Chuck Van Heuveln has been a lifelong Minnesotan, a resident of St. Paul and a member of the disability community. Born with cerebral palsy, he has worked all of his adult life. He now is having a difficult time understanding why he can’t keep what he’s earned and why some citizens, just because they require ...

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Well, winter is half over and we’ve hardly had any snow or cold. No one I talk to has had to complain this year about blocked access due to snowdrifts. Although I was born here and have lived in Minnesota for the past 40 years, I grew up in Arizona. Until I was in my ...

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With the start of the new year, the mass media is full of diets and fitness and other personal-improvement features. What’s on my mind is making life better for our community in general. We all have a lot to be thankful for; the advancements every year in independent living have been amazing. But this year ...

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Again this year we had a fabulous time at the Annual Charlie Smith award banquet! Jeff Bangsberg’s acceptance speech was one of my all-time favorites.  Two of our previous award winners, Anne Henry and Steve Kuntz, introduced Bangsberg to a packed crowd who gave him a standing ovation. Bangsberg told us about several experiences in ...

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By the time you read this, Access Press’s annual banquet will once again have taken place, but we’ll have gone to press a couple days before. I’m very excited to share all that happened with you, but it will have to wait until next month. At last count, we were looking forward to about 200 ...

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It’s been a very active month for us at Access Press. After 15 years in the Griggs Midway Building, Access Press has signed a lease to move to a new location. We will be occupying an office space on the 9th floor of the Kelly Inn, overlooking the Department of Transportation, the State Office Building, ...

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The Board of Directors of Access Press has selected Jeff Bangsberg as the 2011 Charlie Smith Award recipient. It’s been a real honor for me to have Jeff as a mentor and friend over the years. I look forward to Nov. 4 and the opportunity to honor Jeff and congratulate all the nominees. There were many deserving ...

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The state shutdown was truly a catastrophe. Although disappointing, Gov. Dayton made the right decision. He did what had to be done to get the state back to work, even though he knew he was accepting a budget that will not solve any of our financial woes but only put them off for another budget ...

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I hope by the time you read this the state government shutdown is over. As I’m writing this, though, I’m afraid that it won’t be settled. I don’t think the House and Senate leadership are able to make any guarantees on how their own caucuses will ultimately vote on any compromise. Gov. Mark Dayton will ...

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Summer is finally here and I’m so excited and thankful for the warmth. Although I’m a native Minnesotan (born in St. Paul), I grew up in the Southwest desert where there was summer pretty much year-round, and I hated it. Only after one winter back in Minnesota (about 40 years ago) did I start to ...

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The big news at our state capitol is that our legislators are flinging red herrings like there’s no tomorrow. By turning their attention to single-sex marriage and stadiums, they are really trying to keep out of the mainstream news the massive cuts that will be devastating to many Minnesotans. The budgets they are proposing now ...

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There has been so much happening at the capitol it’s hard to keep up. It’s impossible to say what will be law and what will be vetoed at this point. Some of the budget cuts that are being proposed would take away basic needs care for many individuals with disabilities. I’m not always sure that ...

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It’s been 10 years since my friend Charlie Smith passed away. Those of us who knew Charlie know we lost a strong advocate. Without Charlie Access Press would probably not exist. Legislatively, much of what we’re fighting for today, Charlie was involved in authoring the legislation or was there fighting to improve many of those ...

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Will the real Access Press please stand up? As you can see we’ve made some major design changes that we really hope you’ll like. We’ve tried to make the paper easier to read and a little more, as they say, 21st-century. I hope you’ll recognize the symbolism in the four boxes—all four are pretty much ...

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The 2011 legislative session is ramping up, and I have not been at the capitol nearly as much as I’ve wanted to be. To keep up-to-date with what’s happening, it’s important to be there. Off the hill, things seem like they’re moving along slowly. But in the halls and meeting rooms of the capitol, it’s ...

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Our 40th Governor, Mark Brandt Dayton, has taken the oath as Chief Executive Officer of Minnesota. His inaugural speech was loaded with themes of cooperation and our need to work together. He said, “Let’s get Minnesota working ... together. We can’t succeed without you. You can’t succeed without one another…. Let us recognize all that ...

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It might be a strange thing to say, but I’m looking forward to the upcoming year and what it has to offer us politically. Just the other day I ran into Kurt Rutzen, from the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration, and he said he was excited about the legislative session.  He looks forward ...

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October was a month of celebrations and banquets in our community. The Minnesota State Council on Disabilities had an outstanding luncheon on Oct. 14 at the River Centre in downtown St. Paul. They honored many community members, including the artist who did the We Can Work posters for the State program Pathways to Employment through ...

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Have you got Nov. 5 marked down on your calendars to attend the Access Press annual award dinner? We’ll have a silent auction that can’t be matched, with splendid donations and a raffle that won’t allow anyone to go home empty-handed. Again this year, the banquet will be at the Airport Marriott in Bloomington in ...

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Well, it’s September and, after that blast of Fall on Labor Day weekend, it feels like summer is over. Again, the state fair was great this year and we’ve got a few highlights from our visits at the fair. This year Access Press was highlighted at the newspaper history museum at the fair. An article ...

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I am still thinking about what a great time I had, along with so many others, at the ADA 20th Anniversary celebration on July 26. It was a beautiful day at the Nicollet Island Pavilion, and being close to the river made it very cool and comfortable. The Minnesota weather couldn’t have been kinder to ...

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America’s Independence Day, the Fourth of July, has passed. Hope you had a good one!  Many in the disability community think of personal independence as a primary goal. Of course, I do, too. But I also think improved interdependence might be a much better goal for all. None of us can be truly independent, whether ...

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I hope everyone is having a fine summer. Even though the solstice isn’t here yet, we’ve had a great early time of it in May. We can look forward to several more months of outdoor fun. For most people with disabilities, summer is a much easier time of year to be out of doors. I like ...

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At this amazing 20th anniversary of Access Press, I want to thank everyone for your patience with me back in September of 2001 when I was elected as executive director. It was a difficult transition for all of us; there just was no replacing Charlie Smith, who had lost his hard-fought struggle with throat cancer. Charlie ...

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Here we are in the middle of the legislative session, and as usual, everything seems to be on hold. There have been a few health and human services bills at the state capitol that were steps in the right direction. General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) was funded finally—well it was partially  funded; there are still ...

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