Southeast ADA Center

12/19/2025

New Free Web Course: Accessible Tourism and the ADA.
Just in time for the holiday season, the Rocky Mountain ADA Center released a new online course. Learn about accessible tourism, universal design in travel, and how to plan on it being accessible. It is FREE and self-paced. Register for Accessible Tourism and the ADA at this link: https://rockymountainada.talentlms.com/plus/catalog/courses/237

12/19/2025

This will get you in the holiday mood. Happy Friday!

12/18/2025

Join us in celebrating the legacy of Judy Heumann, known as the “mother of the disability rights movement”. Today would have been her 78th birthday. Listen to Judy on our 2022 ADA Live! podcast with resources at: https://adalive.org/episodes/episode-107/

Today is Judy’s birthday! She would be 78-years-old. Honor her today by learning more about her work and sharing her legacy with others 💜

Image Description: Judy wearing a sombrero smiling. A piece of cake with a candle on a plate that reads “Happy Birthday” is in front of her.

12/15/2025

REGISTER NOW: Top 3 FAQs About Working While Receiving Disability Benefits, a Choose Work – Ticket to Work Webinar. When: Wednesday, December 17, 2025 | 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM Eastern Time | 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM Central Time. Link: https://choosework.ssa.gov/wise/register

Mark your calendar!

If you’re thinking about work and have questions about your Social Security disability benefits, don’t miss the free Ticket to Work webinar on December 17 from 3 - 4:30 p.m. Eastern: Top 3 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Working While Receiving Disability Benefits.

We’ll cover common concerns, explain helpful Work Incentives, and share where to find free support as you explore your job options.

Looking for answers? This free webinar is a great place to start.
🔗 Register now: https://choosework.ssa.gov/wise/

12/12/2025

New Resource: Check out the Accessible Pregnancy Action Plan (APAP) from the National Center for Disability and Pregnancy Research. (https://heller.brandeis.edu/disability-and-pregnancy/support/accessible-pregnancy-action-plan.html)

New resource alert! The National Center for Disability & Pregnancy recently published the Accessible Pregnancy Action Plan (APAP). The plan is an innovative new tool designed to facilitate discussion between a pregnant woman with disabilities or chronic illness and her peer about her needs during pregnancy, labor and delivery, and postpartum. The APAP is aimed at people with disabilities who are considering pregnancy or who are pregnant, their supporters and peers, and pregnancy-related healthcare professionals. The plan includes welcome videos and a guide for facilitators.

Check out the APAP by visiting - https://heller.brandeis.edu/disability-and-pregnancy/support/accessible-pregnancy-action-plan.html

12/12/2025

New Success Story available from the ADA National Network!
The newest success story, Building Becomes an Accessible Vinyl Shop, was published today! This success story, adapted from a call to a regional ADA Center, follows Kaia and her recent purchase of a building for her vinyl business.

New Success Story available from the ADA National Network!

Our newest success story, Building Becomes an Accessible Vinyl Shop, was published today! This success story, adapted from a call to a regional ADA Center, follows Kaia and her recent purchase of a building for her vinyl business. Read more about Kaia's experience connecting with the ADA National Network here: https://adata.org/short-success-stories %20Becomes%20an%20Accessible%20Vinyl%20Shop

12/11/2025

Mental Health America’s Hope for the Holidays resource has tips and tools to help you find joy and peace while managing holiday stress, grief, or anxiety. Explore their Hope for the Holidays resources. https://mhanational.org/hope-for-the-holidays/

12/11/2025

If you need help with holiday shopping, try this 2025 Disability Holiday Gift Guide, created by disability advocates Emily Ladau and Kate Caldwell. (Link: https://emilyladau.com/2025/12/2025-disability-holiday-gift-guide/) There are great gift ideas from disabled small business owners, book recommendations to learn more about disability, and disability-led causes you can support.

THE 2025 DISABILITY HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE IS LIVE! 🎁

Check it out here:
https://emilyladau.com/2025/12/2025-disability-holiday-gift-guide/

Yes, the world continues to be in fiery chaos, but we can absolutely still embrace joy...which there's plenty of to be found in this year's gift guide.

I launched my Disability Holiday Gift Guide in 2014 (over a decade ago?!), and it's become a fun tradition to put it together with my friend Kate Caldwell, a nationally recognized consultant on disability entrepreneurship.

As always, you'll find lots of cool things from disabled small business owners, some book recommendations to further your learning about disability, and disability-led causes to support.

Uplift the hard work of the disability community! Please shop around, buy what you love, and share the guide with everyone you can. Feel free to add other shops, books, and organizations in the comments.

Also, I've seen more disability-related gift guides popping up in the past few years and I am LOVING it! Please feel free to link to those in the comments, too.

Happy shopping! Please have a warm, safe, and healthy holiday season.✨

(Image description: Text in a fun font says “The Original Disability Holiday Gift Guide 2025 by Emily Ladau & Kate Caldwell.” Under the text, joyful penguins, all with different colored ice skates, are skating among snowy trees and cozy gingerbread-esque houses. Each penguin has a number on them, indicating a different gift guide from 2016-2024.

12/11/2025

The Northeast ADA Regional Center released a new website, ADA Animated School Series. The series features Spike the Service Dog and his friends as they explore key concepts of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). More than 25 videos highlight topics like service animals, adaptive sports, video gaming, communication, employment, and technology for people with disabilities. A short curriculum and activity guide is available for each topic, to help educators and parents teach the next generation about disability.

Both dogs and miniature houses can be service animals to assist people with disabilities. Learn more about them from Spike and Callie.

12/09/2025

REGISTER SOON for Thursday's (12/11/25) free webinar. This session introduces the Arts & Culture Accessibility Hub’s free tools to understand ADA requirements, plus a clear cycle—assess, plan, connect, learn, implement—to turn intention into action.
Date: December 11, 2025
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM ET
Register now: bit.ly/art-of-access

There is still time to register for our upcoming webinar, “The Art of Accessibility: Implementing the ADA in Cultural Spaces.”

Arts, culture, and civic spaces are vibrant community anchors, but accessibility needs in these venues are often complex and unique. Many organizations want to understand their ADA obligations but lack tools tailored for theaters, museums, historic sites, and public spaces. This session introduces the Arts & Culture Accessibility Hub’s free tools to understand ADA requirements, plus a clear cycle—assess, plan, connect, learn, implement—to turn intention into action.

Date: December 11, 2025
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM ET
Register now: bit.ly/art-of-access

12/09/2025

REGISTRATION CLOSES TODAY! Happening tomorrow, this webinar will cover the ADA's legal requirements and how they apply to ensuring effective communication for individuals with disabilities in healthcare settings.

Date: December 10, 2025
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM ET
Register now: bit.ly/ada-effective-comm

There is still time to register for our upcoming webinar, “The ADA’s Effective Communication Requirements in Healthcare Settings.”

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in many areas, including healthcare. This webinar will cover the ADA's legal requirements and how they apply to ensuring effective communication for individuals with disabilities in healthcare settings.

Date: December 10, 2025
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM ET
Register now: bit.ly/ada-effective-comm

12/03/2025

It's International Day of Persons with Disabilities and what better place to recognize how people with disabilities can overcome challenges and change history than the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial on the National Mall?
After a battle with an illness often identified as polio, Roosevelt could not walk unaided. For the second half of his life, he struggled to overcome his lack of mobility and the stigma associated with it. Concerned of how the public would perceive him, FDR and his associates hid the extent of his illness. He used leg braces and a cane to help him move. He had special wheelchairs made that didn’t look like wheelchairs. And he pressured the press to never publish images of him in a "vulnerable" state. Of hundreds of thousands of photos taken of FDR, only a handful exist that show him in a wheelchair.
Decades later, FDR's disability is now common knowledge. Roosevelt’s incredible impact on our nation is now considered even more impressive due to the fact that he struggled with a serious illness. He is a hero to many people in the disabled community and a powerful example of perseverance and courage to all. So on International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we encourage everyone to visit the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial to remember the past and be inspired.
Photo by National Park Service.

It's International Day of Persons with Disabilities and what better place to recognize how people with disabilities can overcome challenges and change history than the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial on the National Mall?

After a battle with an illness often identified as polio, Roosevelt could not walk unaided. For the second half of his life, he struggled to overcome his lack of mobility and the stigma associated with it. Concerned of how the public would perceive him, FDR and his associates hid the extent of his illness. He used leg braces and a cane to help him move. He had special wheelchairs made that didn’t look like wheelchairs. And he pressured the press to never publish images of him in a "vulnerable" state. Of hundreds of thousands of photos taken of FDR, only a handful exist that show him in a wheelchair.

Decades later, FDR's disability is now common knowledge. Roosevelt’s incredible impact on our nation is now considered even more impressive due to the fact that he struggled with a serious illness. He is a hero to many people in the disabled community and a powerful example of perseverance and courage to all. So on International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we encourage everyone to visit the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial to remember the past and be inspired.

Photo by National Park Service.