The reality-TV stars tend to focus on the positive side being little in an average-sized world. “I’ve learned a lot from it,” says Klein, who stands four feet tall. “I don’t think that I’d be the same person if I was six foot. I don’t take certain things for granted that I think in any other circumstance I might.” Setting a positive example and breaking down barriers are the key messages behind the couple’s hit prime-time TV show, which premiered in May 2009. More than offering a glimpse of what it’s like to be “little,” it’s also a show about a newlywed couple negotiating their first few years of marriage, moving to a new city, building a home, nurturing careers, sharing laughs and dreaming of starting a family.
Read more...

The Canadian Abilities Foundation, with the support of TD, is proud to re-launch the Directory of Disability Organizations in Canada.
Read more...

While dolphins have fascinated humans for ages (If you’ve ever been part of a packed audience at the Vancouver Aquarium’s shows, you’ve seen their fans), Dolphin Assisted Therapy (DAT), a relatively recent (and somewhat controversial) form of treatment, is showing us that these creatures could be more than just a pretty sight. You don’t have to travel beyond the usual winter getaways to discover dolphins’ therapeutic benefits. There are holiday resorts in Florida, Hawaii, Curaçao and the Bahamas that feature swims with dorsal-finned playmates as part of the adventure.
Read more...

Fitness resolutions may be a New Year’s cliché, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have merit. They can be helpful reminders of where we are...and where we want to be. People of all abilities need to work towards good health, but fitness can be especially life altering for people with disabilities.
By Kathleen Wilker
Read more...

The world was first introduced to 26-year-old Zach Anner via the Internet, when he submitted an audition video to Oprah Winfrey’s competition, Your OWN Show: Oprah’s Search for the Next TV Star. Anner and nine other hopefuls were chosen to be part of an eight-episode reality TV show that premiered in January 2011. The prize was huge: the winner would get a spot on the media queen’s new Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). Anner’s humour and self-confidence were instantly apparent to audiences, and he quickly won over viewers with his jokes about everything from his condition—“I think cerebral palsy is the sexiest of the palsies”—to failed TV-show formats he had considered for the audition, including fashion and cooking: “Normally, when I cook, I set my pants on fire... The next thing we’re gonna learn how to cook is takeout!”
Read more...

This past October, Michelle Amerie, a member of our Abilities family, completed the Easter Seals Drop Zone challenge. Casting fear aside, she rappelled down a 32-story building. It was all for a good cause—proceeds from the fundraising event are used to support children and youth with disabilities. Since 2005, the Drop Zone has raised more than $4.8 million for Easter Seals. Click More... to watch a video of Amerie’s amazing descent.
Read more...

The end of life care system is failing many people with disabilities. Hospice Toronto knows that people with disabilities do not typically access end of life care and now would like to know, from them, why. To gather information about this they have posted a survey about their Transitions Project for People with Disabilities on their website (hospicetoronto.ca). They would like to encourage Abilities readers from across Canada to participate. It will only take a few minutes of your time to complete – but the value to Hospice Toronto will be immense - and very much appreciated. Participation is anonymous.
Read more...

Throughout most of his life, John Bramblitt, 39, turned to drawing or writing whenever his seizures became too much to bear. Creating something offered him respite from the disruptive convulsions, that were part of growing up with severe epilepsy. But when Bramblitt lost his vision 10 years ago because of damage caused by the disorder, he thought that his ability to create and enjoy art was gone forever. Then one day in 2002, Bramblitt decided to start painting again. He considered doing something that is regarded as visual to be almost an act of defiance—and he was ready to defy expectations.
By Monique Beech
Read more...

The growth of the consumer movement in Canada in the 1980s created a complete paradigm shift for Canadians with disabilities. Out of it developed a new appreciation of people with disabilities as being important citizens with abilities, as well as a new philosophy regarding the role of service providers and of people with disabilities as empowered consumers.
By Independent Living Canada
Read more...

When Aaron “Wheelz” Fotheringham was a little boy, he used to blast up and down the hall using his crutches, pretending that he was a superhero. These days, as a pioneer in the sport of wheelchair motocross (WCMX), Fotheringham flies for real. The 19-year-old made it into the 2010 Guinness Book of World Records as the first person to do a single backflip in a wheelchair. In August 2010, he mastered the double backflip.
Read more...