Mikelle and I feel compelled to write about life with a disability, not just the challenges but the opportunities, the friendships, the innovations, and the brilliance of our communities in action as we share our everyday life living with a disability. With a little more information, motivation, we hope to share how our life is shining beautiful and maybe help you to shine beautiful, too.

A Humorous Look at Abilities and Disabilities We All Have

Phamaly Theatre Company – A Review of DisLabeled – Boulder, CO by Taylor Mason Mikelle, Katherine and I were recently invited by the Phamaly Theater Co. to see DisLabeled, their comedic play highlighting many common misconceptions that “typicals”, or able bodied people, make about being disabled. PTC (Phamaly Theater Co.

Inclusion Works. Mikelle and Jerome’s Lasting Friendship

A Case for Inclusion Mikelle Learned and Jerome Stewart were introduced to each other by a thoughtful teacher that had a hunch these two might be friends. Jerome played football, ran track and was a well-liked senior at East High School. He, like Mikelle, was a recent transfer student from

Meet Taylor Mason, Mikelle’s New Roommate

By Taylor Mason I, like most of Mikelle’s “roomies”, saw her ad on Craigs list and was intrigued. What it said was that I could live in a pretty room, in a nice condo, in a great location, rent-free for six months. All I had to do was live with,

Tim’s Place- Another Example of the Brilliance of Community in Action.

I remember a time in rehabilitation history when we were eager to take the personality out of people with disabilities, wash them clean of anything we didn’t think people in the community would accept. Back in the day, professional educators and rehabilitation personnel were uncomfortable when adults with disabilities would pass out

Getting the Most from Assistive Technology: Using the ECO for Texting

Like most people, Mikelle Learned loves to stay in touch using her cell phone. What used to work was calling her friends, support team members and family using her ECO to chat or leave a voice mail. It was a good use of her  assistive technology enabling her to  fully participate

Do Your Shoes Match Your Friendship?

By Ian Harwick Being friends with Mikelle and preparing for a surprise is always good. As strange as that sounds, if you are prepared for the unexpected, you can move quickly.  As my friendship with her has morphed over time, I have grasped three key insights: understand what you are

Planning or Preparation? Which Works Better?

Change – it pushed me in directions I did not want to go. The diagnosis of my daughter’s disability, divorce, and my sister’s death took me down the dark and scary alley of life. Indeed, you’ve found yourself in your dark alleys. In the darkness, I developed good skills perfect

The Easy Power of Simple Business Cards

  It’s a simple thing, a business card. Typically, most people carry them, especially if they are interested in working. Most people with disabilities don’t. Should they? As adults, part of the enculturation process into the world is to seek employment as a means for building a productive and meaningful

Texting With Words For Life And Text Plus App

What once looked like an expensive blank slate, void of the traditional programs typically loaded on desktop and laptop computers; Mikelle’s iPad has become populated with effective and inexpensive applications. After a somewhat lengthy discovery process, we have found two applications, which Brian Simms, her speech and language therapist, helped

iPad Accessories–The Otterbox Latch.

Brian Simms, Mikelle Learned and Otter Latch for iPad We love the iPad for augmenting Mikelle’s communication and entertainment needs. But, we had a problem.  Mikelle wasn’t using it as effectively as we thought she could. After scratching our head, exploring simple, cheap ideas for stabilizing an iPad on a