In yet another great story about our local community embracing those with disabilities with fervor and enthusiasm, I am so happy pleased with another story I read recently in our local newspaper.  A dance troupe that assembled last fall includes five dancers with Down syndrome ranging in age from 11 to 27.  All of the [...]

The University of Florida in Gainesville is receiving a federal grant to improve the special education training for doctoral students seeking to become professors and researchers for students with severe disaiblities.  I’ve stressed before how impressed I am with my undergraduate institution for their research and training in the area of special education, and I’ve [...]

For news you can use, you might want to have a little more information about ARC Marion, and what’s been going on in our neck of the woods.  Sure we post blogs on here all the time about various pertinent and not so important things, but if you want to take the time to see [...]

In April and May ARC Marion launched a new type of campaign than had ever been done before in the non-profit sector of our local area.  Around town, red exclamation points began popping up.  In our local Ocala Magazine, in the Family Times Magazine, on billboards both digital and permanent, on Ocala4sale.com and on business [...]

In what I promise to be my last blog about TV for a while, I thought it was appropriate to discuss the wildly popular show that’s taken audiences by storm over the past two seasons, Glee.  (I feel like a chorus of La, la, la in harmony should follow me every time I even mention [...]

I’m always pleased when I see people with disabilities portrayed in entertainment in a positive light.  Do I always cry profusely at movies or scenes in TV shows that show especially touching moments with people who are physically or intellectually disabled?  Of course.  There’s just a soft spot in me for things like that.  I [...]

I’m on a little bit of a TV kick.  Maybe it’s because it’s summer.  Maybe I am just enjoying the relaxation and enjoyment of just sitting back and watching mindless TV and movies.  Or maybe it’s because when we see things that touch our hearts, they stick with us.  So was the TV show “Life Goes [...]

The following piece is adapted from the Florida Association for Rehabilitative Facilities (ARF) Medicaid Waiver cuts white paper for the developmentally disabled.  It gives a bleak but accurate picture of the cuts seen within the system over the past seven years.

In July 2003, the State of Florida Agency for Person’s with Disabilities (APD) adopted a [...]