Happy Labor Day

Happy Birthday to Seaner’s Mom

September 1^st is my (Seaner’s Mom) birthday; Bring a smile to someone this week!!!

School Starting – Prevent Bullying

Violence Committed Against Persons with Disabilities

PLEASE READ ALL 10 OF THESE FACTS – THEY CHANGED MY LIFE

Violence committed against persons with disabilities is a frequently unrecognized and under-reported problem that has reached epidemic proportions in the United States as reflected in the following statistics:

1. There are 54 million Americans with disabilities (U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Crime Victim Bulletin, 1998)
2. According to one study in 2000, approximately five (5) million crimes were committed against persons with developmental disabilities in comparison to 1.4 million child abuse cases and one (1) million elder abuse cases. (From Joan Petersilia, Ph.D., When Justice Sleeps: Violence and Abuse Against the Developmentally Disabled.)
3. More than ninety percent (90%) of people (both male and female) with developmental disabilities will experience sexual abuse at some point in their lives. Forty-nine percent (49%) will experience ten or more abuse incidents. (Valenti-Hein, D. & Schwartz, L. (1995). The Sexual Abuse Interview for Those with Developmental Disabilities. James Stanfield Company. Santa Barbara: California)
4. A study of psychiatric inpatients found that eighty-one percent (81%) had been physically or sexually assaulted. (From Jacobson & Richardson, American Journal of Psychiatry, 1987)
5. Sixty-two percent (62%) of women with physical disabilities reported experiencing emotional, physical or sexual abuse. (From Nosek & Howland, 1998)
6. Only three percent (3%) of sexual abuse cases involving people with developmental disabilities will ever be reported. (From Valenti-Hein, D. & Schwartz, L. (1995), The Sexual Abuse Interview for Those with Developmental Disabilities. California: James Stanfield Company.)
7. Adults with developmental disabilities are at risk of being physically or sexually assaulted at rates four to ten times greater than other adults. (From Sobsey, Dick (1994). Violence and Abuse in the Lives of People with Disabilities The End of Silent Acceptance? Maryland: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company.)
8. Sixty-eight (68) to eighty-three (83) percent of women with developmental disabilities will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime, which represents a 50 percent higher rate than the rest of the population (Pease & Franz 1994, Warick, Jason (1997).
9. The violence that women with disabilities experience includes verbal abuse, forced segregation, intimidation, abandonment and neglect, withholding of medications, transportation, equipment and personal assistance services and physical and sexual violence (Matsuda, 1996).
10. Women with disabilities are raped, assaulted and abused at rates more than two times greater than women without disabilities.

Complementary Content

© 2016 Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Mass.Gov® is a registered service mark of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

I was looking for inspirational videos and this one made me do the happy cry!

Our Second Gala

Our Second gala brought great concern for me and I think it will continue to concern me for quite some time.  That is will anyone show up?  Seaner has been gone for 1 ½ years, I wondered if I am the only one that remembers him and if everyone else has forgotten about him? 

We again were blessed with wonderful attendance.  Kara blew it out of the park when it came to auction items with over 80 items.  We had a wonderful choir (Sound Reach Choir) perform that was composed of God’s special adults and Miss Amazing Iowa winners helping everyone feel welcome.  

Drew Brown who was the SMILE award winner for 2015 presented Ryan Van Hooser the 2016 SMILE award and his acceptance speech was the hit of the night.  Again we were blessed with donations beyond our beliefs.

Happy Parents Day

What Matters Most to God's Amazing Adults

Getting Involved In the Community - NOT

According to a study completed by daddcec.org on getting involved in the community only 5.6% of God's Amazing Adults get involved in activities and rely on family 88.9% of the time.  As we discussed in June “We have increased the number of God’s Special individuals 322% however, the amount of family support has decreased 51%.”  So you can imagine the difficulties our adults are having

4th of July

Taking a bit of a break on our progress as a foundation for Independence Day.

As we reflect on this holiday about the liberties and freedoms that our forefathers fought for us; 

our foundation celebrates that our Declaration of Independence references WE THE PEOPLE that is inclusive of everyone for their goal for independence.  Independence is at the core of what we at the God’s Got This^® - Sean Nielsen Foundation work towards. For people with disabilities, ‘independence’ can have diverse and very personal meaning.

For God’s Special adults working with our foundation it means participating in, and contributing to their community, getting an opportunity to prove themselves, worshipping God in their wonderful and unique way.  We continue to work so they can reach their version of independence through inclusion.  Help us celebrate this holiday in a way that includes ALL individuals.