MassAbility

07/21/2025

It's hard to believe Boston Pride was a month ago already! We're reminiscing in the office this week and hoping for some extra rainbows in case of any rain. Take a look through with us! This week, we're getting ready for a different kind of march for pride... Disability Pride and celebrating the ADA!


Boston Pride for the People

Image Descriptions:
One: Group photo outside of the Boston Public Library, everyone is gathered behind and around the blue MassAbility banner with a giant rainbow across it.
Two: Taking selfies with Tina and Pari from Love on the Spectrum!
Three: Kate excitedly photographed with her arms out wide and wearing a rainbow umbrella hat.
Four: Group photo again but this time outside at the Boston Commons, everyone looks rainy and wet and are holding rainbow umbrellas and jackets.
Five: Marching in the Pride Parade down a Boston street behind the MassAbility banner.

07/20/2025

FREE Disability Pride event this Wednesday in Worcester, MA!

Enjoy a mid-day festival and farmer's marketing with a special raising of the Disability Pride Flag at City Hall, dance to live music and grab lunch or a snack from the best local food trucks and food vendors! Shop for locally grown produce, high-quality meats and cheeses, freshly baked bread, gourmet snacks, and find local art and handmade goods from dozens of local artists and makers.

MassAbility will be there! Join us on the Worcester Common Oval from 11 am to 3 pm this Wednesday July 23rd to celebrate Disability Pride and enjoy all that this great city has to offer. Event created and hosted by Downtown Worcester Business Improvement District!



Alt Text Image Description: Colorful promotional flyer for Out to Lunch and a Disability Pride Month celebration in Downtown Worcester. The event is scheduled for July 23 from 11 AM to 3 PM on the Worcester Common. The flyer includes fun patchwork style, colorful images and details that feel crafty and youthful. Festivities include live performances and local vendors and food trucks and community resource tables. The event is hosted by Downtown Worcester Business Improvement District. Learn more at OutToLunchWorcester.Com

06/20/2025

We are so excited for this! 🤩

This year's Young Leadership Forum (YLF) is coming up next week! 😎

We wanted to give you a preview of what this year's forum will feature - check out the latest blog post below:

🔗 Blog post link: https://pyd.org/blog/2025/06/20/ylf-preview-2025/

Image description: White PYD logo on a bright coral background. There are vector lines with dots at the end that are scattered throughout the image. White text - "Preview of YLF. New blog post." The YLF letters have images of past YLF events inside.

06/17/2025

The rain certainly didn't keep anyone away! Boston Pride 2025 had a huge turn-out- and spirits were high 🎉
Thanks to everyone who showed up and showed out for Pride! 🏳️‍🌈

Next year, it would be great to see some improved accessibility details for vendor areas so that those in all kinds of mobility aids can access the cool creations by the community. Grassy areas and curbs prevent access for many people, and proved especially tricky once the rain started.

That said, the accessibility guide online and ample amount of accessible portapotties were fantastic! 💪
Boston Pride for the People

Video Description: A video of many different clips from Boston Pride- which was rainy but very well attended! First is a clip of the map for the pride festival, and then a rainbow spinning umbrella that lifts up to reveal Sarah sitting in her wheelchair with a pride flag over her shoulders. There's a huge crowd forming for the parade, and tons of colors everywhere! Interspersed with clips of the MassAbility team in the parade are clips of the crowd being super excited along the parade route. You can see how much Boston decorates for Pride, with giant flags hanging from brownstones over the rainbow crosswalks. There's even a clip of a cute black lab in a rainbow jacket wagging sweetly, and a clip of Sarah and her wife smiling and covered in raindrops. Some banners hanging from another brick facade say "Sashay, Shantay, Shantay, Shantay, Shantay!" The parade route continues on with more excited people and ends with a few clips of the busy Boston Common and Boston Public Garden areas and some vendor tents from the festival before ending on a video of Sarah, covered in rainbows, waving.



Transcription for video in comments.

06/11/2025

So glad these conversations can be had! Assumptions about someone's capabilities can be tricky, because it doesn't account for each individual's experience. When it comes to work and opportunities for disabled artists and creatives, assumptions can be a barrier to work. The best thing to do? Don't assume- get to know the person so that you can understand their specific access needs.

When you think about inviting someone to an opportunity, don't make the decision for them about whether you think they can handle it or not: allow them to make the decision. Give clear details so they can make an informed choice themselves, and make sure you are honest with them about a willingness to make accommodations.

Thanks so much MASSCreative for giving us a chance to participate and Erin Ryan Heyneman and the folks at Disabled Stories Collective for hosting an amazing panel: "At the Intersection of Disability and Culture" and THANK YOU to everyone who came and listened to us and asked questions!

Video Description: Selfie style video of Sarah, a Japanese American mixed young person with a brown shaggy mullet style haircut, big pink glasses, and a teal tank top on. As Sarah talks, they move their hands a lot which are covered in shiny ring splints. Behind Sarah is a projector screen.

06/06/2025

Happy Pride Month! Let's make sure to plan events that are truly accessible to all during a time celebrating inclusion, pride, and diversity. LGBTQ+ people with disabilities exist and want to be included in the festivities, too! Here's a helpful guide for a starting place when creating accessible pride events.

06/04/2025

We're so excited for the DCR Adaptive Recreation Fair this weekend, June 7th from 10am-3pm! It's a free, fun-filled day celebrating accessible outdoor recreation in Massachusetts state parks.

Family-friendly, accessible, and inclusive activities include cycling with a variety of adaptive cycles, adaptive pickleball, adaptive golf, face painting and kite decorating, sidewalk chalk art, equipment demonstrations (including hiking, surfing, and fencing), games, music, and much more. Find out about adaptive summer programs across the state!

Alt text available!

05/12/2025

This month, we participated in the first-ever MASSBUYS EXPO, held at the iconic Gillette Stadium, with over 2,000 attendees!

The event was huge for our Career and Business Relations team, who engaged with more than 260 employers from across the Commonwealth. It was an exciting opportunity to introduce our mission and services and highlight our commitment to connecting job seekers to high-quality employment opportunities.

The Expo is a great opportunity to form valuable new employer relationships, share success stories, and lay the groundwork for future partnerships that will support inclusive hiring across Massachusetts. Thanks so much to the team for their hard work getting ready for this event!



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05/07/2025

Tonight! 🤩

🎬 TOMORROW: Film & Community Gathering on Disability Rights

Join us Wednesday, May 7 from 6–8 PM at Malden City Hall (215 Pleasant St.) for a special screening of Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution—an award-winning documentary highlighting the powerful, youth-led Disability Rights Movement.

📣 After the film, connect with local organizations and learn about services and supports available for people with disabilities and their caregivers.

💬 Free and open to the public. All are welcome!

05/06/2025

How cool is this!? Perkins School for the Blind educators prove that sometimes the best adaptive solutions come from good old fashioned creativity. A simple plastic set of letter or paper organizers and some velcro, felt, and small bits and bobs come together to create tactile floor-by-floor maps. This helps students visualize where they are in each building, and understand where they are in relation to the space they're in.

Video Description: A video of someone showing off a tactile diorama map of one of the Perkins School campus buildings, which is made using some plastic letter/paper organizers that stack on top of each other. Each stack represents a level or floor of the building, and has a cardboard and felt tactile piece of cardboard with details you can feel on top that can be used to learn the layout, regardless of how much someone can or can't see.

05/04/2025

DEADLINE APPROACHING! Apply by May 6th for this FREE June event!

Youth Leadership Forum (YLF) is coming soon! YLF is a multi-day conference for young adults with disabilities, ages 18-30. This conference dives into four themes of leadership: self-capacity, self-advocacy, self-realization, and self-sufficiency.

For this year, priority acceptance will be given to MassAbility's NextGen participants and/or those new to YLF.

Learn more at the link: pyd.org/programs/youth-leadership-forum/

05/02/2025

We had an amazing time at Intersections by Abilities Dance! The show honored Black disabled, trans, and q***r activists and educators through powerful music, movement, and storytelling—connecting their journeys to real community and legislative issues. The themes of identity, resilience, and community were beautifully woven throughout and it was wonderful to learn more about the honorees and their work.

It was so great to enjoy the full accessibility of the event, too! ASL interpreters, captions, and audio descriptions were provided for the whole show. The folks of Abilities Dance Boston worked so hard to provide an accessible and accepting space for as many people as possible to enjoy the show, and it was great to feel that community come out and show up for that kind of dedication.

Video Description: The video opens with a shot of the intricate architecture inside of the Multicultural Arts Center. Next is a shot of Sarah, a Japanese American person with shaggy brown hair and glasses, and her wife Liza, white person with curly brown hair and glasses. They are both wearing masks and smiling. There are shots of the dancers performing, followed by shots of people at tables set up for various related organizations. You can see an ASL interpreter in the background. There is a shot of the dancers all getting photos together after the performance in front of a large blue backdrop with "Intersections V4" in white text. Next, Ellice, a black woman dressed in a black blazer and black pants, is speaking to the audience. The final shot is of all six of the dancers taking a final bow.