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Politics is one of the subjects best not discussed with people you don’t know well, the common notion goes. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been in situations where the wisdom behind that idea became very clear very quickly.
Nevertheless, politics is a major fact of life in a democracy. Without it, nothing would ever get done. It is especially important for a constituency like people with disabilities, who can’t take consideration by the nation’s lawmakers for granted, to be savvy about how politics is done. Besides, it’s not politics in itself that’s so dangerous to the public peace, just partisan [...]
By Peggy Hathaway and Andrew Morris
Showdown on SCHIP
Here, we take a look at how bills affecting you become law using the prism of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Restoration Act.
Another bill illustrates how unpredictable Congress can be and how quickly United Spinal Association and other advocates must act – the State Children’s Health Insurance Plan (SCHIP) legislation. SCHIP provides health insurance for children whose families do not qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford health care or insurance. This summer, the House and Senate passed different SCHIP bills. Shortly thereafter, on a Thursday afternoon, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited [...]
By Tom Scott
Cooling Therapy and a Buffalo Bill
In football, injuries are expected and Kevin Everett, 25, has had his share throughout his career. During his stint at the University of Miami, a shoulder injury required surgery and in 2005, a torn knee ligament during the fi rst day of the Buffalo Bills minicamp sidelined him for the season. But the injury he sustained during the 2007 season’s home opener on September 9 against the Denver Broncos at the Bills’ Ralph Wilson stadium was much worse, one that every player in the League fears.
While attempting to tackle [...]
One of United Spinal Association’s highest priorities this year, the ADA Restoration Act, illustrates the nuts and bolts of how a bill is enacted – and how important your voice is to the process.
By Peggy Hathaway
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990 with overwhelming support from both parties and signed by President George H.W. Bush. Its employment protections were intended to give people with disabilities an equal opportunity to work and a chance to be judged fairly. Many court decisions over the years, however, have created an absurd Catch-22 and created a class of persons who are [...]
Despite HAVA, controversy continues over secure and accessible systems.
By Rob Ingraham
Few national elections ignited more controversy and ill will than the 2000 presidential election and, to a large extent, the discord turned on the seemingly simple mechanics of casting a vote. Almost two million ballots were disqualifi ed because they registered multiple votes or none at all when run through vote-counting machines. Florida’s system of punch cards, the notorious “chad” debates, and charges of voter disenfranchisement went all the way to the United States Supreme Court and to this day many Americans believe the election was “stolen.”
Congress, besieged with [...]
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in thousands of cases of serious multiple injuries to American service men and women. They will need a lot of help coming home.
By Tom Scott
At the recent North American Spinal Cord Injury Conference and Disability Exposition, which United Spinal Association sponsored in Orlando in August, Glenn Curtiss, PhD, clinical neuropsychologist at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center and Jay M. Uomoto, PhD, director of the Center for Polytrauma Care at the VA Puget Sound Healthcare System in Seattle discussed how polytrauma has impacted the lives of U.S. soldiers serving in recent [...]
Readers responded to our request for information about living with this common secondary condition of spinal cord injury and disorders. Part two of a three part series on spasticity.
By Chris Pierson
In July, Action requested information from members about their experience with spasticity. This article summarizes the information we gleaned from about 15 respondents, representing a wide range of people with spinal cord disorders (SCD) who cope with spasticity: men, women, people with cervical- and thoracic- level spinal cord injuries (SCI), people with multiple sclerosis (MS), some who have been dealing with spasticity for a short while, and some who [...]
Women Without Limits, the Women’s Advisory Committee to United Spinal Association, constructed a questionnaire on the experience of women with SCI/D in accessing important healthcare and wellness resources. The survey was made available nationally to women members of United Spinal (USM) in the spring of 2006. In the fall of 2006 the survey was opened to a national audience of non-member women with SCI/D. The Women Without Limits (WWL) is pleased to provide this summary of the findings for each survey group. Upon analysis of the information, WWL developed a list of recommendations to United Spinal toward improving the lives of women [...]
By Linda Stango, AIA
The kitchen is one of the most interactive rooms in the house and is often the gathering place for family and friends. Planning is essential since this room cannot be “rearranged” as other spaces can. If you are considering remodeling or building new kitchen; a good place to start is by assessing the needs of the users, from their physical requirements to the types of food that will be prepared. What are the ultimate goals of the redesign: new cabinets, updated finishes, more room to maneuver or additional natural light? Space and budget constraints are the most [...]
By Rosemarie Rossetti, PhD
In July 1998, when I first came home from the hospital after my spinal cord injury, I realized that my wheelchair would never fi t into our bathroom’s 3′ x 5′ toiletting area; with the door attached, the door clearance was only 26 inches. I looked at the glass-enclosed shower and whirlpool bathtub and wondered how I would ever gain access. Life after my spinal cord injury was not going to be easy.
My husband Mark and I built our home three years before my injury. We did not want to do any remodeling until we were sure [...]
By Tamar Asedo Sherman
Despite the prohibition of discrimination against qualified people with disabilities in job application procedures, hiring, fi ring, advancement, compensation, and job training under ADA’s Title I, many of us have experienced subtle or overt discrimination. If you have been subject to discrimination in employment because of your disability (or for any other reason), here is what you can do about it.
File a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or a state or local anti-discrimination agency, generally known as a Fair Employment Practices Agency, or FEPA. You have up to 300 days from the violation, [...]
By Ed Lash
When I became interested in learning more about aging and multiple sclerosis (MS), I wrote to the Information Resource Center of the National MS Society for information and received the following reply, “In general, MS tends to stabilize with age. It has been referred to as ‘burnout’.” A short article sent with their response concerned a study that seemed to confirm that progression due to aging is not inevitable with MS. Since I was already well into my sixties at the time, this was certainly good news to me.
Some symptoms of aging are similar to those with [...]
By Kathleen M. Muldoon
Yvette Silver www.yvettesilver.com
Every November I think back to one of my favorite high school events, the Sadie Hawkins dance. The difference between it and the other dances was that girls invited guys to be their dates. Now, this might not sound like a big deal today, but back in the “Dark Ages” when I was a teen, boys did all the asking. So my girlfriends and I would dare one another to ask a guy to the Sadie Hawkins dance, and then we’d report back on our success (or failure). I hate to brag, but I [...]
By Tom Scott
PepsiCo Hosts “Sports Spectacular” for Youth With Disabilities
PepsiCo’s campus in Purchase, New York was the most recent site of United Spinal Association’s “Kids Sports Spectacular”—a fun-filled and exciting event for children with varying disabilities that teaches the importance of self-esteem, teamwork, and friendship through participation in wheelchair sports including basketball, softball, tennis, and handcycling. The event, held on Tuesday, October 16th, was hosted by PepsiCo and its in-house enAble Leadership Council—which puts a focus not on the person’s disability, but rather on the individual’s different or varying abilities, whether it is as an employee, a supplier, [...]
By Amy Meisner Threet
When she was 9 months old, just starting to walk, and living in Caracas, Venezuela, Marla De Fex developed a fever that an American doctor informed her parents was poliomyelitis. At the age of one her father took her to Rusk Institute in New York City. Her father continued to take her there for treatment twice a year until the family relocated to the U.S. and settled in Flushing, Queens.
The middle child between two sisters, neither of whom has a physical disability, De Fex says, “I didn’t realize I was disabled until I was 9 years old and [...]
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