Tag: disability advocacy

09/24/2019

Superfest Film Festival Gives Disability Community a Voice

Editor’s Note: In 2012, the Longmore Institute on Disability at San Francisco State University partnered with LightHouse for the Blind and took over Superfest, the longest-running disability film festival in the world. As the associate director at Longmore, Emily Smith...

05/24/2019

Hip Hop Duo 4 Wheel City Speaks Out Against Gun Violence

Editor’s Note:  When he was a teenager, Rick Velasquez emigrated from Honduras to the Bronx with his family in search of the American dream. Shortly after, the dream turned into a nightmare when he was hit by a stray bullet...

02/21/2019

SXSW: Transforming Society’s Image of Disability

What started as a small music festival of 700 attendees in 1987 has turned into one of the most prominent gatherings in the nation today. At South by Southwest each March, emerging artists sign record deals, independent filmmakers get their...

02/08/2019

Five February Events Celebrating the Disability Community

February is a short month, but that doesn’t mean there’s no time for educational activities, fundraising, and fun! If you’re looking for ways to get involved in celebrating and supporting the disability community this month, consider one of these five...

11/05/2018

Clay Garner’s Fight to Beat Transverse Myelitis

Editor’s Note:  Clay Garner, a successful entrepreneur and businessman, was nearing retirement when nagging lower back pain eventually led to hip replacement surgery. A few weeks prior to his scheduled operation, groin pain and troubles urinating landed him in the...

11/02/2018

5 Adaptive and Advocacy Events You Shouldn’t Miss This November

This November boasts many reasons and ways to get active. By exercising our bodies, we can burn off those Halloween candy calories and a little extra in preparation for all of the upcoming holiday feasts. But this month also provides...

10/26/2018

Gaelynn Lea is Changing the Music World in More Ways Than One

Editor’s Note:  When an orchestra performed at her school, 10-year-old Gaelynn Lea decided she wanted to learn to play the violin. However, as an electric wheelchair user born with osteogenesis imperfecta, she couldn’t hold the instrument the traditional way. With...

10/01/2018

It’s Disability Awareness Month! Here’s What’s Happening Near You This October

In late summer of 1945, as World War II was coming to an end, President Harry S. Truman officially designated the first week in October as National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week. As awareness increased over the years, the annual...

03/29/2018

Inclusion, Adventure, and Therapy with Freedom Concepts

Editor’s Note: In 2014, Michigan residents Caroline Booth and Matt Naif welcomed their daughter into the world six weeks prematurely. After some time in the neonatal intensive care unit, they left the hospital thinking baby Briella was ready to settle...