Favourite Smells?
50 Rolling Stones or Beatles?
51 Do you believe in Evolution or Creationism?
52 What's the furthest you've been away from home?

If you have a hint or a tip that you would like to share, email editor@anAurora.co.uk

Links

Here is a list of links. We will add any that you send to us

 

Website
Notes
http://antivirus.about.com

Help on computer viruses

http://antivirus.cai.com

For protection and disinfection of websites

http://dawn.thot.net

Disabled women's network Ontario

http://hatw.net/

PenPals from across the world

http://kristi_site.homestead.com/
index.html

Poetry Home page

http://magazine.resourceaid.com

Resource site for everything to do with magazine

http://members.nbci.com/rosierainbow

Composers site

http://mswheelchairflpageant.
freeyellow.com

Florida pageant for the disable woman

http://mysite.freeserve.com/
LaCalaStudioSpain

Holiday studio flat La Cala, Costa Del Sol. Spain

http://photos.yahoo.com/

Search engine

http://search.support.microsoft.com/
kb/c.asp

Microsoft knowledge base (for problems)

http://whatis.techtarget.com Have all those mysterious terms which are used these days explained to you. There are also cheat sheets, quizzes and crosswords.  Enough to keep you happily entertained for ages

http://www.4dp.com

Has commercial information about products but charities and local groups can also upload their information for free

http://www.abilitynet.org.uk/

Charity that brings the benefits of computer technology to adults and children with disabilities

http://www.abilitynet.org.uk/myway/

Help in making your computer easier to use

http://www.acapela-group.com

Product aimed at helping visually impaired people

http://www.access-ability.co.uk

Magazine

http://www.accessiblecruises.co.uk

Specialise in worldwide cruising for disabled people, their family and friends

http://www.accessibletravel.co.uk "Accessible holidays and travel for wheelchair users, slow walkers, mature travellers, their families and friends"

http://www.accesslondon.co.uk

Useful information about getting around London

http://www.adept-uk.org/

We invite any inclusive communication request and currently provide; Braille, audio, large print, disk, CD, makaton and plain language,sub-titling and BSL on videos

http://www.african-americanbrides.com/

The premier website for elegant women of color

http://www.ageconcern.org.uk

Site for retired persons

http://www.ajkids.com

Site for monitoring web access for children

http://www.akfitness.com/

AK Fitness Equipment body workout system suitable for wheelchair users

http://www.albatross-books.co.uk

Book club, run by Malcolm Birkenshaw

http://www.allexperts.com

This free question-and-answer service is ideal for those who cannot find what they want to know on the Web of just want to talk to a real personYou click the link to your choosen cateegory, type in your question and wait for an answer

http://www.annabellagio.com

Offers affordable women's jewels for weddings and formal occasions

http://www.asciimation.co.nz.

Oh, loved the ASCII Star Wars site It appears to be pretty well scene for scene.

http://www.asianjobsite.co.uk/

Recruitment for disabled Asian members

http://www.artchive.com

Beautiful, user-friendly site. The virtual gallery is just that

http://www.arthritis.org/

The Arthritis Foundation's home page

http://www.arthritis.org/resources/
arthritistoday/

The Arthritis Today magazine

http://www.art-online.com/

The Fine Art website

http://www.asbah.org/

Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus

http://www.asianjobsite.co.uk

A UK’s website for ethnic minority recruitment

http://www.assistedlivingstore.com/
senior_gift_ideas.asp

Gift ideas for the disabled

www.balihainursery.com Gardening direct

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/
disability/fashion.shtml

Information on fashion for the disabled

http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise

Site for monitoring web access for children

http://www.bda-dyslexia.org.uk

British Dyslexia Organisation

http://www.bellissimabridalshoes.com/

Bridal Shoes website

http://www.bl.co.uk

British Library. The only place on the Internet where you can find the title of any book

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/collection/
systemic_lupus_erythematosus

British Medical Journal page on SLE, or lupus

http://www.b2g.ltd.uk/

The best lingerie on the web

http://www.bloomingmarvellous.co.uk

Maternity wear and accessories

http://www.boden.co.uk

Online version of one of Britain's most successful mail-order  clothes catalogues

http://www.bodytech.co.uk

Mobile massage in the Edinburgh area

http://www.bookbrain.co.uk

Once you get the title or ISBN of a book, use this hunter site to get the best prices

http://www.bostoncure.org

Boston Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis

http://www.bra-kini.com/ Lingerie and bras for "... the big-boobed woman".

http://www.bravissimo.com

Buying bras for those who have problems getting one to fit

http://www.british-mobility.co.uk/

British website offering scooters, beds, etc.

http://www.britishpolio.org

British Polio Fellowship

http://www.btinternet.com/
~embv74alp/

ALP - Adult Learning Project

http://www.btinternet.com/
~phab.freewheelers/

Disabled site for the young

http://www.businessbump.co.uk

Maternity clothes for the professional woman

http://www.bwba.co.uk UK Wheelchair Bowls Association
http://www.bwra.co.uk UK Wheelchair Racing Association

http://www.carecommission.com/

The Care Commission website

http://www.careservicesforum.com/

The Free Online Resource Tool for the Scottish Care Sector
http://www.charitynet.org/~NATLL

National Association of Toy Leisure Libraries

http://www.chavez.co.uk

Web and IT designer

http://www.cherrysucker.com/

Stories: the site is not being updated, but is still good

http://www.chinnychinchins.co.uk

Breeders of the highest Show quality chinchillas are bred from winning Canadian, Dutch and UK blood lines

http://www..clickXchange.com/
fr.phtml?act=555682.1

A site for disabled patients and loved ones to find mutual supports by specific health issues

http://www.communitycollaboration.net

Building Community Collaboration and Consensus

http://www.cooksrecipes.com

Recipes for every cook

http://www.counselandcare.org.uk/ Counsel and Care is a charity giving advice and information to older people, their relatives and carers across the UK

http://www.creativescotland.com

Site for the artistic

http://www.crocus.co.uk

Plant database

http://www.cualann.com Cualann Press, publishers of Scottish historical and general interest books

http://www.cyberpatrol.com

Site for monitoring web access for children

http://www.dare2employus.com

A site for disabled young people entering Further/Higher education or employment
http://www.date4uonline.com/index.php On-line dating agency

http://www.ddrc.org/

Education and training base for Diving & Hyperbaric courses, including disabled persons

http://www.ddsg.org.uk/taxi/

Training on disability issues for taxi drivers

http://www.deafblind.com

An amazing site to start from

http://www.deli cates.co.uk

Designer made to measure silk lingerie catering for all sizes.

http://www.demon.co.uk/afbp

Action for Blind People website

http://www.designer-lingerie-store.co.uk

Designer Lingerie Store for men and women

http://www.dfd.org.uk

Dogs for the Disabled

http://www.dis-ability.info/

A recently launched major new information resource for the UK Disabled Community

http://www.disabledunited.com/index.asp

Fantastic site from chat rooms to music

http://www.disabledworkers.org.uk/

Its aim is to promote the skills, services and products offered by disabled workers by creating a searchable (by anyone looking for whatever they need) database of these skills and services

http://www.disablejobsite.co.uk

Disable Jobsite assists people with a disability to participate actively in employment

http://www.disabilitynet.co.uk/classified
/penpal/penpaltwo1.html

Website for penpals

http://www.disabilitynet.co.uk/groups/
crippen/crippen/_home_page.htm

Cartoonist with a social model of disability

http://www.disabilitynow.org.uk/

The Disability Now magazine

http://www.disabilities-r-us.co.uk/ A fun way to meet people all round the world

http://www.disabilityview.co.uk

Magazine

http://www.disabilityworld.com/

Resourceful information

http://www.disabilityworld.org.uk

A great site for all you want to know

http://www.disabledperson.com/

One person site, the USA perspective

http://www.disabledworkers.org.uk/

A database promoting skills, services and products offered by disabled workers

http://www.discovercomfort.co.uk/

Quality beds and massage systems

http://www.diss.org.uk/

Making high quality, impartial and independent disability information available to enquirers across the UK

http://www.donlemmonsknowhow.com

 

http://www.Double-d.com

Quality lingerie in large sizes. They donate 50p from every order to breast cancer charities

http://www.download.net

Classic arcade games and desktop utilities; expand your software

http://www.dps-uk.org.uk

Charity to encourage photography for the disabled

http://www.drc-gb.org

Disability Rights Commission

http://www.dss.gov.uk

Information on benefits

http://www.dulux.co.uk

Hints and tips on how to decorate and furnish your home

http://www.edfwomen.org.uk

The website of the UK Disability Forum for Europe Women's Committee – the UK's only national organisation of disabled women - is now online

http://www.electric-scooters-galore.com Electric scooters and mobility scooters that fit your budget and lifestyle

http://www.eliteskills.com

Poetry site

http://www.elle.com

General woman's magazine

http://www.enablelink.org/ The ABILITIES website

http://www.essentialtherapy.uk.com

Therapeutic Beauty Salon

http://www.eurobility.com

A site with everything you want to find out

http://www.factoryoutletscooters.co.uk/

Order Scooters directly from this website

http://www.family-friendly-fun.com

Family friendly fun and special needs resources

http://www.faqs.org//faqs/
computer.virus/

Help on computer viruses

http://www.fashion.at/design/
serafimov7-2003.htm

Knitware

http://www.fieldfare.org.uk/

Fieldfare works with people with disabilities and countryside managers to improve access to the countryside for everyone

http://www.free-gourmet-recipes.com/

Healthy recipes

http://www.freeloader.com

Free games

http://www.ftdr.com/rambles/prog.html Forth and Tay disabled Ramblers
http://www.fundinginformation.org.uk

Profunding offers funding information to charities

http://www.gardengames.co.uk

Site for all your garden games

http://www.GatesofRemembrance.com

Tributes to lost friends, colleagues and family

http://www.Gbwba.org.uk

UK Wheelchair Basketball Association

http://www.geocities.com/
SoHo/Bistro/2336/

Hanoi artist

http://www.geoshare.org.uk/ Edinburgh Council has recently launched a new map-based website for looking up information on schools, transport, public services

http://www.getvirushelp.com

Help on computer viruses

http://www.goodaccessguide.co.uk "Accessible leisure pursuits, holidays and travel, transport, mobility products, and daily living services for disabled people, their families and friends
http://www.gotogifts.co.uk/redirect.html

Gift ideas for the disabled

http://www.greenfingers.com

All you need to know about plants in your garden

http://www.handi-ramp.com

Equipment for the disabled

http://www.handidate.com

Dating agency for the able and disable

http://www.hebrideanwoolhouse.com

A company dealing in hand made woollen garments

http://www.hebs.scot.nhs.uk NHS Health Education Board, Scotland

http://www.holidays4disabled.
withwheels.com/

List accessible holidays

http://www.howstuffworks.com

If you are interested in how things work, you will be interested in this website

http://www.hsascuba.com/hsalink.htm

The American homesite of the Handicapped Scuba Association links page

http://www.hsa-europe.org/engl/
welcome.html

The European homesite of the Handicapped Scuba Association links page

http://www.icarebiz.com

Company dealing in transport equipment for the disabled

http://www.ihavemoved.com

Tell them where you're moving to and everything from magazine subscriptions to phone providers can be re-directed for you. IHM will even notify your friends and arrange for a free pizza to be delivered to your new abode

http://www.independentlivingby
design.co.uk

Private services provided by State-Registered Occupational Therapists

http://www.inspire.melb.net/members/
home.htm

Like-minded web magazine

http://www.intowork.org.uk/index.html Website to secure employment opportunities for people with disabilities

http://www.isingles.co.uk/

Free Dating Agency

http://www.island-trading.com

As amazon.com does with books, so Island Trading does with skincare, makeup and accessories

http://www.itaal.org.uk / Accessible loos!
http://www.jackandsusie.com

Description: 6 Generations of needlework artisans. Over 50,000 arts, crafts and collectibles. Craft ideas, free patterns, Quilt-in-a-Day books, Alice Starmore knitting books!

http://www.javajane.com/ The Original Message Board for Women

http://www.jobsite.co.uk

One of the oldest online job databases in the UK and still one of the busiest and easiest to use

http://www.justmobility.co.uk/
roadshow

Mobility road show web site

http://www.kieto.com

Great recipes new and old world, fun and games, clean jokes and lot's of fun

http://www.lakelandlimited.com

Online version of this Company's indispensable kitchen-lover's catalogue.

http://www.lareau.org/disgraph.html

An excellent site for disability graphics

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/
sociology/dru/dru.htm

This is the site of the Disability Research Unit, which is an international centre of excellence, located at the University of Leeds,UK   

http://www.lemmonsoil.com

Essential fatty acids

http://www.lifewithease.com

Aids for people with impairments to make like easier Hi, I have tried to design a fun, informative, family friendly and easy to use UK website dedicated to Chinchillas and everything about them.

http://www.lift-chairs-101.com Recliners, bath and stair lifts

http://www.liftshare.com

uses technology to link passengers and drivers together, reducing congestion on the roads

http://www.limbless-association.org

Magazine for the Disabled

http://www.lucylu.net

Website focusing on the plight of Lucy Lu

http://www.lupus.org

Website for anyone interested in lupus (SLE, or Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

http://www.magic-magnet.com

Painless magnetic acupucture plaster

http://www.mailorderplants4me.com

Specialises in Hostas and other cottage garden Perennials selling worldwide

http://www.mainstream-mag.com

Magazine

http://www.maternity-clothing-guide.com/

Maternity clothing on line

http://www.medisearch.co.uk

UK Search Engine has launched a specialist service called Medisearch

http://www.merriweatherart.com

An artist from Texas

http://www.messagemates.com

Cards for every occasion

http://www.microbeacon.org.uk

An IT training resource run by Edinburgh University Settlement

http://www.mindspring.com

Like minded web site

http://www.mobility-unit.dft.gov.uk/

Department of Transport, Mobility and Inclusion website: this is a new website, well worth paying a visit to

http://www.mothersbliss.co.uk

Maternity wear exchange

http://www.molly-bather.co.uk

Makes getting into and out of a bath easier

http://www.mpccargo.co.uk/

Wheel-less trailers

http://www.mswebpals.org

Online community for people living with MS

http://www.mugsy.org

The website of the National Autistic Society.

http://www.myelinrepair.org/

Myelin Repair Foundation

http://www.national-directories.com

The United States Healthcare Directory

http://www.netflora.co.uk On-line florist

http://www.nih.gov/niams/healthinfo/
slehandout/

Website with information on lupus (SLE)

http://www.norfolkdisabledholidays.co.uk

Holiday centre for those with special needs

http://www.oddfoot.co.uk

A register of odd sized feet in the hopes to pair up

http://www.oneworld.org/autism_uk/

The website of the National Autism Society

http://www.orangeblossomtiaras.com/links
/0066.shtml

Women's Issues, Chat and Forum

http://www.organicnutrition.co.uk

Supplier of 100%organic herb supplements and natural health remedies

http://www.paih.org

"Positive Action in Housing", Scottish wide minority-ethnic led charity

http://www.patient.co.uk

An A-Z of links to UK medical support groups and charities, this site includes the lot

http://www.patient.co.uk/
illness/l/lupus.htm

Support and information on lupus

http://www.peffers50.
freeserve.co.uk/

Web site full of stories and poetry

http://www.perfectvitamin.com

Essential vitamins

http://www.perfuma.com/

It is a site that has beauty tips and fantastic products, but most of all if you call them you get help with online shopping and brilliant customer service

http://www.permaculture.co.uk

Magazine

http://www.photoparismode.com/
new_talent/serafinov/index.htm

Alexander Serafinov's knitwear
http://www.planetamber.com

Global health and disability resource centre

http://www.plants-magazine.com

Information for plant fanatics

http://www.poetry.com

Poets, not in general but particularly!

http://www.poets.com/
M.Muirhead.html

A well known Scottish poet

http://www.poliouk.org

Leicestershire Polio Network

http://www.princessbands.com/links/

Princessbands creates freshwater pearl and Swarovski crystal jewellery

http://www.protectabadge.co.uk Supplier of blue badge wallets

http://www.qefd.org

Queen Elizabeth Foundation for disabled people

http://www.raabe.fsnet.co.uk

Artist

http://www.rats2u.com/
clipart/animation/clipart_icons.htmpc

Quirky Icons

http://www.rebates4perfume.com/links.asp

Shop online for perfumes

http://www.rehabtech.org.uk

Rehab Unit PMR Hospital

http://www.remap.org.uk

This site of the national registered charity, REMAP which has for more than 30 years provided one-off technical aids to help disabled people of all ages to enjoy a better lifestyle

http://www.room42maternity.co.uk

New online site for maternity clothing made to order in any size or length

http://www.royaldeaf.org.uk/links.htm

Site for the deaf

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/housing/
supportingpeople/

Scottish government website for housing

http://www.scotsac.com/links/links.html

Scottish Sub-Aqua Association, with links for disabled access to this sport

http://www.scvo.org.uk/

Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations

http://www.sesow.com

Matt Sesow a disabled painter from Washington DC

http://www.sexualitymatters.co.uk

Planning monthly groups for people with disabilities

http://www.shademakers.com/ Garden parasols and shade umbrellas

http://www.share.force9.co.uk

Vickie McKenna's home page: Post Polio Syndrome and acupuncture

http://www.shareware.com

Shareware programs and free software

http://www.shopmobilityorg.uk/ Shopmobility in the UK

http://www.show.nhs.scot.uk

National Health Service Page

http://www.smartwomensupplements.com

Nutrition site for women of any size

http://www.softseek.com

Easy-to-navigate site; vast array of downloadable software from drawing programs to tools that enable you to create your own icons and screen savers. Excellent utilities section

http://www.sppn.org/

Scottish Post Polio Network          

http://www.spscot.co.uk

Poets corner Scotland

http://www.swells.co.uk

New Collection for maternity wear

http://www.the-bag-lady.co.uk

Global Directory of Women in Business

http://www.thinknatural.com

One-stop shop for nature-based bath and body care, showing top-quality names

http://www.thistle.org.uk

The Thistle Foundation in Edinburgh. A good linking site

http://www.tills-innovations.com/ Design, manufacture install landscapes gardens using natural stone

http://www.tintota.com/

Stories and poems from around the world

http://www.touchofmidnight.com/

disAbled models

http://www.travelability.co.uk

Site for travelling and holidays for the disabled

http://www.travlang.com

Learn to speak French, Spanish and dozens of other languages at this amazing site

http://www.tucows.com

Software, internet services

http://www.ugotafriend.com

A site for all teenagers

http://www.ukhandcycling.com

British Handcycling Association

http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/

Register as an organ donor

http://www.utyx.com/comics/

Comics related news, books and web resources

http://www.valuestairlifts.co.uk

If you find it difficult to get around your home

http://www.viahealth.org/rgh/
heartattack.htm

How to survive a heart attack on your own

http://www.viewpointmobility.com/

An American site offering low pan vans for wheelchairs

http://www.waacis.org.uk

London charity providing home internet training for the disabled

http://www.wearableclothing.com

Clothing desgined for the disabled

http://www.wellpark.co.uk

A Scottish women's centre

http://www.wheelchairusers.org.uk

Clothing desgined for the disabled

http://www.wheelpower.org.uk

British Wheelchair Sport website
http://www.wherecanido.com Sports, fitness and health for disabled people
http://www.willtocharity.co.uk/ This site has up to 10,000 UK charities listed 

http://www.winfiles.com

Download files for your PC

http://www.willtocharity.co.uk

List of charities in the UK

http://www.womeninlondon.org.uk/

Site for business women in London

http://www.won.net/channels/
quickgames/snowcraft

Cute on-line snowballing game

http://www.worldfood.com

A supplier of additive-free, unprocessed foods to your door

http://www.yahooligans.com

Site for monitoring web access for children

http://www.yesmagazine.co.uk

Magazine

http://www.youngactiononline.com

Site for the young

http://www.youraccessiblehome.com

Alterations for homes for the disabled

http://www.youredinburgh.info

City of Edinburgh council information

http://www.yourlevelbest.com Lists pubs and restaurants with disabled facilities (including toilets)

http://www.zyris.com

All you need to know about designing your own web page

If you know about a website that you think is interesting, then email editor@anAurora.co.uk

Top

Quiz

Here is the quiz for the Spring 2006 issue. You can get the right answers immediately by going to the Features section, after the Junior Crew quiz. Click here.

1

What is the official language of Pakistan?

2

Lake Volta is the largest reservoir in the world (2006) and is located in which country?

3

What does 3G mean in the mobile phone ads?

4

Which organisation has the motto: Fidelity, Bravery?

5

What is a more common name for a polygraph?

6

Before the Euro, the Irish Punt was divided into 100 what?

7

Of all the -ologies (study of), which has the shortest name?

8

Which country joined the G7 which then became the G8?

9

On what day does Easter Sunday fall?

10

What does the word 'Islam' literally means?