Stavros
Advocates for Independent Living
New & Interesting!
Parents Together Support Group
The Fall 2011 Parents Together Support Group is now open to parents with children of any age and will be held at: The Amherst Family Center, Thursdays from 9:30-11, starting October 6th. Our free program serves parents who have learning differences for various reasons, such as - ADHD, developmental delays, mental health challenges - or for any parents who are feeling overwhelmed by parenting and learn best in non-traditional ways. See flyer below for more information.
New accessible trails to get you into the woods
Considered unique by the U.S. Forest Service for offering the disabled unparalleled access to mountain wilderness, the 2 1/2 miles of trails at Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center in southern New Hampshire opened to the public in June 2011. full story below.
Disability News
Trying to keep up to date with disability related news in Massachusetts? You can view updated information right at Disability News. Disability News is a collection of disability-specific resources, headlines, news summaries and news sources.
Health Care Reform & Disability
Regardless of your opinion of Health Care Reform legislation, it's important for all of us to understand that one part of the bill finally fulfills one of the promises of the Americans with Disabilities Act!
When the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990, it included specific language exempting the insurance industry from its provisions - in other words, the ADA said it was still okay for insurance companies to discriminate on the basis of disability, from life insurance to health care.
Health Care Reform abolishes discrimination based on disability by forbidding the denial of insurance based on "pre-existing conditions." This will mean that hundreds of thousands - if not millions - of people will have access to insurance who didn't have it before. That insurance companies will no longer be able to say, oops, you have HIV, we're canceling your policy.
Regardless of your opinion of the Health Care Reform legislation, it's important for all of us to understand that one part of the bill fulfills one of the promises of the Americans with Disabilities Act: that's real progress!
SHINE @ Stavros!
Stavros, as a service to the community, now has a SHINE Representative who can help people over age 60 OR people who are disabled and on Medicare. Please call Linda Mason at 1-(800) 804-1899, extension 284 for questions or an appointment.
Find PCAs or Find a Job at Rewarding Work.com
Rewarding Work is a website with the goal of giving people, who need support with daily activities, choice and control in finding personal assistants.The website gives older people and individuals with disabilities the choice of hiring staff directly and allows them control of the process of hiring personal assistants. The website is a work in progress and still building their database. but could be very useful if you need assistance finding a PCA. For more information or to get started visit the Rewarding Work website.