Megan taught English in Germany. With the Holman Prize, she would create workshops, online tutorials, mentoring and support to help people with disabilities find employment.
training
Michelle Young
Michelle has worked with blind people on structured discovery in Qatar, the United States, and Australia. With the Holman Prize, she would hold residential workshops on structured discovery and echolocation orientation and mobility techniques.
Finn Hellman
Finn is passionate about Brazilian jiu-jitsu (bjj). With the Holman Prize, he would travel to train with blind Brazilian jiu-jitsu experts worldwide, and then teach other blind people this martial art.
Lisamaria Martinez
Lisamaria has been active in sports all her life. Recently, she’s discovered pole dance. With the Holman Prize, she would use workshops, training and audio description to make pole dance accessible to blind people across the United States.
Krystle Allen
Krystle, who once advocated for people with disabilities in Tokyo, would use the Holman Prize to pay for fifteen blind women to participate in the Miss Blind Diva Empowerment Fellowship Program. This is a sixteen-week program that provides personal and professional development and ends with the Miss Blind Diva Empowerment Pageant.
Beth Pizzarello
Beth, who has Retinitis Pigmentosa, struggled to find services available to her when she was visually impaired, but not yet legally blind. With the Holman Prize, Beth would create Bridging The Gap, which would provide services to people diagnosed with eye conditions, regardless of their level of sight loss.
Derrick Tuff
Derrick wants to lower the high unemployment rate for people with disabilities. With the Holman Prize, Derrick would start the Americans with Disabilities Employment Center, which would provide hands-on training to disabled individuals and then assist them with finding employment.
Ambrose Lasoy
Ambrose, who lives in Kenya, wants to change the perceptions of blindness in his country. He would use the Holman Prize to train blind people in the grafting and budding of plants.
Pamela Thistle
Pamela, an extreme sports enthusiast, enjoys many sports but her favorites are mountain biking and snowboarding. She would use the Holman Prize to train to heli-snowboard off the mountains of Whistler, British Columbia, Canada.
Carol Green
Carol, a teacher of the visually impaired, would use the Holman Prize to teach Braille, in the Navajo language, to blind children and adults in the Navajo Nation during a summer program that would also include life skills training.