Circa 2007 As he traveled through Iraq with a U.S. military unit early last year, World News Tonight co-anchor Bob Woodruff was severely wounded by an insurgents’ improvised explosive device. His new book, In An Instant, chronicles that experience. Both he and wife, Lee, his co-author, contribute journal entries about the 36 days he ... Read more
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Holly Robinson Peete
Selma’s Home — North Carolina’s First ABILITY House
Circa 2007 The picture is stark: A woman sits in her wheelchair in a small trailer. Only three concrete steps lie between the trailer’s threshold and the ground below, but they prevent her from venturing outside. Narrow doorways make it impossible for her to move from one room to another. Curtains cover the small ... Read more
An Operation For Alzheimer’s — Omentum Transfers
Circa 2007 Catherine Cain watched her grandmother die from Alzheimer’s disease. “Her death was awful, pitiful and terrible,” she recalls. When her mother, Ruby Palmer, began to show early signs of dementia: becoming confused, repeating herself and getting lost, Catherine and her father were determined to be proactive about treatment. They got her the ... Read more
Windmills — Leveling The Employment Playing Field
Circa 2007 Since the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, many employers have struggled with what is sometimes a difficult balancing act: incorporating people with disabilities into their staff while managing very real stigmas, myths and stereotypes. With more than 50 million Americans having some type of disability, this community represents ... Read more
Flash Games — Accessible Fun For Kids
Circa 2007 Thea Eaton is an Adobe Certified Flash Designer who founded Snert Studios , a Flash studio that focuses on accessible, educational entertainment for children. Her mission is to prove that Flash activities can be made fun, interactive and accessible at the same time. ABILITY Magazine: Why ‘Snert’ Studios? Thea Eaton: I am ... Read more
Troubles At Walter Reed — A Disturbing Report
Circa 2007 Building 18: It’s a structure where holes and peeling wallpaper are normal, where mold infests the air and where roaches go to die. It’s a brick wall away from drug deals, and only five miles from the White House. It’s an outpatient holding facility of Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Nobody guaranteed ... Read more
Holly Robinson Peete — From Acting To Giving
Circa 2007 HOLLY IN BLOOM A Popular Actress Springs Into Philanthropy As a budding star, Holly Robinson Peete was eager to play opposite her dad, Matt Robinson, the lovable Gordon on Sesame Street, but she flubbed her line. That turned out to be only a speed-bump on the road to success. She went on ... Read more
Widening Memory Lane — Dr. Gary Small Interview
Circa 2007 Can’t remember what you ate for breakfast this morning, or where you put your car keys? Often blank on your mother-in-law’s name? Not to worry. These are probably not signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Yet aging Baby Boomers—those born between 1946 and 1964—do face a future in which they will experience a natural ... Read more
Chris Burke — After Life Goes On
Circa 2007 In the summer of 1989, when I was a LIFE magazine reporter, I heard that a young man with Down syndrome would be starring in a new TV series called Life Goes On. Intrigued, I sent a note to my editor in New York. He was less interested. “We’ll just do a ... Read more
Conference In Qatar — Shafallah Center For Children
Circa 2007 As we prepared to close this issue, ABILITY Magazine was packing its bags and heading to Qatar for the Second Annual International Forum on Children with Special Needs. The conference brings together policymakers, educators, persons with disabilities and leaders from around the world to raise awareness about the rights and needs of ... Read more
Baby Boomers & Hearing Loss — Book Excerpt
Circa 2007 The new book, Baby Boomers and Hearing Loss: A Guide to Prevention and Care, explores what happens to the rock-n-roll generation after the party’s over. In this excerpt, author John M. Burkey, director of audiology at the Lippy Group for Ear, Nose & Throat in Warren, Ohio, asserts that this aging group—born ... Read more
Remembering Stephen — A Tribute
Circa 2007 ABILITY Magazine Loses One of Its Own From one office to another I ventured, poking my head through doorways and introducing myself to the people I would spend the next six years working alongside at ABILITY Magazine. With the introductory knowledge that more than 90 percent of the staff possessed a disability ... Read more
Allen Rucker — The New: Recycled
Circa 2007 A Very funny episode of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm—one of many—had hangdog comedian Richard Lewis complaining bitterly about not getting creative credit for the ubiquitous phrase, “The (Blank) From Hell.” He thought he should get a royalty check, or at least a “as Richard Lewis once famously said…,” every time some barfly ... Read more
George Covington — Sorry Tail
Circa 2007 During the reign of George Bush the First, I worked as a White House staffer. I reported directly to the vice president, serving as the first and last special assistant for disability policy from 1989 to 1993. Now that the statute of limitations on my silence has run out, I can safely ... Read more
Humor Therapy — Days Gone Bye-Bye
Circa 2007 I want to be young again. Adulthood has stolen my health. Parenting has imbedded psychological scars. Monthly bills now seem to come weekly. And work has cut into my playtime, big time. I often reflect on my youth while staring at a clump of my fallen hair that is clogging the shower ... Read more
Headlines — Segway Suit, Woodruff, Accessible Taxcabs, Etc.
Circa 2007 Mall Barrs Motorized Transportation Aman who uses a self-balancing, two-wheeled Segway instead of a wheelchair, recently filed a lawsuit against the corporation that manages a Las Cruces, NM mall for prohibiting him from entering an area of that shopping center. John Funk, who brought the suit, had attended a movie at the ... Read more
Senator Harkin’s Letter — Community-Based Services
Circa 2007 EXPANDING ACCESS TO COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES Dear ABILITY Readers, As many of you know, one of my key priorities in the Senate has been to give older Americans and people with disabilities greater choices by expanding access to community-based services. I want to share with you a recent victory on that front. I ... Read more
Beyond Special ED — Disability Legal Rights Center
Circa 2007 Attorney, Teacher, Police officer, Electrician—For too long these dream careers of students with disabilities had remained just a dream. But recently, five teenagers from California stepped forward to file a lawsuit on behalf of over 100,000 students with disabilities, to help them fulfill their vocational goals. For more than 30 years, the ... Read more
