Cognitive/Learning

Independence, Love and the Power of Grace

The award-winning short film, Grace, is a coming-of-age drama about the pursuit of independence and the complexities of young love. The film, starring Fiadhnait Canning and Luca Malocco Mulville, captures the delicate balance of navigating the need for autonomy while managing the expectations of those around them. Following its recent success at the RTS (Royal … Read more

Caterina Scorsone Interview

Caterina Scorsone is a Canadian-American actress who has appeared in various films and television series, including her well known portrayal as Dr. Amelia Shepherd on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy. In 2020, Scorsone won the Quincy Jones Exceptional Advocacy Award from the Global Down Syndrome Foundation, recognizing her outstanding commitment to championing the rights and well-being of … Read more

A “Miss Amazing” Experience

“Miss Amazing” is a nonprofit organization with chapters in more than 30 states and a goal to have 10,000 girls and women with disabilities participate in its programs by 2030. Founded by Jordan Somer in 2007, the organization’s mission is to build self-esteem in girls and women with disabilities, helping them master key life skills, … Read more

Michelle Sie Whitten — the Force Behind the Global Down Syndrome Foundation

Michelle Sie Whitten, Co-founder, President, and CEO of Global Down syndrome Foundation (GLOBAL) is a friendly and intelligent force. Inspired by her daughter Sophia, who was born with Down syndrome, GLOBAL has had the same mission since its conception. They focus on spreading awareness that people with Down syndrome are important members of society and … Read more

Dyslexia — Tangled Up in Blues

Circa 2011 Growing up, I thought I was the only kid like me in the world. Many years later, I came to understand that my story is the story of millions of Americans who struggle with literacy. We all have some obstacle with which we’ve had to wrestle. What I finally figured out was that … Read more

Michelle Sie Whitten — The Up Side of Down

Oct/Nov 2011 As executive director of the Global Down Syndrome Foundation (GDSF), Michelle Sie Whitten is dedicated to promoting research of a common birth defect that has touched her family. She recently sat down with ABILITY’s David Radcliff to discuss the aims of her foundation, and the role Down syndrome plays in both her work … Read more

Howie Mandel Interview

Jun/Jul 2011 Howie Mandel may be fashionably bald now, but as a teenager he brushed his hair in the girl’s bathroom (where we met his future wife), used a blacklight to scour his room for germs, and took thousands of showers, owing to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Today Mandel says his off-kilter adolescence helped pave the … Read more