Consider accessible Ubers as alternative to DART

A colleague and I were left waiting for his DART paratransit bus, yet again, last week. It would arrive a full hour and 15 minutes after his scheduled pick-up, giving us abundant time in the hot sun to grouse about and consider the ever-late paratransit bus in Delaware. I’ve worked in the disability sector in Delaware for more than 15 years; the late pick-ups and drop-offs were a problem then and they continue today. We brainstormed how we could

An art festival unlike any other

Here’s the amazing thing about Artfest, the annual community event that the Center for Disabilities Studies and Art Therapy Express hosted in Newport on Saturday.

It’s not the wondrous art that was created in two hours by people with disabilities. It’s not that every imaginable adaptive art tool and every available University of Delaware student volunteer seemed to be there to assist in the creative process. And no, it wasn’t that the largest turnout in Artfest’s history happened the day

What does it mean to be a self-advocate?

The biography at the bottom of this blog post indicates that I am a self-advocate. Many of you may be wondering what it means to be a self-advocate.

Human Services Research Institute (HSRI), whose mission is to enrich and improve lives of persons and families experiencing disabilities, suggests self-advocates are people who are empowered to speak up for themselves and others about life decisions without the control of others (Human Services Research Institute, 2015). An article about self-advocacy on

Trump missed mark on autism

Much of America was asleep when, toward the end of the GOP presidential debate Wednesday night, Donald Trump made – as if he were asleep – a connection between vaccines and autism.

As evidence of the connection, he spoke of a two-year-old child who, after getting a vaccine, came down with a fever and “now is autistic.”

Trump then said that by administering vaccines “over a longer period of time … in little sections … I think you’re going to

An end to texting while driving

I’m concerned about an epidemic which has the potential to impact every single person in Delaware: distracted driving, or, more precisely, texting and driving. A current commercial is particularly powerful. A mom is busy checking how many “likes” her daughter’s Facebook post has received … when she crashes. The message is “it can wait.”

It truly can. I’m frightened by the number of drivers I’ve seen who aren’t watching the road at any given moment. If one looks up