Thursday's report

This morning we all went out in the car.  We delivered pamphlets.  We ran from house to house.  We cheered for each other.  I was soooooooooooooooooooooo excited to see my street today.  Then we had morning tea at Griffin Park where the Brisbane Lions practice.  They weren't there.

This afternoon at SportSTAR we had lots fun. We practised shooting, dribbling around the chairs and passing the ball.  It was hot.  We trained hard.

Then we played girls versus boys.  The girls were blue and the boys were red.  The boys made the most noise.  The girls got the most baskets.  Sara got the most points.  She is a great shooter.  The boys need to practice being good sports. 

lily

Insights

People with autism can feel driven.  What people with autism feel is that they are driven by their autism.  they want to be in charge of their life.  Too often they  must be at the mercy of their autism. This is annoying.  The thing that silly people say is that they should be able and capable of managing their disabilities.  They might sometimes be able to all but stop all the movement and sounds but will pay for it later with extra movement and sounds.  This is life with autism. 

There are things that people do not understand but I am always trying to teach.

ben

Working, working, working

Last Saturday, the 19th, we had a Bunnings BBQ.  It's great that Bunnings at Cannon Hill lets us do the BBQ there.  It's a good opportunity for fundraising.

It didn't rain on Saturday, but it was sure HOT under that little tent - no wonder the drinks were so popular.

We cooked sausages and onion all day.  We sold 65 kilograms of sausages!!!  That's a LOT of sausages. 

Thank you to all of our kind helpers.  If you came along you would have met some of our Members working hard to do the drinks and to help with the money. 

Bradley and Andrew started the day.  Sara took over from Andrew.  Kelly came at lunch time and Bradley took a break.  Lily finished the day singing while she worked.

We were all tired by the end, but Lily and Brad just went on and on and on.

See you all there in a month's time.

New Faces At TTP

Let me introduce a young friend of mine.  Let’s call him Ben. 

I’ve known my friend, Ben, for quite a number of years.  He’s approaching the end of his teen years.  Pretty soon he won’t be able to call himself a teenager.  Ben is a tall young man (or at least he’s tall to me, but I am on the short side of tall J) and he has very nice hair (I have straight hair so I do admire his set of waves and curls).

Ben’s an interesting conversationalist and he’s a bit of a deep thinker.  I think his mind is always full.  It’s not a simple thing for him to share his thoughts because it takes a bit of effort from him to get his message out and someone willing to spend time to hear what he has to say.

I think that sometimes Ben doubts himself and questions if people are interested in what he has to say.  I value his opinion and appreciate his thoughts.  I don’t always agree with what he says, and I tell him that.  I think he likes a bit of genuine discussion. 

Ben would probably tell you that I’m tough and make him work.  I hope he understands that my high expectations of him are because I do respect him.

I hope that Ben will share his thoughts, ideas, opinions and feelings with all of you through this blog.  I’m sure that you’ll enjoy them.  Here's his first post.  I hope there will be many more.

Ben in his own words ...

I have a condition which not everyone understands.

I need help to communicate.  I don’t speak.  I type.  It is called FC or Facilitated Communication.

The things that I need help with are to take care of myself and to go out into the community.  I like to go out but it can be stressful when people don’t understand my communication attempts.  I find the heat of the day and glaring light makes me feel tired and stressed.

I think that all sorts of people might read this.  I hope that we can all learn and share.

ben k

Amazing animals

Some of the things we have are based on animal senses.  For example submarines and sonar are based on the echolocation that dolphins use. 

Sometimes animals have better senses or abilities than we do.  For example sharks have receptors in their snout for detecting prey. 

Sometimes we can use animals for certain things.  For example, humans (primates) are the only animals that mammals that get affected by funnel web spider venom.  That means other mammals can be used to help make anti-venom.  Some people even use snake venom in medicines for strokes and heart attacks. 

Unlike us some animals never stop growing even when they reach adulthood – crocodiles don’t nor do snakes. 

Animals can have better basic senses than us.  Dogs can hear silent whistles that we can’t.  They also have a better sense of smell.  When we smell cakes, we smell a cake.  When dogs smell a cake, they can smell its ingredients like eggs and flour.

Animals don’t think like humans, but in many ways animals are more amazing than humans.  

Michael

Movie Review

I saw the movie, Tron-Legacy, the other week.  It was quite good.  It was a remake of an old movie where you got to jump in the 3D computer program and follow the main character round some futuristic levels.  It was very good.  I wished it didn’t end.

I didn’t recognize any of the stars I the movie.  I think they were good actors.

It was a dramatic movie and moved quite fast. 

The cinema was crowded but it didn’t affect my viewing pleasure. 

The movie was rated PG.  There was no swearing.  I think it is suitable for teenagers and parents.  There is a bit of violence in the movie so it is not suitable for young children. 

You can also see this movie in 3D.  I think it was good value to see the movie, not sure if I would buy the DVD.

I give it 4 out of 5.

Richard

Hello world ...

TTP can now tweet. 

Technology is helping us to interact and be included.  We all love our blog because we love to share about ourselves.  We have lots to say and are very excited for these new ways to share.

Many of the Members at TTP find it difficult to share their thoughts.  For some of us, verbal communication (speaking) isn't even the way we can or like to communicate.  Finally finding ways that we can share our thoughts is like finding our voice.

Typing on a blog or tweeting gives all of us a chance to talk.  Mr A said, "this is the best thing, giving me a turn to talk."

We don't know much about twitter yet.  It's a bit of a surprise package and mostly we like surprises.  We feel sure that this is going to be one of those surprises that we like.

Follow us on our blog, through facebook AND on twitter.  Hello world .... we've got things to say.

Validation

It was just a regular Tuesday really.  We did our regular Tuesday things – Functional Fitness, vocational activities, lunch preparation, swimming – nothing extra.  But, as we’ve come to discover there are many great moments, even in a regular day. 

Today’s great moment came as one of our new Members validated The Tertiary PLACE’s vision.   

Here are his own words, unsolicited, which he very carefully keyed on one of our donated computers:  “I think that I am an interesting and learning person.  I don’t like to be told that I can’t do things.  I understand that there are laws of the land that I must comply with but I don’t like being limited in my learning.  I might find that I don’t want to do any studies but I deserve the choice.  I do have interests in many fields and I would like to pursue learning in them.  I think that I am capable of giving to the world so I want to be an advocate for others like me.”

That’s why we do what we do. 

It means the world to us when our Members say things like, “Yes I can feel that I will be safe here with Angela and Nona and Mary and Chris and Hannah”.

As we take a deep breath and gather ourselves for the challenges of this year including the never-ending need for fundraising, we draw strength from our Members and their validation of our efforts. 

You’re more than welcome to join us on our journey.