Circa 2008 This guide is for applicants who may need to discuss a disability-related job issue in an employment interview. I’ve written it in an easy-to-follow, question-and-answer format. My hope is that it will help qualified persons with disabilities take advantage of more employment opportunities, help employers make more informed hiring choices, and reduce ... Read more
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Laura Innes Issue
Ricky James — Back On His Bike and Racing Ahead
Ricky James was well on his way to fulfilling a childhood dream of becoming a Supercross champion, when life took a drastic turn. Two and a half years ago, at just 16 years old, he was injured in a Motocross accident on the track. The blow to his T7 vertebrae left him paralyzed from ... Read more
Laura Innes — From Acting to Calling Action!
Circa 2008 For a dozen seasons, Laura Innes played ER’s Dr. Kerry Weaver, a tart-tongued surgeon with an unnamed disability that caused her to walk with a limp. Initially Innes, who is able bodied, thought little of that aspect of her new role. But playing the part over so many years and getting feedback ... Read more
Will Downing — Lucky Number 13
Circa 2008 The number 13 turned out to be lucky for singer Will Downing. With his first dozen albums, the popular balladeer breezed into the studio, recorded his vocals and went about his merry way. But last year, as he embarked upon his latest recording, he fell down the stairs in his home. At ... Read more
Raytheon — Paving Rhodes to Independence
Circa 2008 Recently ABILITY Magazine editor-in-chief Chet Cooper spoke with Steve Tamburro, co-chair of the association of persons with disabilities at the Raytheon Company. Tamburro helped plan a recent Creating Pathways to Work retreat. The daylong strategic-visioning event brought together key representatives of federal and state government, educators, members of the business community and ... Read more
Deaf Cruise — Partiers of the Caribbean
Circa 2008 Some say that the deaf community throws the best partries. So imagine seven of them, seven days and nights in a row! That’s what was on tap when Tabitha and Mac Partlow recently chartered a cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas, where nearly every passenger out of the 3,800 was ... Read more
Betsy Valnes — Sticks and Stones
Circa 2008 The topic of—and often battle over—“correct” disability terminology has led to heated conversation as long as we have allowed language to describe us. We intuitively compare what is right vs. what is wrong. What is prideful vs. what is demoralizing. All of these inquiries are valid, yet in our quest to identify ... Read more
Green Pages — Save Bucks in the Bathroom
Most high water bills are caused by leaking toilets and can waste up to 200 gallons of water a day. While many leaks can be spotted, some are silently draining your wallet. The culprit may be a bad flapper valve, flapper valve seat, a bad ballcock valve, an improperly positioned float arm or a ... Read more
Allen Rucker — Thoughts on the Writers Strike
Circa 2008 STRIKE! THE WRITERS GUILD, DISABILITIES AND YOU As you’ve probably heard, the Writers Guild of America, the union that includes every writer who has written every fictional movie and television show you’ve ever watched your entire life, went on strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), including the ... Read more
DRLC — Is Your Health Care System Accessible?
Circa 2008 That is the question disability rights advocates in California are asking people with disabilities. A 2005 California health survey identified 7.8 million California adults, or nearly 30 percent of the adult population, as having disabilities— this based on a broad measure of disability adapted from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. To ... Read more
Senator Letter — Ben Nelson
Circa 2008 COME ON! LET’S PUT PEOPLE TO WORK Dear ABILITY Magazine Readers, As a former governor of Nebraska and a current U.S. senator, I have met many of my fellow citizens who have disabilities and who, compared to the typically able population, face staggering unemployment. Despite the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act [ADA] ... Read more
George Covington — When Life’s A Blur
Circa 2008 For most of my adult life I did not need a white cane to navigate life’s travails. During my college years, I could “pass” for sighted unless someone saw me trying to read. In that era of strange addictions, people who saw me with my nose in a book assumed that I ... Read more
Headlines — CVS, Red Cross, AT&T Foundation
Circa 2008 DYNAMIC DUO CVS, Dept. of Labor Ink Pact The U.S. Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) and CVS Caremark Corporation have established a two-year pact to promote employment of people with disabilities. “Hiring, retaining and advancing employees with disabilities is just good business,” said Karen M. Czarnecki, acting assistant secretary of labor. ... Read more
Humor Therapy — It’s Sad Not Being Happy
Circa 2008 We spend the majority of our days griping about work, gossiping about friends, complaining about the unfairness of life. I don’t understand why it’s so hard to be happy. Look around, you live in a great country. You have food, shelter, your health… and you’re probably not related to Michael Jackson. That, ... Read more
Chairkrazy — Making Music, Making Change
Circa 2008 In 1989, Marcus Ingram stood near two young men in the middle of an argument. As the fight escalated, one turned his back just as the other pulled a gun and fired. Instead of hitting the guy with whom he was fighting,, he struck Ingram instead, the bullet shattering his spine and ... Read more
United Cerebral Palsy — Life Without Limits
Circa 2008 “We’re visioning what full inclusion and indepedence for people with disabilities might look like, so that we can take action to make it a reality for ourselves,” said Duncan Wyeth, who is both the executive director of the Michigan Commission on Disability Concerns and vice chair of the UCP board of trustees. ... Read more
Dr. Hans Keirstead — Stem Cell Pioneer
Circa 2008 As Tom Chappell, MD, the managing health editor of ABILITY Magazine, approached Oakley’s sportswear manufacturing plant last summer, he felt like he was entering the fantasy game Dungeons and Dragons. He found the Foothill Ranch, California, structure imposing. On the face of it were a pair of protruding conical orbs, and the ... Read more
