60, 59, 58 – Christoph Glötzner can see the countdown ticking down on the large black clock right in front of him. 57, 56, 55. He’s wearing a yellow and black suit and holds ski poles in each hand with mini skis attached at their ends. The athlete in front of him had just ... Read more
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Uber Sued for Overcharging People with Disabilities — Justice Department Settlement Agreement
Uber commits to changes and pays millions to resolve Justice Department lawsuit for overcharging people with disabilities, The Department of Justice (DOJ) had filed a lawsuit alleging Uber violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which prohibits discrimination by private transportation companies. According to the complaint, Uber began charging passengers wait time fees in ... Read more
It’s About T.I.M.E.: Music For All!
It’s about time for music to be inclusive. It’s about time for bands to be made up of people with disabilities. It’s about time that music is for all. It’s about time for T.I.M.E.: a UK-based charity on a mission to bring music to everyone! ABILITY Magazine’s journalist Karina Sturm spoke with co-founder Rob ... Read more
Greg Grunberg & Celebrity Friends Talk About Epilepsy and Beyond!
Greg Grunberg is known for much more than his roles in “Heroes” and “Star Wars.” Beyond his acting, production company and playing in celebrity cover bands, Greg Grunberg dedicates time to his passion of building awareness of people with epilepsy and other disabilities through celebrity podcasts, videos and other creative productions. ABILITY’s Chet Cooper, ... Read more
Actors with Disabilities Help Diversity in Hollywood
A growing number of Studios, Casting Agents, Organizations, Film Festivals know about the future of inclusion with abilityE SAG-AFTRA, Casting Society of America, Warner Brothers, Netflix, Paramount, 20th Century Studios, DreamWorks Animation Television, Lionsgate/Starz, Cinestate, Google, CBS, Bunim/Murray, EmpowerHouse, Final Draft, KMR, Focus on Ability Short Film Festival, ReelAbilities, Easterseals, RespectAbility and many more. ... Read more
Many disabled millennials struggle to build credit, a Unicorn and John Legend might have the answer!
Many people with disabilities struggle to build credit, a Unicorn might be the answer. It’s called the “Unicorn card” and boasts no fees, no interest, spending on future paychecks, customizable settings, credit optimization, self-destructing account numbers, a solid metal card, and the card doesn’t cost anything to users. John Legend has backed startup Cred.ai — ... Read more
abilityE — Disability Talent Source for the Entertainment Industry
Casting offices are looking for actors with authentic disabilities — shifting from actors acting if they have a disability. After posting your free profile on abilityE.com keep an eye out for messages about casting calls. A few possible questions you might have: abilityE is free to performers/talent/actors The site is built for performers/talent/actors with disABILITIES Performers/talent/actors ... Read more
CJ Jones — comedian, actor, writer, director, producer
? For the entire world, 2020 brought new challenges. For CJ Jones, 2020 brought opportunity to live his passion. Having a decades long career as a deaf comedian, actor, entertainer, writer, director and producer, Jones is using his wealth of knowledge and experience in the entertainment industry to give back. He’s seen the need for ... Read more
Inclusiveness and Apathy in the Workplace
Fostering Culture Change to Combat Apathy in the Workplace: A Discussion on Inclusiveness The United States is well versed in what to say in order to appear as if actions are being made toward positive change. Paying so-called “lip service” to topics of critical experience comes naturally, and is in fact seen as a ... Read more
Fake Mask Exemption Cards Lie about ADA Rules as Freedom to Breathe Citizens Fight with Health Rules and Science
Face coverings seem to have become a staple in today’s world. Celebrities can be seen sporting Gucci coverings, while others have turned their sewing skills into small businesses. Posts have gone viral showing their effects in reducing viral spread. However, despite how simple these cloth coverings may seem, there is controversy erupting regarding the ... Read more
Max Blake joined the Carolina Hurricanes
Max Blake joined the Carolina Hurricanes junior sled hockey team just a few months ago and finished a spectacular season-opening tournament. He scored eight goals in five games, including a hat trick (three goals in a single game) that left a positive impression on coaches and teammates back in January. He was excited to ... Read more
The Greatest Story Never Told… Yet — Tough Sledding: The Movie
Filmmakers Shed Light on 2002 Sled Hockey Quest for Paralympic Gold It was fall 2001. The United States national sled hockey team was finishing one of their first training camp weekends, which were grueling four-day marathons on the ice as the team paraded around to different cities once a month in preparation for the ... Read more
Joe Pantoliano, aka Joey Pants
Jun/Jul 2012 ABILITY’s Chet Cooper met up with Joe Pantoliano, aka Joey Pants, at a Belgian restaurant in New York City recently. The popular character actor has appeared in such films as Risky Business, The Fugitive and The Matrix. His skill at playing scumbag mobster Ralph Cifaretto on the hit HBO series The Sopranos ... 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 ... Read more
Camryn Manheim
Activism and happenstance, Camryn Manheim explains, led her to become a skilled sign language interpreter, accomplished actress, and champion for people with disabilities in the entertainment industry. Manheim is best known for her role as Ellenor Frutt on The Practice and, recently, Lieutenant Cosgrove on Stumptown. While practicing social distancing with ABILITY’s Shelly Rohe ... Read more
Vint Cerf — Co-creator of the Internet and Email
Related: Find out how Vint Cerf Recovered from COVID-19 Chances are you are reading this article online. Are you on the Internet? Or are you on the World Wide Web? Is there a difference? For our younger readers, you may feel like these things have always been around. For the rest of us who ... Read more
Meet Haben Girma: disability rights advocate and first deaf-blind Harvard Law School graduate
On September 7, 2019, San Francisco’s Ferry Building is packed. People with service animals, wheelchairs, crutches, and all kinds of assistive devices find their way to a special event at the Book Passage, a community bookstore with a 40-year history in the Bay Area. Surrounded by ceiling-high shelves with colorful books, the small room ... Read more
Netflix’s ‘The Healing Powers of Dude’ Sophie Kim and abilityE
Sophie Kim is a 13 year old junior high student. She sings in the school choir and enjoys spending time with her friends and her dog, Kiwi. Sophie’s life changed last year when she suddenly became a professional actress. Netflix decided to cast a young actress, who authentically uses a wheelchair, in one of ... Read more
Angela Williams, CEO of Easterseals —100+ Years of Service
Jamie was four years old when he was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. He could barely speak until he became part of a therapeutic program. Jayne, the mother of ten-year-old Neil, who lives with autism, struggled to balance her son’s needs with her own before finding a group of people that shared her experiences. ... Read more
Kirk Douglas — Interview with Chet Cooper
Born December 9, 1916 in Amsterdam, New York, the son of illiterate Jewish-Russian immigrants, Issur Danielovitch, who would become Kirk Douglas, was driven to leave behind the poverty of his hometown. He won a wrestling scholarship to Saint Lawrence University and worked as a wrestler in summer carnivals in order to meet school expenses. ... Read more
