Adaptive Arts

By The Mighty Staff This is not meant to be a negative statement, just a realistic one: In the course of any individual’s health story, there will be moments of perceived powerlessness. Those days when a treatment isn’t working as intended, chronic pain inches beyond an accepted tolerance threshold, a mental health morning that just…

By Hannah Cate, Coping Through Craft What started as a creative outlet for me quickly turned into a platform and passion helping others discover the therapeutic benefits of art coupled with a way of crafting that works for them and their disability. Hi! I’m Hannah and I run an adaptive crafting/art Instagram page and YouTube Channel called Coping Through…

By Lisa Wells, Cure Medical Is the winning photo for the 2019 Wheels UP! accessible photo contest languishing in your cloud? It could be one of you traveling, playing sports or just enjoying the great outdoors. Enter it right now in this annual photo contest from SPORTS ‘N SPOKES, the sports and recreation magazine of the…

By Lisa Wells, Cure Medical ‘Tis the season to spin your wheels shopping for holiday gifts and enjoying the love of family and friends. Here’s a few ways you can give the gift of dance, along with empowering a Boundless Babe near you who rolls, courtesy of The Rollettes wheelchair dance team! #1: Win a Framed…

By Annivar Salgado, United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Chicago Look Into My Eyes is a song that was written for children and adults with disabilities as a way to get all people to take a moment and look beyond the sometimes mangled wrappers in which we are all born. Look Into My Eyes: Origin Story The…

By Michael Esposito, Filmmaker THE REBOUND is an award-winning documentary film that follows the underdog journey of the Miami Heat Wheels, a wheelchair basketball team, in their quest for a national title. Three adaptive athletes rally their team to victory while confronting obstacles on and off the court. The story is a real and visceral portrait…

By Margarita Elizondo, Host of Wheel Talk Wheel Issues and Abilities Expo Ambassador Designers hire models that fit “their look” and that look often looks like something you can hang on a hanger or put on a standing manikin; it does not include wheels. Filmmakers hire actors that fit “their role” and if the role includes disability,…

By Mike Ervin, Abilities Expo Ambassador Samantha Feigenbaum specializes in what she calls “make and take” art projects. You make it and then you take it home. She also refers to it as recycled art since she incorporates into the artwork something that has been discarded and is not intended to be an art material.…

By Cory Hunt, Magic Wheelchair Builder In May of 2015 I met a man who would help me change my life for the better. Ryan Weimer was at the West Coast Haunters Convention in Portland, Oregon with his son, Keaton. At first I had no idea Keaton was in a wheelchair. He was riding a giant Indominus…

When that old English playwright said the pen was mightier than the sword, it’s safe to assume that he’d never considered the paintbrush. Especially not Dwayne Szot’s style of paintbrush. Because had the writer ever witnessed the profound effect on the children whose wheelchairs have been literally transformed into giant paintbrushes, that play would have gone…

By Isaac Zablocki, ReelAbilities Film Festival ReelAbilities: NY Film Festival is the largest festival of its kind in the country. The festival reaches a broad audience and has a mission to bridge gaps and share the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with different abilities across all spectrums. But over the past eight years of…

It turns out that frustration is the mother of invention too. When Dianalynn Varin was diagnosed with CIDP, an autoimmune disease that affects the nervous system, she realized that she would have to drastically change her work habits. She needed to stay in a home environment where she could remain productive, while better accommodating herself, her…