Congratulations to Goodith Heeney, Norman Vandenberg, and Lewis Schofield. All three will be honoured TONIGHT at the 2009 Trent University Community Leaders Award Ceremony (invitation only) being held at Peter Gzowski College in Peterborough.
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Then…
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Quoting Diane Lore, writing on SILive.com:
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Staten Island Technical High School is gaining national recognition for its proposal to help design a state-of-the-art wheelchair to assist the physically challenged. The New Dorp school was recently awarded a $10,000 grant from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to research, design and develop a new type of wheelchair. Tech is one of 15 high schools nationwide selected to participate in MIT’s InvenTeam initiative. InvenTeams, comprised of high school students, teachers and mentors, receive grants up to $10,000 to invent technological solutions to real-world problems. The MIT initiative, in its seventh year, aims to inspire a new generation of inventors. Tech engineering teacher Steven J. Raile applied for the MIT grant last spring and attended training at MIT in June to mentor his students in the process. Their wheelchair will be designed with a bacteria-free seat, which will allow the user to relieve pressure, as well as control the temperature. “The idea is to keep the user comfortable while minimizing the likelihood of him or her developing sores from sitting immobile,” Raile explained.
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…The winning filmmaker will be awarded the Amazing Grace Award for Best Short Film, a $1,500 cash prize, and flown to Toronto to present his/her film at the Breast Fest Film Festival, November 20-22, 2009.
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Then…
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Quoting author, filmmaker and co-founder of the Asperger’s Resource Group Larry Welkowitz, Ph.D.:
Special thanks to Anisha who sent me a notice about a real cool idea arising from a partnership between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Ashoka (the promoter of social entrepreneurship): A competition for new ideas about improving mental health, community by community (I might pass on an entry myself). The deadline is October 14 so hit their website and get going.
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The 2009 Projections Film Forum “presents feature films, documentaries and shorts written, produced, directed or starring artists with disabilities.”
Judging by their official blurbs, this year’s selections are truly extraordinary.
So if you’re free tonight (Thursday, Oct. 8th) and/or this coming Saturday (Oct. 10th), definitely head down to Innis Town Hall in Toronto. An event not to be missed!!
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Previously on Irked:
CALLING ALL DISABLED FILMMAKERS: Toronto’s Abilities Arts Festival is accepting submissions until July 1st
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With just two days until the kick off of the 7th annual Homeless World Cup—in Milan, Italy—the United Nations have announced their support. As the Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace, Wilfried Lemke said:
It is with great pleasure that I offer my support to the “Milan 2009 Homeless World Cup”, a football initiative which has been uniting teams of homeless people to take a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent their country and change their lives forever. The Homeless World Cup initiative is an extraordinary example of the application of sport as a tool for community development. The Homeless World Cup has triggered the establishment of over 50 local grass roots projects working with people who are homeless and excluded from society. The impact of the Homeless World Cup has been consistently significant with a large majority of players changing their lives for the better, by coming off drugs and alcohol, moving into jobs, education, homes, training, reuniting with families and some even going on to become players and coaches for professional or semi-professional football teams. Considering the increase in the number of participating teams from 18 national teams in the year 2003 to 48 national teams for the current event in Milan, the Homeless World Cup is well on the way to realizing its vision—a healthy, abundant, confident world where everyone has a home, a basic human right. The initiative has been a very successful means to raise awareness of issue surrounding the homeless and to improve the image of homeless people amongst the general public. The positive impact that this project has been able to have on individuals from more than 70 countries makes it an initiative that deserves any additional support it can obtain. I look forward to a continued collaboration with the Homeless World Cup initiative and wish all participants the very best in this life-changing experience!”
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The Milan, Italy 2009 Homeless World Cup takes place in the Arena Civica, Sempione Park from 6-13 September 2009. For more, please visit homelessworldcup.org.
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Over 75 submissions were received from filmmakers from 5 continents. And…
Congratulations to Buzz Films, the winner of the $50,000 Homeless World Cup/Nike film competition (which we first blogged about here). Buzz Films was formed by award-winning directors Jan Bednarz and Robin Schmidt, as a home for diverse documentary and drama projects.
Buzz Films will see up-and-coming presenter Buddy (pictured left) capture the spirit and essence of the Homeless World Cup. Buddy’s last assignment was for National Geographic with a trip through Outer Mongolia.
Follow Jan and Robin’s blog during the creation of the film at: www.buzzfilms.co.uk/blog.
The Milan, Italy 2009 Homeless World Cup takes place in the Arena Civica, Sempione Park from 6-13 September 2009. For more, please visit homelessworldcup.org.
The Trekker Breeze, designed and manufactured by the company HumanWare, is a handheld talking GPS for people who are blind/visually impaired that “can be controlled by one hand” and is ”as simple as your TV remote.” It costs $895USD, and here’s what it can do: It verbally announces names of streets, intersections and landmarks (including stores, public services, etc) as you walk. No need to stop passersby to know where you are… simply press a button and Breeze tells you your location on the spot. When you are in a vehicle, Breeze announces all intersections, allowing you to exit when you want. If you get lost, you can easily retrace your steps—simply push a button. You can record the routes when you learn them with sighted people so that you can use them later without assistance, and also save landmarks for later use (i.e. favourite restaurant, friend’s house, bank, park bench, etc).
After we published info on July 1st about Headlines Theatre’s fantastic AFTER HOMELESSNESS… project, we received a very gracious thank you note from Artistic/Managing Director David Diamond. A few days later, we received another email, this one from Headlines’ official publicist Gabriela De Lucca:
