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Latest news and stories
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Hope for the Holidays with Help Hope Live
By Emily Progin, Help Hope Live What a year it’s been! The holiday season often feels like a natural time to reflect on the milestones, challenges, triumphs, and breakthroughs of the previous year. For many people, it’s also a time to draw closer to their community in whichever ways matter most to them. For the Help Hope…
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Disability Myths vs. Disability Realities
By Tracy Williams, Tracy’s Plate The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that 1 in 4 Americans have a disability. Many people living with disabilities may consider life to be a mix of challenges and blessings. The biggest challenge may be debunking various myths in society that non-disabled people might believe about the disability community. 1.…
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Celebrated Author Says Life is Not Always a Valley of Tears
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…
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Are you Reaping the Benefits of an ABLE Account?
By Andre Sam, Disability & Special Needs Project When I am meeting with families discussing Comprehensive Disability/Special Needs Planning, an issue comes up regarding the amount of assets being held in the name of the individual with a disability and how they can impact the individual’s government-related benefits such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicaid or…
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Lessons Learned from my Son’s Rare Disease Diagnosis
By Kala McWain I remember the day we brought our son, Braxton, home from the hospital so clearly. My husband and I were elated to introduce him to his big brother, Remington, and our family felt complete with two happy and healthy boys—until I received a troubling phone call from a nurse at the hospital.…
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Bling Your Wheelchair
By Stan Clark The best part about living in this time is that we’ve got a lot of celebrating to catch up on. The hard part, at least for me, is that I am out of practice when it comes to dressing up and going out. Whenever I look at my calendar, there’s always an…
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How Abilities Expo Opened Up a New Career for Chris Collin
When T-5 paraplegic Chris Collin rolls into the Dallas Abilities Expo in December, he’ll be rejoining a community of friends that he hasn’t seen since before COVID, and he couldn’t be happier to reconnect. A New England native currently residing in Hollis Center, Maine, Chris works for Motion Composites as a sales manager who educates wheelchair users, clinicians, and…
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Honoring the Life and Legacy of Disability Activist Judy Heumann
By Vanessa Harris, Abilities Expo Ambassador and Fun4TheDisabled On March 4th, 2023, Judy Heumann, widely regarded the mother of the disability rights movement in America, passed away. After contracting polio at age two, she was blocked from entering kindergarten as her wheelchair was seen as a “fire hazard,” and since then, she has dedicated her life…
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Tips and Tricks to Disability Travel
By Amanda Winstead Living with a disability certainly doesn’t make you immune to the travel bug and, when you get bit, you too can embark on globetrotting adventures! Of course, research and advance planning is key to ensure that your particular accessibility needs are met on your dream vacation. 1. Do Your Homework do your…
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Behind the Scenes of the Ms. Wheelchair America Competition
By Ali Ingersoll, Ms. Wheelchair America 2023 Competition is natural. We all want to be the best at what we do and be rewarded for our efforts. Regardless of what competition may be afoot in your life, we are taught at a young age in our society to work harder and strive to break so…
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My Life as an Autistic Solo Traveler
By Alex Stratikis, Autistic Adventures Abroad I was given my autism diagnosis at age 6, and naturally a lot has happened since then now that I have just turned 28. When I was growing up, we often went on family trips to either Greece, England or Spain, all places that we had close relatives living.…
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If You Want to Start Journaling About Your Health, Here’s a Good Place to Start
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…