Disability is one of those prickly topics that concerns everyone. It is roughly defined as being unable to perform one or more "normal" human, life activities, such as walking, seeing, hearing or processing thought. There are those who take the controversial stand and say:

the point being that everyone (or virtually everyone) comes to, or directly deals with disability at some point in their lives. While some of us are born with a disability, an accident or illness can inflict passing or permanent disability. More often, disability appears as the accumulation of physical or mental limitations that come from age. Even if we ourselves are untouched by it, we will surely have to deal with the disability of others. Many of us are currently, or will need to care for a parent, child, partner or loved one coping with injury, malady or age. According to the "National Center on Disability and Journalism," People with disabilities make up at least 19 percent of the U.S. population or 54.4 million people. Disability is ever present.

While my views on disability reflect more shades of gray than the binary choices above, the need for non-disabled folks to understand how close this issue is to every day life is critical. We initiated our efforts on this web site by creating a list of resources that address the issues of disability rights, news sources and services here in the greater New York area and beyond. We also have a disability news page called "New & Views form the community of people with a disability" and an editorial & opinion page entitled The Writing on the Wall".