Caring for an elderly parent or relative? For tips on how to manage this tricky dynamic, DFAC turned to Jackie Percs-O’Donnell of Golden Home Care for her experience and expertise. The two most important areas to address for a senior living at home, says Percs-O’Donnell, are falls prevention and medication management. Falls and medication mismanagement, leading causes for senior hospitalization, can be averted with foresight and organization.   Family members involved in day-to-day care are a great asset, but as you surely know, this task can become overwhelming. Says Percs-O’Donnell,...

Simone Biles has ADHD. Yes, four-time Olympic gold medalist tested positive for drugs, as a vicious band of cyber-bullies recently informed the public. Yet with her privacy violated, how does she react? She tweeted back for all the world to hear that she has ADHD, and she’s been on medication since she was a kid. “Having ADHD, and taking medicine for it is nothing to be ashamed of nothing that I’m afraid to let people know.” Check out the news clip for yourself! ADHD is a real condition, usually diagnosed...

Get Help for Anxiety Disorders! Anxiety disorders and depression have increased exponentially over the past half a century. At least five times as many teens and young adults suffer from anxiety or depression today than there were fifty to sixty years ago. In the 20th century, there was war, economic depression, and disease, outside circumstances that still exist today. Why are we so emotionally susceptible in our technologically advanced 21st century world? According to some experts, the individual focus has shifted. If you were a young adult fifty years ago,...

Check out this article! I was impressed with Dr. Muraszko. I know you will be too. http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/27/health/turning-points-dr-karin-muraszko/ Three things jumped out at me from news item. Disability does not translate to incapable. Inside every disabled individual, there is a real person. Environment is everything. If you play a part in the life of a disabled person, be a positive participant in his or her life. Every disabled individual is a real person with needs and desires, goals and aspirations. Help your friend, your co-worker, your family member realize his or...

You’re not invisible, but your disability is. You might have crohn’s, lupus, beginning stages multiple sclerosis, or diabetes. Chronic pain, mental health…the list goes on. Do you suffer from something—narcolepsy, arthritis, chronic dizziness, migraines—that others can’t see, but to you is very, very real? Perhaps you were born with a club foot that was corrected, but has lasting impact on your mobility, indiscernible to the outsider. No, you have no white cane, hearing aids or wheelchair. You don’t wear a sign on your shirt that proclaims “I have a disability!”...

Do you know Nathan? He looks like the hundreds of other kids who step through the doors of the neighborhood elementary school every morning. Sure, his books and folders are thrown haphazardly into his schoolbag, and more often than not he is running to make it through the doors on time, but Nathan looks pretty average. You can’t see it by looking at him. But it sure is there. Nathan has a disability. Have you seen Allison? You pass her on your commute to work. Well-dressed, Allison purposefully makes her...

REGISTERED DISABILITY SAVINGS PLAN Have you opened a Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) for yourself or your disabled family member? You should—today!  This tax-deferred savings plan offered by the federal government is an invaluable resource available to the disabled population of Canada since 2008. With 100,000 RDSP’s opened to date, an estimated 500,000 Canadian citizens will benefit from this groundbreaking initiative. Your investment, coupled with an outstanding government match program, will assure your loved one a worry-free financial future. If you have never done so yet, sit down with a...

Montreal Special Needs Community In today’s detached, technology-run world, it’s hard to feel part of a community. Who has time to connect to people who have similar challenges, common interests, and shared goals? But community is so important. Without a community, we are just lonely individuals struggling to do what’s best for ourselves and our loved ones. Especially in the special needs world, community is a necessary ingredient for belonging, for support, for resources. The Montreal special needs community has been blessed with Inspirations News. This biannual publication was created...