Vanderbilt Kennedy Center

11/21/2025

COMMUNITY EVENT! 🥯☕️🥐

Tennessee School for the Blind's adult community-based exploration program invites adults with intellectual disabilities (and chaperones, if any) to a Peer Brunch. This is an opportunity to make friends and engage with others in the community!

WHEN: Monday, Dec. 1, from 10:30–11:30 a.m. CT
WHERE: Nashville Public Library, Donelson Branch, 2714 Old Lebanon Pike, Nashville, TN 37214)

There is no cost to attend. Please email jerry.humphreys@tsbtigers.org to RSVP.

11/19/2025

TOMORROW!
Tennessee Disability Pathfinder Webinar: "Navigating Financial Assistance Resources for Disability-Related Costs"
Thursday, November 20, 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM CT

The holiday season is here, a time of joy, but also a time when expenses can feel heavier. For individuals and families managing the costs that come with a disability, this season can be especially challenging.

That’s why Pathfinder is hosting a FREE virtual webinar designed to share helpful information about programs that may ease financial stress.

Our presenters from the Family Support Program and the Tennessee Caregiver Coalition will walk you through resources that reimburse for disability-related expenses such as respite care, specialized supplies, and other essential needs.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

✅ Eligibility criteria
✅ Application processes
✅ Available support and reimbursement options

This session will help you find practical ways to explore assistance that could make a difference for you or your loved ones.

🔔 Registration is required. CLICK HERE: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nxwWFrXTTMyfYrlTIODd9w #/registration

11/18/2025

SAVE THE DATE! Free and open to the public!

"The History of Disabilities In Our Community: Living with Physical Disabilities"
Wednesday, December 3, 5:30-8:00 p.m. CT
MLK, Jr. Magnet High School Auditorium, 613 17th Ave. N., Nashville

Now in its third year, Then and Now explores the history and impact of communities in Nashville through the scholarly work of noted historians and the personal stories of community members. Speakers include:

-- Andre L. Churchwell (moderator), Senior Advisor to the Chancellor on Inclusion and Community Outreach, Vanderbilt University
-- Megan Hart, Director, Tennessee Disability Pathfinder, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center
-- Wanda Willis, Former Executive Director, Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities

The series is presented by Vanderbilt University and hosted by Nashville Public Library.

Click here to register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeUkEq9-A41pfD63bEuC3Vif24xIbm5S3ZMeU0jSj9UjCkuBQ/viewform

11/17/2025

Alice Wong, a writer and activist who was born with muscular dystrophy and who fought relentlessly for equal rights and access for people with disabilities, died on Friday in a hospital in San Francisco. She was 51.

Born with muscular dystrophy, she received a MacArthur “Genius” grant in 2024 for her decades of calling attention to the need for equal rights for disabled people.

11/14/2025

Disability Day on the Hill date change!

11/14/2025

TODAY AT 1 P.M. CT!
TN-SOARING Webinar: "Cerebral Palsy in a NICU Follow-up Setting"
Friday, Nov. 14, 1-2 p.m. CT
REGISTER HERE: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_k2JF0auUQZy6BYxmhctxCw

The Tennessee Network for Surveillance of At-Risk Infants and NICU Graduates (TN-SOARING) is a network of medical providers and clinics offering developmental follow-up care for infants and toddlers with complex neonatal histories, including those cared for in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) across Tennessee.

More information about the TN-SOARING series may be found at vkc.vumc.org/vkc/triad/TN-SOARING/.

11/13/2025

ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!
Tennessee Disability Pathfinder Webinar: "Navigating Financial Assistance Resources for Disability-Related Costs"
Thursday, November 20, 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM CT

The holiday season is here, a time of joy, but also a time when expenses can feel heavier. For individuals and families managing the costs that come with a disability, this season can be especially challenging.

That’s why Pathfinder is hosting a FREE virtual webinar designed to share helpful information about programs that may ease financial stress.

Our presenters from the Family Support Program and the Tennessee Caregiver Coalition will walk you through resources that reimburse for disability-related expenses such as respite care, specialized supplies, and other essential needs.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

✅ Eligibility criteria
✅ Application processes
✅ Available support and reimbursement options

This session will help you find practical ways to explore assistance that could make a difference for you or your loved ones.

🔔 Registration is required. CLICK HERE: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nxwWFrXTTMyfYrlTIODd9w #/registration

11/12/2025

SAVE THE DATE! Free and open to the public!

"The History of Disabilities In Our Community: Living with Physical Disabilities"
Wednesday, December 3, 5:30-8:00 p.m. CT
MLK, Jr. Magnet High School Auditorium, 613 17th Ave. N., Nashville

As Nashville continues to experience tremendous growth, it has become an increasingly diverse home to different minority communities. Now in its third year, Then and Now explores the history and impact of these communities through the scholarly work of noted historians and the personal stories of community members. Speakers include:

-- Andre L. Churchwell (moderator), Senior Advisor to the Chancellor on Inclusion and Community Outreach, Vanderbilt University
-- Megan Hart, Director, Tennessee Disability Pathfinder, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center
-- Wanda Willis, Former Executive Director, Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities

The series is presented by Vanderbilt University and hosted by Nashville Public Library.

Click here to register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeUkEq9-A41pfD63bEuC3Vif24xIbm5S3ZMeU0jSj9UjCkuBQ/viewform

11/11/2025

The VKC wishes you all a wonderful and introspective Veterans Day. Thank you to members of the United States Armed Forces past and present for your service, and to the family members who support them at home.

11/10/2025

“Special education advocates have historically played a most important role in helping ensure that students with disabilities get the education they need and deserve,” VKC researcher and Vanderbilt University Special Education professor Doug Fuchs tells the Nashville Scene. “Advocates, often working collaboratively with educators, help to keep educators’ eye on the ball. This is important because it is sometimes difficult for well-meaning but overtaxed and under-resourced educators to keep their responsibilities to students with disabilities in mind.”

LINK:

Parents can turn to special education advocates to help during the individualized education program process

11/10/2025

Our thoughts and sincere condolences are with our VUMC colleagues within the Vanderbilt LifeFlight team.

Colleagues,

For 41 years, through more than 80,000 flights and 40,000 ground transports, the remarkable members of the Vanderbilt LifeFlight team have saved countless lives. Since inception, the program has highlighted safety as its most important priority. Despite the inherent risk of this work, these dedicated individuals feel called to serve patients in their most vulnerable moments, critically injured or ill.

Yesterday, three crew members serving on LifeFlight 1 were involved in an accident when their aircraft went down in an unpopulated area in Wilson County, TN. There was no patient on board at the time. Allan Williams, RN, Flight Nurse/Paramedic, did not survive. Andrew “Andy” Sikes, Critical Care Flight Paramedic, and the aircraft’s pilot, whose family has asked for privacy at this time, were seriously injured and remain in our care.

As we grieve with Allan’s family, I ask you to please join me in support of them as well as Andy, the pilot and their families.

Sincerely,

Jane Freedman, MD Deputy Chief Executive Officer Chief Health System Officer

11/07/2025

From the latest issue of VKC Notables: When your child is struggling in school with reading or working out math problems or your college student is having difficulties keeping up, and the school doesn’t seem to have the answers, where can you find help?

The Learning Assessment Clinic, a program of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, provides academic assessments for students in elementary school through young adulthood who have learning challenges.

Not subscribed to Notables yet? Visit https://vkc.vumc.org/subscribe/ to sign up!

ARTICLE LINK: https://notables.vkcsites.org/2025/10/learning-assessment-clinic-offers-strategies-for-boosting-students-success/

When your child is struggling in school with reading or working out math problems or your college student is having difficulties keeping up, and the school doesn’t seem to have the answers, where can you find...Read more