Social media empowers those with disabilities to find a supportive community and share their stories to combat discrimination and the perpetuated ableist narrative. Those without disabilities often have the preconceived notion that those with disabilities often struggle to become independent and successful. However, people with disabilities now have a powerful platform to reshape ... Read more
Spencer Staggers-Elmore — The practices within personal digital media
The practices within personal digital media concepts create a digital space that is primarily safe of unsolicited bias for many as long as digital space and media remain accessible to the public. Within the realm of visual social media, an individual, regardless of the limit in one’s ability, is allowed the right of ... Read more
Kasturi Sarkar — Impact of visual social media on the integration of people with disabilities
What is the impact of visual social media on the integration of people with disabilities to our societies? As a person without a disability, it is often difficult to understand the daily inconveniences faced by people with disabilities. I’m not proud to say that my understanding of accessibility started and ended with ramps ... Read more
Does Artificial Intelligence Impact Hiring People with Disabilities?
People with disabilities face significant disadvantages in the workforce. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), of all the employment discrimination cases filed in 2019, the most common claims involved disability-based discrimination (33.4%), closely followed by race and gender based discrimination. Today, a new form of employment discrimination causes concern: Artificial Intelligence ... Read more
A Sign Language Interpreter Walks Into a Comedy Club
My friend wanted to know why she wasn’t seeing me on TV. Seemed like everyone from the president on down had a signer “on hand” (apologies) for televised news conferences, standing six feet away or displayed in a corner bubble like Glinda from on high. “You know I haven’t done that in years,” I ... Read more
Emergency Preparedness for the Most Vulnerable Californians. Plan B?
Recently, my family had a scare. We had a fire threaten our property, our home in the mountains of Jamul, an unincorporated town in San Diego County. Contrary to most assumptions, potentially losing our houses on the property was not the actual scare. The scare was that my brother, Joaquin, who experiences severe autism ... Read more
Tweenage Angst
Seated in our sixth-grade classroom in Newton in the Fall of 1962, Jean, a pretty, tom-boyish girl, and my desk-pod mate, whispered that she wanted to dance with me at Mr. Champagne’s initial dance class after school. I was in the stratosphere over Jean’s, invitation, but wary as my dancing had been at best ... Read more
The Vineyard’s Voice
Before it was known for the ferry ride, blue-shell crab and tangerine sunsets, my home, Martha’s Vineyard, was occupied by the Wampanoag Indians. The tribe is still around and has its own trust lands on the southwest part of the Vineyard. The Island is about 20 miles long east to west, not even as ... Read more
New Immigration Policy Discriminates Against Disabled Immigrants Applying for Citizenship
Op-Ed As Ms. Kidny Nicolas strutted across the courtroom to receive her certificate of United States citizenship, I could feel the intense joy radiating from her smile and mahogany skin. Diagnosed in 1999 with a medical condition that caused partial blindness in both eyes, Kidny had required accommodations in every step of her citizenship ... Read more
Murray Dunlap Brings Poetry and Insight Out of Traumatic Brain Injury
An Imperfect Brain I define myself through curved glass With my wife, I feel permitted to smile If my brain allows, I communicate When it does not, meditation I spiral inward upon the reality Recovery does not exist The days are traumatic As time warbles on Stop Even through a curve This love is ... Read more
Speech to Text Can Reduce Back Pain and Stress
Chronic pain is a common symptom of those struggling with prolonged anxiety or anxiety disorders. This type of pain can vary in the way it displays itself, from headaches and migraines to the all-over muscle pain and fatigue often associated with conditions like fibromyalgia. Back pain is one of the most often seen manifestations ... Read more
Are Today’s Politicians Prepared for Another Capitol Climb?
For the last two hundred years, America has led the world in championing the rights of her disabled citizens. From civil rights to inclusion, activists have consistently demanded more equity and more equality. At every single turn legislators have, eventually, succumb to masterfully orchestrated pressure. What is yet to be answered, is whether or ... Read more
Beyond “Self Advocacy” — Basic Rights College Students with Disabilities Should Know
High school students with disabilities support their learning needs mainly through their parents’ advocacy. Upon entering college, however, a bombshell is dropped when these students are told their parents are no longer allowed to advocate for them. Colleges nationwide call this “self advocacy,” with the high-minded rationale that it is necessary and good for ... Read more
Writer Briana Beaver
“You inspire me” Next time these words are poised to roll off your tongue, I urge you to bite it. I’ve bloomed from child to teen and teen to adult on the receiving end of such commentary, and let me tell you, it doesn’t feel as uplifting as one might think. Much to the ... Read more
Richard Pimentel — Veterans Day
Message from Richard Pimentel presented at his Church on Veterans Day 2017 On Veterans Day I’m am told that I can get a free donut and coffee at Krispy Cream, a free dinner at Golden Corral and more trouble from my wife Debbie than I can possibly imagine by having free wings at Hooters. ... Read more
President Ronald Reagan Created a Waiver to Live at Home, and Congress Wants to Take That Away From People with Disabilities
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 ... Read more
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. ... Read more
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…
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=14 delay=15]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 ... Read more
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 ... Read more
