If you have a disability and want to bring your helper parrot, monkey or snake with you in public, I’m afraid you’re out of luck. starting today, March 15, 2011, only service dogs and trained miniature horses are protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act. These ADA revisions were drawn up after some disability advocates […]

After hearing about the earthquakes in Japan yesterday, this story is particularly poignant. One of my co-workers at Easter Seals Headquarters is from New Zealand. Wellington, to be exact. Earlier this week Nigel (don’t you think that’s a great name? I do!) sent me a story he saw in a New Zealand paper about a […]

I hired a young woman who is blind to teach me how to use social media.

One night when Mike and I were still living in Urbana, we sprung for a babysitter and headed to a nearby bar to hear some live music. The band was fun, the place was packed, and two young strangers invited us to share their table. Through the din of the band and the beer we […]

Flo’s voice rang out from the phone early yesterday morning. “Your friend Jenny Fischer’s picture is on the front page of the Tribune! It’s a really big picture, too!” The photo in the Chicago Tribune accompanied a story about the success of some independent bookstores, and it opened describing the store where my longtime friend […]