Conference Time

There are a bunch of interesting conferences going on in my area at this time of the year. This week I attended a  one day workshop organised by and for families dealing with Autism and other related disorders. Tuesday I am going to attend one day of the Alzheimer Societies' Dementia Care Conference. I am also hoping to attend our Provincial Girl Guide Conference at the end of April. 

About a week ago I attended my second conference with Recreation Connections of Manitoba and I had a wonderful time. I learned a lot and have come home with an assortment of information and ideas that I want to share in future blog posts!

 

Recreation Connection is a non-profit association that supports recreation in our province and Therapeutic Recreation is included as a branch of the organization. When I was in school we had the opportunity to attend a Fall therapeutic recreation workshop day. Last year I attended the full Spring conference for Recreation Connection for the first time.

 

I was very surprised by my experiences last year. I expected to benefit from the Therapeutic Recreation  related sessions but I was not so sure about all these other sessions on recreation in general and about community recreation facilities, fitness, the need for play, outdoor education, accessibility for recreation. I found myself absolutely loving it. More than that .. I felt knowledgeable. I liked the people I met, I was inspired, and I felt at home.

 

I had not put it together that I was interested in the Field of Recreation!  I knew I was interested in the therapy aspects but I had not thought about how much time I have spent learning about and supporting recreation in my community. Guiding ... is recreation. All the outdoor stuff we do .. is recreation. Swimming, boating, music, and all the arts I have participated in over the years... Yup recreation. I have attended so many trainings related to youth education and how organizations works and I am always reading up on different topics.  

 

I previously believed our University's Recreation Faculty was all about sports, fitness and kinesiology. I really have very little experience in sports so this whole field never really crossed my radar.  I have never been very fit or very athletic, in fact I was always that last person to be picked during gym class.

 

The fitness and sports programs really does predominate but... then there is  this other stream .. Bachelor of Recreation Management and Community Development. From their webpage:

 



Tomorrow's conference is on several topics dealing with dementia care which will seem very different from talking about the need for recreation and play.  I will be attending two break out sessions and  will listen to the following two keynote speakers. I am really looking forward to the day.

Increasing the Well-Being and Quality of Life of People with Dementia Using New Technologies
Dr. Klein will share her expertise on assistive technologies and emotional and social robotics.

Quality Care in Long Term Care: Is Dignity the Answer?
Ensuring that people living and working in long term care (LTC) are afforded with respect and dignity is an essential and humane concern.  with Genevieve Thompson
 Quote above from the conference application.

HAWMC Day 27 The Good and the Bad

 5 Challenges & 5 Small Victories. 
Make a list of the 5 most difficult parts of your health focus. Make another top 5 list for the little, good things (small victories) that keep you going.

 

Hi! My name is Alicia and I am guest blogging for my mom today. I am a 27-year-old woman with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder).  I was officially diagnosed as a six year old when I started grade one, but we did know I had ADHD before that.  I wanted to write on this particular prompt because many of the challenges with ADHD can also be positives. It really depends on what my mood is at the time or how I choose to look at a situation. Something that may be very good in some circumstances, like being aware of everything around me, can really help me at work and in emergency situations. At the same time it makes it very hard whenever I am asked to concentrate on some kinds of work or even pay attention while trying to have a conversation with a friend in a busy restaurant.

Good Things

1.  I am aware of lots of things at the same time. ADHD makes me very close to being a multi-tasker.
2. Sometimes I can hyper focus and give all of my attention to a single item of interest.  Give me a math challenge or a game and I have an advantage.
3. I have lots of energy and I am always on the go.
4. I learned at a young age to be an advocate for my own needs as a earning disabled girl and once I laws able to advocate for myself I began advocating for others and has turned into something I am very passionate about.
5. Learning about ADHD helped me learn about brain function, which in turn helped with learning Psychology and Human Development courses in university.

 Challenges

1.  I am constantly aware of so many distractions that it is hard to function. I even needed to take exams in an isolated room to eliminate distractions
2. When I am over focused I really am not aware of what is going on around me and I do things like walk into traffic while daydreaming.
3. I am constantly fidgeting and the fidgeting annoys other people. I am constantly picking things up in my hands and I am not even aware that I am handing them.
4. Attention Deficit Disorder is an invisible disorder and people sometimes think I am just being weird, rude or stupid. They pick up that something is wrong but don’t automatically assume it is a disability. Even if I decide to tell someone I have ADHD I get reaction such as “No you can’t possibly have that”,  “but you are too smart to have that”,  “ADHD? What is that?”  or “I thought that was just something kids have not adults”.
5. Schools are not set up for people with ADHD. You spend so much time stuck sitting down and having to pay attention for long periods of time, not to mention test taking. The expectation is that we will all learn something the same way at the same way and my brain developed in a different way than the average student. I wasn’t ready at the same time as other students and teachers did not acknowledge my earning differences. There has not been enough progress in the 21 years since I was officially diagnosed.