“Despite [Hurricane] Beryl’s best efforts, the NRG Center structure remains strong and Abilities Expo Houston will proceed on August 2–4.”
–Announcement on the Houston Abilities Expo website, July 2024
Houston’s 2024 Abilities Expo had over 20 live programs and nearly 100 exhibitors, including Easter Seals Greater Houston. As always, we were proud to be part of this event that rightly bills itself as “the resource for the disability community.” ESGH has been a regular exhibitor for more than a decade.
“The best thing about working the Abilities Expo was hearing stories from current and former clients of ESGH about the impact we have made in their lives.”
–Walter Prescher, BridgingApps Digital Navigator and ESGH representative at Houston Abilities Expo 2024
Service dogs wear their rights on their backs.
Bears demoing chairs.
Accessible climbing wall in action.
Giant Canine Companion stands watch.
What the Houston Expo is all about.
The Larger Reach of Abilities Expo
Perhaps not every Houstonian knows that the Houston event is just one of over half a dozen Abilities Expos. The “annual circuit” includes:
- Los Angeles (March)
- New York (May)
- Chicago (June)
- Houston (August)
- Phoenix (September)
- Fort Lauderdale (October)
- Dallas (December)
(In fact, Houston is a relatively recent member—and not even the first in Texas, having been preceded by Dallas. Which may explain how we got stuck with the most-miserable-season August slot: the better times of year were already taken.)
Fun Facts: Abilities Expo History
- The Abilities Expo is older than the Americans with Disabilities Act, having been first held in southern California in 1979.
- The original founder was Richard Wooten, a San Diego rehabilitation consultant who had personally used a wheelchair since having polio as a teenager. (There are still around 300,000 polio survivors in the United States, the vast majority having contracted the illness before the 1960s, when polio vaccinations became standard. A small but significant number of survivors were left with permanent paralysis, and as many as half may have post-polio syndrome—increased risk of muscle debilitation in later years.)
- The Expo is still southern-California-based, having been run by 5 Net 4 Productions in Encino (a suburb of Los Angeles) since 2008.
“I thought, ‘If I’m having problems [finding the best assistive technology], certainly others are as well.’ [The disability demographic is] a difficult population to reach. We’re scattered all about the country, in all segments and all age groups and ethnic groups.”
–Richard Wooten, being interviewed by the Los Angeles Times in 1993 about the founding of Abilities Expo
Since 1979 and even 1993, the world has become much more accessible. Intellectual disabilities have achieved recognition alongside physical disabilities. The digital age has introduced seemingly endless revolutions in assistive technology.
But disabled individuals are still everywhere in the country, scattered through all other demographic groups—and many are still struggling to find the best assistive technology. Let’s hope that the Abilities Expo will continue to expand its reach.