Healthy Aging Month: Tips for Aging Safely and Independently at Home
September is Healthy Aging Month. From fall prevention and simple home changes to assistive technology and staying connected, here are practical ways to keep living well at home…
Blog posts
National Preparedness Month: Emergency Planning for People with Disabilities
September is National Preparedness Month. Build an emergency plan that works for you — a support network, a go-kit that fits your needs, power backup for equipment, and local alerts…
Back to School: Why Inclusive Education Opens Doors to Opportunity
Access to education is access to opportunity. What inclusive education really means, the rights every family should know, and five ways to start the school year strong…
International Assistance Dog Week: How Assistance Dogs Support Independence
August 3–9 is International Assistance Dog Week. Meet the guide, mobility, psychiatric, and medical alert dogs that make independence possible — and learn how to act around a working dog…
Celebrating Disability Pride Month
Every July, people across the country celebrate Disability Pride Month. Learn what it means, the story behind the disability pride flag, and simple ways to take part…
Celebrating the Fourth for Everyone
The Fourth of July is a time for food, friends, and fun. But not every part of the day works well for every person. A few simple changes can help everyone take part…
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day
June 15th is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, a day designed to bring attention to the thousands of adults over 60 years old who are abused,…
People with Disabilities and Sexual Assault
April is National Sexual Assault Awareness Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness, educating the public and working to prevent sexual …
Brain Injury Awareness Month
March is Brain Injury Awareness Month intended to bring focus on improving the quality of life for those living with brain injury. There are…
Stressed to the Max
How many times have you thought, “I’m stretched as far as I can go!” Stress can have negative effects on all of us. It causes the release of…
Living on Less
Many of us live paycheck to paycheck. Once I retired, I found myself having to manage on about half of what I was making while I was working…
The Relationship Between Anger and Pain
So many disabilities involve trying to cope with long-term physical pain. Do you sometimes find yourself angry over how pain keeps you from …
What the ADA Means to Me
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was created to protect individuals with disabilities from discrimination. These laws affect jobs…
May is Mental Health Awareness Month
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Its purpose is to try to help us understand that mental health issues affect all of us and to try to r…
Happy Winter! Winter Safety Advice
Another winter: snow, cold, ice, slipping, sliding and hopefully, not falling. However we define it, winter is here! While we got off fairly…
Ready To Go! Hurricane Preparedness
Today, in an email from the White House Office of Public Engagement, I found a list of what’s being done in Florida to prepare for the arriv…
Ageism
Let’s face it: if you’re alive, then you’re getting older. You would think that would mean most of us would be a bit more accepting of older…
Supported Decision-Making in Michigan
There are times when we get calls at Disability Network Lakeshore (DNL) asking what can be done to help children with developmental disabili…
Emergency Preparedness Planning with a Disability
If you are creating an emergency preparedness plan and you have a disability, you may want to put some thought into how it might be a challe…
Something New at Disability Network Lakeshore
Sometimes it can be difficult to find the right assistive technology (A.T.) items to meet your needs. You see something that might work out …
A Special Gift For Christmas | Advanced Directive for Health Care
I’m giving a special gift to my sister for Christmas this year. I made a list of things that need to be done that I know keep getting put of…
Giving Thanks
Holidays are often difficult when you have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). While everyone else is enjoying that joyful holiday spirit…
Service Animal Questions and Answers
There is a lot of confusion about whether the person coming into a business with a dog is really using a service animal, or if they just can…
Not Just Blowing Smoke
Having trouble catching your breath these days? I have asthma, and I’ve learned that it’s up to me to do whatever it takes to get through ea…
A Resource Center For Deaf and Hearing-Impaired Individuals
You might wonder what a Resource Center for people with hearing loss is. Disability Network Lakeshore has received a small grant to start a …
The Pact Act and Burn Pit Exposure
Between 2001 and 2010, over a million and a half troops were sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. While there, many of them were exposed to burn pi…
A New Way of Life
Doesn’t it feel like we are past the worst of the COVID-19 crisis? We are all relaxing now and, to be honest, I think most of us have let ou…
Disaster Scams
It’s unfortunate that there are people who prey on the weak and injured, yet in our society, they exist. Individuals who take advantage of p…
Person-Centered Planning
Disability Network Lakeshore (DNL) staff use Person-Centered Planning (PCP) in determining the path we will follow when working with consume…
New Year's Resolutions: A Time For Making Plans
January is the time to think about all those things we’ve put off doing year after year, like making a plan to get out of debt, or thinking …
Putting the Jolly Back into the Holidays!
The thing about the holidays is that while we may look forward to them, when they finally arrive, we end up thinking that things went by too…
Stay Cyber-Safe During the Holidays
Ready.gov offers tips for protecting your private information during the holidays and all year long. The holiday season is a busy time. We s…
Coping With Holiday Stress
Christmas time is near, and with it comes all the typical stressors of the holidays: unannounced company, parties, meals with family, shoppi…
Home Modification & Assistive Technology Assessments
It can be a challenge to be disabled, but when you add the functional losses that come with aging, you may find yourself struggling to remai…
Keep Your Holidays Safe!
Halloween is always the kick off of the holiday season for me, and this year is no exception. With the arrival of cold weather, we’re into t…
The 2022 Pact Act
The Pact Act was signed into law on August 10, 2022. Its’ purpose is to expand health benefits provided by the VA to veterans who were expos…
Fall
Autumn is one of my favorite times of year with the changing color of the woods and the crisp, cool air. However, this isn’t a discourse on …
Hidden Disabilities
A disability is a physical or mental impairment that limits normal activities of daily living in a significant way. Estimates range from 65%…
Learning To Live On Your Own
What do you need to know in order to live independently? It may seem like a very simple question, but it’s not! Many of the skills that help…
The Philosophy of Independent Living
Defining the philosophy of independent living isn’t all that difficult. Simply put, it means that even with a disability we want to be able …
Living with Chronic Illness
Most people will experience two or more chronic, long-term illnesses during their lifetimes. Almost 60% of us have a chronic condition we de…
Omicron
Just when you thought things were getting back to normal, several new types of COVID-19 are making themselves known. These variants are not …
Veteran Scams
Unfortunately, being a veteran does not exclude you from being the target of a scam. Apparently, there is no honor among thieves as the AARP…
Walking The Line: Hypervigilance
Hypervigilance is one of the more frustrating symptoms of PTSD. It’s that restless sense of feeling you should do something, but not underst…
Thunderstorms and Lightning
Last night we had quite a storm! I woke many times to the sound of thunder and the flash of lightning. When that happens, I often think abou…
Why Not Make a Plan?
Why are people with disabilities so reluctant to create a plan for responding to disaster? We have the greatest likelihood of not surviving …
Chronic Pain
Chronic pain often accompanies disability. Whether it’s from the result of aging on your body, or from injuries or illnesses of the past, th…
Thankful For Assistive Technology!
As I’m aging, I find I rely on assistive technology (A.T.) on a daily basis. I need a back brace now so I can lean over long enough to trim …
Not My First Rodeo
I’ll admit that when it comes to living with a disability, every day seems to have its share of struggles. Just getting dressed can be a maj…
Weathering the Storm
I’ve been home this past couple of weeks recovering from surgery and have spent a great deal of my time watching television. I like followin…
I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends
I’ve made no secret of the fact that I have arthritis, and that it has caused me to be disabled. Last week I had a total left hip replacemen…
Let’s Be Smart
Let’s face it, life is hard! As I get older, I find that so many things are becoming more difficult than they used to be. It’s frustrating b…
Parkinson's Disease & Agent Orange
Agent Orange continues to cause problems for veterans of the Vietnam War. Now it has been linked to the development of Parkinson’s disease t…
Black Influences
Overcoming disability can be a life-long journey, but when you are black in addition to being disabled, it can be twice as difficult. Februa…
Have a Safe and Accessible Holiday!
It’s the holiday season, and no matter what holidays you’re celebrating, you may have family or guests coming to visit. If they have disabil…
Happy Holidays
As the latest wave of COVID-19 rolls through Michigan again, I’m thinking about how long this pandemic will last. Did any of us ever think i…
Staying Safe For The Holidays
I always think of Halloween as the kickoff of the holiday season. I love the holidays and with decorating, baking, and watching all the spec…
The New Normal At School
It’s almost time to head back to school! Parents are buying school supplies and new clothes. Children are making the most of their last days…
Summer's Here
Summer has arrived and with it those hot, steamy days that many of us dread. While I don’t like the bitter cold of winter, I really don’t li…
Backlash
Did you know that June 1st was the start of the Atlantic hurricane season? I know, you’re probably thinking “What does that have to do with …
Caregiver Overload
COVID-19 has caused a lot of stress on everyone, but it has been an especially difficult time for those who are caring for others. Caregivin…
Acquiring A Disability
Almost twenty percent of the people in American are disabled, some having been born with their disability, others having acquired it by bein…
Learning To Solve Your Problems
Sometimes when we confront our problems, they seem too overwhelming to ever resolve. I have seen that happen when a problem feels too big an…
How Do I Get A Service Dog?
Recently, there has been an increase in the number of people calling the DNL office to ask about how they can get a service dog. In most ins…
After Hitting The Wall
It’s been a difficult year for all of us. When I stop to think that it has been almost a year now since COVID-19 reared its ugly head in my …
When Your Disability is New: Part 3 "Assistive Technology for Independent Living"
I recently picked up the special chair I must use following the eye surgery I’m scheduled to have. The procedure I’ll be going through is ca…
When Your Disability is New: Part 2 "There Is Always Hope"
As I drove to work this morning, I was amazed at how much had changed with my eyesight during the past week. When I drove to work in the ear…
Midnight At The Masquerade
Disability Network Lakeshore invites you to:
When Your Disability is New
When you first learn you have a condition that is considered a disability, it’s frightening, to say the least. A disability is a physical, m…
Beating the Blues
If 2020 has taken a toll on you and you couldn't wait for 2021 to arrive, then it may be you’re fighting the blues. Many people are these da…
Preparing for a Winter Storm
It’s the time of year when winter storms can blow through with deadly force. Are you prepared? While we’d rather not think about it, we all …
Taking Care of You
Why is it that we tend to think that anything that smacks of self-care means we’re “indulging” ourselves? We feel we don’t deserve to waste …
Working with Disabled American Veterans
Over the past decade, my work with disabled Veterans in the VA’s Vocational Rehabilitation Program has been the highlight of my time at Disa…
Incoming!
Having PTSD means chemical changes have occurred in the brain that result in a continuously active state of arousal for the individual affec…
Repeat Performance
Medical experts are predicting that we are not yet done with the coronavirus pandemic. I suspect that’s true. People want it to be over so l…
A Veterans Success Story
When Gage called Disability Network Lakeshore, he was unemployed and was struggling to cope with PTSD. He had no idea how the skills he lear…
Learning To Live With PTSD
A while back, I thought I’d done a fairly good job at learning to live with PTSD, but I hit another bump in the road and everything went up-…
The Roses
It has been an extremely difficult summer due to the coronavirus crisis. We are all stressed more than usual with wearing masks, washing our…
Everyone Needs A Plan
I’ve been watching the news this week about the wildfires in California, and my heart goes out to the folks dealing with that horror. It’s n…
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) turns 30
This year, 2020, marks the 30th anniversary of the ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act. Without the ADA, our lives and communities woul…
A New World
To me, it feels as though life with PTSD has become more difficult with this pandemic crisis. Emotions are closer to the surface for everyon…
How to Vote with a Disability in the 2020 Election
Voting is a constitutional right for all adult United States citizens, but for people with disabilities, the process can be extremely frustr…
Disarming Anger
When you have PTSD, you have an invisible wound that is not easily healed. You may feel as if you have been damaged beyond repair, and you m…
Knowing Who You Are and Where You're Goin
Currently, at work, I’m hosting a workshop on developing healthy living habits, and one of the things we are looking at is identifying goals…
Anxiety
There are times when we all feel a bit anxious over events or circumstances in our lives, but with an anxiety disorder, the fear is more int…
Assistive Technologies Following a Disaster
Blog header Hi, I'm Chris from Disability Network Lakeshore and I'm here to talk today a little bit about assistive technology following dis…
No Power
Thunder, lightning, high winds, and possible hail; it is storming this morning, and I’m wondering if our power will go out again. Suddenly, …
Something Special
I raise dogs, and not one of them will refuse a cookie when offered! I enjoy coming home and greeting each one with a small, yummy goody. Th…
PTSD RELAPSE
I never thought much about having a relapse of my PTSD. As I got older and I found myself coping better, I thought this was the way it would…
Water
When I think about managing to survive following a disaster, one of my greatest concerns is finding water. From the troubled times I’ve alre…
New Beginnings
This coronavirus has certainly changed our lives, and I find myself having to learn new ways to adapt every day because of it. That’s hard, …
Water, Water Everywhere
We had some pretty nasty storms this week, with rain coming down sideways several times when I looked. Of course, trees came down too and th…
A New Day
Stay positive. That’s what all the messages are these days: stay up, stay positive, stay healthy. But, while that may be easily said, someti…
One Step At A Time
If you haven’t started to put together an emergency plan and the reason is that you feel overwhelmed by the complexity of the project, then …
A Time For Change
While all of us shelter-in-place in an effort to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, many businesses and organizations are working to fin…
PTSD & Anxiety
You certainly don’t have to have PTSD to be anxious over all the implications of COVID-19, the Coronavirus that is currently making its’ rou…