January 9

Penn State Children’s Hospital; Grand Rounds

Hershey, PA

February 7

Pediatric Grand Rounds: Children’s Medical Center @ Winthrop-University Hospital – Long Island, NY

8:30 am – 9:30 am

Winthrop’s Children’s Medical Center has been named to U.S. News & World Report’s 2016-17 Best Children’s Hospitals rankings for demonstrating excellence in the specialties of:

• Pediatric Diabetes and Endocrinology
• Pediatric Urology
• Pediatric Pulmonology

In connection with this temporary relief, users should consult with a medical professional if tingling and nerve pain continue over a long period of time as this may be an indication of diabetes. Monitoring the blood sugar level is essential and Nerve Pain Away is not manufactured to address this serious condition. Visit https://neuropathycure.org/nervestra-review/ for more information.

February 3

GTFI Symposium Flyer

Screening ON BEAUTY and Presentation

Genetic Task Force of Illinois Website

February 2

The Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University will host its fourth annual “Conversations in Bioethics” program on February 2, 2017 on the topic of “disability.” Event info

Thursday, February 2, 2017

JOIN US AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, OR TUNE IN ONLINE AT 6PM EST:

5:00pm Student Gallery, Healy Hall, first floor
(drinks and passed hors d’oeuvres)

6:00pm Panel Discussion, Gaston Hall
(will also be live-streamed; check back for link)

We hope to see you there! Stay up to date on this year’s conversation by joining the Institute’s mailing list.

THIS YEAR’S TOPIC

What is a disability, anyway?

In an era of ever-growing pharmaceutical enhancement, what counts as intellectually disabled, and why would that matter? How does the way we define disability (and normalcy) impact the just distribution of resources in society — and the way society treats those who happen to fall outside the norm? How are foundational concepts in ethics like dignity or autonomy complicated by reflection on the many ways we are dependent on others in the course of any “normal” human lifespan?

Each year, the Kennedy Institute of Ethics convenes a wide-ranging and personal conversation among expert panelists, preceded and informed by student work on the same topic. We can’t wait to share this year’s conversation, complicating the very notion of “disability.” Join us this February, in-person at Georgetown University, or digitally via live-stream, as our team goes deep on this thought-provoking and deeply important issue.

PANELISTS

JULIA WATTS BELSER, PH.D.

LYDIA X. Z. BROWN

TERESA BLANKMEYER BURKE, PH.D.

RICK GUIDOTTI

JOHN HOCKENBERRY

DONNA R. WALTON, ED.D., CCBT

Did you know? This year’s topic celebrates one of the issues at the heart of the KIE story: disability.

The Institute was founded in 1971 with support from the Rose and Joseph Kennedy Foundation, inspired in large part by the Foundation’s ongoing commitment to advancing the rights of the disabled. This year’s topic celebrates that founding vision of a world where the voices of the powerless are made powerful through thoughtful reflection and theory-driven advocacy, and it dives deep into some of the most complicated and interesting questions in disability ethics today.

October 18

Lecture to the Genetic Counseling Graduate Students: Rick

The  Joan H. Marks Graduate Program in Human Genetics at Sarah Lawrence College.

Integrating education, healthcare, and humanism, this celebrated program prepares genetic counselors to work in a growing, dynamic field.

The mission of the Human Genetics program is to improve health care for all people by educating genetic counselors so they are prepared to meet current and future needs of their clients, their communities, their profession, and society at large.

Established in 1969, the program was the first of its kind in the United States. It remains the largest graduate program in genetic counseling in the world.

October 16

October 16

BNP Paribas Asset Management’s (Brussels) Diversity Week

Positive Exposure Exhibition: October 16 till November 6.

Positive Exposure, Belgium was invited to participate in BNP Paribas Asset Management’s (Brussels) Diversity Week. Our own Bieke kreps, DDS, MSc gave a workshop on “Equity & Inclusion” and we placed one of our “Change How You See, See How You Change” exhibitions within their office space.

According to Bieke, the workshop was interactive with discussions ranging from hiring someone based on his/her skills and contributions rather than just to say you have hired someone who has a difference, to staring or ignoring vs. truly seeing a person, and the importance of talking to children and young people about celebrating difference—how adults can role model inclusive behavior, to help shape the future of our world. The best outcome of the workshop was when one person said, “It would be good if we could get to a point where the word ‘diversity’ wasn’t necessary and that BNP no longer needed a Diversity Committee or week.” Bravo! We couldn’t agree more!

PE Exhibition, 2018: BNP Paribas Asset Management, Brussels                          

 Children of BNP Paribas Asset Management employee, looking at their new PE Book!

October 13, 2018

ACCESS Ridgewood Fashion Show 2018

October 13, 2018

Kids and young adults of varying abilities and differing abilities model side by side in a fabulously inclusive environment.  Siblings / friends are encouraged to model as well.  Volunteers are always available to escort a model.  It is a wonderful opportunity for our kids to have a fun day and express their amazingly unique selves.  The fashion show is one of the highlights of the ACCESS Ridgewood weekend – a town-wide differing abilities awareness event.

Our models come from all over the Tri-State Area & more!!

August 18 – March

EXTENDED!!!!!!!! POSITIVE EXPOSURE Community based exhibition and continuous screening of FRAME Films in collaboration with A Children’s House for the Soul!

Austin Hall, Musician

Watch “Grip on Me” Music Video:

Sometimes It Hurts by Allison Whitaker

September 25

Announcing our partnership with NYU Langone & The OUT Foundation

Exhibition and Presentation; Positive Exposure Team

Our Transgender Community collaboration with NYU Langone

Positive Exposure collaborates with NYU Langone, to better inform the medical clinicians and the general public about the valuable and beautiful stories of our friends in the transgender community. On September 25^th, we celebrated this project in partnership with the OUT Foundation at The HUB at Lululemon on 5^th Ave., in NYC. What a party it was! We shared a sneak peak at our revolutionary film, which is a platform for our friends to voice their stories and their perspectives.   We were joined that night, by the amazing Dr. Rachel Bluebond-Langer and Dr. Lee C. Zhao, along with some of the film’s stars including, Wendy, Allison, Aiden, Tyric, Sydney and Leah, Nathan, Danielle, Gaines and Jack.

“Everything is the way it should be.” –Wendy

“I’m vibrant. I’m visible. I’m here. I’m Lasso. –Lasso

“I am supposed to wake up and be comfortable in my own skin.” –Allison

September 19

This lecture marks Rick’s 20th lecture to first year Medical Students at Weill Cornell College of Medicine.

New York City Ballet Access Programs

Dance: Group Piece (Grades 9-12)

Teacher: Jennifer Landa
School:  Ridgewood High School
Location: Ridgewood, NJ
Grade: 9-12
Subject: Dance
Lesson: Group Piece

One Semester Course – PEARLS Project Unit

1. Limited Physicality Study
2. Poem Study
3. Portrait Study
4. Solo Portrait Study
5. Group Piece 

Objective:

• Students will be able to create a movement vocabulary from the concept of asking a question (What is beauty? Who am I?). They will be able to craft that vocabulary into a complete compositional study.
• Students will be able to use the concept of theme and variation to bring their solo studies together in a larger context, creating a group dance from the solo material.
• Students will learn and prepare a group dance for a performance at the Spring Dance Concert.

Duration: Seven Weeks

Materials: PEARLS blogs, Positive Exposure website, journals, music, video

Procedure:
Intro

• Students are introduced to the concept of creating a group piece from individual solo studies and how it connects to their PEARLS Project work.
• Week 1: Students continue their communication with an Ambassador from their earlier PEARLS studies. They also create movement material for a solo portrait study of themselves, asking questions about what is beauty.

Body

• Class creates the dance for the Spring Dance Concert and cultivates a relationship with the PEARLS Ambassadors.
• Week 2: Students continue their communication with their PEARLS Ambassadors, reading their blog and sending them questions. They also finalize their solo portrait studies of themselves and begin to mold them into a full group piece.
• Week 3: Students continue their PEARLS communications. The class finalizes the group dance and discusses important overarching themes of empathy, unity and communication in dance.
• Week 4: Students continue their PEARLS communications. The class continues to rehearse the group dance using video as a tool – they view the video and assess their work.
• Week 5: Students continue run piece and clean group piece.
• Week 6: Students add costumes and run piece on stage.

Finish

• Students perform the piece in the Spring Dance Concert.

Student Outcomes/Assessment: By the end of the lesson the students will have created a group dance piece from their solo studies. They will ask questions about beauty and personality and incorporate these ideas into a movement vocabulary. They will understand how a dance compositional structure can develop from solo material. They will understand how an overarching theme and variation can be an integral part of creating a choreographic structure. They will be provided verbal feedback during in class rehearsals, and receive weekly grades for participation and commitment. In addition, they will be graded on their performance at the Spring Dance Concert.

Dance: Solo Portrait Study (Grades 9-12)

Teacher: Jennifer Landa
School:  Ridgewood High School
Location: Ridgewood, NJ
Grade: 9-12
Subject: Dance
Lesson: Solo Portrait Study

One Semester Course – PEARLS Project Unit

1. Limited Physicality Study
2. Poem Study
3. Portrait Study
4. Solo Portrait Study
5. Group Piece

Objective:

• Students will be able to create a solo dance from the following prompt: Create a portrait in dance that expresses personality of subject and evokes emotional and/or psychological qualities and incorporates physicality of subject. They will be able to craft a movement vocabulary into a complete compositional study. 
• Students will be able to communicate effectively through blogs and journal writings with their PEARLS Ambassador.
• Students learn and prepare a solo piece for performance at the Spring Dance Concert.

Duration: Seven Weeks

Materials: PEARLS blogs, Positive Exposure website, journals, music, video

Procedure:
Intro

• Students are introduced to the concept of creating a solo dance based on their ongoing relationship with their PEARLS Ambassador. They join the ning, read the blogs on the PEARLS website, and choose an Ambassador with whom they are interested in interacting.
• Week 1: Students begin a communication with a PEARLS Ambassador. They also create movement material for a solo portrait study of themselves, asking questions about what is beauty.

Body

• Class creates solo portrait studies for the Spring Dance Concert and cultivates their relationships with the PEARLS Ambassadors.
• Week 2: Students continue their communication with their PEARLS Ambassadors, reading their blog and sending them questions. They select music for their studies. They work on developing their movement vocabulary based on their communications with the PEARLS Ambassadors.
• Week 3: Students continue their PEARLS communications and create their solos.
• Week 4: Students finalize the choreography for their solos.
• Week 5: Students continue to clean and edit solos.
• Week 6: Students add costumes and run solos on stage.

Finish

• Students perform their solos and display their supporting material in the Spring Dance Concert.

Student Outcomes/Assessment: By the end of the lesson the students will have created a solo dance based on a portait of their PEARLS Ambassador. They will have developed a relationship with their PEARLS Ambassador through blog posts, videos and pictures. They will understand how to create a solo choreographic structure. They will be provided verbal feedback during in class rehearsals, and receive weekly grades for participation and commitment. In addition, they will be graded on their performance at the Spring Dance Concert.

Dance: Portrait Study (Grades 9-12)

Teacher: Jennifer Landa
School:  Ridgewood High School
Location: Ridgewood, NJ
Grade: 9-12
Subject: Dance
Lesson: Portrait Study

One Semester Course – PEARLS Project Unit

1. Limited Physicality Study
2. Poem Study
3. Portrait Study
4. Solo Portrait Study
5. Group Piece

Objective:

• Students will be introduced to the idea of creating a character study
• Students will be able to create movement from a portrait which illuminates a character
• Students will be able to create a short dance study bringing a character from a portrait to life

Duration: 4 Class periods

Materials: Music, Mirror, Video, Portraits including those created by the PEARLS Project

Procedure:
Intro

• Students are exposed to the idea of creating dance from a character point of view
• Students view video of various dance pieces incorporating characters in both narrative and non-narrative structure
• Students reflect on what they have seen

Body

• Students create a short dance study from a portrait
• Students create a movement vocabulary designed to bring a character to life
• Students create a trio dance study which incorporates their characters
• Students perform trios

Finish

• Students and teacher give feedback on performance.
• Students reflect on the use of characters in dance and the use of portrait to flesh out these characters.

Student Outcomes/Assessment: By the end of the lesson the students will have created and performed a trio study bringing a portrait character to life. They will be assessed through verbal and written feedback, both self-assessed and teacher assessed.

Dance: Poem Study (Grades 9-12)

Teacher: Jennifer Landa
School:  Ridgewood High School
Location: Ridgewood, NJ
Grade: 9-12
Subject: Dance
Lesson: Poem Study

One Semester Course – PEARLS Project Unit

1. Limited Physicality Study
2. Poem Study
3. Portrait Study
4. Solo Portrait Study
5. Group Piece

Objective:

• Students will be introduced to the idea of using text in dance
• Students will be able to create movement from text
• Students will be able to create a short dance study illuminating a text

Duration: 4 Class periods

Materials: Music, Mirror, Poems and Graphic Depiction of Poems created by text from PEARLS Ambassador blogs

Procedure:
Intro

• Students are exposed to the idea of using text to create dance
• Students view video of various dance pieces incorporating text in different manners
• Students reflect on what they have seen

Body

• Students create a short dance study from a particular text
• Students create a movement vocabulary from their text
• Students create a solo piece designed to bring their text to life
• Students perform solos

Finish

• Students and teacher give feedback on performance on performance.
• Students reflect on the use of text in dance.

Student Outcomes/Assessment: By the end of the lesson the students will have created and performed a solo study illuminating a text source.  They will be assessed through verbal and written feedback, both self-assessed and teacher assessed.

Dance: Limited Physicality Study (Grades 9-12)

Teacher: Jennifer Landa
School:  Ridgewood High School
Location: Ridgewood, NJ
Grade: 9-12
Subject: Dance
Lesson: Limited Physicality Study

One Semester Course – PEARLS Project Unit

1. Limited Physicality Study
2. Poem Study
3. Portrait Study
4. Solo Portrait Study
5. Group Piece

Objective:

• Students will be exposed to handicapped dance
• Students will be able to create movement using limited physicality
• Students will be able to create a short dance study using limited movement vocabulary
• Students will be able to recognize the beauty and power in dance with limited physical capability

Duration: 4 Class periods

Materials: Music, Props as necessary, Mirror, Video

Procedure:
Intro

• Students are exposed to the idea of handicapped dance
• Students view video of different handicapped dance – dancers in wheelchairs, dancers with missing limbs, dancers who are deaf, etc.
• Students reflect on what they have seen

Body

• Students create movement with limited physicality
• Students create a movement vocabulary within a physical limitation
• Students are paired up to create a duet using their limitation and vocabulary
• Students perform duets

Finish

• Students and teacher give feedback on performance of duets.
• Students reflect on the beauty of this type of dance and what it means to have a physical handicap.

Student Outcomes/Assessment: By the end of the lesson the students will have created a duet study using limited physicality. They will be able to create choreography for students with limited physical ability and they will be able to use a limited movement vocabulary to create dance. They will be assessed through verbal and written feedback, both self-assessed and teacher assessed.

Heidi Latsky Dance

September 8-12

Faroe Islands Community based Photography: In collaboration with MEGD.

September 5 – 6, 2018

Gothenburg, Sweden

Ågrenska is a national competence centre and provides programs for children, teenagers and adults with disabilities, their families and professionals supporting the family.

Lecture and Photography: Rick