Misc.
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE: Access is for Everyone
DIRECTOR’S NOTES: A Place to Call Home
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: Home on the Web
Legislative News: Stem Cell Starts and Stops
Program Notes: March 2006
Features
Requiring Access in the Home
United Spinal’s Accessibility Services staff works to provide education on residential accessibility requirements.
By Dominic Marinelli
Building a Universal Design Dream Home
A primer for building […]

Being a leader in accessibility issues is not an option, but rather a necessity for United Spinal Association. The individual shock many of us realized when we first left a VA or rehabilitation hospital only to realize we couldn’t get into our homes, or the shock that others experienced when they realized they couldn’t invite […]

Through a successful public affairs and lobbying campaign, the founders of this organization were able to get legislation passed allowing for a grant to help purchase specially adapted housing for veterans with service-connected spinal cord injuries. That early victory allowed thousands of paralyzed veterans just back from World War II to return to their communities […]

After you’ve read this special issue on accessible homes, I’m sure you will want to explore the ideas in here more fully. If you have access to the internet, we can help you do that at our home in cyberspace.

United Spinal Association continues to advocate passage in the Congress of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, and to push for, and track, bills in various states nationwide that authorize and fund state stem cell research initiatives. Researchers believe that embryonic stem cells could be used to generate new cells and tissues for medical therapies, […]

PUBLIC POLICY: Coalition Reviews and Plans
In December 2005, the annual meeting of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), www.c-c-d.org, was held in Washington, DC. United Spinal Association is a CCD member organization, and John P. Herrion, counsel, and Daniel J. Anderson, legislative director, represented us at this event. Established in 1973, CCD is a […]

United Spinal’s Accessibility Services staff works to provide education on residential accessibility requirements.
By Dominic Marinelli
To represent the housing needs of members of United Spinal Association, the organization’s Accessibility Services staff serves on numerous national building code committees, including participating as voting members of the American National Standards Institute’s ANSI A117.1 Standard on Accessible and Useable […]

A primer for building human-centered homes
By Rosemarie Rossetti, PhD

When my husband Mark and I, newly wed in 1995, were building our two-story “dream home,” we carefully considered the design, even to the point of making doors wide enough for a person in a wheelchair in case one of our aging relatives had to temporarily live […]

Housing our members comfortably has been a priority of United Spinal from day one.
By Terry Moakley
When groups of World War II veterans with spinal cord disabilities were organizing in the New York City area in 1946 to form our predecessor association, the single biggest issue was the lack of suitable housing. The choices were to […]

Loans and grants are available to help some people with spinal cord disabilities afford necessary changes to homes.
By Terry Moakley
A spinal cord disability usually creates the need for specific features in the home like ramps, wider doorways, and larger bathrooms in a living space. Modifications don’t happen by themselves, so the question, naturally, is, “Does […]

Accessibility and sustainability co-exist in a novel New Mexico home.
By Rob Ingraham

Don and Patricia Miller stand at the entrance of their space-age home near Albuquerque, New Mexico.
(Photos by Margo Geist.)
United Spinal Board member Patricia Miller and her husband Don have combined their commitment to environmental awareness and energy efficiency with her need for wheelchair accessibility […]

The more residences that are “visitable” by people with disabilities, the more accessible the housing market will become.
By Terry Moakley
The term “visitability,” when applied to new construction, means the incorporation of accessibility features that enable an individual with a disability to visit another person in this type of dwelling. A close examination of a proposed […]

A historic farmhouse is turned into a 21st century showcase of accessible design.
By Lori A. Wood
These days, the instruments that make a home accessible to those with disabilities seem downright futuristic. What would happen if these innovations were incorporated into the antiquity of a nineteenth-century structure? Thanks to one man, that hypothetical scenario is now […]

Dr. Chester Ho wins United Spinal’s James J. Peters Award for his work with “bionic neurons.”
By Rob Ingraham

Dr. Chester Ho (center) receives a plaque recognizing his work with functional electrical stimuulation from Dr. Vivian Beyda on behalf of United Spinal’s Research and Education program. Also at the ceremony were (from left to right) Dr. Murray […]

Disability rights activists in Israel benefit from United Spinal’s vast experience in removing societal barriers.
By James Weisman

James Weisman, United Spinal general counsel, addresses a conference of Israeli disability advocates on a new civil rights law the Knesset passed for people with disabilities.
In 2005, the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, passed a major civil rights law for people […]

By Elizabeth M. Treston

Wouldn’t it be nice if architects used stairs for decorative purposes rather than functional ones? When the term “Universal Design” actually becomes archaic? Imagine being able to go into your family and friends’ homes without the hassle. Perhaps that day is coming, but for now, get used to being tossed about like […]

By Tamar Asedo Sherman
The first question that comes to mind when anyone receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) wants to go back to work is: Will I lose my disability benefits?
The complex answer: Not necessarily.
The simple answer, the one you will hear from the experts, is that you can work […]

By John M. Williams

When David Dikert, executive director of the Assistive Technology Industry Association (www.atia.org) was escorting a media group through ATIA’s exhibit hall in Tampa, Florida a couple of months ago, he said, “One of the companies you should visit is New Zealand’s Lomak International, Limited. They have developed a unique way for people […]

by Kathleen M. Muldoon

The next time you enjoy watching television, say a big “Thank you!” to Philo Farnsworth. He’s the fellow who, in 1920 at age 14, began thinking about how to capture and transmit the sounds and images of people and things in the world around him. His invention of a “dissector tube” led […]

Exercise and MS
Exercise and MS
By Ed Lash

University of Southern California scientists conducted a laboratory experiment in the early ’60s called “Operation Sacktime.” They kept healthy, young college men in bed for a period of two to three weeks after which it was found that the students had lost energy and strength, and their lungs, heart, […]