PEPSI CHALLENGE

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I have enrolled in the Pepsi Challenge to fund a project to aid people with physical or mental disabilities to pursue their passion as a route to their personal recovery. When I needed a program like this in my area, none were available. There were programs for mentally challenged adults but not for high functioning adults.
Having suffered more than 4 years of Agoraphobia I managed to create my own recovery with the help of a highly competent and supportive therapist and a Psychiatrist.
I hope that everyone will vote for me to have Pepsi fund my program.
My recovery was a combination of finding ways to step outside of my comfort zone by testing the waters with different passions that I never even knew I had. I combined different craft ideas with meditation, power walking and eventually the freedom to workout at a gym, drive, and be away from home for hours on end, a feat I never thought I could overcome.
We all have passions and sometimes it takes going all the way down in our life before we discover them. I have found that there is a vitally creative side of recovery and when a person expands on that phase of realization, recovery begins and one is able to thrive. Help me help those that need it. Vote for me in the Pepsi Challenge starting on May 1, 2010. OUR GRATITUDE PEPSI CHALLENGE

Come join me on HAPPINESS HEALS on CRAFTY

CRAFTY create, believe, make, do, craft

AnnMarie Cunniff AnnMarie Cunniff has invited you to join HAPPINESS HEALS on CRAFTY   Mastermind group for HIT, artists of all genre teachers of yoga,meditation,social workers,counselors,and others to build a blueprint of a Day Program for adults with physical or mental disabilities. This group is creating, financing and implementing a "blueprint" for a Day Program for "high functioning" adults on disability, looking for recovery a… Created By: AnnMarie Cunniff Check out HAPPINESS HEALS on CRAFTY: http://crafty1.ning.com/group/happinessheals?xgi=c8rkH1L About CRAFTY Share craft ideas and projects. Help to teach persons or families of persons with disabilities to find a craft to help in their recovery. Blogs Events Discussions Groups Music Photos Videos   To control which emails you receive on CRAFTY, click here

ABLE AND WILLING

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I spent a good deal of my day today researching opportunities for people with disabilities. It is necessary for me to gain knowledge about what resources are available to businesses to train and hire persons with disabilities. I am in the early stages of creating a business that is to become a place for persons with disabilities, to use their artistic skills to make a living either by working for another company or becoming Entrepreneurs and creating their own product or business. Along the way today I ran across some really great web sites. I was very much taken with this particular web site called "Able and Willing" an untapped pool of talent. There are some wonderful stories about mentoring and internships. It gives me hope when I found people willing to make the world a better place for those with disabilities. Check out the video on that site, it's really inspirational.

Persons whose disabilities are not visible are finding it so difficult, STILL to be around people in the workplace that don't treat them as peers. It is really important to help all people find employment and the more resources we offer to employees and employers that accommodate and accept everyone, the closer we are to accepting all people as equals across the board. Too many people are wasting their time on the business of others and not paying attention to what is going on around them. These are the "kind" of people that are unaware how difficult, but awe inspiring, it is to see someone with a disability maintain job performance equal to theirs. We all must learn to become more aware of what is around us and to become more accepting of everyone.