Month: April 2014

Mental Health and the Criminal Justice System

by caste551, posted in Uncategorized

Mental illness seems to be a taboo subject no one wants to think about, much less talk about. Despite that fact, it’s a disability that if left untreated has devastating effects, not only on the person living with this illness, but also those around them.

The Criminal Justice System seems to be the place that most often ends up taking the responsibility of trying to help some of these individuals once they end up in jail. The Central Receiving Center in Orange County, Florida tries to help offenders by referring them to other resources that can best assist them in their situation. Because of the efforts put forth by the Central Receiving Center, incidences of re-offending can, and have been reduced. As a result, the problem of jail overcrowding, which is faced by most facilities within the Criminal Justice System is alleviated to a certain degree.

Sadly, as with other Social Services programs, when the economy hits a downturn, they’re the first to suffer. Lack of funding available to this program will lead to unnecessary overcrowding and these offenders won’t receive the help they actually need.

Hopefully Representatives can find a way to include funding in the State budget for this and other programs like it. Not only does this program benefit the offender by getting them the help they need, but also keeps the community safe as a whole. That’s certainly amounts to a win-win for all.

To find out more go to:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/os-ed-mental-health-care-florida-032314-20140321,0,3544368.story

Thanks for reading

cr

Football’s Role Reversal

by caste551, posted in Uncategorized

This week’s story has a cute twist. I’d found out about it a few months ago. When I finally got a chance to sit down and write it, who would’ve known it had gotten even better.

As a kid, and even a teen, I remember writing fan letters to different celebrities in the hopes of receiving a response. Unfortunately, I was never lucky enough to get that response back, much less have a disabled celebrity that I could send a letter to. In those days, there weren’t many celebrities that had a disability.

While on the Internet I found out about a deaf fan who wrote to Derrick Coleman.   He’s a football player who plays for the Seattle Seahawks and happens to be deaf. This young fan wrote to him because she wanted to give him encouragement and let him know he was inspiring others. It’s not often you see children uplifting adults, but it can, and does happen. When it does, it makes you think twice about why you may be feeling down at that time or even think differently about situations in your own life that may be troubling. The letter probably gave him an idea of the impact he’s having on the lives of others because he plays professional football.

To amplify the impact of this letter, Derrick actually responded to his fan. It’s wonderful to see that despite what I imagine to be a very busy schedule, he was willing and able to take time to respond to her. Celebrities have their jobs because there are other people who follow and believe in them. It’s great to see those celebrities actually show their appreciation by the actions they take to also support their fans in any way they can.

Thanks for reading..

cr

http://msn.foxsports.com/buzzer/story/hearing-impaired-fan-s-letter-to-derrick-coleman-is-awesome-012114

The Bionic Chef

by caste551, posted in Uncategorized

When choosing a career path, the average person doesn’t take disability into consideration. That can change in an instant, if the person has some sort of accident, causing them to become disabled in some way, shape, or form.

An excellent example of this is the “Bionic Chef”. When people think of notable chefs, Mario Batali, Emeril Lagasse, or even Bobby Flay might come to mind.

When I was younger, there was a time I wanted to go to cooking school. At the personalized orientation the cooking school offered, the interviewer had no problem telling me that because I didn’t have full use of both hands, the idea of me even attempting cooking instruction was almost impossible. Now that I’m more knowledgeable on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), I wonder if that’s actually true.

On the other hand, for Eduardo Garcia, the “Bionic Chef”, what seemed like an impossibility for that Admissions Counselor was far from that for him. He’s known as the “Bionic Chef” because he had a hunting accident and as a result, had a portion of his arm amputated. He was then fitted with a prosthetic arm that allows him to continue his dream of being a chef. The only difference in how he cooks now is that he has had to approach his craft with a different perspective to complete each task.

The video that’s attached to the link at the bottom shows the interviewer, Josh Elliott from “Good Morning America”, in awe of Eduardo’s abilities. In my opinion, it reinforces the message that with persistence, anyone can figure out how to overcome any obstacle, no matter how big or small.
Thanks for reading..
cr

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/lifestyle/2013/12/chefs-bionic-hand-implant-better-than-new/