Relevant Calls for Papers

The University of Michigan Department of Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery is currently studying trends and perceptions regarding upper extremity prosthetics among individuals born with limb differences.

An online survey has been created and is open for persons 0-89 with upper extremity limb differences, their parents, and close friends and relatives.

If you are interested in participating in this important research or learning more about the study, please follow the secure links available below. Estimated time needed for survey is approximately 30-60 minutes.

Patients: https://redcapproduction.umms.med.umich.edu/surveys/…

Parents: https://redcapproduction.umms.med.umich.edu/surveys/…

Chronic Illness Truths (working title) will be an anthology (a collection of stories by different writers and published as a book) about living with a chronic illness. It will offer comfort to those who feel alone and it will offer insight to those whose loved ones have chronic illnesses. It will discuss both the big pictures and the tiny details that we encounter every day. Please read through this page, and then if you have any questions, just message me here or email me at [email protected]

If you’re not going to submit a story but you would like to receive status updates about this project, just sign up here: http://chronicillnesstruths.com/

Who you are

A person with one or more chronic illnesses and who wants to share a story. No writing experience is needed. If English isn’t your first language, that’s ok. We’ll have editors to clean up grammar and such, and then authors will get to approve the final drafts.

How much to write

Suggested length for each submission is 300-2000 words. You may submit more than one entry and each will be considered separately (so it’s possible more than one will be accepted, but not guaranteed.)

What you should write about

Write about anything you like that has to do with living with a chronic illness. Here are some ideas to get you started:

What do you wish you’d known when you were diagnosed?

What do you wish you’d known pre-diagnosis?

That one time X happened (this story can be a funny, sad, touching, scary, or anything else.)

What do you want your loved ones to understand about living with a chronic illness?

Good and bad stories about hospital stays.

Good and bad stories about working with doctors and other medical professionals.

The day-to-day difficulties that others find surprising

Dealing with health insurance companies.

The process of applying for and receiving long term disability insurance, SSDI, or your country’s version of social security disability insurance.

Your health’s affects on your relationships (with friends, romantic partners, children, parents, siblings, coworkers, etc.)

How health affects your job and how your job affects your health.

Daily accommodations you make for your health (diet, walking with a cane, having to avoid stairs, taking naps, spacing out activities, etc.)

Nasty or insensitive comments made by strangers, loved ones, coworkers.

The time someone took your cane as a joke, tried to move you and your wheelchair out of their path, or otherwise was disrespectful.

Embarrassing stories (spilling something at a wedding, that thing that happened during sex, not being able to remember things due to brain fog, etc.)

The emotions that you have around your health condition(s).

What do your family and friends do that is most helpful and supportive?

Intersectionality: how does your race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic status, etc. affect how you live with a chronic illness?

Stereotypes and misconceptions you want to dispel

Your name

It is up to you if you would like to use your real name or not. I will use whatever name you include on your submission. (If you use your real name in your email but a different name on your submission, I will not share your real name.) This can be your real name, your first name with last initial, or a fake name.

How to submit an entry

Please email your submission to me at [email protected] by September 15, 2016 and include the following:

Your contact information, if it is different from the email address you use for your submission. If I use your entry, I will need to be able to contact you.

The name you want to use on your submission if it is published.

The state/province and country in which you are located. For example, this could be California, United States or Ontario, Canada or Andalucia, Spain.

A title for your entry.

A story of 300-2000 words.

Note: You are welcome to submit more than one entry.

You are welcome to use writing that you have had published elsewhere as long as it does not have a copyright that prevents re-publishing the piece. Before publication, all authors will sign a document stating that they have the right to share their piece. The document will also say that this project has a non-exclusive copyright, meaning that you can publish it again elsewhere.

If you’d like to make things easier on me, please include your name and the title of the piece at the top of the document.

What “counts” as a chronic illness

I have gotten a lot of questions asking if ____ “counts” as a chronic illness. My answer is always the same: it’s not my place to label your condition. If you have a condition that you feel is a chronic illness then please participate!

What will happen next

I will confirm receipt of your submission when you send it. After the deadline for entries has passed I will review all submissions and contact each author individually about next steps. 

Who I am

My name is Julie and I am a 30-something living in New England. I have had autoimmune conditions since childhood, but they weren’t diagnosed until I was in my 20s (and I’m continuing to get new diagnoses even now.) Feel free to message me here or email me at [email protected] if you have questions or just want to chat.

Why I am writing this book

Several “healthy” friends have been urging me lately to write a book. The horrible world of chronic illness to which I have become all too accustomed is odd to them. Where I take something for granted, they see surprises. They think more people need to understand this. At the same time, I have become more active in patient communities. I have found great comfort in realizing I’m not alone, and now I try to help the newer newcomers to feel less alone. I see the difficulties so many people face while feeling isolated and lonely. Every time I mention this project, fellow spoonies get very excited and ask when they can read it.

I have considered writing a book about the inequities of the disability insurance realm, about the lack of empathy for autoimmune patients in the medical community, or about any of a dozen other topics. I finally decided that I want to write about them all. More than that, I don’t want this book to have only my voice. I want it to have many voices. That is why I have chosen to create an anthology.

So have two main goals for this book:

To help others with chronic illness to feel less alone.

To educate our loved ones about what it’s really like to live with a chronic illness.

How you can help

As an empath you take every loved one’s struggle personal. You take on their burden. You desperately seek for ways to lighten their load. You’re patient, nonjudgemental and most importantly nurturing. Due to your comforting side sometimes means that you are placed in highly emotionally draining situations.

Below we have some tips to avoid anxiety and depression to take reign of your kind heart.

Vibrant Quilled Paper Illustrations and Sculptures by Yulia Brodskaya 

Paper artist and graphic designer Yulia Brodskaya constructs highly elaborate paper sculptures composed of a multi-colored sheets of paper and a variety of quilling and other sculptural techniques. A former designer for Issey Miyake, Godiva chocolates, and Paramount films, Brodskaya often explores the beauty of age. 

Researcher Danielle Lorenz PhD Candidate Department of Educational Policy Studies University of Alberta dlorenz[at]ualberta.ca

Supervisor  Dr. Makere-Stewart-Harawira Department of Educational Policy Studies University of Alberta makere[at]ualberta.ca

Thank you for your potential interest in participating in this study. The information provided below is intended to give you an overview of the study (otherwise known as my dissertation) and an outline of what participation in the study consists of.

Background and Purpose

Broadly, my research focuses on the history and current circumstances of Indigenous and settler relationships in Canada, especially considering the publication of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Final Report (2015). More specifically, my research explores the ways in which non-Aboriginal Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) members (Active, Associate, Life, or Student Members according to the ATA’s definitions of such) have experienced Indigenous content during their a) teacher education program, b) professional career as related to curriculum documents and educational policies, and c) with respect to the forthcoming Teaching Quality Standard (TQS) policy and the School Leadership Standard (SLS) policy. The ways in which I will gather data for this research is twofold. First, I aim to obtain 435 respondents to an anonymous online survey to gain a general sense of how Alberta teachers feel about Indigenous content during their Bachelor of Education programs and in their professional practice. Second, I aim to gather the experiences of seven non-Aboriginal Student Members and 14 non-Aboriginal Active, Associate, and/or Life Members through online interviews. At the end of this survey, you may opt-in to receive more information on becoming an interview participant.  

This study was approved by the Research Ethics Board at the University of Alberta. My research is being conducted in partial requirement of my Doctor of Philosophy Degree at the University of Alberta. This study is partially funded by a Doctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada. In addition to being included in my dissertation, the results of my research may be published in a number of other sources, such as academic journals or professional magazines, and may also be included in presentations at academic conferences. Materials collected during the study (e.g. survey results) may also be used for those purposes.

Research Questions

My project has one research question:  How do Alberta teachers feel about the implementation of Indigenous content within provincial policies such as the Teacher Quality Standards, the Student Leadership Standards, and within curriculum based on their experiences of their Bachelor of Education degrees and classroom teaching practice? Nature of Participation

You are asked to answer questions in an online survey which will take approximately 15-25 minutes. Voluntary Participation

You are under no obligation to participate in this study. You have the right to opt-out of the study without penalty. You may do this during the survey by closing the tab on your internet browser. Benefits and Compensation Survey participants may enter a prize draw where they may win one of two e-copies of the book Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Metis, and Inuit Issues. Persons interested in the prize draw will be asked to provide their email in the survey. Estimated odds of winning are 1 in 217.5.   Participation in the survey will help policy makers and curriculum developers in Education Alberta and faculties of education in Alberta understand two things. First, to obtain insight into how teachers see the inclusion of Aboriginal content in Bachelor of Education programs. Second, to better grasp the potential challenges practicing teachers may have with including Aboriginal content in their classrooms. Risks The risks for you participating in the survey are minimal. More specifically, there is little likelihood you will feel emotionally uncomfortable during or after participation. At the same time, there may be risks to participating in the study that are not presently known. If during the trajectory of the research, I am made aware of anything that may affect your willingness to continue in the study, I will communicate these risks to you as soon as possible. Confidentiality and Personal Information

All information provided will be kept strictly private and confidential. Survey participation is anonymous. Demographic information from the survey (e.g. gender, race, year of birth) is being collected for statistical purposes. It will be used to gain a general understanding of who ATA Members are and will not be tied to individual survey respondents. Survey data will be stored on an encrypted external hard drive.

Additional Information If you have any further questions or concerns, please contact me, or my supervisor, at any time.

 The plan for this study has been reviewed for its adherence to ethical guidelines by a Research Ethics Board at the University of Alberta. For questions regarding participant rights and ethical conduct of research, contact the Research Ethics Office at (780) 492-2615.

Hi there! I am looking for survey participants for my PhD research. Specifically, I am looking for Members of the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA), and would like to know more about your experiences with Aboriginal content in your Bachelor of Education degree as well as teaching Aboriginal content in your classroom. I am interested in your perspective of the inclusion of Aboriginal content in BEd programming and K-12 classrooms, as well as how curriculum and policies (for example, the Teacher Quality Standard and the School Leadership Standard) are developed. Your opinions will form some of the research data I am conducting as part of the requirements for my PhD from the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Alberta. I would like to speak to ATA Members since the information you share with me will assist in assessing the ways the education policies can be better implemented into classroom practice.

 I am looking for ATA Members who meet one of the four following membership criteria: 

Active: teachers employed by an Alberta school board;

Associate: superintendents, faculty of education members, teachers at charter schools;

Life: retired teachers who were members of the ATA for at least 20 years; or

Student: those enrolled in full-time undergraduate Bachelor of Education programs in Alberta.

 Participation in the survey will focus on your perspectives of the ways in which Aboriginal content is taught in your classroom, and whether or not it was included in your Bachelor of Education program. Participation in the survey is completely anonymous.

I value your feedback and I hope that you will consider sharing your perspectives so that we gain a better understanding of how teachers apply policy changes to their pedagogy.  For more information on my study, and a link to the survey, please visit my Survey Participant Information Letter.