GREAT FALLS, MT – Katie Hill is remarkable in the same ways that thousands of other 11-year-old girls are. She likes to giggle, laughing at the silly things the kids in Leia Lins’ fifth-grade class at Morningside sometimes come up with. She loves reading — math, not so much. Katie is a talented writer and comes up with funny stories about haunted houses and meeting up with space aliens. She likes to swim and ski, is learning to play drums and the piano, and if it were permitted, she’d probably eat all her meals served with a large side of ranch dressing

At the end of the long list of the things that make Katie the remarkable young lady she is, there remains her “hard thing,” as Katie’s mother describes it. Katie is one of the approximately 500,000 adults and children in the United States living with cerebral palsy, and though the neurological disorder undoubtedly complicates her life, it does not define who she is. Read more.

Overview
After 30 years of working in the disability community* I find that one of the most successful ways to break down barriers against those with a disability is visually. I have been awarded a small grant by the Biella Foundation to compose and produce a book that will dispel the stereotypical myths about the limitation of those with a disability. The working title is “Capital Investment: Employees, Your Most Important Product”. Read more here about submissions and author Marc Goldman.

As the population of people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder keeps growing, so does the number of people with that diagnosis who aren’t finding employment.

Though many young adults on the spectrum are considered high functioning, recent research shows 40 percent don’t find work — a higher jobless rate than people with other developmental disabilities experience. Read More.

Roughly half of cancer deaths in the United States could be prevented or forestalled if all Americans quit smoking, cut back on drinking, maintained a healthful weight and got at least 150 minutes of exercise each week, according to a new report.

These same measures would also reduce the number of new cancer diagnoses by 40% to 70%. Read more.

The City of Santa Rosa has opened its affordable housing options with Section 8 housing choice vouchers. Using a lottery form application,  complete the attached and return to the City of Santa Rosa to be added to the waiting list before May 31st. Click on the forms below in English and Spanish to learn more, or contact your NBRC Service Coordinator for housing coordination supports:

• 2016 Lottery Questionnaire English
• 2016 Lottery Questionnaire Spanish

Over mimosas, omelets and crepes at Sierra Vista Winery on Sunday, the Gaines family of Shingle Springs celebrated the achievements of both mother Wanda Gaines and daughter Brittany Gaines.

For 23-year-old Brittany, success meant graduating in March from a correspondence high school course despite battling cerebral palsy and being legally blind and quadriplegic. Read more.