The Raw Beauty Project Empowers Disabled Women

When she was 19, Wendy Crawford’s life as a model changed forever, after a car accident left her a quadriplegic. Thirty years later, she’s not only posing in front of the camera, but empowering other women with disabilities to discover their own Raw Beauty.

The co-creator of The Raw Beauty Project NYC told TODAY.com that after her accident — she was hit by a drunk driver — she initially remained optimistic that she could have a future in modeling with a disability, but was disappointed that the industry wasn’t as receptive to the idea.

Wendy Crawford

Walter Chin
Wendy Crawford is one of the people behind The Raw Beauty Project NYC, a photo exhibition designed to empower women with disabilities.

Crawford, now 49, went on to found the mobileWOMEN advocacy group for women in wheelchairs in 2002, and in 2006 she helped created “Uncensored Life: Raw Beauty,” a Miami exhibit featuring photos of 20 disabled women that aimed to create new perceptions, shatter stereotypes and raise awareness for women with physical challenges.

“[Models] become empowered by it, and realize there are so many other things they can do,” Crawford said.

This year, mobileWOMEN.org partnered with the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation to develop The Raw Beauty Project, a spinoff that features 20 women with disabilities to emphasize their “beauty, empowerment and sensuality,” according to the project’s website. Showcased last month at ACA Galleries in Manhattan, photographs from the series have been sold to benefit the Reeve Foundation, which raises money and awareness for people living with spinal cord injuries and paralysis.

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Blind Students Sail With Challenged America

BLIND & VISUALLY IMPAIRED STUDENT DO MORE THAN TAKE A RIDE AT CHALLENGED AMERICA

Imagine eight, nine and ten year old, blind and visually impaired elementary school students steering and trimming a sailboat all by themselves as the navigate they busy and tricky waters of San Diego’s Big Bay.

“We’re not a go-for-a-ride sailing program,” says Dave Meyer, volunteer coordinator of the therapeutic Challenged America program.  “These kids’ first-time experience sailing will be an instant reality happening as they learn to steer and trim the sails, even though they can’t see, with their sailing instructor sitting behind them in the two-person, Martin 16 sailboat.”

 

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Enhance someone’s quality of life

This Holiday Season you can give the gifts of self-reliance, independence, self-confidence, and enhance someone’s quality of life.

Your donation to Challenged America will give a disabled veteran, adult or child with a disability all of these and much more.

“The uncertainty that came with vision loss left me fearful about the future, and feeling that a normal life would be impossible. Sailing has restored my self-confidence, given me a sense of freedom and adventure I never knew I had and taught me that anything can be possible no matter what your ability is.

Learning to sail and be in control of a boat, making it dance across the sparkling bay and hearing the splash against the hull has turned me into a graceful ballerina. This is my show now and vision loss is just a bit player waiting in the wings.’
– Tammy
Challenged America Tammy
Why Donate to the Disabled Businesspersons Assocation’s Challenged America program?

100% of your generous gift goes directly into the program.
There are no salaries or hidden administrative or fundraising costs.
Challenged America is an all-volunteer program, as are all the programs with the DBA charity.
The DBA and all its programs are overseen and directed by volunteers from the community.

Please consider Challenged America during this gift-giving time of year, and then come on down to the dock to see how your generosity is being utilized. Better yet, come on down and volunteer and join the others who contribute their time, expertise and resources to assure that Challenged America continues for another 36-plus years.

You can make your tax-deductible donation by check to ‘Challenged America’ and mail directly to the Challenged America office or online! and use your credit card to make your gift via PayPal.

Recurring monthly donations can also be set up through PayPal. This is an extremely valuable way to help support Challenged America on an on-going basis.

Many employers will make matching donations when their employees donate to charitable causes. Check to see if your employer might have such a program. You might be able to double the impact of your gift!

 Securely Donate with PayPal

Challenged America
at Sunroad Resort Marina
955 Harbor Island Dr., Suite 130
San Diego, California 92101

(619) 523-9318

Tax-Exempt (EIN) : 33-0484461 – Disabled Businesspersons Association

Blind Veteran Helps Others Learn to Sail (CNN Human Factor)

Blind veteran helps others learn to sail

The sea is a demanding environment, so people always ask, “How are you able to sail if you can’t see?”

The answer: I have an acute “spacial” awareness and directional ability, and I use the wind’s varying pressure and patterns of waves to determine the direction I’m headed.

The truth of the matter is at night on the sea, everyone is blind. When the darkness takes over, it can be the most frightening or peaceful of times. A time when you can be at one with the ocean and your vessel, whether a totally blind sailor like me or blessed with 20/20 vision.

When I became completely blind in 1984, I first thought sailing would no longer be possible. Then I was introduced to a program called “Challenged America,” which is designed to teach people with disabilities of all kinds how to sail. I realized it was something I had to be a part of, and I welcomed one of my truest passions back into my life.

Having logged thousands of coastal and offshore sailing miles in my youth, I’ve been able to add to my experience by sailing and racing on the West Coast with “Challenged America.” This includes being the captain on two trans-Pacific races from Los Angeles to Honolulu.

Ultimately, my blindness isn’t my biggest challenge when I take to the open sea — it’s my type 1 diabetes. Many people don’t realize the daily, if not hourly requirements that people with diabetes face. But it’s a disease that when properly managed can be nothing more than something you live with, rather than something that determines how you live.

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