Hi Everybody,
The 2018 SUFU Conference will be here before you know it, September 25th and 26th at Sugarloaf USA!
This year’s conference theme will be “community integration” according to Abbott Philson, Chair of the Chapter Representation Committee which is the committee helping to plan the Conference. “Community Integration means being a real part of your community. It’s not just saying hi to people you know at the store but getting to know those people (and people getting to know you), through joining a book club or being on a sports team together and hopefully becoming friends.” Abbott explained.
Marco Orlando, who is the Bangor Chapter Representative on the Committee is excited for the theme as well. “Every day, we need to deal with people who don’t understand what it’s like to live with disability, who sometimes aren’t very nice. Community integration is an important theme because we deserve to feel and be a part of our communities just as much as anyone else.”
The Chapter Representative Committee will be meeting very soon to talk about possible workshops. If you have ideas, Chapter meetings are a great time to talk about them.
I called quite a few SUFU members and asked them why they keep coming back to the SUFU Conference, year after year. The most common answers I got were that “the Conference a lot of fun,” “the workshops are great,” and “I love seeing my friends and meeting new people.” Those are all great reasons for sure and they are absolutely right.
Mary Ann Swank said something really powerful that I wanted to share with everybody. “I come back to the SUFU Conference because they accepted me for me the first time I went, and I didn’t think they would. Be open to learning from everybody and know that you won’t always agree but that’s ok. Understanding somebody’s opinion that might be different from yours is important because that’s how we learn new things.”
It might seem like the 2018 Conference is a long way off, but it will be here before we know it! I’ll be keeping everyone informed on Conference updates as time goes on.
Take care,
Avery
