Community Access & Inclusion Links

Achilles Track Club

• Achilles is a worldwide organization, with a local chapter in Portland, Oregon, that enables people with all types of disabilities to participate in mainstream athletics, promote personal achievement, enhance self esteem, and lower barriers.

Adventures Without Limits

• Adventures Without Limits empowers people of all abilities through quality outdoor experiences.

Carole Zoom

• Carole Zoom is a photographer and Japanese woodblock printmaker living in Portland, Oregon.  Carole has photography published in the Wall Street Journal, Country Living Magazine, Oregon Quarterly, Portland Monthly and Eugene Weekly.  She uses her artwork to allow others to understand the experiences of life with disability and to organize for change.  Visit CaroleZoom Studio at 925 NW Lovejoy in Portland on First Thursdays.

DanceAbility International

• DanceAbility International’s mission is to encourage the evolution of mixed-abilities dance by cultivating a common ground for creative expression for all people.  The mission is accomplished through performance, educational programs, teacher training and workshops.  The work of DanceAbility International helps decrease prejudice and misconceptions about diversity in the field of dance, and by extension in society.

Disability Arts and Culture Project (DACP)

• DACP's mission is to further the artistic expression of people with both hidden and visible disabilities.  DACP accomplishes this mission by supporting the creative expression of people with disabilities; utilizing the performing arts as a method of examining disability in relation to society; and supporting established and emerging artists as well as the community at large in developing knowledge and expression of disability culture and pride.

Disability Compass

• Disability Compass is a web-based resource for people with disabilities, their families, and their supporters.  The site provides access to thousands of disability-related organizations, services, programs, and products and features a community calendar, a tool called My Compass that allows individuals to store frequently used searches as well as lists of personal resources and a registry of individuals and organizations that provide respite and other individualized care for people with disabilities.

The Gimp Project

• GIMP turns on its head accepted notions of dance, performance and body image.  This is an exploration which dives into the heart of difference, voyeurism and the unexpected.  Latsky and company have created a piece of work that is a natural and completely unique vehicle for dialogue, increased understanding and civic engagement.
  

Oregon Disability Sports

• The mission of Oregon Disability Sports is to provide and promote recreational, fitness and competitive opportunities for people with physical disabilities.

PHAME Academy

• The purpose of PHAME Academy is to make available to mid-teens and adults with developmental disabilities and special needs in the Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington metro-areas the chance to participate in the fine and performing arts and to be encouraged and allowed to express themselves creatively - thus supporting the development of their self-esteem and self-worth.

Progressive Options

• Bridging the gap between life challenged by disability and the fulfilling lives their clients deserve by providing employment training, counseling, support groups, advocacy and outreach.

Studio Sfumato

• Studio Sfumato provides workshops, instruction and events to promote independence, individuality, creativity and an income for artists with a wide range of disabilities...and to share their unique talents with our community using art as a common thread that joins us all.

Sweet Honey In The Rock

• Shirley Childress Saxton accepted the challenge of interpreting Sweet Honey In The Rock’s message and music in 1980, after having interpreted professionally for seven years.  Sweet Honey In The Rock had, in that year, made a commitment to making concerts accessible to the Deaf and to developing a Deaf audience.  From the beginning, the group included the Sign Language Interpreter in her costuming and in the semi-circle in which she sits or stands to perform.  This inclusion has been a clear statement to the Deaf audience that they’re included in the conversation.

VSA arts

• VSA arts is an international, nonprofit organization founded in 1974 by Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith to create a society where all people with disabilities learn through, participate in and enjoy the arts.  VSA arts is an affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Where's Lulu?

• Your guide to accessible Portland.