What change does Montana need?
Guide our work, improve student outcomes, and live performances by disabled Montanans!
Why We Do
Watch this video and guide our work by completing our Priorities and Objectives Survey. We need your input, members of Montana’s disability community, to let us know what changes you want in your state and steer us toward those goals.
We want to hear form Montana high school students with disabilities!
Are you in high school? Do you have an IEP? If yes, then we want to hear from you!
Between now and the end of the school year, Disability Rights Montana is looking at how well schools facilitate students’ transition from school to life after graduation. We cannot physically get to every school in Montana before the end of the school year, but we can hear form any student (or parent or other interested adult) in Montana through an online survey.
A personal note about this project from our Executive Director, David Carlson:
When I was in high school the adults in my life had low expectations for what I would become as an adult. One teacher told me and the rest of the class that I was a waste of human flesh and many teachers simply passed me along. I hated school and barely graduated. Over the years, I have heard from lots of other people with disabilities that they had similar high school experiences. But, I’ve also heard from people with the exact opposite experience. They had great teachers and counselors who really believed in them and helped them become the adults they are today. I want my son, his friends, and all students to have the latter experience. Every student deserves to attend a school that is fully invested in helping them live their best lives after graduation.
Lets Talk Disability - Helena
Amplifying Voices, Sharing Stories: A Powerful Look at the Lived Experience of Disability
When: May 15 and 16, 7:00pm
Where: Carroll College FLEX Theatre - 1601 N Benton, Helena MT
Let’s Talk Disability is monologue production amplifying the voices of people with disabilities, fostering dialogue, understanding, and awareness. Every year, a new cohort of individuals from each community share their personal stories about the lived experience of having a disability. These stories range from emotional to humorous, profound to lighthearted, all with the shared goal of showing that life doesn’t stop—it simply moves forward in new and meaningful ways. Click the link below to purchase tickets.
Details from Poster:
An ASL interpreter will be at all shows.
Show brought to you by Ability Montana and Carroll College
Some stories may contain sensitive themes, Parental discretion advised.
Let’s Stay Connected, grab a Coffee, and Change the World
Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter. We hope these updates empower you to stay informed, engaged, and active toward actualizing true inclusion of people with disabilities. Please share this newsletter with friends, colleagues, and anyone else interested in disability justice and living beyond compliance.
Let’s keep pushing for a more inclusive and equitable Montana—together!
For questions, comments, or to get involved, just reply to this email or visit our website: disabilityrightsmt.org.
Me ka mahalo,
Kona Franks-Ongoy
Director of Communications
Disability Rights Montana