Last week, I attended the Bubel/Aiken Foundation's Hawaii Voices for Change Gala and the Pacific Rim Conference on Disabilities which were held in Honolulu. Both events were run by Steve Potts of the University of Hawaii at Manoa Center on Disability Studies. I don’t think Steve or his wife Angie slept three hours in a row during the entire week.  I’m sure that you wouldn’t believe that I didn’t leave the conference hotel for the first three days that I was in the city, so I won’t even try to tell you that (although it’s true).  It was an extremely educational trip as we will be hosting the Florida Voices for Change Gala in conjunction with our Fort Lauderdale Fearless Caregiver Conference on April 16th. 

One other thing that I found highly educational was addressed by Clay at both the Voices for Change Gala and the Pacific Rim conference and that is the issue of inclusion.  When Clay spoke of inclusion he was talking about the concept of including children living with developmental disabilities within social and educational settings, a goal in which I firmly believe. But, as I watched the attendees at both events, I realized that inclusion also has another meaning, one addressed in the subtitle of all of our Fearless Caregiver Conferences, and that is sharing wisdom. It was a real joy to see adults and seniors, in wheelchairs and not, dealing with health issues or not, all sharing wisdom on the matters at hand. The wheelchairs, walkers and differences became invisible as people talked about a wide range of challenges and possibilities.  I truly believe that only through open exchange between caregivers, care professionals, doctors, loved ones and educators, regardless of illness or disease, will we start to really make things better for those for whom we care.

Sharing wisdom? Include me in.

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Jacksonville
Ft. Lauderdale - Keynote Speaker: Clay Aiken

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Gary Barg
Editor-in-Chief
gary@caregiver.com