Katherine Swarts – Page 30

Pets Are Good for You

Around half a million people in the U.S. keep service dogs trained to help with physical or emotional disabilities. Some 200,000 people have registered emotional support animals that provide a calming presence to help manage mental illness. And often, the…

Choosing the Best Assistive Technology for You

“Assistive technology” may sound like something best left to engineers, but in fact it’s highly relevant to daily life. Scooter or hearing aid or smartphone app, any item becomes a form of assistive technology (AT) when used for a task…

Happy International Disability Day!

Today, December 3, International Disability Day, full name International Day of Persons with Disabilities, was first proclaimed by the United Nations in 1992. Worldwide, at least 1 person in 7 has disabilities that cause significant impairment to everyday functions. And…

Everyday Tips for Managing Epilepsy

A salute to November as National Epilepsy Awareness Month. There’s more to epilepsy than the infamous grand mal seizure. In fact, for many people with epilepsy, such a “big bad” seizure is a one-time event or never occurs at all.…

2 people walking together, one with a white cane

Popular Misconceptions about Assistive Technology

We round off National Assistive Technology Awareness Month with a look at some common-but-untrue assumptions about AT. Misconception: Assistive technology is limited to wheelchairs and other bulky devices. Facts: Any “assistive” item counts—including digital apps. You can carry dozens of…

student's hand practicing writing letters

Dyslexia-Friendly Teaching for All Students

Most people know dyslexia as a reading disorder that makes it difficult to tell letters and words apart. But there’s more to it than that. Though people with dyslexia typically have average or higher intelligence, they lack certain mental capabilities…

dad and daughter decorating christmas tree

Can’t Stand Shopping Crowds? Alternative Black-Friday Activities

Recipe for a nightmare: entering a hectic shopping mall with a child who is hypersensitive to stimulation or prone to wandering. Even purely physical disabilities can spell trouble when they make it difficult for a child to keep up, or…

Gratitude: Everyone’s Best Friend

Circumstances don’t make us unhappy: they only make existing attitudes more obvious. There are people overflowing with joy in hospitals and prisons; there are also people who have never seen a hardship, yet complain nonstop about their dissatisfaction with life.…

Self-Care for Caregivers

November is National Family Caregiver Month, a time to honor the approximately 53 million Americans who give generously of their time and energy to help maximize quality of life for family members with health needs. Family caregivers do a “superhero”…

STAFF PICKS: Marjorie Reichard on Parenting Apps

BridgingApps Project Manager Marjorie Reichard has two young daughters with disabilities. These are her picks for the apps best at making caregiving easier to manage. Proloquo2Go was life-changing after Olivia started talking up a storm at age 3—but I only…