Ruby's Bequest - A story-telling Project

I was recently contacted by Patrick Tutwiler of United Cerebral Palsy. He mentioned a site I might be interested in, and, as it turns out, I am. I have an aging parent myself and I also recognize that all of us are inevitably headed toward some degree of disability. It's simply the nature of the human condition. However, I told Patrick that I really couldn't explain the site, Ruby's Bequest, better than he already did in his email. So, with his permission, I have reposted his email here:

Tim,

So I’ve been reading your blog for a bit here, and I think I have a project you might be interested in posting about. Basically it’s a virtual-reality project called Ruby’s Bequest, sponsored by United Cerebral Palsy (UCP), AARP, and the Institute for the Future (IFTF) which seeks to develop solutions to the imminent care-giving crisis.

I’m sure you and your readership are familiar with the problem:

There will be, in the near future, shortages of paid care-givers and direct service providers, shortages in government resources to assist people who use care services, and an influx of people who will need said services as more Boomers with disabilities start aging, and as more Boomers start aging into disability.

Ruby’s Bequest is a story-telling project which aims to provoke a massive brainstorming session amongst all its participants. During the course of the project, participants will be presented with various future scenarios containing various care-giving related problems. They will then have to put their heads together and imagine creative solutions to those problems.

The end result of the project will be a compendium of novel ideas and solutions to the near-term problems associated with care-giving and caring in general.

Hopefully it also serves as the beginning of a conversation about a new, more holistic and sustainable way to look at the role of caring in society.

Anyway, thanks for looking it over and let me know if you have any questions.

-Patrick



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