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Who Founded Easterseals? The Story of Edgar Allen Pt. 1
The dramatic increase in polio cases during the early 20th century caused the disease to be regarded as an epidemic. Thousands of children and adults became paralyzed by polio, and Easterseals founder...
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A Message from Our President and CEO on the 100th Anniversary of Easterseals
While Easterseals now serves 1.5 million people in 70 affiliates across the country, our story started as the vision of one grieving father in Elyria, Ohio. After losing his son in a tragic accident,...
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America Lights Up Orange for the 100th Anniversary of Easterseals
We were thrilled see major landmarks nationwide light up orange in honor of our 100th anniversary. Over 40 locations participated. Here are the highlights! Empire State Building – New York Niagara...
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Why I Am Celebrating Mother’s Day Early This Year
Gus and Beth For years after our son Gus was born, I begged my husband Mike not to get me a gift for Mother’s Day. “I’m not your mother!” I told him. Our son Gus has severe mental and physical...
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My Dedication To a Mom Who Has Touched 10,000 Lives
I am delighted to have guest blogger Steve Ferkau here today with the first of many Mother’s Day posts we’ll be publishing this week. Once on the verge of death from cystic fibrosis, Steve is now a...
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I’m Giving Out Four Times the Love this Mother’s Day
Remember the 9-year-old who wrote a post here for Valentine’s Day years ago about how much she loves her Dad? DJ Mermaid (her pen name) is a seventh-grader and goes by her real name now. Here she is...
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The Waters of Life May Change, but a Mother’s Love is Constant
Elena and her mother, Rosa. I started taking swimming classes at the local YMCA when I was six months old, and those lessons continued throughout my childhood. When I graduated to the “big pool,” the...
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What’s Worse: Bad Disability Representation or No Representation?
Is it better to have no representation or bad representation of disability in film? For me, they are almost one-in-the-same. With bad representation, it is exhausting to educate people repeatedly that...
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Why do Uber and Lyft think they don’t have to pick up passengers with...
Back in 2014 the Chicago Tribune published an op-ed piece I wrote that was titled “Should ride-sharing services adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act?” Five years have passed, and Lyft and Uber...
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Gyms and Fitness Centers are Called to Make Exercise Accessible to All
I swim for exercise. My Seeing Eye dog Whitney guides me to the pool, and the only stroke I do is the crawl. One arm or another is extended in front at all times, protecting me from crashing my head...
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On Self-Defense: I Won’t Let Fear Get in the Way
Reports show that Americans with disabilities are more likely to be the victim of a violent crime than average folks out there. All sorts of reasons have been given to explain why this might be. Maybe...
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Parents of a Child With Spina Bifida Bought a Pub. This Is What They Did With...
I subscribe to a podcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) called Ouch. It features BBC journalists with disabilities who bring their personal experiences to the table, and it can be...
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The Problem with Disability Representation on America’s Got Talent
Recently, I started a vlog on YouTube sharing my disabled self with my viewers. It is empowering for me to express who I am unabashedly and under my own terms. Even though I can’t physically take the...
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Does Your Personality Change If You Become Disabled?
I was out with a friend last week who takes a healthy interest in exactly what makes people tick. She didn’t know me earlier in life, when I could see, and said she couldn’t help but wonder. “Do you...
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Her Stutter Made Her a Better Writer
The New York Times runs a regular feature called “Disability,” which it describes as a “series of essays, art and opinion by and about people living with disabilities.” The headline they used for an...
View ArticleWhy I’m Proud of Social Media
What does it mean to be social? In the digital age, how we interact with others has changed in many ways, but the root of socialization has stayed the same – we all need and want to have company. Maybe...
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I Went To an All-Abilities Poetry Workshop, and Here’s What Happened
A month from today, on July 26, 2019 Easterseals will be celebrating the 29th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). To mark the occasion, we’ll be publishing posts...
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How My Family Helps Me Feel Included
Photo by Dolores Pantalone For those of you who don’t know (I don’t think I’ve mentioned it in previous posts) I’ve been blind practically my whole life. I had vision for the first month, so obviously...
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You don’t have to be everyone’s teachable moment
Anja Herrman at age nine with her dad Remember the 9-year-old who wrote a post here for Valentine’s Day years ago about how much she loves her Dad? She still does! Anja is a teenager now, and she’s...
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Reasons Why We Need to Give Picture Captions an Upgrade
I am pleased to introduce Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter as a guest blogger today. Her work has appeared in 13th Floor, Breath and Shadow, Misbehaving Nebraskans, and many other publications, and her guest...
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