Ancient Views of SCI
The idea of a cure for spinal cord injury is relatively new, but even the ancients grappled with spinal cord injury care.
By Tiffiny Carlson
The ancients were not completely ignorant or unaware of the realm of spinal cord injury (SCI) medicine. Thanks to the survival of a number of […]

United Spinal Association and wheelchair athletes the world over lost a close friend and tireless advocate last month.
by Rob Ingraham

Albert Youakim, a nationally known pioneer in the early development of wheelchair sports and a tireless advocate for people with disabilities, died Sunday, August 19, at the age of 82.
Youakim, an influential coach, […]

We’ve come a long way, baby, from the “devices” of yesteryear to today’s technology.
By Terry Moakley
Was assistive technology really around 60 years ago, Santa? Yes Virginia, it was, but we didn’t call it “assistive technology” way back then. We just called it a “device.”
One of the earlier devices was developed by one […]

Even as war has resulted in millions of spinal cord injuries, the doctors who have tended to them on the field have contributed to vastly improved care for all people with SCI.
By Tom Scott
The mortality rate of U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan is significantly lower compared to previous wars. During World […]

Veterans with spinal cord disorders have been at the forefront of the movement to gain civil rights for all people with disabilities.
By Terry Moakley
We don’t always use the word “activist” to characterize those who founded the organization that would become United Spinal Association. But our history tells us that many of them—all […]

United Spinal has spent nearly $60 million on research into virtually all aspects of spinal cord medicine.

By Terry Moakley
In 1948, the Board of Directors of our founding group, Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association, voted to give the fledgling National Paraplegia Foundation (NPF) a loan of $5,000 toward research for a cure for spinal cord injury. Eventually, […]

United Spinal played a pivotal role in improving the education of physicians in the field of spinal cord injury medicine.
By Terry Moakley
Much of what United Spinal does is education. Our Web site, publications, and brochures are all developed to give you the information needed to make it through another day successfully, and […]

Sam Panepinto (left) played for the Brooklyn Whirlaways,
coached by Al Youakim (right), in the early days of
wheelchair basketball. Sam and Al met again for the first time
in years at United Spinal’s 60th Anniversary celebration
at Grand Central Station last May.
(Photo by Emile Wamsteker)

The histories of United Spinal and wheelchair sports in the US […]

In 1970, as a young Army veteran less than a year out of rehab, I joined the board of the then Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association. Shortly after, I was invited to join the staff by Jim Peters, who had recently become executive director. I initially thought I would stay on for a short time, while […]

Our founders’ work on local human rights issues paved the way for national disability rights legislation.
By Terry Moakley
When Americans with disabilities began to organize to seek protection from discrimination under federal law, the leaders of our founding organization supported this important effort. The February 1973 edition of our Monthly Report newsletter derides President […]

When this organization was founded 60 years ago, life expectancy for people with spinal cord disability was not long, and part of the debate about the need for such an organization was whether its members could achieve any kind of longevity.
It is fortunate for those of us who came along later that incredible medical […]

United Spinal has always put its money where its mouth is when it comes to member well-being.
By Terry Moakley
During the initial year of the existence of our predecessor organization, founding members supported a resolution to “set up a research foundation for a study of problems in all phases of paraplegia,” according to the […]

Accessible travel by land, sea, and air has been central to this organization’s mission from the start.
By Terry Moakley
Personal mobility and public transportation accessibility issues lie at the core of our organization’s existence, going all the way back to 1946. Founding members worked alongside World War II amputee veterans to achieve passage of […]

United Spinal has a 60-year history of assisting members with vocational retraining and employment.
By Terry Moakley
In the inaugural edition of The Paraplegia News (PN), published by our charter members in July 1946, Sidney Brent, chief of the Bronx Veterans Hospital Retraining Service, noted that “pre-vocational experiences such as the production of this publication […]

Housing our members comfortably has been a priority of United Spinal from day one.
By Terry Moakley
When groups of World War II veterans with spinal cord disabilities were organizing in the New York City area in 1946 to form our predecessor association, the single biggest issue was the lack of suitable housing. The choices were to […]

Neither snow nor sleet nor winter in general has kept United Spinal from its self-appointed mission to get members out and active.
by Terry Moakley
Adaptive skiing developed in Scandinavia before World War II, but sit-skiing for those with disabilities who are unable to stand was conceived in the US in the late 1970s when […]

A look back to how we started reminds us that work continues on many of the same issues that inspired our formation.
By Terry Moakley
The first written record we have of our birth is dated May 22, 1946. It is the minutes of a meeting of an unknown number of World War II veterans […]

The history of United Spinal, as told by the cover of a magazine.
By Chris Pierson
For most of this organization’s 60 years, the newsletter that members received each month to keep them abreast of their association’s current events came by the humble name Monthly Report. The very first newsletter, delivered to members in May […]

How we got to where we are, and what it bodes for the future of United Spinal.
On May 22, 1946, a small band of veterans with spinal cord injuries (SCIs) at the Halloran Army Hospital on Staten Island formed a support group to help each other lead independent lives. Later, the seven founding chapters […]