Living with Secondary Conditions

Misc.
EXECUTIVE MESSAGES: September 2007
Taking Precautions
Good Health Is Independence
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: September 2007
Getting Somewhere?
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: Requiem for “Reasons and Remarks”
NEWSROOM: September 2007
Compiled by Peggy Hathaway
Keeping the Promise to End Unfair Employment Discrimination
RESEARCH FRONT: September 2007
Degeneration
Obesity Increases Risk of Having Children With Spina Bifida
Features
New Video Series on […]

Taking Precautions
Most of us have figured out how to live without walking, or how to open a water-bottle without a hand that can grip. But the daunting task remains: how do we stay well? How do we take care of infections, pressure sores and, as we age, the breakdown of parts of our body, […]

Getting Somewhere?
Well, I’m not sure exactly how to respond to your recent articles on public transit accessibility (July 2007), other than to say, you are referencing only the most advanced and progressive regions while ignoring the bulk of the United States, which appears to be ignoring the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Anyone who has read PN—more formally known as Paraplegia News—will recognize in the title of this letter the name PN’s editor Cliff Crase gave to his own monthly address to his readers. For me, Cliff’s warm and witty “Reasons and Remarks”were always a highlight of the magazine.They reflected the personal style of their author very […]

Compiled by Peggy Hathaway
Keeping the Promise to End Unfair Employment Discrimination
Four Congressional leaders have introduced a bill to restore the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to its original intent.
The ADA Restoration Act was introduced in the House and the Senate on July 26, which was the seventeenth anniversary of the ADA with […]

Degeneration
Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) recently discovered that a specific form of estrogen can prevent degeneration (a process by which a tissue deteriorates, loses functional activity, and may become converted into or replaced by other kinds of tissue) in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) without increasing their risks of developing […]

An eleven-part educational series from the University of Alabama Birmingham is available free over the Internet.
By Phil Klebine, MA; James F. Roper, MD; Susan Camp, ARNP; Cheryl Lane, CRNP, CWCN; Beth L. Dinoff, PhD; and Marca L. Sipski, MD
Management of secondary conditions is one of the more significant concerns of individuals with spinal […]

HO is a devastating condition that turns soft tissue into hardened bone.
By Tiffiny Carlson
It had been six years since the accident that resulted in my becoming a C-6 quadriplegic. And it was one of the most bizarre things I had ever experienced.
I realized something wasn’t quite right when I woke up one […]

Two decades after a cervical spinal cord injury, Ken Ryno became determined to walk again.

by Michael Lee

Even though he’s been in a wheelchair for the past 23 years, Kenneth Ryno, 46, never let his spinal cord injury get the best of him. His doctors told him he would never walk again. He knew that […]

North American Research Committee on Multiple Sclerosis (NARCOMS) is a project of the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC), a not-for-profit professional organization for MS healthcare providers and researchers. The administrative office of NARCOMS, located at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, maintains the largest voluntary, patient driven Multiple Sclerosis (MS) registry in the world. […]

September is National Preparedness Month. Are you ready in the event of an emergency?
By Kelly Rouba
The devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the coastal areas of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana in the late summer of 2005 is something many of us will never forget. Yet as time passes, the public’s […]

By Leonard J. Selfon, JD, CAE
Just as the nature of war does not change, so, too, does the nature of the wounds of war seem never to change. Yet, each war era’s service members return from the front lines with certain illnesses, disorders and disabilities that distinctively associate them with the conflicts in […]

By Tamar Asedo Sherman
Low unemployment rates offer more opportunities for people with disabilities to find rewarding jobs. And right now the national unemployment rate is at a historic low of 4.5 percent.
The gap between the percentage of people with disabilities who are employed and the percentage of those without disabilities who are employed […]

By Rosemarie Rossetti, PhD

The egress solution that the author has chosen is the ScapeWEL® Window Well System.

When building a home with a basement it is important that an emergency escape route be included in the design. In addition to using the stairway, emergency exits can be provided through doors and windows.
When the […]

By Ed Lash
One of the most common complications with multiple sclerosis (MS) is a tricky bladder, primarily regarding frequency and urgency. This may cause some people to limit their fluid intake, thereby reducing the flushing action to eliminate waste products through the urinary tract and often resulting in a low-grade bladder infection, which only […]

By Kathleen M. Muldoon
It’s only September and already I’m excited about the 2008 Olympics. I love everything about the Olympics, not because I’m a jock—in fact, I’m an athletic zero—but because I admire those who are. Even more inspiring for me are the games that begin after the Olympics, the Paralympics— international athletic competitions […]

The 2007 United Spinal Navigators

United Spinal Association Helps Give MLB Fans a Showcase of Wheelchair Softball
On July 7 and 8, United Spinal Association helped promote the game of wheelchair softball during the Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Fan Fest, which was held this year at the Moscone Centre in San Francisco, California.
Wheelchair softball athletes […]