Three Organizations Bringing Inclusion to Life - Blog - Reeve Foundation

As Christmas day and all it’s cheer from fun family times (yes, I am blessed to have a family I can and want to be with) came to an end last week, I thought back on the people, places and things that are stand outs for me in this final week of an almost past year of 2015. Taking stock of the last 365 days, neatly packaged as one year, is something in recent times I’ve begun as my, final week, tradition.

I look back on a calendar I scribble on throughout the year and I begin a list of my highs and lows, my travels, new people and ones that have pasted away, fun and not so fun activities, work, milestones, Doctor visits, opinions changed or formed, first experiences, mistakes, failures and success, really, just all of it. Written on January's page are my wishes for the coming New Year. One such wish noted was “spread the disability awareness, inclusion of all people goodness in more ways. Keep my eyes and ears open for guidance.”

I found many ways to share the good word, so to speak, and so have three organizations I’m sharing with you, here. So, I think these organizations deserve your attention. I hope in the coming year you will take some quality time to explore their websites, hopefully participate in their work, however you can, and perhaps find some new knowledge or clear guidance to assist you along you way in this life.

First and foremost if you’re reading this and you don’t know about the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, the home and patron of this blog then please click this link and hang out for a while wandering around the site. It’s more than you could imagine and hope for in a resource and community. The Reeve Foundation is not in this top three list, because I thought you already knew about them and really you should know about them.

OK, so these three are not-for-profit organizations, or also know as non-profits, they are global in their reach and I have become come joined up with them in one way or another. They each have a track they use to support their mission, one is education, one is engagement and one is mobility.

The first is the Open Doors Organization, ODO founded in 2000 “for the purpose of creating a society in which all persons with disabilities have the same consumer opportunities as everyone else.” They teach businesses, specifically in the travel and tourism industry, how to engage and succeed in the disability and aging markets using, if you haven’t guessed education as the way they roll. ODO has over seven trainings, including disability sensitivity, in-person and on-line, best practices, ADA and ACAA as well as consumer education, videos, consulting and the latest travel news.

Their Universal Access in Airports, UAIA conferences gathers all segments of aviation together with consumers for problem solving and guidance sharing. ODO created the first disabled traveler marketing study in 2005 and now there are three and this is only the tip of the iceberg of what they do to improve traveling for people aging and with disabilities.

Next up is the United States International Council on Disability, USICD. Their mission is “to promote the rights and full participation of persons with disabilities through global engagement and the United States foreign affairs.” This is a membership based organization that focuses on human rights for all people should be protected, advanced and elevated to create a global community that celebrated and employs the talents and potentials of people with disabilities.USICD is about putting people in position to take action and get stuff done. They do this by collaborating with American and International disability communities, cultures and DPO’s. Their initiatives include the United States ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities, CRPD, Global Disability Rights Library, Youth in International Development and Foreign Affairs internships and leadership programs and foreign affairs news, reports and releases. This organization leads by example with board of directors experienced in human rights.

Concluding my top three organization for 2015 you might want to check out is Global Mobility USA. They call themselves a humanitarian organization; I like to call them superhero’s because they are creating freedom, opportunity for employment, community engagement and an education around the world for people who need wheelchairs and mobility devices and can not afford them.

Global Mobility USA doesn’t just drop the wheelchairs off and head back home. They provide seating and positioning clinics as well as comprehensive training and education on maintaining of the equipment in good working order. This organization creates an immediate and forceful affect not only in the life of the recipient, but their family, community, region and government. When people with disabilities are seen and active in the community, because they are mobile negative stigma changes to the truth of all humanity, we all have value and can contribute to the betterment of society.

My wish is that you sit down with a beverage to linger and cruse around the websites of these organizations, maybe become involved or leave a comment. The inclusion solution needs all of us to do a bit or more to keep opening the door wider so any size person or wheelchair, whatever we are using until there is perfect health or hover boards, can get through that opening and into the game of life, fully. Oh and here's a random act just for good measure, if your unsure of your ability or awesomeness, just let me say, You Are Awesome. Cheers!!!

Sweet Dreams, and Blessings to All!!!

In Joy, Candace

© 2016 Candace Cable | |