REGISTRATION OPEN for 29th Annual "Real Lives" Conference

Saturday, March 23, 2013

DCU Center

Worcester, MA

8:00am - 4:00pm

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!

STAY TUNED TO OUR REAL LIVES WEBPAGE AND OUR FACEBOOK PAGE FOR THE LATEST UPDATES

More than two dozen workshops (See schedule of events)
Regional and national experts (See Speaker Bios)
Awards Luncheon Extravaganza (See last year's Grand Entrance)
Keynote Address by Self-Advocate Rory Callaghan (See last year's address by Ned Reichenbach)
Specialized Tracks for Parents, Educators, Young Adults and Brothers & Sisters (Watch Dr. David Stein, psychologist at Children's Hospital, presenting at last year's conference for parents and professionals on Behavior and Down syndrome.)

For the 29th year, the MDSC is proud to host our Annual Conference, bringing together more than 600 self-advocates, parents, grandparents, siblings, educators, and other professionals to learn from regional and national experts on a spectrum of topics related to Down syndrome. This year's theme is "Real Lives," named in part for the "Real Lives Bill," a key piece of state legislation that would markedly improve the way services are financed and delivered for people with disabilities in Massachusetts. (See more on our Legislative Advocacy here).

Real Lives also refers to the fact that, every day, people with Down syndrome are living fruitful, rewarding, full, "real lives": singing and dancing, working hard and chilling out, playing sports and rooting for the home team, laughing and crying, and contributing to our world in so many ways.

So mark your calendars and plan to join us at the DCU Center in Worcester on March 23 where we'll celebrate the countless Real Lives that make up our community. See the video below that Bev Beckham created for last year's "Style Down Syndrome"-themed Annual Conference.

Style Down Syndrome: Just the Way You Are

What does

"REAL LIFE" WITH DOWN SYNDROME

look like?

SHOW THE WORLD!

Send us your photos of you or your loved one with Down syndrome living their "Real Life." We will showcase the photos at our Real Lives conference and online.

You could call it an "action shot," but it doesn't need to be athletic

It's whatever living a "Real Life" means to you

Dancing? Drawing? Voting? Singing? Climbing? Working?

Baking Cookies (like Collette Alfredo, above)?

You name it!

Send your photos to RealLives@mdsc.org or message us on Facebook. Include a sentence or two about the "Real Life" depicted in the image. Images must be minimum 100KB.

DEADLINE FEB. 28th

A TASTE OF OUR ANNUAL CONFERENCE

At our 28th Annual Conference Talent Show last year, dozens of inspiring performers with Down syndrome took the stage. Ricardo and Cesar Coloma, playing traditional acoustic guitar, was just one of them. The father-son duo performed two songs that afternoon in Worcester. This is just one of them.

REGISTER NOW!