New Horizons Un-Limited Inc.

Community and Internet Resources

Disability Experiences: Writings and Perspectives

New Horizons Un-Limited Articles

• Difficulties that the Deaf Encounter Because of the Lack of Educational Materials for the Deaf is written by a mother, grandmother, Carol Hill, who has experienced raising her own children and grandchildren who are deaf. She is advocating to not only make literature and printed materials and videos more available to children who are deaf, but that children also require a way to see and feel the sounds of language in order to develop language and reading skills. To compensate for this inequality she developed a system of visual symbols and hand signs for the deaf called Visual Phonics. The program is further developed at the University of Ohio, Literacy and Learning Center. This strategy should not be confused with the commercially available products and materials on the market under the same name. Carol continues to work on producing books for deaf children, with ASL sign language videos included. We look forward to sharing information on these books in the future.
© Copyright, 2010, Carol Hill, All Rights Reserved
• Veteran Shares Personal Experience - From Karl, USA, --- "I have diabetes, hypoglycemia, Generalized Anxiety, and Tinitus in both ears, constant ringing or high pitched sound. I am a veteran of the Vietnam War Era. I do watercolour art and, I am still an amateur artist in the field of watercolour. Ok yes, I forgot, I am a housebound patient as well. I study art books and have a large collection of art materials that I use with my paintings. I mostly deal with fine arts since, I do not really understand abstract art. I am also very good in photographic art as well."
  August 8, 2010

• A Couple Living with Disability: Amputation and Epilepsy offers a personal experience with amputation and a husband's experience with epilepsy. Although they had a negative experience with society, this couple is moving on with hope and helping others with disabilities by starting their own faith group. Thank you to Mish for sharing experiences and these helpful suggestions on what people can do when faced with adversity.
  April 14, 2010

• "One Man’s Journey Towards Self Discovery and Employment" offers a personal reflection on the writer's experience of overcoming the obstacles of his disability while navigating the employment service system. This article provides an honest and introspective look back while providing inspiration for others to pursue their goals of employment.
  July 31, 2009

• "Depression - You Can Feel Better!" is the beginning chapter to Don't Make Depression Your Disability, written by Bobbie Ratcliff. Bobbie has given us a way to look at life that can turn our lives around for the better. Having sustained an injury and subsequent, illness, pain and disability, Bobbie has experienced first hand the extreme down side of disability. Bobbie and Anne, his wife of 24 years, have made their journey together which has brought them to this place and time. Now he has shared their remarkable, yet simple, everyday solutions, their "Cookbook for a Healthy Emotional Diet." With humor and humanity, he persuades us to make the most of life with his self-enlightened ideas to cope with illness and disability. Check back here at New Horizons Un-Limited soon for more chapters of his exciting article! --------© Copyright, 2006, Bobbie Ratcliff, All Rights Reserved.
  December 1, 2006

• Dizziness and Me is an article written by Phil from Washington and submitted to New Horizons Un-Limited in which he has shared his personal, 33 year experience with a vestibular disorder, an inner ear disorder that causes severe dizziness and nausea. Phil's experience with misdiagnoses and dizziness are unfortunately common with inner ear diseases. Through Phil's experience, we can all begin to understand the complications brought to daily living with vestibular disorders. Thank you to Phil for sharing his experiences and these helpful suggestions on what people with vestibular disorders need from their health professionals and rehabilitation.
  April 13, 2006

• Rehabilitation from Brain Injury
  October 26, 2004

• My Brother the Olympian
  June 26, 2000

• Response to a Commentary on the Monument Honoring President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  June 26, 2000

• Response to the NHU Editorial on Legislation
  November 30, 2000

National

• Disability History Museum, with a goal to expand knowledge and understanding about the historical experience of people with disabilities in the United States, has recently made thousands of disability stories and facts available in their online library.

• Disability is Natural is an initiative to remind everyone that having a disability is a "natural part of the human experience."

• Disabilities Un-Limited is a website created by Bill Micklitz, an award winning writer and speaker whom was born with Arthrogryposis, a muscle and joint disorder. His website features articles and information on his and others' life experiences.

• It's Our Story is a fully accessible online database of personal testimonials and oral histories provided by individuals with disabiliites over the last several decades. The collection of testimonials, known as the "Discrimination Diaries", was started in the 1980s by Justin Dart Jr., a disability advocate who played a pivitol role in the passage of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act. After Mr. Dart's passing, a gentleman named Scott Cooper continued this journey with a video camera, capturing "oral histories" from more than one thousand disability advocates in more than 100 cities across the United States. Now, theses diaries and oral histories have been brought together in a database that will serve as our nation's single most significant collection of primary source records of the disability experience.

• Meeting Life's Challenges is a supportive online community created by a woman with MS that has, despite severely limited mobility, lived "a remarkably unlimited life" since her diagnosis 25 years ago. The website offers practical lifestyle information, helpful strategies, and motivation for people whose lives have been affected by chronic illness and disability. The site features essays and articles from a variety of persons with disabilities as well as a number of helpful resources.

• The Faces We Have Blog is written by Mark Elzey, a man who is writing about his life and his personal experiences with facial disfigurement after contracting Polio Encephalitis as a very young child. A few years ago as a result of conversations with several people who are, like him, facially disfigured, he began writing the story of his life. He started a blog in which he has posted the entire book. Thousands of readers have visited the blog from across the globe. In Mark's own words, "This project is simply my story, which is basically how I dealt with my facial difference. In the end I’d like to have people read this and go away with an understanding of what I have gone through. If the reader goes away with a better understanding of what it’s like to have a disfigured face, I’ve done my job. If the stories in this book help lighten the load, just a little, then I’ve succeeded. If it made you think about how you react to people who are different in any way and you try to understand those feelings, then I have accomplished what I wanted. I wrote these stories because I don’t want people to feel alone." This is a very well written blog and definitely explains what it has been like living with physical difference and demonstrates a great awareness of individual perspectives for the person with a difference, parents, caregivers, professionals, and anyone interested in the issues faced by people living with a physical difference.

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