MassAbility

04/22/2026

On Saturday May 9th, join MassAbility for an accessible Family Fishing Festival at Hampton Ponds State Park. This special fishing event honors Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, an avid angler and MassAbility participant with an unmatched passion for fishing and the outdoors. Eric's family looks forward to creating an accessible event for all, to remind us that all of us with our various abilities can enjoy nature.
MassAbility is honored to host the event with Governor Maura Healey's office, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the office of Outdoor Recreation, and the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife.

All are welcome! Fishing instructors will be available onsite; no license or experience needed.

Event Details:
Saturday May 9, 2026
Hampton Ponds State Park
10:00 am – 2:00 pm

What to know:
-Food and drink will be available on site
-Parking is free with accessible parking adjacent to the festivities
-Fishing gear will be available to borrow

For questions contact jim.lagacy@mass.gov, for accommodation requests contact MassAbilityComms@mass.gov.

04/17/2026

Learn how to boost brain injury screening and make a real difference in your practice! Join us on June 16th at Worcester State University for an engaging event focused on improving brain injury screening across systems.

Learn, connect, and take action to make a real difference.

Whether you're a professional or just interested, come be part of the conversation and help advance awareness to action!

Get your free tickets at massability-awarenesstoaction.eventbrite.com

04/07/2026

Are you a MassAbility participant or disability stakeholder? The Massachusetts State Rehabilitation Council (SRC) wants to hear from you! The SRC is an advisory board that partners with MassAbility to help people with disabilities live their best lives through consumer-driven, meaningful, and integrated employment.

Each year, the SRC collects public input to make recommendations on MassAbility’s service delivery programs and ensure that the disability community plays a significant role in MassAbility’s career services programs.

The SRC invites you to help shape its 2027 recommendations by submitting public comments by Email recommendations to SRC at mrc.staterehabcouncil@massmail.state.ma.us by April 17th, 2026.

Please include your full name, region, and email address. To learn more about the SRC visit our website at https://ow.ly/ZVGm50YEXeg

04/03/2026

We're proud to highlight Adrienne and share a big congratulations for her solo art installation at the Plymouth Public Library! Adrienne is a local artist that we've supported through the Moving Forward Program and Community Living Waiver. Over the past year, Adrienne had set a goal to return to working with watercolors, and her hard work and incredible talent paid off. With the assistance of one of her supports, she was able to set-up a month-long residency at the library. If you missed her recent installation, you'll be happy to know she has a second one scheduled for the fall at the Kingston Public Library. Congrats, Adrienne!

03/30/2026

Here’s to another successful event! Thanks to all our speakers who shared their experiences and provided personal perspectives on important issues that impact individuals with disabilities across Massachusetts.

Your willingness to share your voice allowed us a chance to listen and learn about the things that matter to you: the lasting impact of COVID on services, the desire for culturally-responsive and translated resources for families navigating mental health crises, the need for more educational and career pathways to create a robust workforce of person-centered care providers, and health equity for veterans with disabilities.

We sincerely appreciate those who took time out of their day to be with us and share their experiences. With our colleagues at the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Persons with Disabilities, we can take these lessons forward to better meet the needs of the people we serve.

Thank you to UMass Lowell for hosting us!

03/24/2026

Are you heading to this year’s Brain Injury Association conference on March 25th and 26th? Connect with MassAbility! Look for the MassAbility table and attend our panels.

Wednesday, March 25th, 1:45 pm-3:45 pm
Stop, Look, and Listen: Making Assessments Work for All: Hear from MassAbility’s Statewide Head Injury Program Regional Program Coordinator Rob Mendel on how to use a human-centered approach ton conduct effective, ethical, and culturally sensitive assessments for individuals with acquired brain injuries.

Thursday, March 26th, 1:30 pm-3:30 pm
Breaking Barriers: Brain Injury Awareness and Housing: Join MassAbility’s Clinical Operations Director, Brie Insalaco and Grant Project Coordinator, Amanda Tower on the intersection of brain injury and housing access, including practical strategies for service providers and available state housing resources.

03/05/2026

Register today to share your voice! We want to hear from you, the community, at our second installation of Meeting the Moment: A Community Conversation and Resource Fair.

Hosted with our friends from the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Persons with Disabilities, we're inviting individuals with disabilities, families, caregivers, providers, and advocates to share their experiences and ideas on:
• Transition from Education-to-Employment
• Long-Term Services, Supports & Health Equity
• Digital Accessibility
• Workforce Supports

This free event will be a hybrid format and held in-person and virtually!
Friday, March 27 from 11am to 2pm
Location: UMass Lowell University Crossing 220 Pawtucket St, Lowell, MA 01854
The event will start with the hybrid community discussion followed by lunch and an in-person resource fair.

Submit written comments about the outlined topics via email by March 23 at: cspwdinfo@mass.gov
Register for the event and learn more by scanning the QR code or visiting Mass.Gov/MBY/MTM-March

Image Description: Flyer with the same event information on a stacked purple, white, and dark blue background with a photo of people speaking from the previous Meeting the Moment event. There's a QR code on the screen for the same link to the event registration page.

03/04/2026

March is Brain Injury Awareness Month and we're highlighting the partnerships and progress we've made in Massachusetts to improve brain injury screening and care!

Did you know that some people are at greater risk of experiencing brain injuries, like veterans & service members, people experiencing homelessness, survivors of domestic violence, and people in detention & correctional facilities?

In fact, data from a collaboration with one substance use recovery program in Massachusetts shows that 97% percent of people tested positive for a potential brain injury.

By using the Online Brain Injury Screening and Support System (OBISSS) tool during the intake process, this provider was able to identify individuals who may need brain injury specific support, and from there our staff at MassAbility directed them to various resources.

Our collaborations with the Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts have empowered us to connect thousands of people to supports through an active resource center, and our own Career Services staff are proud to support, in the last year, over 800 people with brain injuries to seek employment in the Commonwealth.

Overall, we connected 8,113 people to brain injury services and supports in 2025!

Learn more about what supports may be available to you, or how to include brain injury informed care into your work, visit Mass.Gov/MBY/ACL-Grant

Image Descriptions: A series of informative text on soft colored background that talks about Brain Injuries and efforts to advance care in Massachusetts. Image text/transcription in comments.

01/08/2026

Thanks to 3D printing, Perkins Library created a tactile model of a black hole for students with vision loss studying a new science unit.

Reading that time and space get warped inside a black hole is one thing. Actually being able to grasp that concept tangibly? That’s a whole different level of understanding.

Even sighted people are usually shown donut-shaped illustrations of black holes, which aren’t accurate representations of what’s actually happening inside. This 3D tactile model helps bridge that gap, allowing anyone to better understand how black holes warp and fold space inward.

This is just another one of the many services Perkins Library offers to its patrons and students with the school. When this particular student group reached out, Library staff got to work and used their creativity to help provide a tactile educational tool. Access to literacy and knowledge is for everyone!



Video Description: A man turns around a white 3D printed piece of plastic in his hands, showing off all the features of it. There are peaks and valleys and warps in the plastic because it represents a black hole using imaging and data from NASA. There is braille on the sides of the model to describe it. It's a tool for students with vision loss to understand what happens inside a black hole instead of relying on an illustration or photo.

01/06/2026

12/22/2025

Add these to your wishlist!
For Blind gamers, having tactile and accessible game pieces and inclusively-designed game mechanics can be the difference between being able to play along with friends or sitting on the sidelines.

Dungeons and Dragons is THE tabletop role playing game, where die rolls, creativity, and storytelling are at the heart of game play. With a tactile die like this, players can be a part of the campaign without having to rely on others to read out the roll. Let your DM focus on the quest at hand while you and your friends keep the game going.

At Perkins Library their team is always working with library guests to come up with creative ways to make life accessible. Whether that's for gaming at home or understanding your science unit through a tactile model, the folks at Perkins are always willing to help.

Video Description: A demonstration of a grey tactile DND gaming die on a shelf. There are some other dice behind the one that is the focus of the video. It has different markings on it instead of regular numers on a die.

12/13/2025

How much of your independence is impacted by the snow?

Snow can be an accessibility nightmare!
When sidewalks are covered in ice and crosswalks are barricaded by piles of snow, pedestrian paths become difficult or impossible to navigate. This is even harder if you use mobility aids or are blind or have low-vision!

Snowdrifts are also a problem.
Crosswalks and curb cuts blocked by snowdrifts prevent people with different kinds of disabilities to safely cross the road; blind people need them for direction, and wheelchair users need them to get onto sidewalks.

Don't forget about signage and tactile markers!
Road, street, and navigational signs get covered up by sticky snow, and tactile bumps along curb cuts and other sidewalks get covered in ice. This makes it hard for those with low vision or other disabilities to independently navigate and proves difficult in dense cities.

And what you don't see... are your neighbors, friends, and community members who stay inside when the weather gets bad. You don't see the missed doctors appointments or the missed days of college classes, or the impact to people's independence.

So how can you help?
Check in with your neighbors! Don't be a stranger- be willing to recognize when someone around you needs help, and offer!
You could even chat with folks on your block about the importance of snow and sidewalk clearing as a community. What if they don't realize that someone can't get out the driveway to their dialysis appointment? Work as a community to ensure neighbors with more needs aren't falling through the cracks during the coldest months. Together we can create equitable, caring neighborhoods.