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Marilee Talkington Issue

ABILITY Magazine's Marilee Talkington Issue

Marilee Talkington Issue Crossword Puzzle 79

Humor Therapy — My Dating Life is Disabled

Dying is easy, dating is hard; pretending that you’re always happy, keeping up that easy-going facade, coming up with lies that everything is great in your life, trying to take off wrinkles with sandpaper, etc. The nuisances are endless. It’s almost not worth the trouble to find someone special. Now throw on top of all … Read more

Winnebago’s Accessible Road Trip

Watching travel shows, or reading articles on vacation destinations can’t take the place of being out in the real world. For many the open road has been an accessible challenge. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 2012 report, there are around 3.6 million people over the age of 15 who use a wheelchair, with an … Read more

400,000 Miles Chasing the Cure

Drizzly, cold and dark was never my favorite way to embark on a thousand mile day on the bike, even when I was riding to an event I had been looking forward to. I was heading to Newnan, Georgia to share my Ural in the Iron Butt Rally story to a large group of Harley … Read more

Wang Lu and Her “Upper Hand” in Talk Shows

“Because no matter what script I came up with, the audience would cast an eye over my right hand.” So Lu changed her strategy: “Instead of having them wonder about my hand, it would be better just to ‘wave it off’ with a few explanations. Only then could I get their attention back to what … Read more

Toby Forrest — the Man

In 2010, ABILITY Magazine interviewed Tobias Forrest. The article started: “I was twenty-two, and I was diving off of a waterfall in the Grand Canyon,” Forrest said. “The water was too shallow where I had jumped, I shattered my fifth vertebrae—and I realized I was going under. I thanked God for my life, and … Read more

Marilee Talkington — A Clear Vision to Advocate

Marilee Talkington is one of just a very few legally blind actors in the country to earn an M.F.A. in acting. She earned her M.F.A at the prestigious American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.). She has worked professionally in the theater for over 2 decades. Her break out TV role was Annie Barth, a blind woman, on … Read more

Karah Behrend and the Rebelle Rally

Karah Behrend is all about breaking down barriers. She’s an adaptive athlete who not only completed the grueling eight-day, off-road Rebelle Rally—her first time ever—but the medically retired Air Force veteran placed second. With Behrend behind the wheel of a Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, made accessible with hand controls to accommodate her, and her teammate Rachael … Read more

John Robison — Neurodiversity in the Real World

Looking at John, you might not peg him for someone who built flaming guitars for the rock group, KISS. The buttoned up shirt and bowtie are more in line with Bill Nye the Science Guy. John Elder Robison is certainly someone with multiple layers who will never fit into one box. The opening Keynote speaker … Read more

John Williams — Gathering the Change Agents

During a recent, historical news maker’s event at the National Press Club, former U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Vinton Cerf, Rob Wong, Chet Cooper, Kim Charlson and Gregg Vanderheiden discussed “Driving Economic Growth Through Assistive Technology and Workplace Inclusivity.” The country must find a way to significantly reduce the 11 million unemployed adults with disabilities … Read more

Pulling Back the Curtain with Judy Heumann

When I was five years old, I was deemed a fire hazard. Like millions of American children that year, I was entering kindergarten. It was 1952 in Brooklyn, NY and my mother was taking me to my neighborhood school to make sure everything would go smoothly on the big first day. It didn’t. The principal … Read more