The Katie Beckett Waiver Being a mother has been one of the most gratifying roles of my life. As many parents will attest, there sometimes comes a moment in parenting where you discover strength you didn’t know you had — all because your child needs you. For me, that moment began 39 years ago when my daughter Katie contracted ...
Writer's Café
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Does Paralympic sport benefit the right athletes?
Paralympic sport has come a long way from its humble beginnings at the Stoke Mandeville spinal cord injury unit in England just after the Second World War. This small sporting event, which at the time used competition between those with similar injuries to assist the rehabilitation of wheelchair users, is now a worldwide phenomenon. The movement now boasts a ...
Easter Seals Disability Film Challenge
The film challenge is a weekend-long film making contest. Aspiring storytellers are prompted to write, shoot and edit a short film in 55 hours.
I May Not…
I may not walk the same, talk the same, or behave the same. I may have difficulty understanding you, but I’m not to blame. I may not look the same, so I have no shame in admitting that. I may not learn the same. It might be a delayed; but what’s wrong with that? I may not see the ...
Seven Reasons I Know I Am Beautiful
I used to think beauty was measured on a purely physical level and my awkward, unusual appearance, caused by my Treacher Collins syndrome, was far from ideal. I wasn’t beautiful; I never would be. But I was wrong. While I admit to still fighting my insecurities even as an adult, I have grown to realize that what makes a ...
You be the Judge?
I gave a speech entitled “Don’t Judge A Book: Uncovering Unconscious Bias” to a group of people who work at non-profits. I’ve given speeches on variations of this subject to other groups and one thing I know for certain is that this topic is very tricky. It’s called Unconscious Bias for a reason, it’s unconscious. The meaning of that ...
Fishing as Therapy
The road to Freedom began in 1967 in the central highlands of Vietnam. A predawn attack by the North Vietnamese left me with a paralyzed right arm, and a 60% paralyzed right leg. I was unable to speak, and suffering from PTSD that wouldn’t be diagnosed until 2015. I was medevacked from Vietnam to Japan and finally to ...
People with Down syndrome play a vital role in our lives and communities – WDSD
World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD), observed on 21 March every year, is a global awareness day which has been officially observed by the United Nations since 2012. Down Syndrome International (DSi) encourages our friends all over the world to choose their own activities and events on WDSD to help raise awareness of what Down syndrome is, what it means ...
Camp Powhatan, Harold Bingham, and the Pop-fly
As a nine year-old boy at summer camp, I had no idea that a single event that occurred one August would create a lifelong memory. Nor could I have suspected how much it would mean to me as parent of a teenage girl with autism 40 years later. It was 1975. My brother and I were at Camp Powhatan, ...
Lessons From Israel’s Experience with its National Health Insurance Law and Possible Implications for the U.S. Affordable Care Act
The key elements and objectives of Israel’s National Health Insurance Law (hereinafter – “the Israeli Law”), which has been in effect since January 1, 1995, are by and large similar to those of the U.S. Affordable Care Act (hereinafter – the U.S. Act”). There are however some fundamental structural differences between the laws which are worth pointing out ...
Time to Empower Patients and People with Disabilities (Sen. Bob Casey)
Health care in the United States is in the midst of a transformation. Medical innovation is accelerating at an exponential rate, and policymakers are taking a new, modern approach to health care policy. When I was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2007, more than 15% of our nation lacked health insurance and insurance companies were permitted to discriminate ...
Applauding Rick Curry (author Kenneth Roman)
“We don’t want you to applaud the disability. We want you to applaud the achievement.” Rick Curry, who was born without a right forearm, founded his theater company for the disabled after failing to get an audition for a mouthwash commercial. The receptionist thought he was sent as a practical joke, burst out laughing and refused to even send him ...
