2019 Virtual Town Hall Meeting
Tuesday,
June 18, 2019
from 6 pm-6:30 pm
We will be voting a new slate
of Executive Board Member Candidates
Click their Names to see their Resumes:
This year we are offering you
two ways to "attend".
Login with any computer or smart phone with a camera for our video conference.
OR
Simply call in and hear everything
in vivid detail.
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Town Hall Zoom Room Video Conference Log In
OR
CALL In Number (No Video)
(646) 876 - 9923
Meeting ID: 272 246 788
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#5ThoughtsFriday
06/14/2019
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#5ThoughtsFriday is Powered By
:
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Here are the 5 things we thought were
worth sharing with you this week:
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An estimated 46 million American adults experience mental illness in a given year but only 41% get help for it, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The problems range from depression and anxiety to substance abuse.
A big reason why so many don't seek help is stigma. But there's no shame in finding a listening, caring voice. Sometimes just being heard and discussing solutions is all it takes.
Here's how to find help -- from employee benefits to free and sliding scale counseling services.
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BIAMD is embarking on its most ambitious Membership Drive in its 36 year history.
Our "
Make Membership Matter
" Campaign is designed to bring sharper clarity and focus on the needs and desires of the families, caregivers, and healthcare professionals we were created to support.
To start the campaign, we have created a comprehensive online survey which are distributing to all of our members, prospective members, stakeholders, volunteers, and friends. Please take several minutes to tell us what you think and give us your ideas on how we can best serve Maryland's brain injury community as we charge forward in our 4th Decade of service. Thank you in advance for your time, talents, and support.
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Sex ed in the U.S. is often a hot mess. Teens regularly get medically inaccurate information, learn solely about abstinence, and hear only bad things about LGBTQ identity and sexuality.
Young people with disabilities can feel particularly invisible in classroom sex ed lessons, since the content typically doesn't reflect their experience. Meanwhile, some teens may assume their peers with disabilities have no interest in sex or sexuality at all.
This new video from
AMAZE, a YouTube sex ed series for adolescents and teens, takes on and then shatters the stereotypes and misconceptions about disability and sexuality.
The clip features a young character who uses a wheelchair and the pronouns they/them. They share with an inquisitive friend that yes, they are interested in dating, and yes, their "parts work just fine." (It's important to note that while the direct questions help start an educational dialogue in the video, young people shouldn't similarly quiz their friends with disabilities.)
The candid conversation covers gender identity, sexual orientation, healthy relationships, and the specific challenges people with disabilities can face while trying to date. In just three short minutes, the video scores wins for representation, inclusion, and education.
CLICK HERE
(or the picture above) to see AMAZE's video.
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A prosthetic voice decodes what the brain intends to say and generates (mostly) understandable speech, no muscle movement needed.
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In my head, I churn over every sentence ten times, delete a word, add an adjective, and learn my text by heart, paragraph by paragraph,” wrote Jean-Dominique Bauby in his memoir, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.” In the book, Mr. Bauby, a journalist and editor, recalled his life before and after a paralyzing stroke that left him virtually unable to move a muscle; he tapped out the book letter by letter, by blinking an eyelid.
Thousands of people are reduced to similarly painstaking means of communication as a result of injuries suffered in accidents or combat, of strokes, or of neurodegenerative disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or A.L.S., that disable the ability to speak.
Now, scientists are reporting that they have developed a virtual prosthetic voice, a system that decodes the brain’s vocal intentions and translates them into mostly understandable speech, with no need to move a muscle, even those in the mouth. (The physicist and author Stephen Hawking used a muscle in his cheek to type keyboard characters, which a computer synthesized into speech.)
“It’s formidable work, and it moves us up another level toward restoring speech” by decoding brain signals, said Dr. Anthony Ritaccio, a neurologist and neuroscientist at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., who was not a member of the research group.
Researchers have
developed other virtual speech aids
. Those work by decoding the brain signals responsible for recognizing letters and words, the verbal representations of speech. But those approaches lack the speed and fluidity of natural speaking.
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What We are Reading We Think
You Might FInd Interesting
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New York Times-bestselling authors Marc and Angel Chernoff deliver instant inspiration and powerful advice for becoming our best selves.
Millions of readers turn to Marc and Angel Chernoff for fresh, intimate insights for a fulfilled life. In this pithy and empowering guide, they collect the very best advice they've discovered, on topics that include overcoming setbacks, letting go of what's holding us back, nurturing relationships, finding time for self-care, and cultivating passion in order to achieve our wildest dreams.
Topics include:
* 10 Mistakes Unhappy People Make
* 28 Ways to Stop Complicating Your Life
* 12 Tough Truths That Help You Grow
* 12 Amazingly Achievable Things to Do Today
* 10 Timeless Lessons for a Life Well-Lived
A perfect gift for a loved one or ourselves, this deceptively simple book is a touchstone to return to for a boost of motivation and inspiration.
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5)
Quote We Are Contemplating...
"“It is by logic that we prove,
but by intuition that we discover.”
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Have you ever clicked on the beautiful pictures posted at the end of every #5ThoughtsFridays? Try it. You might learn something fun!
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Stay Safe.
HAVE A TERRIFIC WEEKEND.
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Did you enjoy #5ThoughtsFriday? If so, please forward this email to a friend!
Want to find a story from a past #5ThoughtsFriday blog posts, visit the archive by clicking
HERE
.
Please let us know your requests and suggestions by emailing us at
info@biamd.org
or contacting us on Twitter.
Which bullet above is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Let us know! Just send a tweet to
@biamd1
and put
#5ThoughtsFriday
in there so we can find it.
Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful weekend.
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