25 years of disability rights
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 changed society to be more accessible and inclusive. Twenty-five years later, here’s a look at some of the law’s biggest changes — and what lies ahead.
Smashing barriers to access: Disability activism and curb cuts
In 1945, Jack Fisher of Kalamazoo, Michigan, celebrated a victory, one of the first of its kind in the United States. Jack, a disabled veteran and lawyer, was elated because his hometown had just installed the nation’s first curb cuts to facilitate travel in the downtown area for wheelchair users and others who couldn’t navigate […]
When Our Society Is Not “Ready” to Be Inclusive Everybody Loses
http://www.thinkinclusive.us/when-our-society-is-not-ready-to-be-inclusive-everybody-loses/ “Nico will get to participate as an audience member.” With those words, the teacher explained why my son, a second-grader with Down syndrome, wouldn’t be part of the end of the year performances. These were just little informal plays that emerged from reading groups, groups in which my son was supposed to be included. […]
Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system totally fails them
A few years ago, my grandfather gave up his car. During the early years of his retirement, he’d been very active, volunteering at the local library and chauffeuring older folks who couldn’t drive themselves. Over time, he slowed down, but remained independent — so much so that after a year or so in a retirement […]
How the World is Failing People with Disabilities
The nations of the world came up with 8 Millennium Development Goals in 2000 but they didn’t factor in People living with disabilities. Here is how they are failing us
Incredible Photo Series Helps Kids With Disabilities See Their Inner Superhero
Renee Bergeron is a professional photographer living in Bellingham, Washington. Her 4-year-old son, Apollo, was diagnosed with a double aortic arch, a rare heart defect, when he was 18 months old. In just one year he underwent two open-heart surgeries and had to have a feeding tube inserted in his stomach, along with numerous other medical procedures, according to […]
Why disabled achievers should be remembered
A free-thinking poet with visual impairment, a painter with learning difficulties, a sculptor with schizophrenia, a painter with cerebral palsy, that’s what I’ve been talking about on Radio 3’s The Essay this week.
Beginnings of Deafblind Education
Before any child who was deaf and blind had been educated, philosophers had long speculated that the mind of a child who was deafblind could reveal what is basic and true about human beings. They believed that such a child deprived of sensory input and ignorant of the world would offer them insight into innate […]