Foundation » Events » Heroes of Ability Archive » 2012
Dining for Dreams, Heroes of Ability
CTV News at Six Anchor Tamara Taggart
Chair, Dining for Dreams 2012
Dining for Dreams is an opportunity to see and hear how these three words, Potential, Ability and Dreams - instrumental to all programs at the Centre - inspire the lives of people with disabilities through the stories of five extraordinary individuals celebrated as Heroes of Ability. It is my honour to introduce this years Heroes and their families who have demonstrated courage and resilience to live thier life to the fullest.
To see the special newsletter featuring 2012 Heroes of Ability click here:
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Lindsay Taylor
Our little Lindsay came into the world on Valentine’s Day, February 14th, 2008, after a very long and arduous journey. She has brought incredible joy to our lives right from that first moment; however her first year was both very challenging and very rewarding.
Lindsay is an amazing little girl. Paul and I have learned a great deal from her and are constantly reminded of the things that adults tend to forget, or do not make time for. Things such as the enjoyment of the moment, simplicity, pure and unconditional love, honesty, unabashed laughter, trust, happiness – the list is long.
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| Zoë Peterson
Tracy Tobin’s eyes well up with tears when she shares how just yesterday her daughter, Zoë Peterson, sat on her lap and was able to let mom hug her. Tracy has never been able to hug her daughter so naturally.
“It’s hard to explain how amazing that is when you can’t do that with your own kid,” she says.
Zoë has a sensory processing regulatory disorder; she is hypersensitive to touch, sensation of movements, and the awareness of other body positions next to her. An activity such as hugging can overwhelm her senses, triggering extreme anxiety, screaming and even aggression. The disorder does not affect Zoë’s physical or intellectual ability — her disability is “invisible.”
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Karl Dai
In Karl Dai’s opinion, everyone has some form of disability or something they’re not good at, it’s just more noticeable in some people than others. What’s more important is for people to discover what they are good at, and build on those strengths.
This has been the guiding philosophy for the 46-year old new Canadian, who emigrated 10 years ago from Beijing, China.
At BCIT, Karl learned he had a significant hearing impairment when he couldn’t hear his teachers during class. Receiving the diagnosis shocked him at first, then he took steps to improve his hearing.
Karl’s recent success of finding work in the financial services sector is a perfect example of his pragmatic approach.
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Melissa and Ashley Blue
“The girls have never been a burden to us,” Diane says. “They’ve been the source of our pride and our affection. They’re just wonderful little girls.”
Now four years old, Ashley and Melissa have already endured frightening seizures and gained and lost some skills in their young lives, but they are happy and social little girls cherished by their parents and little sister Lauren.
The twins were born with a rare gene deletion called Dravet Syndrome that significantly impacts their development and prevents them from functioning at a level where they can care for themselves.
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Dane Issigonis
The Issigonis family can understand the metaphor that it ‘takes a community to raise a child’. The power of a truly caring community working together is not lost on them; they have great appreciation and gratitude for their North Vancouver neighbourhood who came together when their son, 13 year old Dane Issigonis, went through a life or death event.
The rallying point came when then-11-year-old Dane Issigonis was taken to the hospital on Boxing Day, after telling his parents he had a severe headache. His father Troy had heard meningitis was going around and as a precaution decided to take Dane to Lions Gate Hospital right away for an early diagnosis.
It was the intake nurse who identified unnatural movement from Dane, and fast-checked him into a resuscitation room to be observed. The doctor immediately noticed his eyes weren’t responding to light correctly, a sign that something was seriously wrong, recalls Troy.
“(The doctor) said ‘that’s a very bad sign, I think your son is very sick, I think he’s bleeding in his brain,’” says Troy.
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