Just how far would someone go to prove what people with disabilities can do? Apparently, for motivational speaker and comedian Michael Lifshitz, the answer is 380 feet, after he participated in the 2009 Drop Zone Challenge in Montreal, Quebec. For more details on Michael, please feel free to visit his site at www.michaellifshitz.com.

One of every 7 Canadians report having a disability.

“Easter Seals has shown me that I can do anything!” 15 year old Hayley Redmond

Easter Seals is dedicated to fully enhancing the quality of life, self-esteem and self-determination of Canadians with disabilities.

As Canada’s largest local provider of programs, services, issues-leadership and development for the disability community, Easter Seals is dedicated to helping more than 100,000 Canadians with disabilities participate fully in society.

Easter Seals provincial organizations offer transformative programs and services at the local level, the best known of which are Easter Seals camp programs.

Every year thousands of children challenge themselves while having the time of their lives at 22 Easter Seals camps nationwide.

Other services include year-round active living opportunities, as well as the provision of specialized mobility and access equipment such as mobility aids, assistive technology, adaptive computers, augmentative communication devices and adaptations to homes and vehicles for wheelchair accessibility.

Normally these assistive aids are cost prohibitive for most people and families. With help from its donors and sponsors, Easter Seals works to ensure that everyone with a disability has access to the equipment and services they need to make the most of their abilities.

Easter Seals is a member of Imagine Canada’s Ethical Code Program. Click here to learn more.

From Daniel Dale, Staff Reporter of The Toronto Star (for the original story click here)

Lucas Braun was doing worse than he should have been doing in last-period math. His educational assistant knew why. He was playing hockey during both of his recesses. By the end of the day, he was exhausted.

“She goes, ‘If we take one of those hockeys away, he’ll probably learn more,’” says Lucas’ mother, Debbie. “And I said, ‘You know, his legs are only going to work for a short period of his life. And if they’re working now, and he wants to play hockey, I’d rather he play hockey and do poorly in math.’ She was like, ‘You serious?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah. If they’re only going to have their legs until they’re 25 or so, and right now that’s what he loves to do. . .”

Lucas Braun is 13. He is articulate and analytical and serious and a serious sports fan who stored the date of the Maple Leafs’ season opener in his iPod just to make completely totally absolutely sure he doesn’t forget it’s Oct. 7, though he won’t.

Zane Braun is 11. He is a born entertainer whose repertoire of hyperactive comedy includes quick-witted jabs, exaggerated what-who-me smiles, and memorized dialogue from The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. He has also perfected a darker bit: a biting impression of the people who stare at him and Lucas while badly pretending to not be staring.

Both Braun brothers have Morquio Syndrome. When you have Morquio Syndrome, you are a spectacle — to everyone from passers-by on Toronto streets to junior kindergarten students who mistake you for a peer.

The rare disease will likely force Lucas and Zane to use wheelchairs by their mid-20s. It will probably shorten their lives substantially. And it has prevented them from growing taller than about three feet each.

“People tend to stare at us a lot, because we’re so short,” said Lucas, sitting at his family’s kitchen table in Whitechurch, a tiny community northwest of Kitchener near Lake Huron. “At camp, we don’t get stared at. Because everybody has a physical disability. We get to feel — the same. When we’re not there, we don’t feel the same. Before we went to camp, I actually thought that me and Zane were the only ones in the world with physical disabilities.”

“When you go it’s like, wow,” says Zane. “So many people have them.”

They are used to much of what passes for regular in lives filled with unusual difficulties. They see nine medical specialists; the three-hour drives to appointments at Sick Kids are now routine to them. Every two years, they have a surgery in which their legs are broken to straighten them; a good thing, Lucas says nonchalantly, since it prevents them from getting knock-kneed. They tire much more quickly than most children, so they use scooters to get around school; when their mom isn’t looking, they have forbidden scooter races.

But it is only at Easter Seals’ Camp Woodeden, a high-accessibility London facility for children with disabilities, that they feel like they can blend in.

Zane and Lucas, an Easter Seals ambassador, came back in July from their third year at Woodeden. Zane returned with certificates and pottery and photos and, more notably, a girlfriend, with whom he went swimming the other Friday.

She is also 11, and she uses a wheelchair. The courtship went as courtships involving 11-year-olds go: After he wooed her for the first couple days of their 10-day session, she gave him a note instructing him to check yes or no if he liked her. He checked yes, and they were a Woodeden item. He hopes the romance is rekindled next summer.

“I cannot be stuck with them two,” says Lucas, rolling his eyes. “Ten days. . . ”

“Luke, don’t worry,” says Zane, leaning across the table with the type of passive-aggressive smile younger brothers enjoy brandishing at older brothers. “You’ll get a girl some day.”

Like 103 other camps across Ontario, Woodeden is supported by the Toronto Star Fresh Air Fund, which is struggling to meet its fundraising goal this year.

The Braun brothers typically begin pestering Debbie in September to fill out camp applications. They like Woodeden so much because of the sledge hockey and the arts and crafts and the archery and the banquet. Lucas, however, says it is such a treat primarily because of the big lesson it has imparted.

“I’m normal,” he says, “and I’m not alone.”

At 41 Paul, who has Down Syndrome, embraces life fully. In addition to his passion for wrestling, music and the movies, Paul loves to show off his latest dance moves, particularly at Camp Gencheff, where he competes with his best friend Travis Judson to be best dancer.

“Paul is extremely well liked and is an exceptional person,” says his sister Cindy Beharrell, who works for Century 21. “He strives for independence in his work and personal life and is committed to not being a burden on anyone. He usually has great success at whatever he does.”

Having worked his entire adult life, including Island Cable TV and Fox Meadow Golf and Country Club, Paul decided to go back to school. In 2009, Paul graduated from the four-year University of PEI Ace program, designed for students with intellectual disabilities.

His hard work at school paid off. Paul received high marks in every course he took, and when he graduated he became one of two graduates ever asked back to mentor other students.

Recently, Cooke Insurance hired Paul to run paperwork to other businesses in Charlottetown, file, handle mail duties and other important tasks. Paul, who loves his new job, fit in immediately at Cooke’s where he works six hours a day. Between that, his part time work at Fox Meadow Golf and Country Club, and his active social life, Paul is a very busy man.

His one sadness is that his father, Simon Compton, passed away just prior to Paul’s graduation from University. After the graduation ceremonies, while he still had his gown on, Paul kissed his award and held it skyward and said: “this is for you Dad.”

Paul’s father would have been tremendously proud of his son’s major accomplishment, as he was proud of everything Paul did. Simon Compton would have been proud too of Paul’s dedication to the Easter Seals Drop Zone and his commitment to rappelling off 10 stories of the Delta Prince Edward on October 8th. To learn more about Paul and support his rappel by making a donation to Easter Seals, visit www.paulcompton.ca.

Canadian Tire Jumpstart is a charitable program that helps financially disadvantaged kids get involved in organized sport and recreation by covering registration, equipment or transportation costs. The program is delivered through 290 community Chapters across Canada. Chapters are made up of Canadian Tire Dealers and community partners who identify children who could benefit from the program.

Easter Seals Canada, a new Chapter of the Jumpstart program will work very closely with our provincial member organizations to ensure Canadian Tire Jumpstart funding is directed to children who need it the most.

To apply for Jumpstart funding through Easter Seals is simple. Simply download the Application form (listed below) – fill it out and fax it to 416-932-9844 or scan the completed form to your computer and email it to jumpstart@easterseals.ca; you can email any questions or comments to that email address as well.

Download The Jump Start Application Form — (right click on this line of text click ‘Save link as…’ and save the PDF to your desktop).

NOTE: You do not need to be a child living with disability to apply for Jumpstart funding through Easter Seals.  Please share this information with siblings of Easter Seals kids, Easter Seals Summer Camp councilors or family and friends of the organization and its service users.

The Society wished to underline the accomplishments of a child whose outstanding work of the past several years is almost too much for us to understand fully.

“After spending six years with us, Hubert has learned to talk, to eat, to walk, and to make friends… above all, he will have definitely marked our lives,” confided the Director of the Papillon Daycare, Mrs. Chantale Théroux.

Indeed, it was Hubert who sparked off the Society’s stimulation centre, Jardin des Papillons and, later on, the new Papillon Daycare. He also displayed remarkable commitment, and was a great ambassador for the Society on many occasions.

The tribute paid to Hubert at the Society’s annual general meeting preceded the one paid by the educators and parents during a special ceremony where Hubert and several other daycare children were awarded the Society’s highest title, Graduates of the Papillon Daycare.

Hubert is leaving us for good at the end of the summer 2010. You see, he has won the first great great victory of his young life: next September, he will attend a regular school; the first in a series of accomplishments to come.

Our Stories is a quarterly ENewsletter that celebrates Easter Seals’ clients, and showcases how they and their supporters are making a difference.

Our Stories, Spring 2010

Our Stories, Winter 2009/10

Our Stories, Fall 2009

Our Stories, Summer 2009

Our Stories, Spring 2009

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Paul Scholefield prepares for the torch relay.

Easter Seals BC / The BC Lions Society for Children with Disabilities is excited that past and present BC Easter Seals Campers were Torchbearers in 2010 Paralympics Torch Relay in Vancouver.

Paul Gauthier, past Easter Seals ‘Timmy’, Easter Seals Camper and gold medalist Paralympian was given the honour of being the first Paralympic Torchbearer to run the first leg of the 24 Hour Paralympics Torch Relay in downtown Vancouver. Paul was not the only Easter Seals Camper to participate in the 24 Hour Torch Relay.

Sarah Cheung, newly named Easter Seals Ambassador and Easter Seals Camper, also carried the torch down Robson Street in Vancouver. For Sarah, being a Paralympic Torchbearer was a proud accomplishment that she got to share with her friends, family and some of her counsellors from BC Easter Seals Camp Squamish.

Eighteen year old Easter Seal Camper and past Easter Seals Ambassador, Paul Scholfield also ran with the Paralympic torch. His mother, Alison Scholfield will always remember this as a “priceless experience” for Paul because it gave her son a newfound sense of confidence.

Best friends Grace Brulotte and Katie Gibbs, who attend Easter Seals Camp Winfield, had the opportunity to share their experience as Paralympic Torchbearers together. Their torches ‘kissed’ as they passed the flame to one another. They will always remember this unique experience and special day that they shared.

The BC Lions Society for Children with Disabilities is proud of all our Paralympic Torchbearers; we hope that this experience will continue to empower them for years to come.

Colourful towels at Camp Easter Seal

On the shore of Little Manitou Lake, Saskatchewan lies Camp Easter Seal, a remarkable place full of smiles and laughter; a place where memories are made. The difference between this camp and others is that the campers who attend have disabilities.

Campers can enjoy picnic lunches, pontoon boat rides, swimming, pool-side barbecues, arts and crafts, horseback riding, and sports. All of these activities can be modified to accommodate varying abilities.

Camp Easter Seal has been providing experiences to children and adults with disabilities for nearly 60 years. As camper needs have changed, Camp Easter Seal has adapted in everything from ensuring that the entire camp is barrier free to addressing campers’ often complex medical requirements.

Written by the late Steven Elias, a young adult camper, these words capture the essence of Camp Easter Seal perfectly and offer a glimpse into the positive effect that it has on its campers:

We all struggle over the cold winter months
But we know when the summer hits we can come back to this beautiful and caring place
We wish we could just stay here and forget the world but we can’t
We must live forever in six days…