Connect with community
Explore articles with practical tips, opinion pieces, and in-depth stories designed to enhance independence and improve quality of life for people with disabilities, their caregivers, and supporters.
Join the buzz
Get disability news and information to your inbox.
Browse by topic
Latest news and stories
-
Target Features Model with Disabilities to Pitch Iconic Disney Costume
Elsa’s exquisite, ice blue gown has been the go-to Halloween costume for little girls since Disney’s mega-hit Frozen graced the silver screen. Retailers nationwide watch happily as they fly off the shelves. This year, Target’s choice to feature a little girl with leg braces and forearm crutches as the ice queen in their Halloween-time advertisements has met…
-
The Art of Self Expression
Because disability spans all races, creeds, genders and orientations, Abilities Expo is very much a “slice of life.” While all attendees are members of a very large, but uniquely connected community, their individual diversity is especially apparent in the ways they choose to express themselves. Take the following group of Expo-goers, proudly distinguishing themselves through…
-
ACEing Autism Serves Positive Development for Kids with ASD
ACEing Autism a volunteer-driven, nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing our adaptive tennis program to the lives of children with autism. Connecting kids through tennis has been our aim for ten years and counting. Our goal is to provide an hour of fun, adaptive tennis to children and an hour break for parents, during which, they…
-
Cannabis Facts: THC, CBD and the Cannabinoids
By Lex Pelger, Bluebird Botanicals Here at Bluebird Botanicals, we loved getting the opportunity to engage with the Abilities community. Two of our bluebirds, Allie and Katie, recently attended the expo in Chicago and fell in love. With everybody being so warm and open, they said it didn’t feel like a work trip but more like coming…
-
Dance with the Rollettes in Houston and Los Angeles
By Chelsie Hill, The Rollettes It all started with our very first Dance Intensive in October of 2012. At the time, I was determined to put on a dance showcase for the disability community, but what emerged was so much more. Our Rollettes team came together because of our shared love of dance and, through our…
-
Medical Cannabis 101
By Andrew Kuebbing, California Cannabis Advocates Trying medical marijuana for your condition can be a daunting prospect—maybe you had a bad experience in the past, or maybe there’s just too many options and you don’t know where to start. Cannabis medicine doesn’t have to be confusing, and with a few simple pieces of knowledge you can…
-
#ThisIsHowI Show What’s Possible
By Brittany Déjean, AbleThrive We all want to see ourselves represented in media and society. AbleThrive’s #ThisIsHowI campaign is bringing visibility to people with disabilities and their families by shedding light on how people are living their lives around the world. AbleThrive’s Curated Disability-Focused Content Shares Know-How Kicked off in December 2016 on the International Day of People…
-
How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Heals Children
By Janis Gioia, ComfortingAnxiousChildren.com Looking to enhance your child’s therapies with something that can instantly calm, balance and center her? Would you like to help your child develop: Would you like to: You can, quite easily. Here’s how: Give your child extended periods of uninterrupted, child-directed play in nature. Not on brightly colored plastic playsets. Not…
-
Trevair Snowden: Once Extreme, Always Extreme
By David Block It’s 1997 on one of those perfect winter days when the slopes are calling. Hot shot snowboarder Trevor “Trevair” Snowden is poised to decimate the competition. He gets ready to execute a jump. He goes up, but misjudges his landing and everything changes. Well, not everything. Yes, Snowden broke his T12 vertebrae…
-
Crossing the Sierras…In a Wheelchair?
By Bob “4-Wheel Bob” Coomber, Abilities Expo Ambassador I woke in a tent on September 17, 2014, anxious to begin what was to have been an epic journey. Though I’ve established quite a few “first summits” for someone in a wheelchair, a 22-mile one-way crossing of the Sierra Nevada mountain range via Kearsarge Pass—at nearly…
-
Adaptive Fashion Guru Introduces Disability Fashion Styling System
Stephanie Thomas’ passion as well as her life’s work is accessible fashion. Her company, Cur8Able, is a disability fashion lifestyle platform featuring celebrities and influencers with disabilities who share their lives and expertise as Cur8tors. They work closely with individuals on fashion to help them “live their lives with disabilities out load and in style.” Dressing…
-
Cure Medical Pushes to End Paralysis
By Lisa Wells, Cure Medical Cure Medical offers two areas of support to the disability community, with the intermittent catheters they manufacture, and also through the neurological research programs that they financially support. That’s because Cure Medical is the only catheter manufacturer in the world that donates the first 10% of its net income to research programs…