As members of the human community, we all have sexual feelings, needs and desires, regardless of our physical and/or mental abilities. Unfortunately, many people don’t recognize that the need for intimacy and sexual expression is part of our humanity, and as a result, many people who live with disabilities do not receive information on relationships [...]
Summit is now recruiting participants for the Women’s Safer and Stronger Program pilot. The program is an online education tool that is designed to help women with disabilities learn to be safer from abuse and to provide them with information about local resources where they can get assistance if they are experiencing abuse. Participants will [...]
30 years of service alongside people with disabilities Happy Leap Year from Missoula, we hope you did one thing for yourself on this extra day of the year! Here are some of the exciting things we have done or plan to do this year! Summit Classes: We have just finished the winter sessions of the [...]
“Every Day We Juggling” Do you ever feel like you just have too many balls in the air at one time? Well, here at Summit youth programs we understand this feeling. It seems like every day we’re juggling, juggling BALLS classes that is! In the last two months we have started and finished three different [...]
Hello from YODA! We got the New Year started off by giving back. On January 25, we held a focus group for the representatives of the Playground Project. The Playground Project is a group fundraising and organizing for the construction of an accessible all-abilities playground in Missoula. YODA members gave great input and feedback. The [...]
Summit’s new SDPAS Assistant, Betsy Ames, graduated from UM with a degree in social work. She spent nearly 15 years working at UM’s Curry Health Center. Betsy has three grown daughters and one grandson. She enjoys helping her daughter sell baked goods at the farmer’s market. Welcome to the team Betsy!
Somewhere in Missoula, just off Mullen Road, on a quiet street called Shindig Lane, at the end of a little drive, sits an exceptional home. The home isn’t uniquely colored. It’s gray and tan with maroon doors and common white gutters. It isn’t especially large, nor is it a strangely shaped. No, this little home [...]
What do the Little Rascals have to do with standing up for yourself? Well, if you ask advocate Jason Billehus – a lot. Jason is a member of the Missoula Valley People First chapter and is part of the Montana People First Senate. He sits on the Self Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE) board and is [...]
In October ’09, Montana Independent Living Centers gathered in Billings to hold their Symposium. Seven task forces were identified to address the various barriers facing Montanans with disabilities. The Housing Task Force (HTF), having representation from all four Centers, decided work towards expanding affordable/accessible housing. Promoting and advocating for Visitability became, and still is, the [...]
When the well-known Maclay Ranch south of Lolo was sold to a Minnesotan in December 2007, people wondered and feared what would happen. It was a last conservation stronghold in the northern Bitterroot valley where development and increasing traffic abound. The Maclay family had owned the land for three generations and enabled hunters, anglers and [...]