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"Can I see him? That's all I want to do is see him." The doctor called Melody Cooper to tell her that her husband's body was beginning to shut down. Like many others whose family members got COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic, she was told…

Mike Furnish, President/CEO of Special Olympics Indiana, was interviewed in 2013. Here he shares a brief history of the creation of the not-for-profit organization that provides sports training and athletic competition for children and adults with…

The first Special Olympics games were held at Soldier Field in Chicago in 1968. Athletes from the United States, Canada and France participated in the games. In 1969, a group of volunteers organized the first Special Olympics Indiana games in…

Mike Morton worked in Indiana state government for 20 years. In the late 1970s, after the legislature passed the Family Subsidy law, he was responsible for defining family subsidy, which included respite services. The Indiana Governor’s Council for…

"Distressed" and "oppressed," is how Tony and Connie Blair describe the city of Gary and the Northwest Indiana region where the Blind Social Center is located. They founded the center in 2014 after Mr. Blair, a general contractor, lost his eyesight…

"I bought a three bedroom house. And it's just me and I have a dog, and that's very exciting." Norman talks about his dream to own his own home, getting the help he needed and taking 15 classes on homeownership to prove he was credit-worthy. Norman…

"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…

“What I learned is that I had to prove myself constantly, that people with very good intentions just didn’t think I was capable of doing things because of my vision. They wanted to protect me,” says Peter Bisbecos talking about his school experience.…

"I train psychiatrists, psychologists, police officers, and correctional officers." Ray Lay is an Indiana Certified Recovery Specialist and Veterans Administration Peer Support Specialist. He describes how his life evolved from being homeless to…

“That was a huge experience for me,” Ronelle Johnson recalls of her term as President of Indiana Chapter of Black Deaf Advocates (ICBDA). “I decided to be involved in the Deaf community because their needs for advocacy was great.” Having lost her…