Posts Tagged ‘Autism’

Rett Syndrome Autism Spectrum and Business

Saturday, May 16th, 2009

There is discussion these days about Rett Syndrome not falling under the autism spectrum.  It does and if you are the parent of a special needs child you need to help keep it under the autism spectrum.  It was research in the Rett gene that helped with cancer research and indications that autism itself may be part of the same gene pattern.

With money being slashed left and right, it is important to write your Congressional leaders to let them know that we need to have funding to help our kids and research with Rett Syndrome.

It seems that the squeakiest wheel gets the grease so please make your presence loud and known.  Rett Syndrome girls can’t talk for themselves and we are their advocates.  If we don’t look out for them, who will?  Certainly not people who are screaming for money for their own agendas.

If we can take one tenth of a military budget for Rett research and care for our girls we wouldn’t have anything to complain about.  Come on, NIMH, keep Rett Syndrome under the autism spectrum.

Also, please note that President Obama supports In Home Support Services and any attempts to cut funding would be illegal at the Federal level.  Make your voices known and loudly.

If you give or receive IHSS please do what you can to join the meetings and protests that are taking place.  I don’t normally go out on advocating things (well, that isn’t true, is it readers?) but this is defintely a good and worthwhile cause as well.

The cost for taking care of special needs isn’t cheap and the alternative for people taking care of the people at home would be to institutionalize them (more money) or to let them walk the streets.  For the more wild and aggressive behavior of some patrons that is an invitation for disaster and problems.  If slight noises set some sensitive special needs people off, isn’t it better to have them cared for in a quiet, comforting environment?

Have a good weekend people.

May 16 2009

If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book, Practical Money Making, that is listed right after his paragraph in this very post.  There are some great suggestions and ways to survive the Depression we are in.

  Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

Interested in any of my books?  You may want to make a stop over  here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale.  

Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax Idea“?   Please order it today.  The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars!  Tax planning should be done year round and not just two weeks into January or later. 

Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book  go  to Rett Syndrome research.  One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes.   My daughter Arianna has Rett Syndrome and we are working to do all we can to make her life easier and find a cure in her lifetime.  Boys born with the Rett gene generally die at birth.

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

Rett Syndrome Autism Spectrum and Business

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The Second Carnival of Special Needs and Money

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

Welcome to the October 2, 2008 edition of special needs and money. This is our second carnival! Where does the time fly? As usual dear carnival guests, do your own research and due diligence with any business claims found on the net. The popcorn is popping, the children are having fun. Looks like a great day for a carnival. Our second carnival is on, let us check out the booths and rides! Shall we get started?

special needs-the money go round

Steve Holder presents Paying for Medical Costs of A Brain Injury posted at Head and Brain Injuries, saying, “Kim… I hope this article fits the theme of your carnival. I have another one that is in a similar vein I’m going to submit separately. If you pick either or both articles, I’ll put a link to your blog on my web site. Best of luck with your Blog! Steve”

Steve Holder presents Traumatic Brain Injury – The Medical Insurance Maze posted at Head and Brain Injuries, saying, “Kim… This is the other article I thought might fit your blog carnival. Feel free to use one now and one later on an upcoming carnival. I’ll put a link back to your site for each article you choose. Thanks! Steve”

Michelle McFarland-McDaniels presents Funding Autism Treatment Takes Resourcefulness and Determination posted at Autism Assistance Resources and Information.

special needs-the emotional roller coast

Evidently, nobody has any emotional issues or questions this month when it comes to money or special needs! Whoo hoo! 
Just in case, please check out my article “When filing out Medical or Govt Forms, Take your Time at my blog, profitable.

Sometimes money seems to be everything and it can get very depressing. One way to try to come to grips with it might be, Thinking Poor But Happy. It might help you save some money and ease some of the emotional weight that is something we just don’t need when dealing with special needs situations!

 
Steve and Michelle, thank you for your submissions this month!

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of special needs and money using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

You are reading Kim Greenblatt’s blog, profitable, and his second carnival of Special Needs and Money.

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Second Carnival of Special Needs and Money Coming Up

Friday, September 26th, 2008

The dead line is approaching for my second carnival of special needs and money. My first carnival was a little on the light side in terms of content, so if you have a blog that is relevant to autism, Rett Syndrome, CP or any other special needs issue or something that deals with money and special needs, please send the listing through the Blog Carnival.

I am trying to get relevant articles up that deal with coping with special needs situations and of course, trying to keep an income stream, leave alone trying to stay profitable. Anything that makes sense (or even venting) is welcome. No spam, ads for inappropriate items (you are smart enough to know what I mean), junk mail or something that really doesn’t belong in the submission.

Please keep writing your political representatives and the candidates to keep funding for special needs programs. Our particular group tends to not get heard in politics unless we are screaming with everybody else, so keep the screaming up.

I especially would like to see Rett Syndrome blogs or articles for the next carnival if you have them.

Keep the faith and this is a short post!

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

You are reading Kim Greenblatt’s blog, profitable and his request for entries for his Second Carnvial of Special Needs and Money that is coming up.

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Tropic Thunder Timothy Shriver, Chairman of Special Olympics and boycotts

Tuesday, August 12th, 2008

In the Rett Syndrome community as well as in other special needs communities, there is some buzz about Timothy Shriver’s op ed piece in the Washington Post.  Evidently in the upcoming film, Tropic Thunder, there will be exchanges where the actors talk about playing characters who have special needs and are called “retarded”.

Not having seen the movie nor read the script, I cannot say myself what is being said but I can say one thing.  It looks like there may be some decision to boycott the film by the National Down Syndrome Congress and the national ARC (if I have my information correct).  All politically correct heated debate put aside, how does this relate to business and being profitable?

Well, if enough groups get together to boycott a film, it won’t be seen.  It depends on the spending money of the groups as well as the total bad publicity – or perception of bad publicity that will be out there.   Remember the OJ book where he told how he might have killed his late wife?  

 In the previews, it shows Morton Downey Jr having undergone surgery to transform from a white man into a black man for acting.  Okay, was that a concession to also show how edgy and funny they are? I dunno yet. If this is part of the satire, I get it. That will help in the movie’s overall box office.

Readers of my blog know that I have an open mind and a sense of humor so I am going to refrain from saying anything until I see the movie myself.  I am not a hypocrite.  If it is funny, it is funny.

The problem is, I agree with Timothy Shriver that the movie is going after a group of people who can’t defend themselves.  I’ve had the same issue with Carlos Mencia.  Surprisingly, or maybe not so, I haven’t had this problem with South Park because they are truly equal opportunity offenders. 

I also don’t know what kind of agenda Mr. Shriver has and maybe he is mad because he didn’t get a shot at reviewing the movie. Again, I don’t know and it is beyond my paygrade, folks.

So, back to the business angle…

How much economic pull will this have on the movie if there is a boycott?  It is hard to tell because it may backfire and make the movie a big hit because it has been boycotted by all sorts of special needs groups.  People may go see it to see what the fuss was all about.  Remember, controversy gets people interested in seeing something.

If enough people don’t see it though or it dries up quickly, it maybe because it was a horrible movie, period. Maybe the satire is above people’s heads. I dunno.  Lately, when a lot of comedies are just over-packing their movie with lowest common denominator jokes hoping some will stick they are finding that people can get that stuff for free over the internet and they run away.  If the movie can generate $10 worth of laughs per person multiplied by 100 million people, with or without the special needs jokes it will be a hit, even if there is a boycott.

Stuff like this happens all the time. It use to be to become a hit in the United Kingdom you use to say something bad about the royal family to get banned from the radio and you would be a hit.

An interesting fact is that I was probably going to see the movie without all the attention being called to it. In the previews it looks like they are three clueless actors. In the roles they are playing you are expecting to hear nonsense come out of their mouths. My hope is that they don’t dwell on the special needs humor as one aspect of it.

Should we just ignore the protests and see what happens with this movie? You need to come to the decision yourself. As for me, I will see the movie for myself and make my own decisions afterwards.

Part of all my book proceeds go to research finding a cure for Rett Syndrom and reversal of symptoms.

Kim Greenblatt

Please feel free to spread the word, if you are a social site such as Technorati, http://technorati.com/.

Questions or comments? Let me know about them! Thanks for taking the time to visit and for more information or to get back to the beginning of the blog, go here.

You are reading from Kim Greenblatt’s blog, profitable on special needs, money and the Timothy Shriver op end piece about boycotting Tropic Thunder.

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Special Needs Sensitivity and Business

Monday, August 11th, 2008

I’ve noticed at amusement parks and some places that for special needs people, there are certain hoops that a person has to jump through now to get passes for special access.  Some parks have modified their rides to be wheelchair friendly to the point where you can literally take your wheelchair on a rollercoaster. 

Some parks though have gotten pretty tight with granting access because so many jerks and lazy slobs have abused the special needs pass access.  Because somebody is tired they should NOT be given a wheelchair.  Sit down and rest.  If they actually have a documented condition, that is fine with me.  Bring a doctor’s note with you otherwise you are taking access away from my daughter and others like her.

I am tired of the Carlos Mencia (that isn’t even his real first name, by the way, he uses it to sound more Latino) nonsense about people expecting special needs people to say that others are either better than that.  His harping on special needs because they are an easy target is nonsense.  If he ever has a child or relative born with special needs he will sing a different tune.

To be fair, there are some special needs comics who use their disabilities as part of their routine.  More power to them I say.  For a lot of people who can’t speak to defend themselves, all they are asking for is a little bit of courtesy.

At one of the amusement parks in Southern California, we had people give us grief about Arianna trying to get a pass.  One look at my daughter and as gorgeous as she is you can see that she, due to her hang-wringing from Rett Syndrome has something going on.  The guy gave us the party line until we basically showed him the pass we had last time.  Sharren and I had gone to the park with our documentation in the past. 

Also, please tell all everybody that special needs chairs and access are there for special needs people first people.  Get your freaking baby strollers out of the way.  We had an instance where we were cut off by a family with a stroller.  Not cool. The amusement park employees wereon it and corrected the situation.  Kudos all around!

Our money is just as good as people’s money who don’t have special needs relatives.  I can just as easily find another venue where my wife, kids and relatives can go to spend more money.

Have any rants or bones to rattle about special needs and business? How about people who aren’t disabled using driving cards they shouldn’t?  Let me know your beefs here.

Part of all my book proceeds go to research finding a cure for Rett Syndrom and reversal of symptoms.

Kim Greenblatt

Questions or comments? Let me know about them! Thanks for taking the time to visit and for more information or to get back to the beginning of the blog, go here.

Special note: Effective immediately any comments to post over a week old may not be added. I may add them subject to editorial discretion. Just to let you know…

Kim Greenblatt, on his blog, profitable, talks about the recent breakdown in treatment of people with special needs because of people abusing the system and what people can do to change it. More at http://www.kimgreenblatt.com/wordpress.

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Special Needs and Business

Monday, July 21st, 2008

A great market for people looking to start businesses is to cater to the special needs community.  If you google “special needs” you will see there are all sorts of products, items for caring, devices to help to different types of blood testing, analysis, you name it, there is something out there for it.

That tells me that there is a large market for products for people with special needs or their caregivers.  A great example is a portable pulley that can carry a person from a bed, to a table or chair, and then lift that person to into a tub or shower.  As caregivers get older, they may not have the upper body strength to lift their charges – or themselves for that matter.  Anything that can make caregivers lives easier and is relatively inexpensive can be a gold mine.

Please post your questions, comments, or any nifty devices for lifting people around  below.

Kim Greenblatt

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