Hayley Vice President of Dame Vera Lynn Children's Charity

[Libby]

Thank you for sharing this, it's wonderful to read about. My sister works with kids with these types of disabilities, too.

[Sandy Wilderness Girl]

Wow hey.......I was just reading all about this school hey...awesome hey......and yeh Well done Hayley for getting behind it hey...and a BIG CONGRATS hey .....it sorta parallels the handicapped children’s workshop that im a part time volunteer at hey....so similar ....I started going to it when i was 10 years old hey....and after I turned 16 I became a helper.....its an awesome thing for young handicapped kids to hang out at hey...we have all volunteers running it which mainly consists of parents hey....BUT the BEST thing about it was the ONCE a year CAMP.. .wow that was sooo awesome hey....BUT ummmm I have to say hey we WERENT the best behaved kids on the camp hey.. ..well we weren’t really bad hey..like soaping the carers’ toilet seats which they even thought was funny hey .. ..only things like that hey but then after becoming a carer myself I know all the old tricks hey...HA HA ....BUT they are just absolutely awesome children hey....Ohhh and if ever any one wants an OBSOLUTELY awesome dinner function...throw a see it from my side dinner hey.....you will be amazed hey....and you will have the funniest dinner you could imagine hey...so if you ever want to know about it let me know hey.....
Sandy xxx

[mihizawi]

Let me make a refllection on this subject, without it being in any way a criticism to this charitgy itself (I don't even know how it exactly works) and even less to Hayley's involvement. Just want to show you that you have to look at those things from a seeper perspective. More concrretely, I want to talk about disabled people going to special schools vs going to normal schools.

I know the subject very well, as cerebral palsy is my disability, I've lived with it since I was only few months old (when I had a disease ignored by the doctors for too long till it was too late). First of all, and this is very important, cerebral palsy has its cause in a brain damage, yes, but strictly it's a physical disability, not a mental disorder (even though sometimes it can be acompanied by those), as it only affects the motor system. So, a peerson who has only cerebral palsy may not totally control his body, have involuntary movements, have some speaking difficulties, summarizing, that person may find it hard to do some things that requires movement or physical abbilities, but in no way his mental or learning skills are affected.

So, that makes clear that with a proper help from the environment, a person with cerebral palsy can acquire exactly the same level of education as any not disabled person. Now the question is, is it better to receive that education in a special school or in a normal school? Well, both have good sides, so it depends on each case, but I would say in most cases the normal schools are much better. The good thing about special schools is precisely the specialisation: they have prepared teachers, they can give full support to the person, they even can have integrated suplementary services in the same center, such as rehabilitation... So, a spcial school is very comfortable, both for the parents as for the disabled person itself, they have everything solved, so it can be a good enough solutions to those very, very heavily affected people who really need full attention.

But, if possible (and those are most of the cases), an education in a normal school is better. In most cases, the help that a disabled person needs can be provided by a support person inside the school, and even more interestingly, it is a very good chance to get other childs involved in helping and being solidar. It always is harder, everyone in the environment has to give something to find fair solutions to the problems that will always be there, the other childs have to accept that their disabled mate needs help in some things, and the disabled person itself has to be strong and creative to overcome the hard situations. But precisely from those things that make it harder, come the most important benefits: it gives the disabled person the determination and experience of overcoming problems and erases the danger of feeling different, also, the fact of having relationships with other not disabled people will help that person have a much richer life.

And now, so I am back on topic on Hayley, once again, it's not a cricisism of this school... Haven't really investigated how it works, but from the pictures it seems to me that it mainly works with newborn babies and their families to develop the basic cognitive skills, which I think is very possitive, and I am really glad that Hayley is involved in this. I just wanted to point out that special schools are often not the best ways of giving the long term education to any physicallyy disabled person, including the ones with cerebral palsy.

Michal

[grant]

Hey Sandy!

Mar 15, 2010 10:44:24 GMT Sandy Wilderness Girl said:

..Ohhh and if ever any one wants an OBSOLUTELY awesome dinner function...throw a see it from my side dinner hey.....you will be amazed hey....and you will have the funniest dinner you could imagine hey...so if you ever want to know about it let me know hey.....

Off topic or not! I am dying to know what "a see it from my side" dinner is. Do tell!! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Love
Grant
xx

[martindn]

Hi Michal,

As I understand it the Dame Vera Lynn Schools is targetted at educating the parents of children with CP, not the children themselves. It tries to help parents understand the condition, and teach them provide the support that their children need. Surely that can only be a good thing, increasing the likelihood that those children will grow up to lead normal lives.

I think we should all be supportive of Hayley in her involvement in this!

Martin D

[mihizawi]

Yes, Martin, and as I said, it wasn' t any kind of criticism! I totally support this, even more if it's what you say! Just wanted to make this little reflextion (maybe it wasn't the best place). And I am very glad that Hayley is somehow linked with my disability! Hayley is always trying to spread that helping spirit to the world, that's just one more reason to love her!

Michal

[Libby]

Yes, the article mostly spoke about the school for the parents, not the kids, so I'm sure you're right. I've never heard of a school like that around here, but I'm sure there must be some. I know parents with autistic kids often meet together for support.

I had a very good friend in junior high and high school who had cerebral palsy. She was born in India. She used to be in a wheelchair (before I knew her), but she had some surgery that allowed her to walk, albeit unsteadily. I sometimes assisted her to her classes. I first met her in my choir class in junior high. She was an honor student, so her disabiltity certainly didn't affect her intelligence in any way! The last I heard from her, she was studying medical law, or something like that, at the University of Washington. Unfortunately, she eventually stopped e-mailing me, so we lost contact.

This is partially on-topic.

[Richard]

Hello Michal!

In case you missed the link in my previous post, the video on this page gives a good insight into the work of the school:

www.dvltrust.org.uk/dame_vera_lynn_trust/school_for_parents.html

Richard

[mihizawi]

Thanks for reminding that link, Richard. Yes, it's somehow how I imagined it, and it's very interesting, and, yes, in those early years it can be very positive. But my posture is that in most cases, if possible, the perfect would be to complement those special school activities with parents by also attending to a mainstream pre-school center. Those abbilities that this school teaches are very important for a disabled person, and, yes, for their parents too (if parents don't believe in what the child can do, the child won't have any chances to have a rich life). But as important as that is that the child learns to behave and aolve the problems in an environment where other childs don't have the same problems that him, and even more, to learn to fight to be accepted with those problems by the other childs.

Ok, and so to stay on topic here, maybe, if there's something more to say, should I say it on the Chat Thread?

Michal

[Richard]

Yes please, Michal.

There is already an interesting discussion in the Chat Thread.

Richard

[Richard]

I've found a larger photograph:

Hayley Westenra visit to the School for Parents

Source: www.dvltrust.org.uk/dame_vera_lynn_trust/photo_gallery.html

Richard

[postscript]

Regretfully your link to the video didn't work when I clicked on it 11:20 Friday 22nd October 2010, Richard.

Regretfully, also, due to my not logging on that frequently recently, I missed the Christmas card option--I had already bought some 'charity contribution' cards from Waitrose on the spur of the moment to start early--of course i haven't!

Peter S.

[postscript]

With respect Mizihawi, I think (as I read the info) the school is geared towards parents in their early acquaintance of the problem and is intended as a starting base for the future, so I am sure the points you raise are part of the informative/cross-fertilisation of knowledge.

Peter S.

[Richard]

Hello Peter!

Sadly the link to the video on the Dame Vera Lynn Trust's website doesn't work either:

www.dvltrust.org.uk/dame_vera_lynn_trust/index.html

The site has had a few changes since the School for Parents in Suffolk was relaunched. However, I've found the video on YouTube:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnW-IDpxJ3I

Richard

[mihizawi]

Oct 22, 2010 10:30:12 GMT postscript said:

With respect Mizihawi, I think (as I read the info) the school is geared towards parents in their early acquaintance of the problem and is intended as a starting base for the future, so I am sure the points you raise are part of the informative/cross-fertilisation of knowledge.

Peter S.

Hi, Peter... As I think I had explained, I had not looked closely enough to what was the philosophy of that school. So, yes,. it wasn't a critic for it, just wanted to point out that for every charity, we should look closely into what they do before giving our support (which I am sure, Hayley does). The intention of trying to help people is worth praise by itself, but maybe the way of doing it is not always helpful. Anyone running a charity should keep this in mind, and often stop and think carefully if there are not better ways to help than what they are already putting into practice.

Having said this, the case of Dame Vera Lynn's school is certainly positive and prettby interesting.

Michal