This year’s World Mental Health Day theme, “Lived Experiences Heard,” puts the voices of people who live with mental health conditions at the center of care. We look at what the research says about mental health in our community, how care in the United States moved from institutions to communities, and where to find support in Colorado.

Meet Brian Channey. Brian is a woodworker, a builder, and a lifelong do-it-yourselfer who takes on his own plumbing, electrical, and landscaping projects. He is also DeafBlind.

In our new video, Brian shows us his woodworking and talks about his life, his work, and how he communicates.

About 2 in 5 adults age 65 and older have a disability, yet many of us never use the word. In this article, we look at how ageism shows up in health care, housing, work, and public life, what rights protect us at every age, and the practical steps we can take to keep living independently as we grow older.

September 23 is the International Day of Sign Languages. American Sign Language is not English on the hands. It is a complete language with its own grammar and syntax, one that Deaf Americans have organized to build and protect for over two centuries, from Hartford in 1817 through Deaf President Now in 1988. Today, 45 states recognize ASL in schools, and more than 755,569 Coloradans are deaf or hard of hearing. Here's that history, and what accessible communication requires now.

Work is one of the clearest expressions of independent living. It shapes income, schedule, community, and the freedom to plan our own lives, and it's also where many of us run into real barriers: an application system that doesn't work with a screen reader, an employer who assumes rather than asks, or the worry that a paycheck will affect other benefits. Colorado funds a range of free programs that address these barriers directly, including career coaching, benefits counseling, vocational training, and legal help, but no single agency offers all of them. This guide breaks down what each program provides, who qualifies, and the order that works best, so you know exactly who to call first.

A plan you make on a calm Tuesday is worth more than anything you can work out in twenty minutes. Here is how to build one around your own equipment, medications, and people, plus three free trainings this fall where we will help you put it together.

In April 1977, more than 100 activists with disabilities occupied a San Francisco federal building for 26 days and would not leave until Section 504 was signed. That same year, CPWD began here in Boulder County. Next year, we both turn 50. Here is what Independent Living actually means.

On August 12, 2026, Colorado's House Bill 26-1045 took effect, protecting the right to keep an assistance animal where you live. It arrived just as the federal government narrowed those protections and cut emotional support animals out of the housing definition. Here is what changed, what the state law now guarantees, and how to request a reasonable accommodation.

If you live with a disability, or you love someone who does, 2026 brings real changes to the benefits and services you count on. Social Security raised benefits, ABLE accounts opened to an estimated six million more people, Medicaid added a work requirement with exemptions that protect many of us, and Colorado passed three new laws and reshaped its home and community services. Here is our plain-language guide to each change: what it is, who it affects, and where to get help.

Not all disabilities are visible. Chronic pain, mental health and neurological conditions, and autoimmune illness shape daily life without showing on the surface, and the CDC counts more than one in four adults living with a disability, many of them unseen. At CPWD we hold to a simple principle: you are the author and expert of your own experience, and you do not have to prove it to anyone. This piece explores what invisible disabilities ask of us, and the rights, language, and peer support that help us meet doubt with confidence.

This July marks 36 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act became law, and at CPWD we are looking ahead. The ADA is not a monument to visit once a year. It is a living tool that grows stronger every time we pick it up and use it. This piece is a plain-language guide to the rights it already gives us, at work, in our communities, and increasingly online, and to how we put them to work with confidence: requesting an accommodation, asking for what a space needs, and knowing where to turn. It is also a look at what we are building next, from new rules bringing government websites up to full accessibility by 2027 and 2028, to more than two dozen states moving to end subminimum wage, to communities embracing universal design so that access built for some becomes a gift for all. The doors the ADA opened are ours to walk through, and the next chapter is ours to write, together.

The outdoors belong to everyone. Our updated 2026 guide to accessible recreation across Colorado gathers new places to explore, longtime favorites worth revisiting, and the practical resources, from track chairs to the Columbine Parks Pass, that make a day outside possible.

Every July, Disability Pride Month brings the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act and a theme to carry forward. This year it is "The World Works Better With Us," and the evidence behind it is stronger than most people realize. From the curb cuts under our feet to the captions on our screens, we look at what everyone gains when people with disabilities help shape the world, and why disability pride, built in community, makes independent living possible.

Real independence begins with respect and equal opportunity. That founding belief has carried CPWD from a grassroots initiative in 1977 to a vital resource network across Colorado's Front Range. As the organization celebrates 49 years, we trace the history, the people, and the core services that continue to put that belief into practice.

When people with dual sensory loss cannot access Support Service Provider services, institutionalization often follows. Not because they need that level of care. Not because it is what they want. But because the community infrastructure is not there to support them living independently. This is not inevitable. It is the result of a funding system that has not kept pace with need.

In 2023, we shared Amber's story, and it remains one of the most powerful examples of what independent living looks like when the right support meets the right moment. Diagnosed with Bipolar II and PTSD, Amber spent years unable to leave her home. Today, she is fully employed, completely off SSDI, and raising her son with strength and independence. We're revisiting her journey because stories like hers remind us why this work matters.

June and July belong together. Pride Month and Disability Pride Month are often treated as separate celebrations, but for a significant part of our community, they are one story told in two chapters.

The overlap between LGBTQ+ and disability identities is not a footnote: 36% of LGBTQ+ adults report having a disability, and both movements share deep roots in the same demand that every body, every life, belongs fully in public life. From the Stonewall Uprising to the Capitol Crawl, these are communities that have fought for self-determination, redesigned the world for everyone in the process, and built power through solidarity.

For many people with disabilities, access to a trusted caregiver depends on immigration policy, and right now, that system is failing them. Immigrants make up nearly a third of the U.S. home care workforce, and a visa backlog stretching more than 20 years keeps many family caregivers from getting here at all.

CPWD is bridging disability rights and immigrant rights, and advocating for the changes that would make choosing your own caregiver a reality for everyone.

For Maya, getting to a farmers market means checking curb cuts, elevator status, and door weights before she ever leaves home. Her experience reflects what millions of people with mobility disabilities know every day: accessibility isn't a design feature. It's the difference between participating in community life and being excluded from it. This Mobility Awareness Month, we're exploring how far we've come and how far we still have to go.

Every May, Mental Health Awareness Month invites us to look honestly at where we are — and this year, that means holding two truths at once. At the national level, federal Medicaid cuts and instability at SAMHSA have created real uncertainty for people with disabilities who depend on mental health services. But here in Colorado, something different is happening. Advocates and legislators have been building — and there are concrete wins worth knowing about.