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Sandra Cammaroto of the Transportation Security Administration would like to remind everyone about the new security measures:
I have been getting many calls about the removal of footwear at checkpoints for persons with disabilities and medical conditions.
People with Disabilities, those with prosthetic devices, and those with medical conditions DO NOT have to remove their shoes during this heightened security level nor has this been the case during routine travel times.
TSA Officers know this and should allow all persons with disabilities to keep their shoes on.
Those who keep their shoes on will be subjected to additional screening that [...]
Summer Sports
Misc.
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE: Changes
DIRECTOR’S NOTES: A Beginning
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: Surveying the Action
CONNECTIONS: News of Communities for People with Disabilities
Dating4Disabled.com
Features
WEB EXCLUSIVE: Adaptive Summer Sports—More Ways to Have Fun in the Sun
Wave-Ski Surfin’ Safari
If you love water, adventure, and being “out there,” wave-skiing may be your ticket to summer fun.
By Beth Livingston
Sailing to Freedom
Thousands of Chicagoans with disabilities have discovered skills they never knew they had through an innovative sailing program.
By Jeff Canar, PhD
Hearts of Champions
A new documentary shows how five wheelchair athletes found meaning on the tennis court.
By Lori [...]
As I begin my second term, we are experiencing a change in leadership with the retirement of our long-time friend, Executive Director Gerard M. Kelly.
As I begin my service as Executive Director, I want to thank the Board of Directors for their confidence in appointing me. I have been with this wonderful organization for 10 years and am humbled by both the size of the task before me and the shadow of the two leaders I follow. I have unending respect for Jim Peters and Jerry Kelly, who together brought United Spinal to new heights and made an impact on me and thousands of others with spinal cord disorders.
It has been fascinating to watch the Action Readership Survey take shape as more of you make your way there to give your feedback on this magazine. I won’t share with you any of the trends just yet. It needs more time until the population of survey takers is more representative of Action readers.
Dating4Disabled.com was developed by a group of volunteers who wanted to provide more social, intellectual and romantic outlets for people with disabilities. This growing community has become a gathering place for the international special needs population, home to members from over 15 countries world-wide. It is a place for people of all nationalities, backgrounds and lifechallenges to share, connect, and just be heard.
Beth Livingston and Steve Boehne get ready to ride the waves.
Boehne invented a surf board-and a whole new way of surfing-
for people who have mobility disabilities. (Photo by Dan Boehne,
courtesy of Infinitysurf.com)
If you love water, adventure, and being “out there,” wave-skiing may be your ticket to summer fun.
By Beth Livingston
Steve Boehne, the owner of Infinity Surfboards in Dana Point, California, who has been Tandem Surfing World Champion for over 25 years with his wife Barrie, injured his Achilles tendon in 2004. The prognosis-that he would need surgery, [...]
From left to right, Carol Tibus, Brian King, Peter Johnson and Jim Healy sail
Lake Michigan courtesy of the Judd Goldman Adaptive Sailing Program.
(Photo courtesy of Peter Goldman/JGASP)
Thousands of Chicagoans with disabilities have discovered skills they never knew they had through an innovative sailing program.
By Jeff Canar, PhD
Ask anyone around the world to describe Chicago and they usually mention the Sears Tower, Michael Jordan, and deep dish pizza. Given the fact that Chicago is located in the heart of Midwest farmland, thoughts of boating and sailing don’t immediately [...]
Beth Arnoult, one of the subjects of the film Champions on Wheels,
is now the top women’s wheelchair tennis player in the United States.
(Photo by Grace Shafir)
A new documentary shows how five wheelchair athletes found meaning on the tennis court.
By Lori A. Wood
“I didn’t even know wheelchair tennis existed until the NASDAQ tournament in 2000,” says Grace Shafir, producer and director of the 2005 film Champions on Wheels. “NASDAQ was the first national tournament to have wheelchair tennis. People were playing wheelchair tennis between the matches, and they were so good.”
In April 2002, while [...]
Sam Panepinto (left) played for the Brooklyn Whirlaways,
coached by Al Youakim (right), in the early days of
wheelchair basketball. Sam and Al met again for the first time
in years at United Spinal’s 60th Anniversary celebration
at Grand Central Station last May.
(Photo by Emile Wamsteker)
The histories of United Spinal and wheelchair sports in the US run parallel and often overlap.
By Terry Moakley
First, there was wheelchair basketball.
Any historical accounts, be they written or conversational, credit restless paraplegic survivors of World War II with starting wheelchair basketball sometime [...]
You might like taking shortcuts around sidewalk traffic and using your power chair on the road, but-for safety’s sake-adapt your chair!
By Ziggi Landsman
For years the average power wheelchair speed was somewhere around 4.5 mph. Nowadays, many scooters and chairs can pump out close to 7 or 8 mph with a number of them getting to 10 mph and above.
Some other things haven’t changed. Many areas still do not have good curb cuts (or any), or for that matter there may be no sidewalks at all. Then there is human nature. That hasn’t changed either. You have the [...]
Tiffiny Carlson at work.
Tiffiny Carlson thought her life was over after a diving accident. In fact, it was just beginning.
By Lori A. Wood
“When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.” It’s a phrase we all know, but few of us have lived it as admirably as Tiffiny Carlson. “I was a pretty active kid, obsessed with dancing,” Tiffiny says. “I took baton-twirling, and was in dance. I had finished my eighth grade year, and had just joined the cheerleading squad. Everything was great.”
Tiffiny, a Minnesota native, also loved swimming. “In [...]
By John M. Williams
For 14 years, I have dealt with the severe pain associated with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), a condition in which the median nerve is compressed as it passes through the narrow carpal tunnel in the wrist. Since the median nerve provides sensory and motor functions to the thumb and three middle fingers, many symptoms may result. When CTS in both of my hands is acting up, excruciating pain in the fingers, neck, back, and legs occur. Until a month ago, my CTS had not bothered me in years. Suddenly one morning, it arrived with a vengeance in both hands.
How [...]
By Linda A. Cronin
An important and frequently overlooked part of the caregiving process is taking care of the caretaker. According to the Family Caregiver Alliance (FCA, www.caregiver.org), 52 million informal and family caregivers provide care to someone aged 20 or more with a disability or who is ill. Family members also continue to be the largest source of unpaid caregivers in the U.S. The numbers are estimated to reach 37 million caregivers by 2050, an increase of 85% from 2000.
Respite care gives caregivers a much needed break. The dictionary defines respite as “a delay or cessation for a time, especially [...]
By Maria Diamond, Esq.
You’ve just been seriously injured. Medical bills are piling up and you might not be able to work for years. With your future suddenly uncertain, what do you do?
Unfortunately, there are no simple answers. But after representing people who have had serious accidents for over 20 years, I offer five basic rules that can help you pull your life together.
By Tamar Asedo Sherman
One of the benefits of having a disability is that you get a hiring preference by federal, state, and local governments. All federal agencies are required by law to identify qualified candidates with disabilities to meet workforce diversity goals. Here’s your chance to get a good paying job with health and retirement benefits, but you must be proactive. The jobs are out there, but they’re not going to come looking for you. You’ve got to make yourself known by networking with local agencies, contacting resources listed on the Internet, and aggressively seeking out all available governmental employment opportunities.
Federal [...]
By Ed Lash
Now seems like a good time to talk about the weather-specifically the effect that hot, wet weather can have on people with multiple sclerosis (MS).
Traditionally, the heat factor with MS has been explained as being due to temporary additional impairment of demyelinated nerve fibers in the central nervous system (CNS) due to a rise in body temperature. In other words, damaged nerve cells are much less efficient when the body’s core temperature rises and functions or sensations associated with those damaged nerve cells will then appear worse.
This does not fully explain, however, the appearance of new and prolonged [...]
By Kathleen M. Muldoon
Yvette Silver ysilver@erols.com
When I was a kid, I had two heroes. One lived in a book and the other in a doghouse. Let me introduce them.
My book hero was Jo March, the second daughter in the March family in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Although she wrote this book as fiction, Louisa based the story on her own family, and she was “Jo.” I read Little Women a dozen or more times, and each time, I, too, became Jo. I liked everything about her-she hated wearing fancy clothes; she hated those times when she was [...]
By Tom Scott
The United Spinal Liberty wheelchair basketball team gave
an exhibition of their skills at Madison Square Garden during
a break in a New York Liberty WNBA game in July.
(Photo by Emile Wamsteker)
United Spinal Liberty MSG Event
Ten players from the United Spinal Liberty women’s wheelchair basketball team practiced and played a scrimmage game before the New York Liberty and San Antonio Silver Sparks WNBA game on Friday July 6, 2006 at the World’s Most Famous Arena—Madison Square Garden. During halftime, the team was invited to center court and introduced to the thousands of fans in [...]
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