By: Kelly Rouba

According to the US Centers for Disease Control, approximately 13 percent of children have a developmental disability, which can range from cerebral palsy to autism.*

Moreover, “when you look at our whole society and the number of people that have some form of disability, we’re talking about 20 percent of our population,” notes Cheryl Kilmer, CEO and founder of the Training, Education, and Research Institute (TERI) in California.

Established in 1980, TERI is a non-profit organization that strives to improve the quality of life for children and adults with developmental and learning disabilities and has even been recognized as a model program by the State.

“The people that we work with have been pretty classically underserved throughout time,” said Kilmer. “We developed (programs) to serve as models because our mission was to model high quality standards for services for people with developmental disabilities because the standards were so poor across our country and needed so much work.”

By:  Kelly Rouba

Ticket Sales and Auction of Custom Guitars and Amps to Benefit The Ocular Immunology and Uveitis Foundation

Back in the 80s, the rock band Twisted Sister became well known for its hit songs “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock.”

But to the band’s founder and guitarist Jay Jay French, it seems that for as many people who know of Twisted Sister, just as many have never heard of the devastating eye condition called uveitis that he has watched his daughter Samantha, now 17, suffer from since she was six years old. “I decided about three years ago I wanted to create awareness because so few people know what this disease is,” French said.
Simply put, uveitis is an inflammatory eye disease that destroys the uvea, or middle layer of the eye. The disease is linked to the autoimmune system and is often referred to as “arthritis of the eyes.” Currently, uveitis is the third leading cause of blindness in the United States. Unfortunately, the cause is unknown and there is no cure.

To create awareness of the disease, French and fellow band members will be hosting a benefit concert at the Best Buy Theatre in New York City on April 29 in addition to a special silent auction to raise funds for The Ocular Immunology and Uveitis Foundation in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

CSI Miami Star Serves as Spokesperson for Beckstrand Cancer Foundation
By:  Kelly Rouba

When dealing with a serious illness like cancer, it is no surprise that it can be draining emotionally, but CSI:  Miami star Eva LaRue has stepped up as a spokesperson for Beckstrand Cancer Foundation to remind the public just how draining the disease can also be on one’s finances. 

LaRue, who lost her grandmother and her great-grandmother to cancer, became the foundation’s spokesperson after hearing her dress designer Oday Shakar recount how a bout with cancer financially devastated him when he was just starting out in business a few years ago. “He designed my wedding dress and then he also designed my dress for the Emmys and the dress I just wore to the Grammys. He was just awesome,” LaRue said. But, at the time he was starting out, “he did not have medical insurance and it totally wiped him out because going through all the medications alone, it can (cost) thousands of dollars and forget the treatments—they are like outrageously expensive.”

By Amy Saffell

We’ve all dealt with people who struggle to see past our disabilities to the true core of who we are: our capabilities, our ambitions, and our passions. Sometimes when I’m being treated with a lack of understanding and respect, I retreat from the situation as quickly as possible, but I often wonder if those people ever do come around in their thinking or if possibly a lack of people with disabilities in their lives leads to continued ignorance. After all, these kinds of lessons are usually learned from a personal connection with someone, not from far-reaching media stories, particularly since there hasn’t been as much media coverage on disability awareness on a large scale basis...until now!