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Community Living

We envision a world in which everyone who has a disability is afforded opportunities to live in their own homes, work in non-segregated places of employment, and make their own choices. This is true community living, and this is the focus of these pieces.

A spilled bottle of different types of medicine on top of $100 bills.

We Need to Think About the Future Beyond “Miracle Drugs”

On December 23, 2016, the FDA approved a drug treatment for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Two days before Christmas. I wished the timing was different, a month earlier or later would have been better. So close to Christmas, the approval…
A trolley with people on it in rolling through a march.

Picture This: a Disability Community That’s Truly Inclusive of All

Close your eyes and picture a disabled person. At work, one of my jobs is finding images to pair with our weekly newsletter articles. Since we are a non-profit that advocates for people with disabilities, I often find myself combing…
A 3d rendering of a GPS route. There are red cars scattered about the map and two signals - one from a pole, and one from a drone in the sky.

Electronic Visit Verification: a Threat to Independence for Disabled People

Dennis Borel of the Texas Coalition of People with Disabilities sums up Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) in one crisp comment: “What am I, a felon? Put an ankle bracelet on me.” If you’re not familiar with EVV, it involves the…
Coins are scattered on a table. Three piles of coins, each bigger than the next, lead up to a stack of coins with a small wooden model of a house on top.

Affordable Housing for Disabled People Should Be a Right, Not a Luxury

At the end of last month, I woke up to the swooshing sound of an envelope being stealthily slipped under my door. When I got out of bed to inspect it, the greeting did not even include my name, but…

VIDEO: The Right to Your Graduation

It’s the New Year, and that means we are just about six months away from graduation. Graduation is an exciting time to celebrate all of our accomplishments, but what if you can’t attend your own graduation because you have a…
illustration of fists of people of different skin colors raised together in the air.

Celebrating the Disability Community’s 2017 Wins

Disabled people have accomplished some really kickass things in 2017 that we should recognize. It’s not easy existing as a disabled person in an ableist world (and even tougher if you’re multiply marginalized), but I believe in celebrating our successes, …
A sparkler in front of a background of blurred multicolored lights.

‘Tis the Season for Inclusive Holiday Festivities

‘Tis the season for parties, from office holiday parties, to those hosted by friends and families, to charity galas. And we all know what comes with large public shindigs: Inevitable accessibility problems. When events designed to make people feel like…
Emergency supplies including flashlight, radio, and waterbottle. A person is writing on an emergency preparedness checklist attached to a clipboard

Why Involving Disabled People in Disaster Planning Saves Lives

During Hurricane Harvey in August, a striking image went viral: Nursing home residents sitting in waist deep floodwaters, surrounded by floating debris, an angry cat in the background. The Harvey flooding victims (and the cat) were rescued, but scarcely …

VIDEO: Still Segregated

Blind students shouldn’t have to choose between knowledge and independence – but they are often forced to.  Does this sound like an equal education to you?  Courtney Cole calls out the inequality that blind students face in Washington State and…