Classified with intellectual disabilities, Benson (not his real name) is a friendly fourteen-year-old with an engaging smile and an easy personality. I first met Benson when his mother called me after she read a newspaper article about my work...
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I realize that we have to give names to things, but I’m not sure that “disability” or “disabled” should be used to describe human beings. Read the below story about one teen I worked with and let me know how...
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PART 2 OF 2 I’d built momentum from the last charity event I created, organized, raised funds for, and promoted. Now I needed to replicate its success. I conducted research, made some calls, and drafted a heartfelt letter to send to Mr...
Read More PART 1 OF 2 For many years people have debated which fighting style is superior. Boxers argued they would knock out wrestlers. Wrestlers claimed they’d defeat boxers after bringing the fight to the ground. Karate practitioners, kickboxers, tae...
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PART 2 of 2 During my next visit to Charleston the following December, I was once again hired by Lindsay’s parents to help their daughter with a new project. Her parents reported that she was still working well with Carly at The...
Read More PART 1 of 2 Due to the flexibility of my job and my wife’s work—combined with our desire to travel and embark upon new adventures—I was able to build a small caseload of students in Charleston, South Carolina each winter. During my work in...
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This article originally appeared on Disabled World’s website: https://www.disabled-world.com/disability/publications/special-stories.php Over the last fifteen years, award-winning transition educator Mike Kelly has worked with hundreds of...
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Below read what some notable people, papers and organizations are saying about “Special Stories…” “In life you meet a lot of very interesting people. Some are takers and others are givers. Mike Kelly is a giver and he...
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In the second half of my book I talk about how celebrities I reached out to wanted tens of thousands of dollars to briefly appear at charity events I had conceived and organized benefiting individuals with disabilities, and how I was both shocked...
Read More While there are a great many people out in the business world who will bend over backward to accommodate my students at work, I’ve come to find out there are even more that won’t. These folks always seem to watch my students more...
Read More For some reason, society has unreasonably low expectations of youth with disabilities and a propensity to stereotype. In fact, there’s a prevailing and widespread belief that youth with disabilities have three career options: 1) Bag...
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This two-part interview was conducted by Courtney Williams from Disability Life. Part Two is below. PART TWO CW— SPEAKING OF SALES, HOW ARE BOOK SALES GOING? MK— I’m nowhere close to that hundred thousand copies, I’ll tell you that...
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