Accessibility Now: Stories About Disability Rights in Georgia

We’re featuring a conversation with Rosario Palacios, an activist with Caring Across Generations, working on the Care Can’t Wait initiative, a cooperative effort involving multiple organizations including us here at SILCGA. Rosario shared with us about her work, her story, and what motivates her to advocate for change as an activist and a caregiver. We begin our conversation by getting her backsto...

Atlanta is an expensive city to live in. Because of that, the city’s center for independent living, disABILITY LINK, places tremendous emphasis on job readiness and navigating the workforce. So much so that disAbility Link starts equipping people with disabilities with professional skills from the center’s earliest interactions with them while they are in the local school system. Kim Gibson, disAB...

For our fifth episode of Accessibility Now, we talked to the folks at Walton Options in Augusta, Georgia. You may remember them as the CIL for which our last guest, the late Gaylon Tootle , worked. CIL Director Tiffany Crawford spoke with us about the new building for Walton Options, finished in July 2022, and the unique challenges the CIL faces in their area. We also spoke with consumer Mary Reyn...

This is a very special episode of Accessibility Now, featuring an interview with a true champion of disability rights, Gaylon Tootle. Gaylon worked at Walton Options, the CIL in Augusta, and also fought for voting rights for people with disabilities — a timely issue as we have elections just around the corner. We talk about his life’s work, his struggles, victories, and the importance of voting ri...

Before becoming staff members at Northwest Georgia Center for Independent Living, Christina, Quinn, and Erna all experienced  what it was like to live with a disability. They also experienced the life-changing implications of getting connected to needed resources, like assistive technology, or learning important skills, like self-advocacy. These experiences of gaining the needed tools and ski...

The needs of people with disabilities vary not only based on their respective disabilities, but also where they are living. In rural areas, the needs that people face can be stark and immediate. Disability Resource Center (DRC) is a Center for Independent Living in Demorest, Georgia, that has been serving 13 rural counties in northeast Georgia for over 20 years. At DRC, the staff confronts a wide...

Access 2 Independence (A2I) in a Center for Independent Living (CIL) in Columbus, Georgia. We will hear from A2I’s Director Kirk Holcombe about their work transitioning people out of nursing homes so that they can live independently and on their own terms. Not only does this program restore autonomy and dignity to the people transitioning, but getting more people out of nursing homes actually save...