Writer Larry Wanger Larry Wanger has been the Executive Director of the Arizona Statewide Independent living Council since October 2013 and has worked in the Independent Living field for over 18 years. He served as the manager of Employment Services at Ability360 from 2004 to 2013. Outside of work Larry enjoys running, travel and reading. LivAbility is a quarterly publication of Ability360. President & CEO: Phil Pangrazio The LivAbility Team: Loren Worthington John Beaubien Carolan Quenneville Anja Benjamin Reggie Mitzel Jennifer Longdon Clinton McDaniel Rebecca Cavazos Contact the Editor: Advertising: advertising@ability360.org Contributing Writers: Gus LaZear April Reed Frank Fuchs Brielle Carter Nicholas Love Vicki Staples Michele Crane Loren Worthington Emily Heard Lynn Black Leonard Smith Reggie Mitzel Sarah Marmolejo Columnists: Don Price Amina Kruck Susan Webb Gwen Dean LivAbility Magazine Ability360 5025 E. Washington St. Suite 200 Phoenix, AZ 85034 (602) 256-2245 www.Ability360.org Letter to the Editor
In between the pages of LivAbility, you’ll find stories that reflect the entire 360Spectrum of living well with a disability. In our regular columns…Employment expert, the inimitable Susan Webb, covers the dilemma of the earnings cliff. Don Price embarks on a new recreation adventure in the Arizona Urban Fishing Program. Last, Loren Worthington’s regular column “Road to Rio” covers amazing Paralympians on their quest for Gold. In each issue, we try to bring you information about important issues that impact you. This time, we cover caregiving, voting, Ability360’s shared vision with ASU to enhance employment training through a peer mentoring component and how the healthcare system fails people with disabilities. We also feature the National Center on Disability Journalism as they rewrite the way disability is portrayed in media. Ed Roberts said: “We have three top priorities: advocacy, advocacy, advocacy.” We can never tell enough stories of successful advocates; meet effective self-advocate Kara Kahnke, and Ability360 advocacy specialist, David Carey. We illustrate the core services of independent living that Ability360 provides. We hope you’ll find themes of peer mentoring, education, employment, and community integration throughout. We’re also aware that our first three covers have featured individuals who use wheelchairs. Although they are each very different, we recognize that we’ve been weighted heavily on mobility disabilities and pledge that we’ll reach for broad and interesting stories to tell in other realms of the disability experience and in other parts of Arizona. We’re flexing and growing as we go. We welcome your tips and ideas on great stories, so please share them at editor@ability360.org. We hope you enjoy this edition of LivAbility. We’re already hard at work on next quarter. See you then! Advertisement Presented by Casino Arizona Talking Stick Resort. We are Phoenix. Always looking to assist. 20% off select tickets, use promo code: ADA. (602) 379-suns, Suns.com. Free Wheelchair escort assistance available. ADA Accessible seating in all price points, including the floor. Pal certified - nba.com/suns/pal. recognized
Are restraints that restrict breathing banned? Are mechanical restraints prohibited? With 10 being the best score, Arizona scored a 4. LivAbility: What surprised you most in your reporting on this story? Vogell: The original tip ended up not being the lede in the story. What surprised me was how easy it was to find other people who had been through experiences that were – terrifying, frankly. This was not a very rare thing that I had come across. It shocked me that this was something that was out there everywhere. Vogell tells her story through the powerful profiles of several individuals, starting with Carson Luke, a boy with autism. Carson was subjected to his school ‘quiet room’ repeatedly. One day, that experience led to fractures of his hand and foot that required hospitalization and surgery. Vogell relates Carson’s experience through his mother Heather’s words: “He said you can hear them do the locks, which is how I know there were three,” Luke says. “There were times when they would put him in there, and he would be screaming. They would say, ‘If you don’t shut up, we’re going to put the fan on.’ He hated the sound.” Read Heather Vogell’s full story: “Violent and Legal: The Shocking Ways School Kids are Being Pinned Down, Isolated Against Their Will” at ProPublica.org. Our taped interview with Vogell is available on our website. 2016 Expected Arizona Legislation Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act By Amina Kruck, VP of Advocacy, Ability360 What is the ABLE Act? Federal legislation which created a new type of savings account specifically for individuals with disabilities, similar to the Section 529 College Savings Plans. What does the ABLE Act establish? Tax-free savings accounts specifically for individuals disabled prior to age 26. It will allow individuals living with disabilities to have more assets than the current $2,000 limit, while maintaining eligibility for government benefits like Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). Who will be eligible for ABLE Accounts? Individuals diagnosed with the disability before the age of 26.