About The Ability Center
Our goal is to provide a higher quality of life for people of all abilities by transforming greater Milwaukee into the most universally inclusive recreation destination in the world.
Our goal is to provide a higher quality of life for people of all abilities by transforming greater Milwaukee into the most universally inclusive recreation destination in the world.
Through our thoughtful, well planned objectives and your gracious contributions, we will excite and inspire the greater Milwaukee community by giving everybody the opportunity to participate in every activity.
To provide people impacted by disabilities with a daily opportunity to be fit, active, healthy, and to play.
To build communities where all abilities are provided a universal opportunity for health, wellness and recreation.
To provide a higher quality of life for people of all abilities by transforming greater Milwaukee into the most universally inclusive recreation destination in the world.
T.A.B.s—Temporarily Able-Bodied—are the one demographic we all belong to. I personally learned this life lesson, just three days shy of my thirteenth birthday, after being diagnosed with childhood bone cancer in my right leg. I went from being an able-bodied athlete to having a life-long ambulatory disability within 24 hours — this my friends is a prime example of being T.A.B. We are all borrowing a body today, that WILL NOT work the same tomorrow. Whether it’s: disease, accident or the aging process, none of us can escape the need for different, adapted, or inclusive access in the future. It could be tomorrow, next week, next year, or decades from now — either way, it’s inescapable.
But, my story didn’t end there. After 9 months of chemotherapy, a limb-salvage, and seven months of remission, I was re-diagnosed during my freshman year of high school, this time in my left leg. From CHW to Sloan Kettering in NYC, no one predicted I would see my sixteenth birthday.
Today, after 23 knee replacements and revisions, I am a one-in-a-billion survivor of my diagnosis who understands first hand what it’s like: to be left out, not to play, to be limited, to be granted access without an opportunity. I am blessed to be alive. I believe, without question my purpose is to deliver the mission, vision, and goals of The Ability Center. The works of The Ability Center is simply my way to honor my survivorship and those who lost their battle — I hope you’ll join me in the fight to provide everyBODY with a DAILY opportunity to be fit, active, healthy and to play — TOGETHER!
Check out featured news and media from our recent public iniatives.
Fit.
Active.
Healthy.
Photography by: Steve Smith, Smith Studio MKE. Today, we honor the 33rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act and celebrate the groundbreaking of America’s
A.F.A.R. Inc., d/b/a The Ability Center is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization, Tax ID: 26-3510832
