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Wheels on the Summit
Sandy Lahmann

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Challenging the able-bodied to a new understanding

I am a freelance writer continually focused on prodding and encouraging (even demanding) the able-bodied to reach a new understanding in regards to people with disabilities. I write Disability 101, a disability awareness and etiquette column published by the Summit Daily News (Summit County, Colorado including Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper Mountain, Dillon, Frisco, and Silverthorne) every other week. I have additional articles out in other publications.

I have multiple sclerosis and use a manual wheelchair for mobility. Professionally, I am an Information Specialist at the DBTAC Rocky Mountain ADA Center, one of 10 regional technical assistance centers disseminating information about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In this role, I share information about the ADA and about disability etiquette. (However, none of my columns or articles are authorized nor endorsed by the ADA Center. I write as a private citizen with a disability.) I previously worked as a licensed special education teacher for many years.

I am also an adaptive athlete. I monoski and was awarded the 2007 Colorado Ski Country USA's Adaptive Athlete of the Year Award. I am an avid handcycler. I am starting to explore wheelchair rugby and wheelchair basketball.

This home page of my website will always contain links to my most recently published articles. To review all of my published articles, please go to my page entitled Published Writing.

Most recent Disability 101 column in the Summit Daily News:

"Voices from Facebook" on-line and in print February 1, 2010. In this column, I share some of the entries that can be found in the Facebook group called “Stupid quotes people have said to us disabled people".

On Stage and on DVD:

"Invisible Voices: New Perspectives on Disability" by the internationally acclaimed Ping Chong and Company at Theatreworks, October 1st -17th, 2009 in Colorado Springs. I was one of six individuals with disabilities sharing our personal stories on stage. Our performance was filmed and the DVD will be released nationwide March of 2010.

Colorado Springs Gazette review of Invisible Voices

"It is very important that disabled children should be helped to blend with others of the same age. It determines their self-image. How can one feel a member of the human race if one is set apart from an early age? It is a form of apartheid. Aids like wheelchairs and computers can play an important role in overcoming physical deficiencies; the right attitude is even more important. It is no use complaining about the public’s attitude about the disabled. It is up to disabled people to change people’s awareness in the same way that blacks and women have changed public perceptions."

-Dr. Stephen Hawking