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North Carolina high school senior Amanda Crowe is gathering recipes for a unique new cookbook as part of a graduation project and she needs your help.
Amanda’s cookbook will be a compilation of recipes solicited exclusively from individuals with spinal cord injuries, family members, caregivers, therapists, or anyone involved with SCI. All proceeds from the sale of this innovative new cookbook will be donated to The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. As Amanda says: “We all have two things in common: We all either know someone who has a SCI or have SCI ourselves AND we all want a cure for paralysis. Am [...]
Research
Misc.
EXECUTIVE MESSAGES: October 2007
Orlando Blooms
Knowledge Sharing
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: October 2007
An Artist Writes
MS Veterans
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: Need for Knowledge
NEWSROOM: October 2007
Updated Human Rights Law in NY
Features
Conference 2007 Highlights
Here’s a small sample of what professionals and consumers learned at this year’s North American Spinal Cord Injury Conference and Disability Expo in Orlando.
By Rob Ingraham and Tom Scott
Experimental Treatments for Spinal Cord Injury: What You Should Know
Low-Cost Assistive Technology Alternatives to Increase the Quality of Life of Persons with SCI/D
“Let’s Talk About Sex”—SCI [...]
Orlando Blooms
We can all be very proud of United Spinal Association’s partnership with the three associations whose members gathered in Orlando in late August for the North American Spinal Cord Injury Conference and Disability Expo. Our partnership with spinal cord injury (SCI) doctors, nurses, psychologists, therapists, and social workers is strengthened by decades of collaborative efforts resulting in the dissemination of research and professional education to those in the field of spinal cord medicine. We have also begun a program for SCI physical and occupational therapists, which is now in its second year.
This year, we added a component for consumers [...]
An Artist Writes
What a wonderful surprise! When I saw the June Action in the mailbox, I quickly went to the table of contents. I was overjoyed to see my work (’A United Spinal Gallery‘). I want to thank you for this opportunity to show off my best.
I am receiving great feedback from family and friends across the country. Thank you for this fantastic exposure. I appreciate your magazine and feel quite honored to be part of it.
Please extend my thank you the rest of the Action staff.
Janice M. Peroni, Richland, New Jersey
Last month we put a notice in Action for a DVD called Self-Care Independence that United Spinal Association made in association with the James J. Peters Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in the Bronx.The hour-long introduction to basic activities of daily living post-SCI has proven, beyond our expectations, to be a popular item . (It’s still available, by the way, for free by calling 800-404-8298, ext. 782 or e-mailing action@unitedspinal.org.)
People with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D) tend to be hungry for information. We at United Spinal have known this for all of our six decades of existence. It’s one [...]
Updated Human Rights Law in NY
United Spinal Association was pleased that New York Governor Elliot Spitzer signed into law a bill that significantly expands the rights of persons with disabilities. This new legislation will bring New York State’s Human Rights Law up-to-date to reflect the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) pertaining to places of public accommodation.
Presently, New York State’s law does not explicitly require the removal of architectural barriers in places of public accommodation, which include restaurants, theaters, shopping centers-and other places where goods or services are provided to the public. While the old law prohibited discrimination [...]
Here’s a small sample of what professionals and consumers learned at this year’s North American Spinal Cord Injury Conference and Disability Expo in Orlando.
By Rob Ingraham and Tom Scott
Experimental Treatments for Spinal Cord Injury: What You Should Know
As the Internet’s explosive growth has expanded access to thousands, if not millions, of information resources, individuals with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D) are encountering more and more speculative treatment options that have not been subject to rigorous clinical trials or approved by the appropriate regulatory agencies.
Seeking to help attendees distinguish between legitimate clinical trials and the numerous “experimental” treatments, [...]
By Rob Ingraham and Tom Scott
Caregivers 101
With about 44 million people in America acting as caregivers for relatives, spouses, or friends with disabilities—and the looming retirement of over 75 million “baby boomers”—the issue of obtaining and sustaining competent caregivers is rapidly becoming a major question for families across the country.
To provide a basic overview of considerations for people with disabilities seeking to hire a caregiver and issues for spouses, friends, and family who are, or expect to be, acting as caregivers, United Spinal’s consumer conference, Creating Your Future: Living With a Disability, offered “Caregivers 101,” presented by Rebecca Adcock, PhD, SCI [...]
A researcher explains why he is optimistic about medical research-and why he thinks you should be too.
By William Bauman, MD
Have you ever appreciated medical care you received? If so, you know that medicine can make the difference between a good outcome and a bad one, and in the most dramatic instance, between life and death.
Did you ever feel that a physician could only do so much to treat a friend or loved one? When this happens, one feels hopeless, but concrete action can still be taken. A disease is like a puzzle, and it can be “solved.” Even if [...]
Part 1 of a 3-part series on understanding and coping with spasticity.
By Rob Ingraham
Spasticity, the sudden, involuntary muscle contractions characteristic of many people with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI), is a complex secondary condition that, paradoxically, is a debilitating, painful burden for some, but an unexpected advantage for negotiating activities of daily living for others.
“Some folks welcome spasticity; for others it is the bane of their existence,” said Dr. David R. Gater, chief of Spinal Cord Injuries and Disorders at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia. Dr. Gater presented an overview of the [...]
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and time to remember that even women with spinal cord injuries are at risk.
By EM Treston
I try to follow guidelines set up by the medical community so when I turned 40, it was time for a mammogram. The only time I saw a mammogram machine was on television during “October is Breast Awareness Month”-a barrage of commercials and news flashes from the health expert during the six o’clock news. The only problem with the examination I saw was that every woman was standing. Now the ability to stand has not been in my repertoire [...]
By Scott Chesney
• How do I stay motivated living with paralysis?
• Why would a company want to hire a person with a disability?
• What steps do I need to take in planning an accessible vacation?
• Can I still be sexual with SCI? How?
• How am I going to be an effective parent now that I have SCI?
These are just some of the unlimited types of questions that I will be answering as part of Action’s new featured Q & A column entitled, “Ask the Coach.”
As a person living with a [...]
By Tamar Adsedo Sherman
Once you’ve got a basic résumé in order (see July 2007 Working World), you might be tempted to send it out, as is, to every conceivable job listing you find in the newspaper or on the Internet. It’s so easy these days just to click that button on careerbuilder.com or monster.com and respond to all ads for “administrative assistant.” Stop! Don’t do it-not just yet. You need to do a little fine tuning.
When writing your résumé, you played with the design and arrangement of the information you were presenting: a summary of qualifications, highlight skills, work experience, [...]
By Rosemarie Rossetti, PhD
I remember coming into my kitchen in my wheelchair for the first time after my spinal cord injury nine years ago. I was wearing a neck collar and body brace to stabilize my spine after surgery. I went to the kitchen sink to get a glass of water. The glasses were stored in the bottom shelf of the wall cabinet and were totally out of my reach. My husband Mark handed me a glass and I proceeded to go to the sink. I couldn’t reach the faucet to turn on the water. Mark came to my rescue again. [...]
By Kathleen M. Muldoon
Yvette Silver www.yvettesilver.com
Happy Halloween! Now, I’m sure that most of you reading this column think you’re past the “kid stuff” of Halloween-the costumes, the trick or treating- all that’s for little kids, right? Well, yes, maybe that part of it. But I’ll bet few of you know that for us “older kids,” Halloween offers the opportunity to find romance. Yes, romance! I was surprised, too, when I read some of the love opportunities available only on Halloween. I’m not sure I believe them, because I’m not superstitious-knock wood. But, for those of you who have yet to [...]
Subway Series at Shea: United Spinal Mets bat against the United Spinal Yankees in the 2007 Major League Wheelchair Softball Tournament in New York City in September.
Wheelchair Softball Hits Homerun at Shea
The rainy weather wasn’t going to dampen the spirits of the fans who came out to watch the final game of the 2007 Major League Wheelchair Softball Tournament at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York. With support from New York City Parks and Recreation, this is the seventh year that United Spinal Association and the New York Mets have hosted the annual tournament, which took place on Friday, [...]
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