Center for People With Disabilities

10/27/2026

New assistive technology is changing how people who are blind or have low vision travel, and much of it is built to work alongside the white cane.

For White Cane Safety Day, we looked at what is available now: smart canes that sense obstacles at head height, the Glide mobility aid that steers around obstacles on its own, Meta glasses that read text and describe what is around you, and the OKO app, which reads crosswalk signals out loud.

You will also meet our own Darcy McLean, a Low Vision Skills Trainer in our Beyond Vision program and one of the first people to use Glide.

Want to try some of these tools before you buy? Our Beyond Vision Assistive Technology Library in Boulder lets you test devices and learn what fits your life.

Read the full article here:

Assistive technology for people who are blind or have low vision is advancing quickly, and much of it is designed to work alongside the white cane. In honor of White Cane Safety Day, we look at smart canes that sense obstacles at head height, the Glide mobility aid that guides you around obstacles o

10/22/2026

On October 10, people around the world marked World Mental Health Day. This year’s theme is “Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change,” and it calls for the voices of people who live with mental health conditions to be at the center of every conversation about care.

Our new article looks at what the research says about mental health in our community. According to the CDC, about 1 in 3 adults with disabilities experiences frequent mental distress. The article also traces how people with lived experience moved mental health care in the United States out of institutions and into communities, from the peer-run movement of the 1970s to the Olmstead decision in 1999. It closes with where to find support in Colorado, including the accessible ways to reach 988, and with ways you can make your own experience heard.

Read “Lived Experiences Heard: World Mental Health Day and the Disability Community”

https://www.cpwd.org/blog/lived-experiences-heard-world-mental-health-day-and-the-disability-communit

This year’s World Mental Health Day theme, “Lived Experiences Heard,” puts the voices of people who live with mental health conditions at the center of care. We look at what the research says about mental health in our community, how care in the United States moved from institutions to communi...

10/20/2026

WE’RE HIRING: Three Veterans Independence Program (VIP) Advisor jobs in Nebraska

CPWD is hiring three full-time VIP Advisors, one each in Omaha, Lincoln, and Grand Island/Kearney. These are paid positions at $30 to $35 an hour.

As a VIP Advisor, you will work alongside about 30 Veterans who direct their own care. You will help each Veteran build a support plan and a spending plan, hire and manage their own personal care workers, and find the services they need to live independently in their communities. The Veteran stays in charge of every decision, and you are their advocate, mentor, and partner.

Here are the details:

The pay is $30 to $35 an hour.
The schedule is full time at 32 hours a week, over 4 days.
The work is hybrid, based from your home, with regular travel to visit Veterans. Mileage is reimbursed.
The Omaha and Lincoln positions include travel into western Iowa.
Benefits include medical, dental, vision, life, and accident insurance, a 401(k), and paid holidays, vacation, and sick time.

Personal experience with a disability is strongly preferred. As a Center for Independent Living, we value the perspectives of people with disabilities and encourage you to apply. Speaking Spanish or American Sign Language is a plus.

To apply, send your résumé to [email protected] or apply through Indeed. Please share this post with anyone in Nebraska who would be great at this work.

You can read the full job descriptions for all three VIP Advisor positions here: https://www.cpwd.org/jobs-volunteer

10/14/2026

About 2 in 5 adults age 65 and older have a disability, yet only 19 percent of adults 50 and older identify as a person with a disability, according to a 2025 University of Michigan poll. Many of us see changes in hearing, vision, mobility, and memory as just part of getting older.

Our rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act apply at every age. That includes the right to accommodations at the doctor’s office, at work, and at home, and the right to live in our own homes with the supports we need.

In our new article, we look at how ageism shows up in daily life, what rights protect us, and where to turn for support. You can read it through the link in our bio.

10/08/2026

Meet Brian Channey. Brian is a woodworker, a builder, and a lifelong do-it-yourselfer who takes on his own plumbing, electrical, and landscaping projects. He is also DeafBlind.

In our new video, Brian shows us his woodworking and talks about his life, his work, and how he communicates. He uses a Pocketalker, a personal listening device, along with tactile American Sign Language support from Vicki Scarboro, his Support Service Provider. A Support Service Provider, or SSP, is different from an interpreter. An SSP helps a person who is DeafBlind access information, communication, and their surroundings, so they can make their own choices and live independently. Together, Brian and Vicki use an approach called Total Communication.

Thank you, Brian, for welcoming us into your home and sharing your story with our community.

Brian is a woodworker, and he has also done his own plumbing and ro...

10/06/2026

Good news for anyone who lives, works, or spends time in Boulder: the City of Boulder now has an accessible online form for requesting Accessible Pedestrian Signals, also known as APS.

An APS is a crosswalk signal that tells pedestrians when it is time to cross with an audible tone or spoken message and a vibrating arrow on the push button, so people who are blind or have low vision can cross independently.

Less than three months ago, the form for requesting one of these signals was itself an inaccessible PDF. Now anyone can submit a request online, on their own, in a few minutes. That is real progress in a short amount of time, and it came from people in our community naming the barrier and asking for change.

If you know an intersection in Boulder that needs an APS, please submit a request. Every request shows the City exactly where the need is. The link to the form is in the first comment.

09/30/2026

We're hiring! CPWD has six open positions in Colorado and Nebraska. Every role is full time at 32 hours a week, and most of them follow a four-day workweek. Each position comes with medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k), and paid holidays, vacation, and sick time.

In Colorado:

Independent Living Advisor, Boulder office, $31 to $37 an hour. You would work one-on-one with people with disabilities to set their own independent living goals, and you would help them reach those goals through skills training, advocacy, benefits applications, and peer support.

Independent Living Advisor, North Metro office in Thornton, $31 to $37 an hour. This is the same role, serving our community from our Thornton office.

Transition Coordinator, Boulder office, $33 to $43 an hour. You would help people move out of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities and into homes of their own. That includes finding housing, arranging transportation, and connecting with the clubs, volunteer work, and faith communities that make a place feel like home.

Veterans Independence Program Quality Assurance and Training Coordinator, Longmont office with a hybrid option, $33 to $42 an hour. You would support the staff who serve Veterans through our Veterans Independence Program, leading trainings, reviewing program quality, and helping the program run consistently across every partner agency.

In Nebraska:

Veterans Independence Program Advisor, two openings. One is based in Lincoln and travels to western Iowa, and the other is based in Grand Island and Kearney. Both positions are remote with regular travel. You would help Veterans direct their own care, including building their support plans, managing their budgets, and hiring the personal care workers they choose.

As a Center for Independent Living, we value the perspectives of people with disabilities, and we encourage people with disabilities to apply. To apply, send your résumé and a cover letter written for the position to [email protected].

Do you know someone who would be a great fit? Please share this post with them. Link in the comments

09/25/2026

Thank you to everyone who has already written in CPWD for Best of Boulder 2026. If you have not yet, the ballot is open through October 1, and it takes about a minute.

Every write-in is a sign to our neighbors that Boulder County stands behind independent living for people with disabilities.

Vote here: https://vote.boulderweekly.com/custom_link/6a7c7c9206da260768912551 -1

Tap Continue, type "Center for People With Disabilities" in the write-in box under Non-Profit, and tap Vote.

09/22/2026

September 23 is the International Day of Sign Languages. American Sign Language is not English translated onto the hands, it's a complete language with its own grammar and syntax, and for a large part of the Deaf community, it's the language they think and dream in.

ASL took root in Hartford in 1817. The Deaf community organized to protect it through the 1880 Milan Congress, which pushed speech-based instruction over sign language in schools, and through Deaf President Now in 1988, when Gallaudet students shut down campus for eight days and won a Deaf president in return. Today, 45 states recognize ASL as fulfilling foreign language requirements in schools, and more than 755,569 Coloradans are deaf or hard of hearing.

Read the full history, and what accessible communication requires today:

September 23 is the International Day of Sign Languages. American Sign Language is not English on the hands. It is a complete language with its own grammar and syntax, one that Deaf Americans have organized to build and protect for over two centuries, from Hartford in 1817 through Deaf President Now