News

Today On The Avenue we wanted to recognize Chris Ulmer, who is making a big splash in the disabled community. As a former special education teacher, Chris was a witness of the amazing things his students had to offer. In his efforts to show the rest of the world just how funny, engaging, and charismatic his students were, he attempted to publish a book of stories [...]

Cody Martin is an illustrator from Murfreesboro, Tennessee who is turning his lifelong love of drawing into a career that will allow him to become more self-sufficient. Instead of letting autism hinder him, he works very hard to purse his dreams of entertaining people with his gift. With direction and encouragement from the staff at Westwood Avenue, Cody is pursuing [...]

Today On The Avenue we want to share an inspiring story. Last month Kalin Bennett, 18, became the first person with autism to sign a letter of intent with a Division 1 University! He will be enrolling and playing basketball at Kent State next summer While Kalin had multiple offers from other colleges, he explained that he chose Kent University because of their [...]

Today On The Avenue we wanted to share something that caught our attention this week. The British Paraorchestra, founded by Charles Hazlewood and Claire Whalley in 2011, is a music ensemble made up of musicians both with and without disabilities. All of the members of the orchestra are leading musicians with huge amounts of passion and talent. They are the perfect [...]

Today On the Avenue I want to introduce you to Amethyst Schaber. Amythest is a young woman with autism, and an educator and public speaker focusing on disability and neurodiversity. On her website, neurowonderful.tumblr.com,  she covers a wide variety of topics all touching on autism, neurodiversity, and disability. She also has a YouTube series called “Ask an [...]

Today On The Avenue we wanted to share Becky Cox’s story. She is a young woman with Autism speaking about the negative stereotypes that people with her disability often face. You can view her TEDTalk below, where she touches on the vast differences between everyone on the spectrum, the challenges with diagnosis, and her experience growing up in the mainstream [...]

This week On The Avenue we have The Matt Show Season 2’s second episode! Matt’s visiting a local drone shop to fulfill a long time goal of building his very own drone. Check it below! Thank you so much to Vivid Aerial and Byron Brock for showing us all of the cool things that you do! Check back with us again next week On The Avenue.

This week On The Avenue I wanted to put out a special blog post in order to celebrate Matt and his new Season of The Matt Show! Matt has spent his time between Season 1 and Season 2 coming up with some awesome ideas for new episodes, and episode 1 is a perfect example of all of his hard work. Check it below, and help us celebrate Matt! Thanks so much for stopping by [...]

This week On The Avenue things got extra spooky. We decked the halls with tricks and treats, and prepared for the unofficial beginning of the holiday season- Halloween. With the office in a costume of its own, we all showed up for the day in our Halloween best. “The Most Interesting Man Alive,” Tom Woodard, was hosting our party so we all knew it was a [...]

This week On The Avenue we’re celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM)! Observed every October, NDEAM is a nationwide campaign that celebrates the contributions of workers with disabilities throughout American history, and emphasizes the importance of ensuring that all Americans have access to the services and supports to enable them to work. [...]