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Muriel LaDuke's third child, Tim, was born in New Albany, Indiana with physical disabilities. A few months after his birth in 1959, a doctor told her not to bother teaching Tim to do anything. When Tim was about five, doctors suggested Muscatatuck.…

“I was like 21 and decided to set down and write a book,” says Melissa. Ever since she was a young child in Lafayette, Indiana, Melissa wanted to write a book about how we are all different in some way or another. Her book is called, “Follow Your…

"Let's wait and see what he can do," is what doctors told Sharon after the birth of her son in the 1980s. Fortunately, Sharon didn't wait around. She searched out services for him and as he got older, she continued to advocate for him by enrolling…

"Costa was one of the most passionate individuals you would ever meet," says Jim Hammond of his friend Costa Miller, former CEO of the Indiana Association of Rehabilitation Facilities. Jim reflects on Costa's career and the impact he had on the…

Andy Imlay, a part-time stand-up comedian who performs across southern Indiana, shares stories about life, school, and relationships, and using the power of laughter to address common misconceptions about people with disabilities. Andy is from…

“The Arc name is an interesting story in itself,” says John Dickerson of the history of The Arc. It was in the late ‘40s when parents across the country started organizing to discuss opportunities for their children. The first Indiana state…

"I joke with everybody that I take a day, I sit at home with a two-liter bottle of Diet Pepsi and a huge box of tissues and I read all the essays,” recounts Donna about the Attitude Essay Contest. The contest encourages elementary and middle school…

"We had legislators who came in and talked to people about how to communicate with a legislator, how to write to legislators." The Indiana Governor's Council for People with Disabilities (GCPD) had its first Partners in Policymaking graduation class…

"We'd learned that, it's no surprise, people with disabilities were the most underserved group in the mortgage and lending industry." In this video, Deborah McCarty explains the launching of the Back Home in Indiana Alliance in 1997. The original…

"I was in a hospital before I was discharged. Nobody told me about unemployment. Nobody told me about what we'd face in life in a wheelchair," recounts Al Tolbert in this video interview excerpt. "I think we're doing a better job than we did after…