Natalie du Toit — Living Childhood Dreams


Natalie du Toit dreamed of competing in the Olympics since she was little. Her first rise to athletic stardom came in 1998, when she represented South Africa at the Commonwealth Games when she was only 14. But, three years later, du Toit was hit by a car while riding her scooter. The accident resulted in the amputation of her left leg at the knee.






For many, this would have ended an Olympic dream. But, du Toit had unrelenting spirit to never give up. She refused to allow an amputation to deter her from her lifetime goals.

Du Toit spent several months in physical training preparing herself for competitions. In 2004, only three years after her accident, du Toit was awarded five gold medals at the Paralympic Games in Athens.





Then, in 2008 in Beijing, du Toit made history. Du Toit not only achieved her personal dream to go to the Olympics, but du Toit was the first female amputee swimmer ever to qualify for the Olympics.



Not everyone may qualify for the Olympics or be the first like du Toit, but NTI is here to show you that you can qualify for a good job.  Let NTI show you how you can succeed in the workplace again.  If you are a person with disabilities on SSI or SSDI, and are searching for a job or job training contact NTI at (877) 248-8912 or visit us at nticentral.org/learnmore. At NTI we believe you qualify for something great.
___________________________________



#10K #Marathon #Paralympics #Paralympian #Swimmer #Swimming #Amputee #Athlete #RoadtoRio #CommonwealthGames #Olympian #Noodle #SouthAfrican #CapeTown #Swimming #Butterfly #Backstroke #Freestyle #Breaststroke #accident #adversity #Beijing #GoForGold #Inspirational #CarAccident #Prosthetic #SummerGames #Swim #2016Rio

US World Cup Blind Sailors Mark Bos and Matt Chao to Attend NTI’s Summer Extravaganza

Press Release - World Sailing Day Event

For Release Thursday, August 25 2016 at 12:00 p.m.

[Hull, MA] - U.S. World Cup Blind Sailors Mark Bos and Matt Chao to Attend NTIs Summer Extravaganza


National Telecommuting Institute (NTI) is proud to be hosting two legally blind international competitive sailors from the US team for the 2016 US World Sailing Blind Match Racing World Championship team at their summer event, which will be held at Jos Nautical in Hull, MA on Friday, August 26, 2016 from noon until sunset.
Blind sailors Mark Bos from Gloucester, MA, and Matt Chao from Newton, MA will be at the event to present on many aspects of competitive blind sailing, including blind individuals competing in sailing regattas.
Members of the media are invited to this event from 1 to 3 p.m. to learn more about Bos, Chao and the US World Sailing Blind Match Racing World Championship, while also helping to spread the word on what individuals with visual impairments can accomplish.
NTI is one of the main sponsors for the United States team in the 2016 World Sailing Blind Match Racing World Championship, which will be held in Sheboygan, WI, from September 19 through the 25 of 2016.
The Blind Match Racing World will be held in correlation with the Women's (able-bodied) Match Race World Championship.  These events include some of the world's top sailors who are visually impaired and some of the worlds greatest female sailors.
The US Sailing Center of Sheboygan and World Sailing will host the World Championships of Blind Match Racing on Wisconsins Lake Michigan shore. It is the mission of the US Sailing Center of Sheboygan to develop abilities in sailing and seamanship in individuals to the extent of their capacity. The Center believes that regardless of age, income, ability, or disability, those who come to understand the fundamentals of sail trim, teamwork, and seamanship understand more about themselves, their fellows, and their world.
National Telecommuting Institute, NTI was founded in 1995 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, NTI pursued a mission to identify and develop work-at-home jobs for home-based Americans who are physically disabled.
Since that time, NTI has provided trained work-at-home employees to some of the largest U.S. government agencies, Fortune 500 companies and to smaller businesses who want to outsource customer service and technical support operations in order to reduce costs.
Visit www.nticentral.org/learnmore for more information about how NTI assists Americans with disabilities in their job searches.

Tony Iommi - He is Iron Man!



“Iron Man”. “The Wizard”. “War Pigs”. These are just a few of the most popular songs from the band Black Sabbath and today I want to tell you a bit more about the band’s lead guitarist and founding member, Tony Iommi since they are playing in Massachusetts tonight at the Xfinity Center.

Iommi started guitar at an early age, but the world almost didn’t get to know his surprise musical talents. At the age of 17, he was working at a sheet metal factory and lost the tips of the middle and right fingers of his right hand in an accident. When this incident happened, Iommi thought of leaving guitar behind forever.

However, a friend introduced him to a recording of Jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. Iommi was impressed, but wondered why his friend wanted him to hear Reinhardt’s work. He was stunned when he was told that Reinhardt played with just two fingers and his motivation to keep going on the guitar, albeit playing with his left hand instead of his right, returned.

Iommi went on to be the founding member and lead guitarist of Black Sabbath and wowed the world with his abilities. In 2012, he was diagnosed with early stage lymphoma, which prompted a need to take a break from performing for treatment. Happily, Iommi announced on August 11th of this year that his cancer is officially in remission and he’s back to performing with Black Sabbath.

Black Sabbath is playing tonight, August 25th, at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, MA and this Saturday, August 27th, at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT. We look forward to seeing Iommi rocking out on stage!

If you or someone you know is an American with cancer or a physical disability, and is collecting SSI or SSDI, we want to talk to you as we could help you get back into the workforce. All you have to do is reach out to us at www.nticentral.org/apply to get started. 


_________________

As an endnote, enjoy our image of Tony we created on Instagram entitled "He Is Iron Man!" here: Click here to view the Tony Iommi picture!
_________________
 

BIO: Mary E. Hart is the Digital Communications Specialist for NTI. She is also a freelance writer, editor and content strategist, specializing in writing copy that converts. Previously, she worked in Demand Generation marketing for UBM Tech and Ziff Davis Enterprise. In her spare time, Mary is working on the next great ghost novel.

Happy Birthday, Clay Walker!




Back in 1996, country singer Clay Walker was just starting to reach new heights when he noticed something strange. His hands and one foot were tingling, while he also was dealing with facial spasms and vision issues. These are all quite typical symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS), so he was duly worried and went to see his doctor. After testing, it was determined that Walker did indeed have MS and would in all likelihood be unable to walk within a few years and would pass away from MS a few years after that.

Walker tried a few drug treatments to no avail. He was ready to stop all forms of treatment when his doctor suggested that he try Copaxone, which has been found to somehow block myelin-damaging T-cells to protect nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. Since he started Copaxone back in 1999, Walker has been free of any MS relapses.

In order to help raise funds and to further awareness about MS, Walker founded Band Against MS (BAMS) in 2003. According to the BAMS website, the organization works to “provide educational information for those living with Multiple Sclerosis, fund programs researching a cure for Multiple Sclerosis, and fund programs helping those living with the disease.”

NTI wants to wish Clay Walker a happy birthday today and for years to come!



If you or someone you know is an American who has multiple sclerosis, and is collecting SSI or SSDI, we want to talk to you as we could help you get back into the workforce. All you have to do is reach out to us at www.nticentral.org/apply to get started.

BIO: Mary E. Hart is the Digital Communications Specialist for NTI. She is also a freelance writer, editor and content strategist, specializing in writing copy that converts. Previously, she worked in Demand Generation marketing for UBM Tech and Ziff Davis Enterprise. In her spare time, Mary is working on the next great ghost novel.

Roberto Clemente Award - We Can All Win!

On this day back in 1938, the Baseball Hall of Famer and U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Roberto Clemente was born into this world. He went on to win 12 gold gloves, 12 MVP, and 3000 hits prior to his tragic death in an airplane accident while delivering supplies to victims of the Nicaragua earthquake. He was a contributor to the community giving both on and off of the field from his depth of charity work in Latin America and the Caribbean during the off-seasons. After his passing, an award called the Roberto Clemente Award was named in his honor. This prestigious award is given to the Major League Baseball player who "best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual's contribution to his team." Since then, only 45 individuals have won the award with notable names as Kirby Puckett, David Ortiz, Andrew McCutchen and Derek Jeter.

Clemente stated in an interview during the All-Star game, the year he passed away, whether or not he would get his 3,000th hit. He responded, "I'm alive, like I said before, you never know because God tells you how long you're going to be here. So you never know what can happen tomorrow." Like Clemente, we never know when life will be disrupted due to an injury or illness. You can't plan for it, but YOU can help others around you who are disabled and in need. All of the people NTI helps never expected something tragic to happen to them and EVERY NTI employee strives to help out a person the best we can. We care. We can't help out in every aspect, but if you have a disability and need the support structure to get back into the workplace, we can help. There is a bit of Clemente in each and every one of us; the folks at NTI as well as every American. Embrace it and do the right thing.
 
If you know of someone who needs help getting back to work again, give a call to one of our Solution Advisors who live the mission or contact us at www.nticentral.org/learnmore

#robertoclemente #gobucs #pirates #hof #pittsburgh #burgh #pittsburghpirates #steelcity #pgh #412 #baseball #mvp #gobuccos #jollyroger #raisethejollyroger #buccos #raiseit #pncpark #bucn #letsgobuccs #McCutchen #Clemente #disability #god #bigpapi #redsox #win #giveback #hope

H.G. Wells and his War of Diabetes

H.G. Wells and his War of Diabetes
The famed science fiction author, who is remembered on the anniversary of his passing, was most noted for his works entitled War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. In his stories, he captured the minds of others and the possibilities of the world around us. However, throughout the life of Wells, he battled another dibilitating monster, diabetes.  Wells had type 1 diabetes which plagues so many of the individuals who come to NTI looking for help getting back into the workplace. 



Type 1 diabetes, which affects 5% of all Americans. In this form of diabetes, the immune system mistakenly destroys the cells in your pancreas that make insulin. Without insulin, your blood glucose rises and is higher than normal, which is called hyperglycemia. 


Through the effort of Wells and the disability that plagued him, he established the British Diabetic Association. If he had a time machine and was able to fast forward today, he would be able to see his longstanding effort.  Today, the British Diabetic Association is known as Diabetes UK, providing a source of information, prevention, fundraising and research. With over 300,000 supporters, 5,000 volunteers, and over 6,000 healthcare professionals, Wells would be proud of his efforts to help this War in the World. 



 

 #hgwells #timemachine #waroftheworlds #aliens #british #diabetes #diabetic #aliens #alien #author #writer #insulin #invade #time #clock #watch #future #past #history #research #pancreas #glucose #story #scifi #science #sciencefiction #comicon #movie #battle #anniversary

The Final At Bat


You never know when you will be the one to have a disability. On August 15th, 1989, Dave Dravecky, a pitcher on the San Francisco Giants, broke his pitching arm while throwing in his 2nd start back since his cancer treatment. After his battle with cancer, he eventually had his pitching arm amputated and started his advocacy of hope for others who suffered from cancer.  

27 years later, Prince Fielder, who was the premiere home run threat baseball, retired this past week.  The 6 time all star and 6-time top 20 MVP nominee, stated that he could "no longer play baseball." After a failed second spinal fusion surgery, he was no longer cleared to play baseball anymore.

Unfortunately, he was not the only career coming to an abrupt end in 2016.  
Matt Imhof, a second-round draft pick for the Philadelphia Phillies and former Team USA pitcher, had his eye removed after a freak accident during an exercise after a minor league game. A mount that held a resistance band, broke off of the wall, crushing his eye. However, Imhof may overcome his disability as another pitching phenom for the Dodgers, Julio Urias, is visually impaired in his left eye.

Earlier this year, we spoke of a trio of MVP nominee Mets who have endured injuries prompting to an abrupt stop or end of a career including third baseman David Wright, Michael Cuddyer, and Lucas Duda.  Over the past 3 years, David Wright has battled spinal tinnitus and is currently making the decision whether or not to continue his career. Whereas, Lucas Duda has been sidelined with a stress fracture in his lower-back and has had multiple delays in his recovery.  Finally, All-Star Michael Cuddyer, was forced to retire after a failed off-season surgery to repair a core muscle injury and knee issues. As manager Terry Collins stated, "A manager's worst nightmare is to see their star start to fade away."


Regardless of the previously mentioned situations, whether you are a star baseball player or an average person working hard to make ends meet, you never know when a disability will happen to you, unearthing your life and daily routine.  In the case of Dave Dravecky, he found a new life in inspiring others with cancer to fight for survival as well as provide hope to the families who love and support them. As for the rest of the players mentioned, they are all surrounded by friends, family and fans who are supportive of them and the struggles they are about to face, both physically and mentally. The physical aspect is obvious, but the mental aspect of not being able to do the things they once did again, that made them who they are is a difficult transition. Who will they be in the future and like Dravecky, who will they inspire to move forward in their own lives. 



For those who aren’t players and suffering through a disability, NTI has helped many make a comeback. As a fan of you, we have inspired hundreds of individuals to come back to the workplace, because we believe, they can do it. Sometimes, they aren’t doing the same thing before their disability, but we can provide them the jobs, mentoring and training to be successful in this point moving forward. One of the individuals we helped, Rhoda E. stated, “NTI helped me overcome the stigma of my disability by providing me with an awesome opportunity to work for them and various vendors. NTI provided so many opportunities, certification, training, support, and a wealth of information about unlimited opportunities working from home! Thank you!”

Hopefully, NTI can help you or one of your loved ones head to the next steps in their journey and overcome their disability. If you know of someone you think that we can help, please feel free to contact our non-profit at www.nticentral.org/learnmore or call us at (877) 248-8912.  We would love to talk to you.

Hail to the Competitors


Hail to the Competitors

The Olympics are in full swing and we couldn’t let that go by without sending our praise out to all of the athletes. There are two women athletes that we would like to highlight as they are both competing in the Summer Olympics AND the 2016 Summer Paralympics, which starts in September: Iranian archer Zahra Nemati and Australian table tennis competitor Melissa Tapper. These fine athletes join the ranks of others who have competed in both, including Marla Runyan, Natalie du Toit, Ilke Wyludda, and Assunta Legnante.

Nemati was a taekwondo competitor before a car accident in 2004, which caused paralysis in both of her legs and a spinal injury. As she could no longer perform taekwondo, she took up archery from her wheelchair. Due to her archery skills, she went on to compete in the 2012 Paralympics, becoming the first Iranian woman to win a gold medal at the Olympics or Paralympics. She is currently competing in archery in the 2016 Summer Olympics and will be competing in the Paralympics in September. 



Melissa Tapper will also be competing in both, but in singles table tennis instead of archery. She competes standing up and utilizes just one arm to play table tennis, as she has Erb’s palsy, which caused paralysis of her other arm. Tapper is just 26 years old and has been playing table tennis against able-bodied individuals since 2002.










NTI is proud to support these amazing athletes by cheering them on and all Americans with disabilities by working to cheer them on in their path to returning to the workforce. Like our candidates, these two athletes have overcome insurmountable odds to achieve their goals. If you or someone you know is an American with disabilities, and are collecting SSI or SSDI, we want to talk to you. We can’t help you bring home a gold medal, but instead we can help you bring home gold in the form of a paycheck and the pride of being employed once again.

NTI works with Americans with disabilities to help mentor, train through NTI University, and guide them along the path to a new work from home job for our Fortune 500 companies. All you have to do is reach out to us at www.nticentral.org/apply to get started.

BIO: Mary E. Hart is the Digital Communications Specialist for NTI. She is also a freelance writer, editor and content strategist, specializing in writing copy that converts. Previously, she worked in Demand Generation marketing for UBM Tech and Ziff Davis Enterprise. In her spare time, Mary is working on the next great ghost novel.

How to Live in a Budget


On National Dollar Day, it’s time to talk money. In today’s world, people are living on less money than they may have been used to in the past, due to job layoffs or troubles finding a job in the first place. When you do find a job, the salary may be less than you’ve previously made, which could cause you to wonder how you’re going to live on that salary. We are here to help with some budgeting tips to help you live on whatever money you receive each month. 



Set a Budget

This is the part that most people fear the most: Taking an honest look at how much money you have coming in each month and how much is going out. It’s okay. You can do it in a spreadsheet or on a piece of paper and it is truly an eye-opener. Here’s what you need to do:

  • Create a row for “Income” and list there the net income (actual money that you received) for that month.
  • Then, create rows underneath that for “Expenses”.
  • Jot down any fixed monthly costs you have: Rent; Electricity; Gas/Oil; Cable/Internet; Credit Card Bills. Put these separately underneath the net income.
  • Next, gather up your receipts (or start fresh if you don’t already do this and keep receipts) for everything you buy in a month’s time and write down a category on each one. Examples: Groceries; Eating Out (This includes coffee); Travel (Tolls and gas costs go here); Clothing; Entertainment; etc.
  • At the end of the month, tally up how much you’ve spent in each category and also list each category in expenses.
  • If, after all of that, you have money left over, congratulations! You’re living within your means. You can read on to find tips on how to keep doing so.
  • On the flip side, if there’s a negative balance at the end of the month, read on for ideas on how to live on the money you make.

Cut Back on Cable

Now, I’m not saying to go fully without cable and internet, especially if you might wind up working from home and will need that Internet connection. However, think about what you watch on TV. Do you really need HBO and Showtime? Or could you instead save money by removing those from your cable lineup? If you shell out the money for Netflix or Hulu already, you may find that you don’t need cable at all and could survive just fine with Internet and no cable TV.

Choose Generic Brands

Seriously. Nine times out of ten, and sometimes ten times out of ten, the quality and taste (for food or drink) is just the same as the name brand. So, you have nothing to lose by going with the generic brand and saving some money in the process.

Clip Coupons and Shop Sales

If you’re like me, you get a bunch of grocery store flyers in your mail every week. Instead of dropping them straight into the trash or recycle bin, take a look through them for items that you usually buy. If there’s a great sale on frozen foods that you regularly use, stock up.

Also, get a copy of your Sunday paper and check out the coupons while you’re looking through the flyers. You’ll be amazed at how much money you can save when you find coupons that go along with items that are already on sale.

Hit Up Thrift Shops

We’ve all heard the Macklemore song that extols the values of the thrift shop, and it’s true. If you need new clothes, you’ll be amazed at the very decent (and sometimes even designer) clothes you can find at thrift store prices.  You’ll also find some truly kitschy items there, too, that you might think you need in your home, but if you’re looking to save money, you really don’t need that faux gold-plated life size reindeer statue or the Rockabilly Santa. I promise. You don’t.

Sell Your Old Stuff

Do you have clothes lying around that are still in great shape, but you know won’t fit you anymore? Or your kids have outgrown them? Don’t just donate those items. Bring them to a consignment shop to sell them or try to sell them yourself on eBay. This also works well for books you’ve read or DVDs/CDs that you no longer watch nor listen to.

Get a Job

If your monthly income comes from SSI or SSDI due to a disability, we can help you get back to work.
NTI works with Americans with disabilities to help mentor, train through NTI University, and guide them along the path to a new work from home job for our Fortune 500 companies. All you have to do is reach out to us at www.nticentral.org/apply to get started.

BIO: Mary E. Hart is the Digital Communications Specialist for NTI. She is also a freelance writer, editor and content strategist, specializing in writing copy that converts. Previously, she worked in Demand Generation marketing for UBM Tech and Ziff Davis Enterprise. In her spare time, Mary is working on the next great ghost novel.

Share this