On Thursday, May 7, All Things Considered aired a report titled: “Some Very Premature Babies Can Survive With Aggressive Treatment, Report Finds.” Pretty fired up about it, I posted a comment on the page with the report, and to my great shock, it was deleted by the moderator. I was censored by National Public Radio!! Having to go out for the evening, I wrote again later, apparently with a more calm approach which did not include the...

People With Disabilities Made It All Happen The current process of people with disabilities dramatically emerging into society didn’t happen thanks to the charitable generosity of others. It didn’t happen because enlightened policymakers saw the value of investing in accessibility and civil rights. It didn’t happen because business saw an untapped talent pool or a market of unspent disposable income. It didn’t happen...

The once-popular phrase was “Hire the Handicapped.” Its tone was pretty undeniable: since having a disability is such an unfortunate thing, we should give those poor people jobs as a socially-charitable gesture. The underlying message is that compassionate generosity should be the core drive for employing people with disabilities. Employers should make the sacrifice because it’s the right thing to do. Well, we’ve come a...

Inspire, the definition: “Fill someone with the urge or ability to do or feel something, esp. to do something creative.” How, exactly, does that work when people encounter someone with a disability – in person, or in a story on the news or Facebook, etc.? Many people describe their experience of these as “inspirational.” I’m accustomed to that; I often hear that my life on wheels due to paralysis is...

When the spirit of Modern Disability is infused into your workplace culture, profound effects flow into your organization. This first-in-a-series article looks at a core, foundational piece of this influential spirit: adaptability. People with disabilities of all kinds and all degrees who are out there living their lives fully will tell you that they have learned an essential fact of being human: we are innately adaptable beings. This...

I’ve always had a problem with the phrase, “The Disabled.” First of all, it’s essentially meaningless. What does it really tell you? Specifically? Nothing, if you take a moment to think about it. The people who could be said to fall under the category of “The Disabled” is immense; too immense to be contained in a single phrase. We’re asked to include people with such significant cognitive and physical impairments that they...