Written by: Jason Biddle, The Helping Home Thanks to the concept of Universal Design first introduced in the 1960’s and the adoption of the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines in 1992, designing with accessibility in mind has become increasingly prevalent throughout the United States. Unfortunately, much of the country’s existing housing stock still lacks the accessibility design elements…
Can a quadriplegic, someone paralyzed from the neck down, drive a car? Race car driver Sam Schmidt’s career came to an abrupt end when a crash in 2000 left him paralyzed. After 17 years though, project SAM (Semi Autonomous Motorcar), a car with various modifications, has helped Sam get back on the road. Here is…
Written by: Stephen March, FreedomTech’s Financial Lending Specialist For many folks with disabilities, assistive technology (AT) is crucial for increasing and/or maintaining independence. According to the World Health Organization, globally more than one billion people need one or more AT devices and only 1 in 10 people actually have access to the AT they need.…
Written by: Farah Musallam Growing up and using a wheelchair I was self conscious about how different I looked from other kids my age. In elementary school, I was the only student in the entire school that used a wheelchair and I obviously knew I was different, especially when all I wanted was to be…
On June 13, 2017, people with disabilities from all over California will gather for Disability Capitol Action Day (DCAD), one of the nation’s largest cross-disability events.Disability Capitol Action Day is an annual event coordinated by The Disability Action Coalition as an opportunity for people of cross disabilities, their families and allies to come together…
Triumph Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to help children, adults, and Veterans with Spinal Cord Injury/Disorder to triumph over their disability and to inspire them to keep moving forward with their lives by pushing themselves to get better every day. Triumph works to minimize the obstacles that one faces after suffering…
Written by Luke Hsieh, Assistive Technology Advocate; Community Access Center I have just returned from a two week vacation in Taiwan (my place of birth); during which I visited three very different disability service institutions. I also had the pleasure of being briefed on about the state of Taiwanese disability services, and how much it…
Submitted by: Ability Tools with Collaboration with YO! Disabled and Proud. Meet Emily Leach, A youth from Buena Park CA who transitioned from high school to the adult world. She found out about a youth program called, Youth Organizing! Disabled & Proud, through Dayle McIntosh Center’s YO! Volunteer Supervisor, Brittany Hepler. YO! connects, organizes and…
There are 29 independent living centers with 30 additional branch offices around the state. Each ILC has AT Advocates on staff. They are community based, information and referral specialists who can assist consumers with a variety of assistive technology issues. They work at Independent Living Centers in California. AT Advocates can: Provide information on assistive…
Written by Yolanda Vargas; YO Disabled and Proud Youth Organizer Ed Roberts is known as the father of the Independent Living Movement. But, before he was the father of anything, he was just a college student trying to get around. As a quadriplegic attending college during the 60’s Ed was forced to rely on…