Easter Seals Coastal Fairfield County

Patrick is our 2014 Child Ambassador for Easter Seals CFC!

Patrick is diagnosis with Severe Autism, Intellectual Disability, Epilepsy, ADHD, and Torticollis. Patrick has been receiving Easter seals therapists (OT, PT & ST) since he was an infant after being turned away from other service organizations for being such a complicated case.

Easter Seals has taught Patrick to eat, walk & communicate. Patrick currently loves to horseback ride, swim, bowl & ride his trike!! He enjoys the Special Olympics & holds several medals in all the above sports!!

Patrick's mother, Natalie, says of Patrick and ES, "They continually bring out the best in him!! They truly believe in 'Will Do' not 'Can’t Do!' The little boy terrified of the world now is truly a social butterfly; he loves everyone & adores new people & places!!"

The most important myth of all (in our humble opinion):

Myth 13: There is nothing one person can do to help eliminate the barriers confronting people with disabilities.

Fact: Everyone can contribute to change. You can help remove barriers by:

Understanding the need for accessible parking and leaving it for those who need it

Encouraging participation of people with disabilities in community activities by using accessible meeting and event sites

Understanding children's curiosity about disabilities and people who have them

Advocating a barrier-free environment

Speaking up when negative words or phrases are used about disability

Writing producers and editors a note of support when they portray someone with a disability as a "regular person" in the media

Accepting people with disabilities as individuals capable of the same needs and feelings as yourself, and hiring qualified disabled persons whenever possible

It's okay to offer your help to someone, but don't just go ahead. Ask first. Or wait for someone to ask you for your help. 

It's okay to ask people about their disabilities and it's also okay for them not to talk about it. 

Remember, just because people use wheelchairs, it doesn't mean they are sick. Lots of people who use wheelchairs are healthy and strong. 

When you're talking with people who use wheelchairs, sit down so their necks won't get sore looking up at you. 

It's okay to use words like "see", "hear", "walk" and "run" when you're talking with friends who have disabilities. 

It's okay to ask people who have speech problems to repeat what they said if you didn't understand the first time. 

If an interpreter is helping you speak with a deaf person, make sure you talk to the deaf person, not the interpreter. 

Don't speak loudly when talking to blind people. They hear as well as you do. 

Never pet or play with Seeing Eye dogs. They can't be distracted from the job they are doing. 

Invite friends with disabilities to sleep over, come to your house to play, or to your birthday party. Think about ways to make sure that they can be included in the things that you do. 

Don't let your parents park in places reserved for people with disabilities. 

When you go to restaurants and shopping malls, see if a disabled friend could be there with you. If not, ask the manager to put in ramps, get raised numbers for the elevators, or have braille menus printed. 

Join us on Thursday, February 27th, for a truly amazing and delicious event in support of our life-changing services through our Autism & Developmental Disabilities Center. 

Participating Restaurants & Vendors:

Restaurant List: DINOSAUR BBQ Strada 18 (Italian) Bar Sugo (Italian) Bella Pasta (Mediterranean) A Dash of Salt (French-American) The Pizza Truck  Copp Island Oysters Cafe Madrid (Spanish w/Latin-Infusion) Additional Vendors: Forever Sweet Bakery Cabot Cheese  David's Teas Brew Tasting: Two Roads Brewing Co. Beaver Creek Brewing Co. Southport Brewing Company Budweiser Products

Here is our Disability Awareness Week Calendar! 

"It's all about spreading the awareness throughout Fairfield County and let people know that we're here," said Chelsea Weeast, Development Associate at Easter Seals Coastal Fairfield County.

Beginning in 1935 as the Connecticut Society for Crippled Children and Adults,Easter Seals Coastal Fairfield County opened the doors to their Stamford Autism Center in December 2011.

Easter Seals Coastal Fairfield County is gearing up for their second Disability Awareness Week - an opportunity for the organization to inform the region about their autism disability services. Dr. Roslyn Burton-Robertson, Executive Director of Easter Seals Coast Fairfield County said, "Servicing individuals with disabilities, especially autism is especially important because it's not your typical disability and our guys our guys are so fantastic; they need a little extra and we provide them with that little extra that's needed to help them to intergrate into society." Weeast added, "Our Disability Awareness Week we do a lot of different activities throughout Fairfield County to help raise awareness for disabilities, special needs and autism. We are partnered with the restaurant Friendly's and with them we have a program called Friends Who Care and it's a program designed to teach elementary, middle and high school students about inclusion."

As part of Disability Awareness Week, the organization will host the second annual Taste of the Coast, featuring local restaurants vendors on February 27th, to raise funds for various services. Kelley Ward-Welly, Development Manager at Easter Seals Coastal Fairfield County said, "We have top chefs come in from places like Dinosaur BBQ, Strada 18 and Bar Sugo and they come in [to Aitoro's in Norwalk] and cook the food right in front of you."

The organization says spreading awareness about autism especially within local schools is important. Dr. Burton-Robertson added, "We work with the schools systems to provide the opportunity for mainstreaming so that they are not isolated in schools. They are not in seclusion rooms, but they are interacting and participating in the communities that they live in." "Just to spread the awareness within the schools; what they can do to help especially with the inclusion - ways to include students. It's all about bettering the community that we live in," said Weeast.

For more information about Disability Awareness Week and Taste of the Coast, visitwww.eastersealscfc.org.

Thank you @ItsRelevant for stopping by yesterday to interview us about our life-changing services and upcoming events! 

We all know that Camp Hemlocks is a magical place to spend your summers but for Francie and Jose it's also a place to rekindle an old love. Years ago these two love birds met at Camp Hemlocks and the sparks flew! Unfortunately, financial issues kept them from reuniting the following few summers. Camp Hemlocks, being the magical place that it is, reunited them this summer! Francie and Jose were seen holding hands all session and taking their love to new heights as they conquered the adaptive rock wall together!