Center for Independent Living of Northwest Florida

09/05/2026

National Alert System For Missing Persons With Autism In The Works
SOURCE: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2026/08/24/national-alert-system-for-missing-persons-with-autism-in-the-works/32142/
by Michelle Diament | August 24, 2026

A first-ever initiative will establish a specialized national alert system and bring together three different federal agencies to beef up the response if individuals with autism go missing.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said late last week that it is launching a National Autism Missing and Endangered Person Alert Initiative.

HHS will work with the Department of Justice and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to enhance coordination of emergency management agencies, law enforcement, first responders, and community partners nationwide to “improve preparedness and response when autistic individuals are reported missing,” officials said.

“Our goal is an autism specific alert capability that gets critical information to authorities and the public quickly and helps bring missing persons home safely,” said Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “We also will advance the autism specific response protocols, improve first responder education, promote evidence-based informed search practices, and strengthen state and local implementation and improve data collection.”

The government will build on its existing missing and endangered person alert capabilities, like the Amber Alert, to establish the autism notification, Kennedy said.

In addition, the Trump administration plans to create a national framework of best practices to address the leading causes of preventable injury and death among those with autism, including accidental drowning as a result of wandering.

Research shows that about half of children with autism are prone to wandering or eloping from a safe place and many are attracted to water. According to the National Autism Association, children with autism are 160 times as likely to die from drowning as their peers.

Kennedy said that the nationwide autism specific alert is not yet active, but federal, state and local partners are working to develop it.

Diana Diaz Harrison, national autism coordinator at HHS, said the initiative came in response to a call from HHS’ Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee to improve autism specific response protocols.

“To the autism community nationwide, we see you,” she said. “Your children and loved ones are the most precious beautiful things. They deserve communities prepared that when the unthinkable happens, there is a plan to bring their loved one home.”

David Sitcovsky, vice president of advocacy at Autism Speaks, welcomed added attention to wandering, noting that his group has spent years advocating for policies and resources to prevent elopement and help first responders locate individuals who go missing.

“A more consistent national framework for autism-informed emergency response has the potential to build on that work and address gaps that vary significantly from state to state,” Sitcovsky said. “As HHS, DOJ and FEMA develop the guidance and implementation details, it will be important to ensure that first responders have appropriate training, families and the autism community are meaningfully engaged, and states have the resources they need to put effective practices into place.”

CILNWF envisions a world where people with disabilities have freedom, choice, and control over all aspects of their lives so they can fully and equally participate in society.

♿ If you need assistance with this or any of our programs and services please contact us:

850-595-5566 (office)
Sorenson VRS: 850-208-3106
Relay: 711
Email: [email protected]

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A first-ever initiative will establish a specialized national alert system and bring together three different federal agencies to beef up the response if individuals with autism go missing.

09/04/2026

These six short videos, “Disability Etiquette Gone Wrong!”, use humor and relatable scenarios to highlight common misconceptions and misunderstandings when interacting with people with disabilities. Each video provides practical insight into respectful communication and appropriate etiquette, helping viewers better understand how to engage with individuals with various disabilities in a positive, inclusive, and respectful manner.
Source: Moss Rehabilitation
Web: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlTaVKokusMVFx22j2pZAz-4IvXz1IbJP

CILNWF promotes, educates, facilitates, assists and advocates with and on behalf of people with disabilities, in partnership with their communities, to achieve their goals for independence. Call us at 850-595-5566 or email us at [email protected] if you need any assistance.

There is an etiquette to interacting with people with disabilities. MossRehab's It's Just Respect program aims to educate people—whether it be in the workpla...

09/03/2026

The Blue Wahoos are having their Special Needs Night on Friday, September 11th. The ballgame against the Biloxi Shuckers starts at 6:05 pm, but there will be a parade starting about 5:20 pm.

Paul Chestnutt has a special needs son, Matthew, known as Matty. Paul is a long-time Pensacola sports radio broadcaster and takes Matty to many sporting events. They are both members of the Pensacola Sports Hall of Fame.

Let’s go to the ball park and support this event! The first 1,000 fans to the game receive a bobblehead for Special Needs Night (see attached pictures). Matthew was born with Cerebral Palsy and is unable to speak or walk.

Order your tickets to the Blue Wahoos ballgame – Friday, September 11th.

Pensacola Civitan Club United Way of West Florida United Way Emerald Coast Carolyn Grawi Mari Marcanio John Collins Deborah Sizemore APD Florida (Agency for Persons with Disabilities) The Arc Gateway The Arc Gateway PALS Brain Injury Florida Brain Injury Network The Seven Project - Adaptive Fitness Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center Eglin Federal Credit Union WEAR ABC 3 News, Pensacola Autism Pensacola Inc Pensacola News Journal Emerald Coast Autism Center Spencer Blomquist

09/03/2026

Sharing this post from ADA National Network.

Carolyn Grawi FAAST, Inc. Florida Independent Living Council, Inc. Florida Independent Living Council, Inc. Florida ADA Coordinators Network United Way of West Florida United Way Emerald Coast United Spinal Association The Seven Project - Adaptive Fitness APD Florida (Agency for Persons with Disabilities) Mental Health Movement The Arc Gateway The Arc Gateway PALS Autism Society of Florida Autism Pensacola Inc Emerald Coast Autism Center Mari Marcanio John Collins

Ms. Wheelchair Mississippi 2026 Daraneisha Stewart visited Studio 3 to discuss mental health and disability awareness.

09/03/2026

Lyft Removes Barrier for Riders with Developmental Disabilities
August 31, 2026

Lyft is taking steps to allow more people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to access rides paid for through Medicaid home and community-based services programs.
The ride-sharing service said it is updating its app to remove a “longstanding barrier” in its Lyft Pass for Public Funding, or LPPF, program, which serves many Medicaid waiver recipients.
Through the program, participating home and community-based services providers can authorize a budget and pay directly for on-demand rides for people with developmental disabilities as part of their menu of Medicaid waiver services.

However, in order to even create a Lyft account, riders have been required to input a personal payment method, such as a credit card, that was pre-authorized each time they requested a ride.
“That requirement blocked a meaningful share of LPPF riders — people whose rides were already paid for — from signing up or requesting rides at all,” said Betty Yen, director of healthcare partnerships at Lyft, who indicated that about 15% to 20% of LPPF participants are unbanked.

Now, that’s changing. Lyft said that it has updated its app to allow people invited through a participating organization to skip the step requesting a payment method when creating a new account. In addition, there is no longer a payment pre-authorization check for rides paid for through LPPF.

“Lyft Pass for Public Funding exists so individuals in Medicaid HCBS programs can seamlessly access Lyft within the framework of Medicaid’s rigorous requirements. But a rider’s own bank account status was getting in the way of a ride their program had already paid for. That’s a barrier we could remove, so we did,” Yen said. “It’s a small technical change with an outsized impact for people who depend on this program for getting to work, navigating their communities independently and daily living.”

https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2026/08/26/lyft-removes-barrier-for-riders-with-developmental-disabilities/32147/

Carolyn Grawi Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center Autism Speaks Autism Pensacola Inc The Arc Gateway Emerald Coast Autism Center APD Florida (Agency for Persons with Disabilities) Mari Marcanio John Collins Deborah Sizemore

Lyft is taking steps to allow more people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to access rides paid for through Medicaid home and community-based services programs.

09/03/2026

How a Minneapolis translator is bringing Pokémon to life in ASL
A new streaming partnership is bringing in-screen ASL to more TV shows and movies – a ‘next evolution’ for Deaf accessibility.

There’s a new partnership between streaming services and Signup Media offering free, in-screen American Sign Language translation to dozens of movies and TV shows. Minneapolis translator Everett Glenn, who recently signed 45 hours of “Pokémon Horizons,” is part of the effort.

Ever since TV broadcasters developed closed captioning in the 1970s, text has been the default standard for media accessibility. But captions aren’t equally accessible for everyone. They can present challenges for Deaf children who haven’t yet learned to read, as well as adults with limited English literacy.

This represents a significant barrier. Of the more than 430 million Deaf people globally, 34 million are children. Research has shown that the median literacy rate of Deaf high school graduates has remained near a 4th grade level for more than a century.

In recent years, ASL has emerged as an alternative media format to address that gap.

SignUp Media was founded in 2021, with three translated titles, by then-17-year-old Mariella Satow. Since then, it has expanded to more than 25,000 monthly active users. Its collaboration with Netflix, which includes Glenn’s “Pokémon Horizons” episodes, features on-screen ASL translators for more than 70 movies and TV shows mostly geared toward kids and families.

Drawing on expressive facial movements, shifting posture and intricate hand movements, Glenn moves fluidly between characters as the story unfolds. Credit: Courtesy Everett Glenn
Viewers watch “Pokémon Horizons” with a box in the upper corner where Glenn translates the dialogue. Through gestures and expressions, he brings the spoken dialogue into visual form.

Glenn’s process begins by watching each episode all the way through. “I just try to have some background,” he said. From there, he goes through the story for places he wants to explore more deeply. “I figure out how I want to sign something, and what the meaning is behind some of the vocabulary,” he said.

Drawing on expressive facial movements, shifting posture and intricate hand movements, he moves fluidly between characters as the story unfolds.

ASL is Glenn’s native language, so for him, watching someone sign in ASL takes less work than reading captions across the screen. “Those words go by so fast,” he told me through an interpreter.

As a kid, Glenn remembers getting frustrated by closed captions, especially when encountering words he didn’t know. Even now, “captions are hard to sometimes match up with the emotion of what’s happening,” he said. “I’m trying to figure out what they’re saying and reading it at the same time.”

Watching an ASL translator instead of following rapidly changing text allows viewers to focus on the story itself, Glenn said. Instead of straining to keep up with captions, viewers can simply watch and enjoy the show in ASL.

A social worker pursuing his license as a mental health therapist, Glenn has been working with SignUp Media since 2023. He’s translated the Marvel movie “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas,” and more recently, “F1” and “Marty Supreme.” He initially got involved because he wanted to help provide access to ASL for young people.

“There are a lot of problems in the Deaf community with language deprivation and Deaf kids not having the access to language that they need,” Glenn said, referring to the lack of consistent exposure to an accessible language during early childhood. Children who experience language deprivation can face challenges later on in life, making early access crucial.

“This platform provides that for so many kids,” Glenn said, adding that hearing people can use it too, as a way to learn ASL. “It’s an enjoyable way to have access to the language and to learn.”

“Pokémon Horizons” is Glenn’s first project under SignUp’s Netflix partnership. He grew up playing the Pokémon trading card game and was already familiar with many of the franchise’s iconic characters before translating the series.

“The kid in me was very excited,” he said. And yet, the large cast proved a challenge. “Coming up with appropriate name signs to give those characters identity is very important for Deaf kids because they’re associating the names and the characters the same way that a hearing kid would be when they hear the name of a character,” he said.

Within Deaf communities, sign names provide a shorthand for identifying people, including fictional characters. Rather than spelling out every letter of the characters’ names, sign names create an immediate shortcut. Many sign names reflect appearance, personality or another distinguishing characteristic, making them more memorable than spelling alone. “For Pokémon, because there’s so many characters, we had to get creative,” Glenn said.

For Pikachu, a main character in the franchise, Glenn created a sign that takes into account the character’s dimples as its sign name. It’s a creative touch he’s able to add to a project that he sees as the next evolution of access for Deaf communities.

“Every generation figures out a way to do it better,” he said.

Source: MINNPOST, by Sheila Regan, 08/06/2026 https://www.minnpost.com/artscape/2026/08/how-a-minneapolis-translator-is-bringing-pokemon-to-life-with-in-screen-asl/

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09/03/2026

We are sharing this article Healthcare Is Moving Into the Home. Home Accessibility Now Has a Validated Score. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/healthcare-is-moving-into-the-home-home-accessibility-now-has-a-validated-score-302865831.html

CILNWF envisions a world where people with disabilities have freedom, choice, and control over all aspects of their lives so they can fully and equally participate in society.

♿ If you need assistance with this or any of our programs and services please contact us:

850-595-5566 (office)
Sorenson VRS: 850-208-3106
Relay: 711
Email: [email protected]

09/01/2026

Center for Independent Living of Northwest Florida Executive Director Carolyn Grawi accepted the City of Pensacola proclamation from Mayor D.C. Reeves. In addition to this she gave gratitude to the a city that has given back to people with disabilities and continues to set goals high for continued universal design. The CILNWF will always envision a world where people with disabilities have freedom, choice, and control over all aspects of their lives so they can fully and equally participate in society.

♿ If you need assistance with this or any of our programs and services please contact us:

850-595-5566 (office)
Sorenson VRS: 850-208-3106
Relay: 711
Email: [email protected]

Florida Association of Centers for Independent Living FAAST, Inc. United Way of West Florida Florida Independent Living Council, Inc. United Way Emerald Coast The Arc Gateway Autism Pensacola Inc John Collins IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area Mari Marcanio The Seven Project - Adaptive Fitness APD Florida (Agency for Persons with Disabilities) Deborah Sizemore Impact100 of Northwest Florida, Inc. WEAR ABC 3 News, Pensacola Emerald Coast Autism Center Sunday's Child Studer Community Institute Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center Brain Injury Network

08/30/2026

This cafe is run by robots. They're operated by actual disabled humans working from home — not AI

As the threat of artificial intelligence growing to replace human workers reaches a fever pitch, one robot-run cafe in Tokyo stands as a reminder of how technology can be used for good.

Dawn Avatar Robot Cafe is full of human diners enjoying tasty meals — and robots with green light-up eyes serving them. But the robots aren’t controlled by AI or some other computer programming. They are operated by disabled workers who are clocking in from home.

It all started when Ory Yoshifuji was a child, quarantined at home for three and a half years with an illness that kept him from attending school or hanging out with friends.

“I wondered,” Yoshifuji told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, “‘Why couldn't I have a second body?’”

He went on to recover and study robotics in college, starting his company, Ory Laboratory, and creating the remote-control OriHime robot. After a few pop-up cafe experiments, he opened a permanent location.

“We’ve managed to create a situation where people, even if they can’t physically move around much, can still participate as members of society and as productive members of the workforce,” he told the ABC.

The workers — of which there are about 100 now — are called pilots. They work from their home computers, where they can move around the cafe through a remote control and speak to customers directly.

“Every word, every head tilt, every order taken — that’s a real human controlling them in real time,” Evie Parker, a tech enthusiast influencer, shared from the cafe in a recent vlog.

“The pilots of these robots are people with ALS, spinal cord injuries … conditions that keep them home. And this lets them work, earn paychecks, talk to strangers, have a normal everyday shift.”

Of course, a person’s value is not dependent on whether they can work or contribute to the economy. But OriHome robots allow people who do want to engage with the world in this way to do so safely and with autonomy.

One pilot, Naoki, has severe heart failure and is awaiting a heart transplant. He was told he had to stop working.

“I retreated into my shell,” he said in a video.

But then, he found his purpose again at Dawn Cafe.

“My first impression was that I am able to return to society,” Naoki said. “Now that I work like this, the joy of it is more prominent. I enjoy my days together with the customers. The way I feel … has changed completely. It’s like my feelings have been transplanted.”

Yoshifuji opened the Dawn Cafe in 2021, and has since expanded the OriHome offerings to include a mobile robot that guests can take with them to carry around Tokyo for a personalized tour of the area.

“What I loved about having our tour guide right on our shoulder is I feel like it was really flexible,” Canadian tourist Andrea Wheaton told the ABC.

“You can hear the warmth through their voice and some giggles on their end,” her husband, Dave Schultz, added.

Parker, the tech influencer, also shared that she had a great time with her OriHome pilot.

“I had a great meal, and I met a new friend, Maya, who was the pilot of my robot,” Parker said in her vlog. “We talked the whole time while I had lunch.”

While emerging technology certainly comes with valid concerns, Parker emphasized that it can also be used to help people and create solutions.

“The truth is, robots aren’t the scary part,” she concluded. “The real question is, what will we build them for?”

SOURCE: https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/tokyo-dawn-robot-cafe-disabled-workers?utm_placement=newsletter&user_id=6a906c9ac1ffee350707cf5c

Curb Free with Cory Lee visited the Cafe': https://www.facebook.com/CurbFree/videos/by-far-the-dawn-robot-cafe-in-tokyo-japan-is-the-coolest-restaurantcafe-ive-ever/1394923688775200/

Florida Association of Centers for Independent Living FAAST, Inc. United Way of West Florida Florida Independent Living Council, Inc. United Way Emerald Coast Sunday's Child Carolyn Grawi Mari Marcanio John Collins Deborah Sizemore APD Florida (Agency for Persons with Disabilities) The Seven Project - Adaptive Fitness Autism Pensacola Inc The Arc Gateway Emerald Coast Autism Center Studer Community Institute WEAR ABC 3 News, Pensacola

The concept was created by a robotics engineer who was stuck at home for years due to illness.