HELENA, Mont. -- A project in Montana is raising up the experiences of people with disabilities and their families.

Montana Voices Amplified provides a platform for people to speak about their daily lives.

Ed Worrell, an assistive technology teacher who is blind, wrote with a hint of sarcasm about how social media is presented to people who are visually impaired.

"I just wanted to make people aware that 32 thumbs-up emojis in a row really makes it hard for a screen reader user to navigate through the whole text," Worrell explained. "It's just one of those things that what you think you're doing might be cutesy but, for someone with a screen reader, we just skip past it."

Worrell added steps such as ensuring all web pages can be read by screen readers would make the internet more accessible for everyone.

Montana Voices Amplified is hosted by the Montana Family to Family Health Information Center, a program of the Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities at the University of Montana.

Elizabeth Cummings, a special-education teacher and parent of a child with complex health needs, contributed a story to Montana Voices Amplified.

She said many people care about disability communities.

"But they may not understand our experiences just because they haven't lived them or directly known someone," Cummings remarked. "So when we can share our stories, I do find that people are often very receptive, but they may just not have heard them before."

Shawna Hanson, outreach coordinator for the Montana Family to Family Health Information Center, said the stories of people with disabilities often are told by folks outside these communities, but this project has helped get authentic voices onto a bigger stage, and even in front of state legislators.

"We have a lot of isolated, small communities, and it is hard for people with disabilities scattered around Montana to connect and to feel supported," Hanson emphasized. "And so this is one way they can share their stories and one way they can access the stories and know they're not alone."

TAMPA, Fla. -- Move United's USA Wheelchair Football League is expanding from four cities to nine, including Tampa, to give athletes with disabilities a chance to compete against the best adaptive football players in the country.

Ryan Lindstrom, a Navy veteran and quadriplegic athlete, was attending technical school when he was partially paralyzed in a car crash. His recovery sparked a love for nearly every kind of wheelchair athletics, including wheelchair rugby.

He's competed at the highest levels, just shy of making the USA Rugby Olympic team, so Lindstrom said he could not miss a chance to try out for the new wheelchair football league.

"It's one of those new sports that's just coming out for us, so it's exciting to be in on the ground floor and get out there and try something different," Lindstrom explained. "And then, you know, the tryouts, I felt they went pretty good, we had a good time, we had a pretty decent turnout."

The expansion is funded in part by the National Football League and the Bob Woodruff Foundation. An additional tryout session will be held July 31 in Tampa. Then, all nine teams will compete this fall in the league's inaugural season.

Lindstrom encouraged everyone, especially people in wheelchairs, to be more active, compete and see what the body is capable of. Among other things, he's played rugby, basketball, softball, tried hand-cycling and archery, and now, football.

"It's a new sport for everybody, so we're all still learning the rules, still learning how it's all working out," Lindstrom noted. "Like, I've been going over the rulebook myself, just sitting here at the house and stuff, because you've got to figure out what rules change, what rules stay the same, for football."

The USA Wheelchair Football League was founded in 2019 with four teams; Chicago, Kansas City, Los Angeles and Phoenix. The expansion added Tampa, Birmingham, Buffalo, Cleveland and New Orleans.

According to Move United, the grant that made the expansion possible will also help grow the sport through coaching education and learn-to-play clinics.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Iowa's government has 180 boards and commissions, with many consisting of appointed members, but advocates fear most don't include people with disabilities.

An emerging effort aims to get more of these voices to serve on public panels.

The Iowa Developmental Disabilities Council recently adopted its latest five-year plan, which outlines the organization's top goals. A new focus is increasing participation in local and state boards and commissions.

Brooke Lovelace, executive director of the Iowa Developmental Disabilities Council, said there has not been much tracking of the issue. While there are some disability-specific panels, she contended the community should push to be part of decision-making in all areas.

"Boards and commissions that folks with disability should be applying for and serving on and something that's of interest to them," Lovelace outlined. "Whether that be economic development, the art council."

Lovelace argued not having influence can derail progress for the disability community, such as the recent election law adopted by Iowa. Among other things, it places restrictions on ballot drop boxes.

The council is having conversations with the governor's office, which appoints members, about increasing inclusion. There's also an online talent bank launched by the Human Rights Department in 2019, designed to encourage underserved Iowans to consider openings.

Monica Stone, deputy director of the Department, said the talent bank started shortly before the pandemic, so they have not been able to get a clear sense yet of how effective it is. But she added they are trying to increase awareness, noting a challenge is convincing those with disabilities they don't have to have a lengthy background in a specific area to be considered.

"I think sometimes people think you have to be something more special in order to put your name in the hat," Stone observed. "And the truth is, the people who serve on appointed boards and commissions are special because they choose to spend their time with public service, but they are everyday Iowans."

Similar efforts have occurred in states like Pennsylvania, which launched the Inclusive Leadership in Action project.

The Iowa Developmental Disabilities Council believes it is still an overlooked issue, and said the Hawkeye State could serve as a leader in gathering firm data while boosting recruitment.

DENVER - State health agencies are continuing to help people with disabilities who are physically unable to leave their homes to get COVID-19 vaccines, but work still is needed to reach some of the state's most vulnerable residents not already in Medicaid and other databases.

Bonnie Silva - director of the community living office with the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing - said so far, local vaccine providers have been tapped to serve almost 95% of the state's identified homebound population.

"Our goal was, 'How do we leverage local solutions where those are in place?' And so literally going county by county, region by region in Colorado so that we could understand what local solutions they had in place, and how as a state entity we could support them," said Silva.

Silva's team surveyed city and county health agencies, and identified fire departments, ambulance services and other providers who were able to bring vaccines directly to homes.

Vaccines are administered to homebound residents and anyone else nearby who wants one.

To reach people of color and traditionally harder-to-reach communities, Silva said regional agencies worked with trusted voices including church leaders and nonprofits including ARC of Colorado and the Colorado Cross Disability Coalition.

Silva said the biggest blind spot continues to be people who are homebound or experiencing homelessness and unable to travel, but are not connected to services. She encouraged all Coloradans to help her team reach those who want vaccines by calling their toll-free hotline, 1-877-COVAXCO, or 877-268-2926.

"Call on behalf of maybe a neighbor or friend," said Silva. "Just really make sure that every Coloradan who wants the vaccine is able to get one, and to hear that we have the infrastructure in place to make sure that they are, in fact, able to get it."

The Colorado Department of Health has issued a request for proposals, to find a single vendor to manage the work of getting health services to the state's homebound residents over the longer term. The contract is expected to be awarded by mid-July.