Here’s some good work – or rather an example of some good works – from 1993, I imagine.
Record-keeping is not my métier. – JDW
When the voices of children are heard on the green, and laughing is heard on the hill. – William Blake.
The Easter Seals Society of Oregon promotes independence for persons with disabilities. Easter Seals provides direct services, public education, consumer advocacy, prevention, research and resource development.
Easter Seals offers guidelines for writing about people with disabilities. The Society’s suggestions for appropriate ways to describe the disabled may change the way you think about them.
PUT PEOPLE FIRST, not their disability. Saying, “children who are deaf,” or “woman with arthritis” puts the focus on the person not on a particular functional limitation.
EMPHASIZE ABILITY, not limitations. The crippled and the handicapped are not “confined” to a wheelchair, or chairbound but they do “use” such aids.
DO NOT LABEL. And, please, don’t use words like crippled or handicapped. Nobody likes to be labeled.
Avoid emotionally loaded terms such as “the less fortunate.”
DO NOT SENSATIONALIZE a disability by saying victim of, suffers from, afflicted by…. Leave the editorializing to the people with the problem. A person “has a disease.” Period.
DO NOT IMPLY DISEASE when discussing disabilities resulting from a previous disease episode. People who have had Polio and who experience after-effects years later have a Post-Polio disability; they are not currently experiencing the disease. They do not have Polio.
Similarly, do not imply disease with people whose disability has resulted from anatomical or physiological disease. A person with spina bifida, for example, is not sick.
DO NOT PORTRAY successful people with disabilities as superhuman. While the general public tends to admire super-achievers, portraying people with disabilities as superheros or superstars raises the false expectation that all people with disabilities should somehow achieve the same level of achievement.
ESCHEW OBFUSCATION. Disability groups strongly object to the use of euphemisms to describe disabilities. Blind advocates dislike partially sighted because it implies avoiding acceptance of blindness. Such terms such as handicapable, mentally different, and physically challenged are considered condescending. Cloaked in supposed political correctness, euphemisms reinforce the idea disabilities cannot be dealt with in a forthright, up front manner.
People with a disability are people with a disability are people with a disability. No different from anybody else really.
Nine-year-old Kristopher Haines is a prize-winning film maker with two movies already produced. “The Big Night,” a 90-second animated cutout film, earned an award at the prestigious Young Peoples Film and Video Festival, as did his latest effort, a four-minute animation, titled “What’s Chopped Liver?,” about, you guessed it, chopped liver.
No stranger to danger, young Kristopher used real chopped liver in a number of scenes.
Disabled by cerebral palsy, Kristopher, the Oregon Easter Seal Ambassador for 1993, works from his wheelchair. Obviously no handicap for a young man whose career ambition is to become a film director or songwriter.
Approximately 15,000 Oregonians benefit directly from Society services. Clients contribute funds on a fair share basis for the services they receive, according to their ability. The balance of the cost, generally 75%, comes from individual and corporate donations.
Not to mention golf tournaments. Of every dollar contributed, 97 cents remains in the state and benefits local community programs.
In its earliest days, Easter Seals focused primarily on children’s needs. Through decades of service, the Society has expanded to provide rehabilitative assistance to neighbors of all ages.
Folks like Tony Killian. In September, 1986, on a day no different than any other, Mr. Killian passed out while driving his car. He woke up in the hospital. Tony, then age 46, experienced a stroke shortly before doctors performed an operation to stop a aneurysm from bursting in his brain. The stroke left him paralyzed on his left side.
Tony Killian has been an active member of an Easter Seal-sponsored stroke club for the past six years. A fisherman and duck hunter, Tony used the Easter Seal Therapy Pool to aid in his recovery. Recently, Tony was able to obtain a driver’s license for the first time since his accident.
He’s back on the road today, this time as Easter Seals’ Adult Ambassador. Just Tony Killian’s way of saying, “Thanks.”
Golf is an awkward set of bodily contortions designed to produce a graceful result. – Tommy Armour.
“Golf is an awkward set of bodily contortions designed to produce a graceful result,” said Tommy Armour.
Grace, thy name is Dinah.
The Nabisco Dinah Shore is the matriarch of golf events, the tournament which brought national credibility and television exposure to the LPGA.
Patty Sheehan headed for the Rancho Mirage, California desert classic after becoming the newest member of one of the world’s most exclusive clubs, The LPGA Hall Of Fame. Qualifying for the Hall with her 30th career win days before the Dinah, Sheehan arrived at the practice tee, calling for reform.
“The rules have to be changed, said Sheehan about the most demanding criteria for any Hall . “I think (Hall of Fame selection) should be a vote from our peers.”
To qualify, a player must be member of the LPGA for 10 consecutive years and have 30 victories, two in different MAJORS. If that’s too tough, how about 35 victories and only one major? Still too tough? Okay, the LPGA will let you into their Hall of Fame with just 40 tournament wins, and, here’s the best part, no majors.
The Nabisco Dinah Shore is the first major on the year’s calendar and a shortcut to the Hall. In 1991, Amy Alcott captured her 29th victory here, and dragged her caddie, and Dinah, into the lake bordering the 18th green.
Patty Sheehan knows how important another win will be for Alcott. “If she gets number 30, she may take her clothes off,” Sheehan quipped. “So you all better be there.” Certain to be a video sports highlight.
Five of the thirteen women in the LPGA Hall of Fame competed at the 22nd annual Dinah Shore this year. Nancy Lopez, one of that fabled quintet, was co-leader after one round of play.
“There’s always pressure on you once you’ve had success,” Lopez explained. “It’s hard to settle for less. I know if I haven’t worked hard on my game, I’m humiliated. There’s so much pressure to perform.”
The next day, Lopez, whose Hall of Fame credentials include 46 tourney wins, was penalized two strokes for slow play. Such is the life of a living legend.
Pat Bradley, another of the Hall’s elite, shared the second round lead after Lopez dropped out of contention. “We have rules,” Bradley said. “We live by them and sometimes they’re painful. It’s part of the sporting life.”
Bradley knows the pressures posed by the Hall and a major like the Dinah Shore; Pat hasn’t won since qualifying for selection. “I’m enjoying my new-found freedom of not having to deal with, or worry about, the Hall of Fame. Now, it’s time to dig in and get back in the swing again.”
That’s where the expression originates.
Betsy King, winner of the Dinah Shore in 1987 and 1991, got back in the swing with a third round 67 to tie for the lead. So, sitting atop the leader board, Betsy King has her two wins in majors and stands on the threshold of the Hall of Fame with 28 career victories.
“When I’m in contention I think about the Hall,” King admits, “but I don’t stand on the first tee the first day of a tournament and think about it.”
King gave the Hall some thought after the final round of this year’s Nabisco Dinah Shore. “I guess it wasn’t meant to be,” she said with a look of determination in eyes still focused on the prize.
What was meant to be was the first win on the LPGA tour for Sweden’s Helen Alfredsson, a 27-year-old former fashion model. Rookie of The Year in 1992, the Swede is an admittedly emotional player, who sputters foreign words to herself which we are unwilling to translate for fear of offending our audience of golf program readers.
“I can’t help the way I am,” says Alfredsson. “I tried to be calm when I came over here (to the United States), but it’s just my style. I like to live the game.”
Her four-day, four-under total of 284 earned Alfredsson a $105,000 check. The first victory by a European player in the storied history of the Dinah Shore.
“This is incredible,” the excited Alfredsson offered. “I’ve been dying to get my first win over here, but to have it come in this tournament makes it that much more special.
“I had been told the best walk in women’s golf is down No. 18 at the Dinah Shore, the 1993 champion continued. “It’s certainly the best tournament I’ve been in.”
Grace of Hall of Fame proportions. That’s the Nabisco Dinah Shore.
DOERNBECHER CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL
Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. – Mark 10:14.
Too many children suffer too much for one short lifetime. Doernbecher Children’s Hospital cares about that.
And cares.
And cares.
Oh, how they care.
Doernbecher’s Children’s Hospital at Oregon Health Sciences University extends a caring hand of hope to families across the Northwest. As an integral part of OHSU, Doernbecher can call on a vast range of resources to care for any child’s special needs. OHSU is known nationwide for its advanced clinical care, pre-eminent medical education and leading-edge scientific research.
Each year, more than 12,000 ill and injured children come from five states to Doernbecher for the help they need.
No child is ever turned away because of an inability to pay.
Pediatrics began in this region when Doernbecher opened in 1926. Since that first tiny patient arrived, the Hospital has earned a national reputation as a leader in pediatric care.
From tonsillectomies to tracheotomies to transplants, Doernbecher offers a vast range of pediatric health services, many not readily available elsewhere in this area.
Seventy-five percent of Oregon’s pediatric cancer patients are treated at Doernbecher.
The great majority of the state’s pediatric heart surgeries are performed the Hospital, site of the Northwest’s first successful pediatric heart transplant.
The neonatal and pediatric intensive care units treat more than 1,000 premature babies or children with life-threatening diseases and injuries each year.
The Hospital offers Oregon’s only pediatric kidney transplant program. Doernbecher was the first hospital in the United States to provide in-home kidney dialysis treatment for children.
Doernbecher was the first hospital in Oregon to establish a cystic fibrosis center, which currently serves three states in the region.
In a recent year Doernbecher provided over $20,000,000 in uncompensated care. Free. Once fully funded by Oregon’s legislature, only 8% or so of the hospital’s operating budget is financed by the state.
Doernbecher is all about the kids.
It’s about four-year-old Rachel Bakamus.
“Basically, Doernbecher save her life ” says Rachel’s mother, Cathy.
Rachel was thirteen months old when she became ill with a bacterial infection of the blood called Meningococcal Disease. Which is even worse than it sounds. Abnormal blood clotting leads to shock, and often death.
“Depends on how early they catch it,” Cathy reports. By the time somebody realizes it’s not the flu, when the characteristic rash appears, your baby is really sick.
While this rare disease affects all ages, children under five years old are particularly susceptible. “Nobody really knows why,” Cathy says.
“Rachel was life-flighted from our local hospital to Doernbecher’s intensive care unit,” says Cathy. “We were incredibly fortunate to get there. They had the experience treating the disease, and it is rare. A decade ago, the outcome was usually death. Kids just didn’t survive this disease. If you had to go anywhere for this kind of help, that was the place you’d want to be.”
After a day or two, the tips of Rachel’s fingers and toes began to turn black. The clotting had blocked the flow of blood. She lost the tips of her fingers. Six months later, not much more than a year-and-a-half old, Rachel lost both feet.
Since then, four surgeries later, life goes on. “It’s been a long haul,” For everybody, her husband, Bill, and Katrina, age six.
Cathy Bakamus refuses to make any predictions about Rachel’s future. She’s not about to set any limits.
“Rachel does things Rachel’s way. It’s different, but she gets things done.” says Cathy, pride in her voice. “You never know. She’s incredibly lucky to be here at all. She incredibly lucky to be facing those challenges every day. We’re lucky.
“That’s the bottom line.
“That’s what we owe Doernbecher.”