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Improve Self-Health Through Meditation and Mindfulness
By Kristina Rhoades, Flower of Life Retreats We spend so much time worrying about our physical conditions, about diagnoses, that we often fail to grasp how much of an impact our thoughts and emotions have on our overall well-being. Think about how many ailments and diseases that doctors attribute to “stress.” I know when I’m really…
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Dogs in School?!? What does ADA Say?
By Kristin Hartness, Canines for Disabled Kids Why yes, it is true you may indeed see service dogs in school. One of the most asked questions about service dogs working with children is do they have access to school. Does a school have to allow a service animal in with a student? The short answer is…
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Service dog? Emotional Support Dog? Companion animal? Therapy?
By Kristin Hartness, Canines for Disabled Kids Stop, the world is spinning with all the terms that are tossed in conversation about why someone has an animal they want to take in public. The truth is that it is often hard to figure out which animals are legal service animals with public access and which animals…
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Podcast Gives Voice to the Small Fish in a Big Pond
By Mike Ervin, Abilities Expo Ambassador If you listen to Small Fish Radio you will hear Michael Herzovi portraying a wide variety of strange characters. “More often than not,” Herzovi says, “the stories and characters are unusual. Some of my favorite parts have been an Asian carp, an inept mad scientist, a drunken Russian cabbage, one of Columbus’ sailors and…
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High School Senior Launches Special Beauties Pageant
Meet the talented young Talaura Cothran. This high school senior is a 12-year veteran girl scout, an accomplished bagpipe player and has recently set something remarkable in motion. In pursuit of the coveted Girl Scout Gold Award, Talaura created the Special Beauties Pageant, an event that will impact the lives of children with disabilities for years…
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Special Education by the Numbers
By Caroline Linne, USC Rossier Recent changes to the California Department of Education’s teacher education curriculum is ushering in a new age of inclusion in today’s public school classrooms. In the fall of 2017, they introduced a significant change that will include special education into all general education programs. Before this, the two teacher preparation programs…
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Essential Educational Tips for Parents Raising Special Needs Kids
By Sherie Raymond Parenting isn’t easy at the best of times and having a child with a disability creates new challenges that the majority of parents could never imagine facing. This is especially true when it comes to education. There’s a lot of pressure to succeed and a lot of steps that have to be…
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ABC’s ‘Speechless’ Calls for Abilities Expo
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…
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How a Caregiver Can Apply for SSI on Behalf of a Child
By Deanna Power, Disability Benefits Help Children with a wide range of medical conditions are able to qualify for Social Security disability benefits. When a child receives benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA), these benefits are usually paid through the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, a need-based form of disability that requires a detailed review of medical…
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Sitting Ground for Disability Rights Against Medicaid Cuts
By Stephanie Woodward, Center for Disability Rights I was arrested four times in five weeks because I refused to sit quietly when the lives and liberty of Americans with disabilities are at risk. I am used to strangers stopping me in public to compliment me on my brightly colored wheelchairs; I am not used to…
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Superfest, The Oldest Disability Film Festival, Returns to Los Angeles
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…
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Get in Synch with Synchronized Swimming
By Tina Boales, Synchronized Swimming Athletes with Disabilities Adaptive Sychronized Swimming will be featured Abilities Expo Bay Area, November 21-23, 2014. Ever wonder how they do it? How they can hold their breath and flip upside down so “easily” and dance in the water? It’s ALL in the magic of the pool! The combination of dance, gymnastics, ballet…