"R" You Aware?

Don’t be a retard. That’s so retarded. The R-word has become part of our everyday slang. Most of us probably don’t even think twice about it when we hear it. But we should. Using the R-word is hurtful and offensive to the millions of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It is just as hurtful as other derogatory language that we have worked hard as a society to eliminate from our everyday language. People with intellectual disabilities deserve that same respect.

As human beings, we all want to be treated with dignity. People with intellectual disabilities are no different and are no less human. Stand up and join us in the campaign to Spread the Word to END the Word. Together, we can be part of the movement that ends the stigma associated with intellectual disabilities and we can start by taking the pledge to stop the use of the R-Word now.

Visit www.r-word.org to take the pledge and find out more on how you can take action to END the word. Stay tuned to Marrakech’s Facebook page on and leading up to Wednesday, March 5th for more updates, links and photos.

Spread the Word to End the Word was created by youth with and without intellectual disabilities who participated in the Special Olympics Global Youth Activation Summit at the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games. The motivation for the campaign was driven by a united passion to promote the positive contributions people with intellectual disabilities make to communities around the world combined with a simple call to action – a pledge to stop using a word – that also symbolizes positive attitude change and a commitment to make the world a more accepting place for all people.

Celebrate Black History Month With Us Honoring This New Haven Native

Edward Alexander Bouchet was born in 1852 in New Haven, Connecticut. At that time there were only three schools in New Haven open to Black children. Bouchet was enrolled in the Artisan Street Colored School which had only one teacher and she nurtured Bouchet's academic abilities. He attended the New Haven High School from 1866 to 1868 and then Hopkins School from 1868 to 1870 where he was named valedictorian (after graduating first in his class). Bouchet was the first African American to graduate from Yale University in 1874. He completed his dissertation in Yale's Ph.D. program in 1876 becoming the first African American to receive a Ph.D. (in any subject). His area of study was Physics. Bouchet was also the first African American to be elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Bouchet was unable to find a university teaching position after college.

He moved to Philadelphia in 1876 and took a position at the Institute for Colored Youth (ICY). He taught physics and chemistry at the ICY for 26 years. The ICY was later renamed Cheyney University. He resigned in 1902 at the height of the W. E. B. Du Bois-Booker T. Washington controversy over the need for an industrial vs. collegiate education for Black students. Bouchet spent the next 14 years holding a variety of jobs around the country. Between 1905 and 1908, Bouchet was director of academics at St. Paul's Normal and Industrial School in Lawrenceville, Virginia (presently, St. Paul's College). He was then principal and teacher at Lincoln High School in Gallipolis, Ohio from 1908 to 1913. He joined the faculty of Bishop College in Marshall, Texas in 1913. Illness finally forced him to retire in 1916 and he moved back to New Haven. He died there, in his childhood home, in 1918, at age of 66.

The American Physical Society confers the Edward A. Bouchet Award on some of the nation's outstanding physicists for their contribution to physics. In 2005, Yale and Howard universities founded the Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society in his name.

Join Us in celebrating Edward Alexander Bouchet today in honor of Black History Month!

February Highlight Continues: Young Adult Services at Marrakech

The Young Adult Services program at Marrakech gives us "Lesson Number Three" for those working or living with Young Adults: Have a toolkit of skills for working with young adults, and practice them.

If you don’t have these skills --- get them!!!

Here are some of the skills needed in your toolkit:

Gentleness/Kindness
Patience
Generosity
Faith
Forgiveness
Be Creative
Be Prepared for the Unexpected


(Lessons for Lifeguards, M. Carrera, M.D.)


“Forgiveness is the Key to Happiness Here is the answer to your search for peace. Here is the key to meaning in a world that seems to make no sense. Here is the way to safety in apparent dangers that appear to threaten you at every turn, and bring uncertainty to all your hopes of ever finding quietness and peace. Here are all questions answered; Here the end of uncertainty ensured at last.” Workbook for Students, A Course in Miracles

Young Adult Services at Marrakech!

Walking past the Village Café on Whalley Avenue in New Haven on a random Wednesday evening, you may wonder what all the activity and music are about!  If you are a young adult and stopped in, you would even have a chance to be a part of all that action, and you might just get a glimpse of a rising star! What is this hoppin’ happening?  It’s just one of the activities Marrakech’s Young Adult Services offers: “Open Mic Night”.  It’s held every second Wednesday of the month from 5p-7p! It’s a place where young adults in the community can come together to sing, dance, or recite poetry in a supportive, accepting atmosphere.

Young Adults Services at Marrakech provides residential services to young adults with behavioral health service needs at two different sites located in New Haven as well as some young adults living on their own in the community. While the two sites fulfill slightly different service needs, they are similar in that they are apartment-style homes, have 24/7 staff onsite and provide support and instruction aimed at increasing the residents' abilities to manage symptoms and live more independently in the community.  Residents of all locations are provided with clinical services through the West Haven Connecticut Mental Health Center's Young Adult Services team.  The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services also contracts with WAGE to provide employment services to the young adults.

We will be featuring this program on Marrakech’s Facebook page over the next few weeks, so make sure to “like” the Facebook page and go back often to check out more information about their program, as well as “Ten Lessons for Those Working With Young Adults and Teens”.  I bet there is something we can all learn in each lesson that we can use in our lives!