Welcome to Part II of “Traveling with Mobility Impairments,” based on Andi Fry’s New York trip with her family last fall. Andi is our BridgingApps Coordinator for Montgomery County Outreach; her daughter Megan is a graduate student who uses a…
Category: Special Needs Family
Outsmarting Scammers
Scam: (n) a fraudulent or deceptive act or operation. (v) (1) to deceive and defraud. (v) (2) to obtain something, such as money, by a scam. –Merriam-Webster.com Such dictionary definitions don’t begin to capture the emotional pain of realizing one…
Traveling with Sensory Disorders
As the year turns toward warmer seasons, thoughts turn toward vacation. And after months of COVID-19 travel restrictions, long-distance travel is particularly popular now—notwithstanding the extra work and planning involved. With disabilities in the picture, planning gets even more complicated.…
What’s So “Different” about Down Syndrome?
This Tuesday (March 21) is World Down Syndrome Day. You likely know that Down syndrome, the result of an “extra” chromosome in one’s genes, is associated with low IQ scores. Unfortunately, that’s all that many people know—and, for far too…
Traveling with Mobility Impairments, Part I: Preparations and Journey
In autumn 2022, BridgingApps team member Andi Fry visited New York City with her husband and daughter Megan, a University of Houston graduate student. Typical leisure travel adventure, except for one thing: Megan has extensive physical paralysis and limited verbal…
Surviving the Loss of a Companion Animal
“Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all,” wrote the poet Alfred Tennyson, processing his grief after the death of a close friend. While mourning has its regrets, these rarely include, “I wish I’d never…
Coping When You Have a Disability: Natural Disasters
Wherever you live, chances are that natural disasters interrupt your business-as-usual from time to time. You don’t have to suffer direct injury or property damage: schedule disruptions, power outages, and evacuations impact everyone in the area. Even breaking-news bulletins can…
The World of Recreational Therapy
February is Recreational Therapy Awareness Month. Never heard of recreational therapy? Or assumed it was just another name for physical therapy? Read on! Do you believe having fun is good for everybody? If we’re talking about “everybody under a certain…
Introducing Tech to Rural Areas: A Digital Navigator’s Perspective
In September 2022, Easter Seals Greater Houston/BridgingApps became one of 18 organizations in the new Digital Navigator Corps, a national program formed under a $10 million investment from Google.org. The purpose of the Corps is to help rural residents gain…
When You’re Born with It: Managing Lifelong Disabilities
The term “birth defect” is falling out of favor, as people rightly resent implications of being “defective.” This writer personally prefers “congenital disabilities”; the World Health Organization speaks of “congenital anomalies”; but for the present, “birth defects” remains the official…