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Disability leaders, health care professionals, and community members gather at Hofstra University to discuss future health care initiatives.
By Tom Scott
On Wednesday, June 3rd, Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, presented the 2nd Annual Disability Leadership & Policy Summit: Health Issues and People with Disabilities, a gathering to promote an exchange of ideas between people with disabilities and public officials, disability rights advocates, educators, transportation providers, business leaders, and health and human service professionals. The event was hosted by United Spinal Association, Nassau County Office for the Physically Challenged, Hofstra University and the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, and sponsored by [...]
Eleanor Smith, founder of Concrete Change, believes all new residences can be—and should be—made basically accessible to people with disabilities, including those who acquire disabilities as they age. And the time to require it is now!
By Tamar Asedo Sherman
Visitability is a simple concept: every home should have one entrance with no steps and a door that is wide enough for a wheelchair to pass through (at least 32 inches wide) with a half bath on the first floor (that also has a 32-inch wide door) and enough space for a wheelchair to get in and turn around.
That’s [...]
A man’s love for his Chesapeake retriever helped him overcome some of the difficulties high-level quadriplegia presents.
By Laird A. Doctor
My adventure started long before my injury, when I received a lovable eight-week-old Chesapeake retriever I named Max.
Clay Cotton made his living at the piano from the 1960s to the 1990s. After contracting MS, he switched to mastering a whole other keyboard.
by Rebecca Kellogg
Clay Cotton was an in-demand piano man. At the height of his musical career, he played as a talented side man for musicians including Eric Clapton, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia, and B.B. King.
That all changed after he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS).
Eventually his hands could no longer play the notes that had earned him his livelihood and he was forced to find another line of work. He and his [...]
People with spinal cord disorders are likely to have to take extra care of what they eat to keep the digestive system running smoothly.
By Melody Chavez, RD
“Are you having any problems with diarrhea or constipation?” “Have there been any changes in your eating habits?” “How much water are you drinking a day?”
As a dietitian, these are common questions I ask my patients when conducting a nutrition assessment. Discussing what types of foods they consume at each meal helps to determine if they are receiving adequate fiber. The effects of their current fiber intake can impact the consistency of stool [...]
South Florida was the setting for an international festival of sports for people with disabilities in June.
By Andy Kennedy, Access Anything
The second US-located No Barriers Festival was a huge success June 4-7 in Miami, Florida, with over 200 participants, a dozen different sports for participants to test, a dozen company booths in “Innovation Village,” and two mornings full of technology and science updates at the Technology Symposium.
The first No Barriers fest occurred in 2005 in Italy; that was followed in 2007 by one in Lake Tahoe/Targhee, California that nearly doubled in size. No Barriers was initiated by Eric Weihenmayer, [...]
Managing your plumbing with external catheters and leg-bags. This frank discussion by Bob Vogel, T-10 paraplegic and active sportsman may help to keep you [...]
| TECH EDGE
By John M. Williams
In a recent historic event sponsored by the National Press Club, Jim Fruchterman, chief executive officer of Benentech, announced partnerships between Bookshare (www.Bookshare.org) and universities nationwide and between Bookshare and publishers to provide digital books for Bookshare’s accessible on-line library for people with print disabilities.
Bookshare is a web-based digital library that gives people with print disabilities the same ease of access to books and periodicals enjoyed by those without disabilities. Bookshare allows a book to be scanned once and then shared with many qualified individuals who require digital formats that are easy to download, [...]
| EATING WELL
By Natalia Mendez
Blueberries are phytonutrient powerhouses.
Research has shown that antioxidants, including the compound anthocyanins present in blueberries, may help protect against heart disease and many forms of cancer by enabling healthy blood flow and preventing blood clots. Anthocyanins can protect our capillaries from damage that could be caused by free radicals. This helps with conditions such as varicose veins, hemorrhoids and edema. Anthocyanins have the ability to protect the collagen in our bodies, such as the collagen that makes up our joints, which is why they’ve shown to be helpful with issues like arthritis and artherosclerosis.
Blueberries are [...]
| PARENTING
By Jessica Haber
I am now the proud mother of a second beautiful boy—me, a mom with spinal cord injury!
I must admit that the whole experience of my second pregnancy was much easier than my first. Since I had already been through pregnancy and birth before, I was able to better prepare and make accommodations for myself and my new baby.
| MS PERSPECTIVES
By Ed Lash
As is often pointed out in literature about multiple sclerosis (MS), one of the common complications of the disease is a tricky bladder problem, primarily frequency and urgency. This may cause some people to limit their fluid intake, thereby reducing the flushing action that eliminates waste products through the urinary tract and often resulting in a low-grade bladder infection, which only makes their bladder problem worse.
A number of measures can be taken to improve bladder control, including medications. Talk it over with your doctor to choose the best for you. You could also try some [...]
As a population that has unique needs, people with disabilities stand to gain tremendously from health care reform if Congress rises to the challenge and designs a system according to people’s actual needs. People with disabilities need reforms that will, for example,
lower the cost of care,
enable those with long-term care needs to remain in their homes and communities,
and give them access to coverage, without regard to pre-existing conditions, on an equal footing with nondisabled persons.
None of these changes will occur if Americans who share these needs don’t demand them from Congress. The time to act is now. Please take [...]
What you eat- Polio tips and techniques. When our patients eat protein at breakfast, lunch and dinner (and even have small, non-carbohydrate snacks throughout the day) they report an almost immediate reduction in nearly all PPS symptoms, especially fatigue. [...]
| ACCESSIBLE HOME
By Rosemarie Rossetti, PhD
On a recent trip to Las Vegas where I was speaking about accessible and universal design at the Hospitality Design Expo, I had the opportunity to visit the trade show and see the latest products. Here are some of the newest decorative grab bars, including some with special properties to make them healthier and safer to hold.
When I first saw a photo of the Great Grabz (www.GreatGrabz.com) Wave grab bars, I knew I wanted to include them in my new national demonstration home, the Universal Design Living Laboratory (www.UDLL.com). The innovative wave [...]
| WORKING WORLD
By Tamar Asedo Sherman
For most of us, our greatest concern in thinking about going back to work is losing our benefits, whether they come from Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) or both. Surely you can take a part-time job without losing your benefits, but then you wonder, how much can you earn and keep your benefits, and at what point would it be worth it to go over the $980 monthly limit and actually lose those benefits? It might seem overwhelming to try to figure these things out for yourself, but there is [...]
| ASK THE COACH
By “Coach” Scott Chesney
Something quite interesting has been happening to me in 2009, much more so than ever before. I am being approached by people who are nondisabled who want to talk about their relationships, marriages, love life, sex life, you name it, with their companions who have a disability.
KIDS IN ACTION
By Kathleen M. Muldoon
Yvette Silver www.yvettesilver.com
When I was in grade school, I had a recurring dream. It always featured a small cottage and I was living in it. I knew every inch of that house and its tiny yard enclosed by a white picket fence. Since I’d always lived in an apartment rather than a house, I decided the dream predicted that some day I would live in my dream cottage—Barbie had her Dream House and I had mine.
So, you can imagine my excitement when a school assignment gave me the opportunity to bring that house [...]
| Wheel Life
By Charles N. Roman
Click here to view larger image.
Click here to view larger image.
| SPORTS ROUNDUP
For six Shriners Hospitals for Children patients, trying a new approach to fitness may have taken participating teenagers out of their comfort zone, but the end result proved a positive experience.
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