Fulfilling Your Dreams Despite Disabilities Can Be Easy; This Nonprofit Shows How

One in six boys in the United States has experienced sexual abuse before turning 18. With few recovery options in real life, more of them are going online for support.

Assertive community treatment teams working through outreach-centered programs in Maricopa County have become an industry standard for treating those with persistent and severe mental illnesses who have recently been incarcerated. They provide a long-term approach, aiming to halt a cycle of incarceration and hospitalization by focusing on underlying issues such as what caused the police interaction and incarceration.

Since 1995, Pragnachaksu has paved a path to empowerment for blind women in India, offering academic and vocational classes in addition to braille instruction. The school provides free housing and tuition for girls looking for primary and secondary education, a service that is usually unavailable to the country's eight million blind citizens, and to visually impaired women in particular.

People with HIV/AIDS don't always know where to go for help or don't feel empowered to return when psychiatrists or doctors seem unwelcoming. Organizations throughout Washington, D.C. are working against perception by providing comprehensive approaches to health care services.

Based out of the city of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, a live radio show is tackling the stigma around mental health care by combining their platform with those in the mental health care field. Not only does the radio show discuss psychological issues on air, but it also offers free and reduced-cost mental health services to those that serve as guests on the show.

When the coronavirus pandemic shut down school buildings and led to many people working from home in New York City, a city child care program was launched to give children a place to go while they were learning from home. However, the program failed to accommodate children with disabilities who required the assistance of a paraprofessional. After realizing the gap in care, the city is now working to increase access.

Bogotá’s city government started the Calm Line to give men a way to connect by telephone with psychologists trained in therapeutic responses to the machismo that leads to gender-based violence. Despite doubts that Colombian men would use the service, the line fields about a dozen calls a day. "Fear, shame and confusion pervade many of the conversations," but also can lead to breakthroughs in understanding the attitudes that oppress women. That understanding is the first step toward cultural change, the Calm Line's supporters believe.

The Save the Boys Initiative provides counseling, group and family therapy, programming around mentorship and leadership, and other forms of assistance for boys who have experienced sexual abuse.

The Mental Health Intervention Team at Salina Public Schools makes mental health care more accessible by using grant money to hire school liaisons to assist and provide mental health services to students at school. Within the 2022-2023 academic year alone, 635 students were served and 76% of them improved their school attendance, while 65% saw improvement in their academic performance.

The International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards trains employees in the tourism industry to become autism certified, ensuring they know how to care for neurodivergent youth and their families when they’re at places like restaurants or theme parks. Several of these businesses have practices in place like offering noise-canceling headphones, access to quiet rooms or even hosting autism awareness weekends, helping to make the city the first Autism Certified City in the world.