'The World Is Missing Out on a Whole Lot'

As a woman with disabilities -- she has cerebral palsy and requires the assistance of personal care attendants to live an independent life -- Ashley Volion is no stranger to isolation and discrimination. But as she wrote on Bridge The Gulf this week, nothing hurt this 28-year-old academic from Lafitte, Louisiana as much as having to defer pursuing a Ph.D. in Disability Studies in Chicago because Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals denied her request to provide care there.