A Unique and Special Event Monday Morning That I Hope You Will Consider Attending

Dan Woodhouse is a 21-year-old disabled and home-based learner in the UK who will be presenting early Monday morning in Elluminate on his use of his computer and the Internet to carry out his studies and recreational activities.

Dan is a quadrilegic with Morquio's Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder in which his organs develop but his skeleton stopped growing.  A news article about Dan can be read here:  Brave quadriplegic Dan Woodhouse turns 21.  Dan controls his computer by a cheek-operated switch using EZ Keys interface.  John Pallister, a UK educator who has been working with Dan to help him prepare this presentation, gives more information on Dan on his blog:

He spends most of his day in his bed. He is an exceptional and very determined 21year old who is permanently connected up to a ventilator; he should not be able to speak, but he can. He has persevered and can now control the complex, ventilator driven, air flow such that he has a voice. He is a home-based learner who wants to communicate with others; he wants to participate and contribute. He has his own views, aspirations and ideas that he wants to share. He recognises the potential of learning to ‘free’ him from his room and actively seeks out opportunities to learn. He is looking towards the collaborative, participatory Web for a solution. A solution that would, and already has, transformed the way he learns, communicates and participates.

John and Dan have used the free "Host Your Own Webinar" room at LearnCentral.org to set up this event.  On Dan's Facebook page for the event he describes what he will be presenting:

I have decided to create a live online presentation and Q&A with regards to my outlook on life, the future and everything. I will be talking about my personal history and circumstances, my hopes and ambitions for the future and how I currently utilise the internet and my pc to carry out my studies and recreational activities.

We hope that you will consider forwarding this ‘invitation’ to anyone in your personal learning network who you think might want to support Dan or contribute to how "Social Software/tools might help a home-based learner."

Date:  Monday, March 29th, 2010
Time: 7am Pacific / 10am Eastern / 2pm GMT (international times here)
Duration: 1.5 hours
Location: In Elluminate. Log in at https://sas.elluminate.com/d.jnlp?sid=lcevents&password=Webinar_Guest. The Elluminate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Elluminate, please visit http://www.elluminate.com/support. Recordings of the session will be posted within a day of the event at the event page.
Event and Recording Page:  http://www.learncentral.org/event/63602
Twitter Tag:  #HomeBL