Literature and Film

By Trenaya Reid, Life Rollz On As a person with a physical disability, I have overcame many challenges in my life. I was born with a rare orthopedic condition called Arthrogryposis, that affects 1 to 3,000 births per year. I feel having my disability has blessed me in a number of ways; I have never…

By Tony Stephens, Hyper-Urban Arts There is power in weakness. “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Power…weakness…how are they linked in the arena of anime and manga? This is the core, the heart, of my various projects. My projects center around popular culture and disabilities; in ways which I hope entertain, educate and, most of…

For 30 years, Pascuala Herrera worked as a community college professor, shaping the young minds of students with disabilities. Since retirement, her passions have led her to become an award-winning author. Her works delve into her life experience as a Latina woman with a disability and the valuable lessons that the highs and lows of…

It’s a wrap on the star-studded season 3 of Donna On The Go! This very-funny, internationally acclaimed web series features the wheeling adventures of Donna Reed, the alter ego of Abilities Expo Ambassador Donna Russo. The show tackles the issues and challenges that people with disabilities face each day in a way that makes you…

By Ben Duffy, Take A Look At This Heart Take A Look At This Heart is a film about love, sexuality, and the human bond within the disability community. It follows the journey into the lives of 17 very unique people; some with disabilities and the partners who love them, others struggling to get by in a…

By Shuan Butcher, Disabled Sports USA Boston Marathon bombing survivors Jessica Kensky and Patrick Downes will be signing copies of their book Rescue & Jessica: A Life-Changing Friendship at the Disabled Sports USA‘s booth at the Boston Abilities Expo on Saturday, September 14th from 11 am to 1 pm. Based on a real-life partnership, this heartening story of the…

By Margarita Elizondo, CEO and Founder of Rolling With Me and Abilities Expo Ambassador It’s interesting how little characters with disabilities are seen in media yet some of the greatest books ever written are based on characters with some form of disability. As children, teenagers and even adults, reading allows our imagination to soar and learn about…

By Julienne Dallara, Abilities Expo Abilities Expo was called to action, and that call came from TV’s Speechless. In the last two decades television has tried, with varying degrees of success, to accurately represent the disability community. With only a few exceptions, that has meant putting an able-bodied actor in a wheelchair and sending him…

By Emily Beitiks and Anna Goose, Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability Superfest International Disability Film Festival is pleased to announce that it will be returning to its home of origin in February for a Showcase at the Abilities Expo! Superfest, the longest running disability film festival in the world, first debuted in a small Los Angeles…

Did you know that 71% of people with disabilities leave a website immediately if it is not accessible?  Faces Behind the Screen (FBTS) is a storytelling project that strives to spread awareness about web accessibility by sharing stories from individuals from the disability community.  Technology Users with Sensory Disabilities Find a Voice Launched in early…

By Arsi Nami The short film, Love is Blind, went a long way for the community of people with disabilities, winning Jury Prize at 2017 Cannes International Film Festival Entr’2 Marches for disability awareness. The project was very close to my heart, and I had the honor to compose the film’s music soundtrack as well as…

By Glen Dick In this new children’s book, We Can Go Anywhere, My Adventures on Daddy’s Chair, love and imagination transform a wheelchair into a source of adventure and freedom for a father and his daughter. Insightful Book Sparks Discussion about Disabilities, Possibilities and Acceptance In 2009, 15 years after suffering a spinal cord injury at…