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by Andrew Morris and Peggy Hathaway On Wednesday April 23 the United States House voted 349 to 62 to put a moratorium on seven harmful Medicaid regulations that would have had severe impacts for people with disabilities. The harmful rules cannot go into effect until April 2009 – which gives time for a new Congress and a new President to fix the rules permanently. Your home may be accessible but is it assistive? Get some tips from John [...] Do you ever wonder how your federal tax dollars are spent? The Center on Budget and Public Policy Priorities has put out a new paper explaining how federal taxes are spent. The paper outlines how the government spent $2.7 trillion dollars in 2007. To read the paper click here. There is hope that Congress will soon take action to block Medicaid rules that are likely to harm people with disabilities. A bill called Protecting the Medicaid Safety Net Act of 2008 (HR 5613) is moving in the House, led by John Dingell, the Chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee. We hope for a full House vote in the next few weeks. The Senate Finance Committee is ready and waiting for the bill after it passes the House Floor. United Spinal’s Accessibility Services team is fielding access questions for New York’s new state-of-the-art major league ballparks. By Rob Ingraham “Our challenge is doing the right thing by the disabled community and our clients. Other consultants don’t have that dual obligation. That’s the tightrope we walk.” Tightropes notwithstanding, Dominic Marinelli, director of United Spinal Association’s fast- growing Accessibility Services department, is inspired by his team’s accomplishments and excited about its prospects for the future. Accessibility Services is currently juggling “between 15 and 20″ major accessibility consulting projects while also coordinating professional accessibility training seminars across the country and serving on a number [...] The American National Standards Institute includes criteria to make new homes visitable by people with disabilities. By Jennifer Perry “Visitability,” a growing movement focusing on making individual homes accessible by targeting the most fundamental, inexpensive features—getting in and out of the house and being able to use a bathroom—has gained important support from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The Institute’s accessibility standards, known as ANSI A117.1, will include design criteria for visitability features that could be adopted by municipalities or implemented by state or local ordinances across the country. ANSI A117.1 serves as the accessibility standard adopted by many jurisdictions [...] When visiting a friend resembles an episode of Man vs. Wild. By Beth Livingston Last summer I made plans to visit my friends Lisa and Mike in Salt Lake City. I was going to be in town on business and delighted in the thought that I would get to see them, too, as a side benefit. We spoke on the phone about dates and directions, and where to stay. Lisa and Mike work in two different towns, Orem and Salt Lake. To save time and hassle, they bought a modest apartment in “the Avenues” of Salt Lake City where they stay when [...] The spinal cord’s ability to process sensory information after a complete injury could play a key role in the development of new robotic rehabilitative devices. By Tom Scott The human body can function under extremely adverse conditions. This is becoming more evident in the field of spinal cord injuries (SCI), where researchers are uncovering the spinal cord’s ability to adapt to injury and the need for advanced robotic-assisted locomotor training devices to aid in recovery. The Brain-Spinal Cord Connection During a symposium at the New York Academy of Sciences, Reggie Edgerton, professor of Physiological Sciences at UCLA, presented his team’s research [...] Off you can go into the wild blue yonder. By E. M. Treston “Do you want to fly?” asked the voice on the other line. “Do I wanna what?” I asked, perplexed. “Fly,” stated the voice. “Ya mean like an airplane?” Suddenly I remembered that I had e-mailed a company I found on the Internet about flying for people with disabilities. “Yes.” I didn’t hesitate, especially since my significant other had been touting his prowess on Real Flight Simulator for months and my attempts at the game landed my 747 in Jamaica Bay off Long Island, New York, at every take-off. [...] By Ed Lash Probably the most important reason for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) to be exercising is that exercise tends to put the various body systems back into balance. And since MS seems to be a disease of an immune system out of balance, it seems that exercise should be of paramount importance. Not only that, but one doctor said that stress is what puts the immune system out of balance in the first place, and exercise is believed by many experts to be the best stress management technique. If you are not already exercising, it may be wise to [...] By Dr. Richard L. Bruno The Centers for Disease Control has reported that 92% percent of US toddlers are vaccinated against polio. Ninety-two percent sounds good, until you realize that leaves more than one million US children unvaccinated. Between 2005 and 2006, polio vaccination dropped in 20 states and in 10 large cities. While any reductions in polio vaccination are troubling, the location of the cities and states where vaccination dropped is frightening. The cities are major points of entry into the US-New York, Philadelphia, Houston, and Seattle-where a nearly 4% drop was reported. It’s no surprise that toddlers living in poverty [...] By Rosemarie Rossetti, PhD Last month, I noted that container gardening is ideal for people who use wheelchairs. Shop for containers large enough to hold their roots; containers with 10-inch or larger diameters can hold more massive displays of color. This also helps to ensure that water is available to the plants and enhances survival. For best accessibility, select containers that are 24 inches tall. Containers can be made of clay, concrete, plastic or wood. Realize that clay pots are not frost proof and must be moved to a protected area, like a garage, if your winter temperatures dip below [...] By Tamar Asedo Sherman It isn’t easy for us out there. One in 5 workers with disabilities, or 22%, reported in a nationwide survey that their employers do not provide accommodations to enable them to access facilities at the work place. Even more, 29%, said their employers do not provide accommodations that are needed for them to perform their job responsibilities successfully. These findings were revealed in a study on “Diversity in the Workplace,” conducted by Harris Interactive for CareerBuilder.com and Kelly Services in 2007 among 953 workers age 18+, employed full-time or part-time. It was designed to gauge the frequency, severity [...] |
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