Merging AT and General Ed: FCTD Showcases No Limits to Learning

When Worlds Merge: AT and Instructional Technology in the General Ed Classroom
I was honored last month to be asked by The Family Center on Technology and Disability (FCTD) to be interviewed and showcased for the November Issue. I spent about an hour and a half on the phone with the writer from New York. We had a semi-formal interview until it came out that I had been the recipient of a torn right vetebral artery and continue to spend time with an "invisible disability". Come to find out, the writer has had his own processing and learning disability his entire life. Once we established that common ground, we had all sorts of things to talk about.
The editor sent me the rough draft to edit and return. I made a few corrections, but I am amazed at how smart they made me sound! Really, I guess we all just do what we do and don't really think anyone would want to dedicate an entire issue of a newsletter just on what makes up our profession, beliefs, committments and discipline - but that is what they did and there are some good nuggets in there if I may say so myself.
They have an awesome staff, writer, and editor - thanks to them, you will find the information presented with some interesting ideas to chew on. They have included some nice links from my blog posts and interviews as well as mentioning the Assistive Technology Blog Carnival and the Blog Talk Radio -No Limits 2 Learning Live talk show, (Which by the way will have my good friend Ron Graham on today at 10 a.m. Pacific, who is blind and is a blogger (Access Ability) and advocate for UDL and equal access as well as a former director for student accessibility in higher ed. - now retired and donating time to work in public school work with children and vision impairments. His story is AMAZING. Check it out!)

I am very proud and honored to be one of the professionals that FCTD has chosen to include in their resources. You can read the issue at: http://www.fctd.info/resources/newsletters/displayNewsletter.php?newsletterID=10064

FCTD has also asked me to co-moderate a discussion thread on their newly re-vamped site next month (December 2008) on advocacy and school partnerships. I will be sharing the moderation with an expert parent advocate so I am excited about that. I will let you know details when I get the specifics. I hope you will join us.

No Limits 2 Learning .com
I also have my companion website up and going now. There are some interviews, archives, activities and pdf's for download there from my trainings as well as a section I am building on links to free resources. I am constantly adding and building there so check in often: http://www.nolimits2learning.com/
I refer in my FCTD interview to an Action Steps for Advocacy Report that will be available. It is done, but I want to give you a subscription to a newsletter where I will periodically share news like the above with you and share free resources, reminders and links to upcoming interviews, etc. So I am working on a page to have you sign up to get the free report as a download AND the newsletter. I am trying to get that link done and ready on both this blog and the website. I will try and get it done ASAP. Also, your email address will stay exclusively with No Limits 2 Learning and will NEVER be sold or given away to others.

I guess that's all the news for now - there are all kinds of interesting folks we are planning to interview in the near future and projects getting launched. I hope they are of value and interest to you - they sure are fun and enriching for me. I am honored to be able to do this. Thanks so much for your support in reading and listening.

All the best to you!

Lon

Lon Thornburg is an assistive technology specialist and professional development trainer who lives in Oregon and serves 12 districts in 7 counties. He hosts the No Limits 2 Learning Blog and The No Limits 2 Learning Live Talk Show on Blog Talk Radio. He is sharing as a contributing writer on LD LIVE!