Fire Safety For Wheelchair UsersUnited Spinal Association, has developed a free online training program designed to save the lives of individuals with disabilities and mobility impairments during fire emergencies.
Go there
Mobility Allternatives: From Canes To Wheelchairs
This free publication, written by master clinician and educator Jean Minkel, MA, PT, is a guide that assists people in making the right choice in their selection of a mobility device. View publications.
Accessible Air Travel
Knowing what to expect from the time an airline reservation is booked to the moment the flight touches down takes the surprises out of traveling.
View publications.
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Attorneys for the plaintiffs, as well as the Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District, argued that the city is in violation of the law — the Americans with Disabilities Act — since it runs a public transportation system, yet only 2 percent of cabs in the city can accommodate people in wheelchairs.
Simi Linton of Manhattan was one of a dozen disabled New Yorkers attending the hearing. “I feel optimistic that the judge understood the depth and the reach of the kind of discrimination that disabled people face daily.”
The city contends it’s not violating the law because it doesn’t operate the cabs themselves, drivers do.
Read more of the WNYC News Blog here.
United Spinal Association and other plaintiffs represented by Sid Wolinsky, Esq., Disability Rights Advocates, were in court on November 22 against New York City’s Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) and Mayor Bloomberg.
As you may know, we sued the City because only 1.7% of yellow cabs are accessible. The TLC controls the design of the cabs and refuses to require access even in its “Taxi of Tomorrow.” The TLC’s Taxi of Tomorrow competition winner was Nissan, a company that submitted an inaccessible design.
The City lost the motion to dismiss our case last June. Since then the US Justice Department (DOJ), in the form of the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has filed a Statement of Interest in the case supporting our position. This extremely rare action by DOJ did not intimidate the Mayor. He went on the radio and made one boneheaded remark after another, including, “It’s dangerous for people in wheelchairs to be in the streets of New York City,” and “. . . they will sit too far from the driver to establish a dialogue and therefore will leave small tips.”
Judge George Daniels heard our Motion for Summary Judgment, as well as the City’s Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment a few days ago. Judge Daniels treated our attorney well. However, he gave both the US Attorney and the City’s attorney a much harder time. The US Attorney, in supporting our position, argued that the TLC exercises so much control over the taxi system that it acts as an “operator” of the system and US Department of Transportation (USDOT) ADA regulations pertaining to local governmental entities that operate demand-responsive systems should apply to the TLC. The TLC argued it operates nothing – i.e., it merely licenses, permits and regulates taxis and its non-discrimination obligation under ADA does not pertain to taxi passengers, only to those it licenses.
The judge had difficulty accepting the City’s position that the TLC was free to discriminate against wheelchair-using passengers, at least in so far as the ADA is concerned, and some difficulty in accepting the US Attorney’s position that the TLC operates the taxi system, perhaps because he was afraid that his ruling might mean that most taxis in most cities had to be accessible, since they are licensed by a local governmental entity. There was much discussion between the judge and the US Attorney about the unique nature of NYC’s TLC. It controls models, design, color, service areas, fares, equipment and everything else an operator of a taxi system might control, unlike regulatory agencies in other cities.
The City, through its attorney, promised a dispatch service beginning in March 2012. Remember, the City failed miserably on its last attempt to dispatch accessible taxis, a program that was discontinued almost 2 years ago and not replaced.
The curious thing about the City’s position is why it wants to operate a dispatch system at all. Remember NYC’s yellow cab system is “hail” only – i.e., passengers cannot call to reserve a yellow cab ride; they must come out on the streets of Manhattan or at the airports and hail a taxi. If all new taxis were accessible, the hail system would be accessible and the City would play no role in providing rides to those with mobility impairments. Instead, the Bloomberg Administration would deny access and create a new headache for itself — running a dispatch program and ensuring its effectiveness, something wheelchair users have not requested.
Judge Daniels promised a decision before Christmas therefore, we may have a merry one.
James Weisman
SVP & General Counsel
United Spinal Association
Thanksgiving offers each of us an opportunity to reflect upon the things that we are most thankful for, such as good health and the company and comfort of loved ones.
United Spinal Association would like to thank all of our members and friends for supporting our mission and the work we do throughout the year to ensure greater independence for people living with spinal cord injuries and diseases across the country.
This Thanksgiving, we are reminded that our greatest asset has been the trust and support of individuals like you! We are privileged to consider you a part of our growing community.
From the entire United Spinal Association family, Happy Thanksgiving!
 Pictured here in front of an accessible taxi (the MV1) are those who testified at a Capitol Hill hearing on accessible transportation. Left to right back row, Jill Houghton, Executive Director, US Business Leadership Network; James Weisman, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of United Spinal Association; US Senator Tom Harkin. Front row left to right, Bill Altom, Executive Director, Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living; David Capozzi, Executive Director, US Access Board; Marca Bristo, Executive Director, Access Living. On November 17, Iowa Senator Tom Harkin who chairs the Senate committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held a hearing on Capitol Hill regarding the state of accessible transportation in the US. Harkin spent a good amount of time discussing the lack of accessible taxis in New York City. During his testimony, he also showed support for United Spinal’s advocacy efforts to make the City’s taxi fleet fully accessible and criticized Mayor Bloomberg’s stance on the issue.
“More than 21 years since the passage of the ADA we have not yet achieved equality in access to transportation. The current situation in NYC with regard to taxicab accessibility is a good illustration of the barriers that people with mobility disabilities continue to face. I’m concerned if we continue to allow people with disabilities to be treated like second-class citizens when it comes to transportation access we will not achieve the goals of the ADA and we will not open up the doors to employment to everyone who can work and wants to work,” Harkin said.
Click here to watch the video of Harkin’s full testimony on accessible transportation.
 Lex Frieden, United Spinal Association’s Chairman of the Board, is one of America’s pre-eminent disability activists and leaders of the Independent Living Movement. He is currently the Professor of Health Informatics and of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
As a leading voice of the disability community, Lex has dedicated his life’s work to breaking down barriers that wheelchair users and other people with disabilities are confronted with in our society.
Lex recently took time to share his experiences with readers at SpinalCord.org. Check out this revealing Q&A that provides a closer look at the man who played a major role in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
United Spinal Association announced on November 17, 2011 the appointment of Ms. Alex Bennewith as its new Director of Government Relations. Ms. Bennewith will be leading United Spinal’s legislative and regulatory efforts on Medicare and Medicaid matters and addressing FDA, CDC and other health-related agency concerns.
Working from the United Spinal Washington, D.C. office, Ms. Bennewith will be joining the staff on November 28, 2011. Formerly she was Senior Manager of Government Affairs for the American Association for Homecare (AAH).
“We are very pleased that Alex will bring her expertise to bear on our advocacy of critically important topics, particularly in the area of the coverage of necessary durable medical equipment (DME) and the promotion of home- and community-based services and supports for those with spinal cord injuries, disorders and other disabilities,” said Joe Isaacs, United Spinal’s Vice President of Public Policy.
In addition to her trade group experience at AAH, Ms. Bennewith has served the policy interests of patients/consumers at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, where she managed federal advocacy concerns and oversaw the Foundation’s state-based advocacy agenda, and at the Spina Bifida Association of America, where, in addition to advocacy, she engaged in fund development activities. Prior to these positions, Ms. Bennewith worked in the Washington, D.C. government affairs office of Bristol-Myers Squibb.
“I’ve enjoyed working with Alex on DME issues related to coverage and competitive bidding and believe her experience with both consumer and corporate interests will be a major asset to achieving our goals,” stated Paul J. Tobin, United Spinal’s President and CEO.
Ms. Bennewith is a graduate of the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C., where she earned her Master’s degree in Public Administration. Her undergraduate degree was earned at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA.
November is National Family Caregivers Month. United Spinal Association would like to take a moment to recognize the more than 65 million family caregivers in this country.
Family caregivers are individuals of all ages. They may not be doctors, but they are a critical part of the health care team. Family caregivers ensure their loved ones, who may be leaving medical and rehab facilities, continue to recieve quality care at home.
It has been estimated that family caregivers provide as much as 85 percent of the daily care their loved ones require while trying to retain employment and remain productive contributors to society. Their capacity to do is greatly enabled with support from the vital programs listed below.
We urge Americans to speak out in support of these programs, which help to:
-prevent caregiver burnout, illness and lost employment
-decrease the financial burden of such caregiving on families
-improve the quality of life for both the caregiver and the person they provide care for, and
-avoid or delay much more costly out-of-home placements and thereby reduce overall federal spending
The National Family Caregiver Support Program–Part of the Older Americans Act, this program funds a broad range of supports for family caregivers, including respite care, information and referral to supportive services, individual counseling, and caregiver training. In a 2010 GAO survey of Area Agencies on Aging, 66% reported increased requests for caregiver services since the economic downturn began. An AARP Institute evaluation of the program found that nearly half the caregivers of nursing home eligible care recipients indicated that the care recipient would be unable to remain at home without the support services offered by the NFCSP.
The Lifespan Respite Care Program–Thirty states have received funding since 2009 to streamline and expand access to respite for family caregivers for children or adults of all ages with special needs. Fifty-seven percent of Area Agencies on Aging report that respite was the most-requested service by family caregivers in 2009, demonstrating the importance of respite breaks for family caregivers who have taken on a role that is often equivalent to a full-time job or greater. Lifespan Respite is especially important because it serves caregivers for adults and children of all ages. It is also the only federal program designed to help improve access to respite for those not currently served, especially adults with ALS, Multiple Sclerosis, spinal cord or traumatic brain injury, adults with developmental disabilities or mental health conditions, and children with autism, physical disabilities or serious emotional disturbances.
Medicaid–Outside of family caregivers, Medicaid is the nation’s largest funder of long-term services and support. Over the past decade, states have shifted their Medicaid funding to provide more Home and Community-Based services, including adult day health care, home health services, personal care services, and more. This shift has allowed more Medicaid beneficiaries to remain in their own homes, enabled family caregivers to stay employed, and has also saved taxpayer dollars since HCBS is less expensive than nursing home care. Cuts to Medicaid will prove far more expensive if and when nursing home placements are accelerated because family caregivers can’t take on this role without adequate support.
Medicare–A number of proposals have suggested increasing cost-sharing for Medicare beneficiaries; however, half of Medicare beneficiaries have incomes below $22,000 a year. The median out-of-pocket health spending as a share of income for Medicare beneficiaries in 2006 was 16 percent, with one in four Medicare beneficiaries spending 30 percent or more of their income on health expenses. The majority of Medicare beneficiaries are simply unable to shoulder greater premiums or out-of-pocket expenses and the costs to Medicare would be far higher without the considerable contributions made by family caregivers to keep their aged and disabled loved ones’ health and function from deteriorating and thereby averting expensive hospital and skilled nursing facility stays.
VA Caregiver Support–In a survey of family caregivers caring for veterans whose illness, injury or condition is in some way related to military service, 68 percent reported their situation as highly stressful compared to 31 percent of caregivers nationally who feel the same. Three times as many say there is a high degree of physical strain (40 percent vs. 14 percent). Yet, only 15 percent had received respite services from the VA or some other community organization within the past 12 months. Caregivers whose veterans have PTSD are only about half as likely as other caregivers to have received respite services (11 percent vs. 20 percent). The newly implemented VA Family Caregiver Support Program is critical to support our nation’s veterans and their
families.
Family Support–Projects of National Significance in the Developmental Disabilities Act provide the only source of funding for comprehensive family support services and systems change for children and adults with developmental disabilities living at home. The vast majority (60 percent) of the 4.8 million people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) live at home with family caregivers. If the caregivers are parents, they do not qualify for the National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP). Twenty-five percent live with family caregivers who are over the age of 60. A recent study from The Arc found that significantly more than 75 percentof family caregivers of adult children with developmental disabilities could not find respite or other support services.
United Spinal has historically supported federal funding for programs supporting and providing respite to the nation’s 65.7 million family caregivers who are providing care to a loved one who is aged or has a disabling or chronic condition and account for at least $450 billion in uncompensated care every year according to the 2009 issue of Caregiving in the U.S. published by the National Alliance for Caregiving and the AARP.
May National Family Caregivers Month be a reminder to our nation’s policymakers that these programs must be preserved amid their efforts to reduce our nation’s deficit!
For more information, please visit the website of the National Family Caregivers Association.
Joseph Isaacs
VP Public Policy
United Spinal Association
 For the past two years, United Spinal Association has teamed up with Independence Care System to host a unique conference in New York titled “From Within” that promotes self-esteem, self-awareness, and self-empowerment for women living with disabilities.
For 2012, our conference venue has moved from ICS’s Brooklyn Center to the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City in the heart of Times Square. The conference will take place on Saturday, May 19.
United Spinal is pleased to announce that our keynote speaker will be Ginny Thornburgh who has spent the past forty years as an advocate for people with disabilities. She presently serves at the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) as Director of the AAPD Interfaith Initiative, the mission of which is to support people with disabilities and their families as they seek spiritual and religious access.
Ginny will talk about the connection between personal self-awareness and self-empowerment and the connection to spirituality. She will also talk about her personal life experience as a mother raising a child with a disability and how that experience helped to shape her faith and sense of spiritual-awareness.
Pleased stay tuned for more info on our upcoming From Within conference. You can register by visiting our events page. Also, check out highlights from our first From Within conference, which we hosted in 2010.
Wearing yellow buttons stating “Separate is NOT equal,” a dozen advocates in wheelchairs rolled into the “Taxi of Tomorrow” exhibit near Madison Square Park Thursday to raise concerns about the lack of disability access in the city’s forthcoming fleet of cabs.
The “Roll-In” protest against the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission exhibit was designed to pressure officials to reverse their position on accommodating disabled riders before New York City’s newly designed fleet of cabs hits the streets in 2013.
The TLC unveiled its new Nissan-designed NV200 taxi model, which it chose over Ford’s and Turkish automaker Karsan’s designs, and made it available for the public to view starting on Tuesday and ending on Saturday. Karsan’s proposed model was handicap accessible, but Nissan’s is not.
Read more.
 Joseph Ambrose, an 86-year-old World War I veteran, attends the dedication day parade for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1982. He is holding the flag that covered the casket of his son, who was killed in the Korean War. Photo originally from en.wikipedia. United Spinal Association thanks all generations of America’s veterans for serving us proudly.
Veterans Day is just one day to honor the courageous men and women that have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedom. It is also a day to recognize the myriad of challenges many veterans face when they return home.
Sadly, these issues get very little public attention except on national holidays like Veterans Day. Many Americans tend to forget that there are thousands of veterans struggling every day to rediscover themselves and reintegrate back into their communities.
Through our VetsFirst program, United Spinal continues to help disabled veterans transition back to their families and communities and we will continue to ensure they receive healthcare, compensation, rehabilitation, and other benefits offered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Our VetsFirst program advocates for all generations of veterans, including individuals living with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries. Our advocacy efforts go far beyond offering words of support and encouragement. We take this fight to Capitol Hill to bring attention to issues that matter most to the men and women who proudly served our country.
If you not fully aware of United Spinal Association’s history, this organization was founded in 1946 when a group of paralyzed World War II veterans from New York City and the surrounding area banded together to raise awareness of the alarming plight of their fellow paralyzed veterans. Rejecting the poor treatment they received at their local VA hospitals, they led the charge for greater civil rights and independence, forming the congressionally chartered Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA). United Spinal, formerly known as Eastern Paralyzed Veterans of America (EPVA), was a chapter of PVA.
 Our mission continues in the spirit of James J. Peters and his tireless work to help America’s veterans. As the organization matured under the leadership of James J. Peters in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, United Spinal helped improve the quality of health care for veterans, backing words with deeds and dollars by winning denied benefits for individual vets and investing money in VA programs and infrastructure.
In 1970, Peters convinced Life magazine to run a cover story exposing the deplorable conditions facing Vietnam veterans with spinal cord injuries at the Bronx VA Medical Center. The story sparked a national outrage and convinced Congress to raze the facility and build a brand new hospital with special attention to SCI. In 2005, the hospital was renamed in honor of Peters and his work to ensure all veterans receive quality health care.
In 2007, United Spinal created its VetsFirst program to better assist members and other veterans. Today, VetsFirst continues the important work to uphold the values, objectives and mission needed for our nation’s veterans no matter when or where they served.
To all of our Nation’s veterans, thanks for serving us proudly!
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Donate And Receive The Beautiful 2012 Calendar As Our Gift To You  Connect NSCIA is now the membership division of United Spinal Association. Join our growing community at SpinalCord.org. 
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