Stories Archive
Montana Voices Amplified provides a microphone and broad audience so the stories, lessons, causes, and advice of individuals with disabilities and their families are heard. No one tells your story better than you can. But life is busy, and time is precious. If you take the time to articulate your experience, we will share your message with people who will benefit from your wisdom, or influence change.
The Montana Voices Amplified project offers people of all ages and abilities a stage to speak for themselves. The series is hosted by the Montana Family to Family Health Information Center (MT F2F), a program of the Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities (RIIC) at the University of Montana.
Montana Voices Amplified welcomes submissions of five-minute videos or 600-700-word essays on any topic related to your lived experience as a person with a disability or caring for someone with a disability. Authors of chosen submissions receive $100. Videos will be posted on the MT F2F web site and shared on social media. Essays will be posted on the web site and ScholarWorks, shared on social media, and printed in a professionally designed publication to distribute to families, schools, agencies, and legislators as appropriate.
Let us amplify YOUR voice!
Do you have a story, a lesson, advice or a message to share about life with a disability or diagnosis? Your experience can positively impact other Montanans.
Send your idea for an article or brief video to stacey.bliss@mso.umt.edu or shawna.hanson@mso.umt.edu.
If you prefer to talk through your idea, you can call Stacey at (406) 243-5760 or Shawna at (406) 243-4531.
Featured Content
My Perspective: I Run My Own IEP; You Can Too!
By Heath Montgomery:
Heath Montgomery is a 7th grader in Missoula, Montana, and has been active in local and national disability advocacy since 2017. He is currently focused on the SSI Restoration Act which would eliminate the marriage penalty for people with disabilities. Please contact him at...
My Perspective: Planning for Crisis – Benefits of a Family Safety Plan
By Elizabeth Cummings:
Elizabeth is a middle school special education teacher and mother of two boys from Kalispell, Montana. She serves on the Rural Institute Consumer Advisory Council and advocates for individuals with disabilities and their families.
“It’s time to talk about crisis.”
This phrase...
My Perspective: Diabetes, Tech and a Series of Beeps
By Ed Worrell:
Ed Worrell is co-founder and CEO of OverHere Consulting. Based in Great Falls, OverHere Consulting carries assistive technologies for vision impairment and provides training to individuals, schools, and government agencies. Ed is blind, diabetic, and loves helping the visually...
My Perspective: Blindness and Misconceptions Surrounding Being Blind
By Samantha Chase:
Samantha is a self-described, “blind as a bat” mother to two beautiful daughters. She is currently a student at the University of Montana and works as a peer advocate for individuals with disabilities at Summit Independent Living Center. Samantha has Retinitis Pigmentosa which...
My Perspective: Old TV Static–Finding My Way Through Medical Trauma
By Bee Croyle:
Bee Croyle works as a direct support professional taking care of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, while being chronically ill themself. They are non-binary and use they/them pronouns! They have two birds and a guinea pig that they love dearly, and they are...
My Perspective: Rediscovering Museums with Tactile Tours
By Sara Streeter:
Sara Streeter spent her career as an accounting and finance professional. Now retired, she loves to be outdoors, travel and volunteer as an animal advocate. She uses assistive technology to deal with her vision loss from degenerative myopia and is passionate about making the...
A Parent’s Perspective: plexiglass Butterflies - Lessons Learned at the Children’s Hospital
By Elizabeth Hill:
Elizabeth Hill is a freelance writer, encourager, and humorist who resides with her husband and four children in central Montana. You can read more of her musings, eureka moments, and the hilarious events that mark her days with joy at elizabeth-hill.medium.com or find The Part...
My Perspective: Help Me Pick Up What You’re Putting Down (Accessible Communication for The Blind/Low Vision Community)
By Ed Worrell:
Ed Worrell is co-founder of OverHere Consulting. Based in Great Falls, OverHere Consulting carries assistive technologies for vision impairment and provides training to individuals, schools, and government agencies. Ed is blind, diabetic, and loves helping the visually impaired...
A Parent’s Perspective: Take It From Your New Bestie, You Can’t Do Everything
By Elizabeth Hill:
Elizabeth Hill is a freelance writer, encourager, and humorist who resides with her husband and four children in central Montana. You can read more of her musings, eureka moments, and the hilarious events that mark her days with joy at elizabeth-hill.medium.com or find The Part...
Our Perspectives: You Can’t Pour from an Empty Cup
In these times of stay-at-home orders, physical distancing, and remote teaching and learning, we need to nurture ourselves. In this issue of Montana Voices Amplified, members of the Rural Institute Consumer Advisory Council* share the strategies they use to reinvigorate and replenish themselves....
A Parent’s Perspective: How I Am Successfully Homeschooling My Child
By Traci Gulledge Street:
Traci grew up in the Flathead Valley. She graduated from the University of Montana with a degree in communication studies, and has worked with kids off and on for many years. In the rare moments when she’s not actively being mom, she enjoys collecting and researching...
A Parent Teacher’s Perspective: Exploring Disability and Navigating a New World
By Elizabeth Cummings:
Elizabeth is a middle school special education teacher and mother of two boys from Kalispell, Montana. She serves on the Rural Institute Consumer Advisory Council and advocates for individuals with disabilities and their families.
I found myself unexpectedly entering the...
A Parent’s Perspective: How to Advocate without Alienating Team Members
By Elizabeth Hill:
Elizabeth is a freelance writer, encourager, and humorist who resides with her husband and four children in central Montana. You can read more of her musings, eureka moments, and the hilarious events that mark her days with joy at www.thepartilove.com or find The Part I Love...
Parent’s Perspective: Navigating Face Coverings
By Elizabeth Cummings:
Elizabeth is a middle school special education teacher and mother of two boys from Kalispell, Montana. She serves on the Rural Institute Consumer Advisory Council and advocates for individuals with disabilities and their families.
Everyone is talking about masks. As the...