Due to an unexpected loss of funding from the National Institute on DisabilityRehabilitation and Research, the home access advocacy group, Concrete Change, may not survive. Steven Tingus, director of NIDRR, was not available for comment on how NTDRR made its decision to not fund the advocacy group.
"'Loss of NIDRR funding does literally threaten Concrete Change with closure," said Eleanor Smith in an e-mail to Concrete Change members. "Our budget was small and lean, and we do a lot with a little. But without this funding, within a few months we will have zero office space and will have to dismiss our one paid employee." The Concrete Change web site, a repository for free resources on making new homes visitable, is also in danger of shutting down due to lack of finding to keep it online.
"ILLINOIS MODEL" BOOSTS GRAD EMPLOYMENT
The University of Illinois, Urbana, has set the bar for disability services that work. In a new: poll conducted by the university, 92 percent of their graduates with SCI have been employed within the past five years. In comparison, a 2004 Harrison found that only 35 percent of college graduates with disabilities nationwide were found to be employed.
Brad Hedrick, the director of the university's Rehabilitation Education Services, says the Illinois model is "bom of a holistic philosophy that includes academic, physical, social and psychological supports." Some of their pioneering services include transitional orientation after graduation, on-campus PCAs and self-advocacy training. For more details, check out www.eurekalert.org.
GOING ORGANIC
For most people with SCI, bowel struggles are a constant preoccupation. But Carol Hawkins, of Otago, New Zealand, a 49-year-old L-3-5 para since 1994, decided to search for a new way to solve an old problem. No more suppositories, Metamucil. or pills that make your bowels explode. She decided to go organic.
"After I asked a health food store for an alternate method of bowel care, they recommended an unsulphered blackstrap molasses," says Hawkins. So, she bought the molasses and— voila!- traffic is no longer at a standstill.
"I've been using molasses for three months now (about one tablespoon daily) and have only required assistance once. Things settled fairly quickly, too," she says. With two to four 'events' per week, she says her bowel movements are softer and pass much more gently. For those with absolutely no sensation, she recommends smaller dosages in the beginning to see how the bodv reacts.
WE LOVE THIS WEB SITE By losie Byzeck
The National Center on Physical Activity and Disability has a new website at www.ncpad.org. This website is both thorough and accurate. The biggest difference between NCAPD and other similar sites is that this site discusses in depth the very real problems some exercises can cause rather than just pretending that all disabled people can do exactly the same activities as every one else if the equipment is low enough.
Since I am an Mser, I tested the site using MS as the subject. I have problems exercising because even a little bit of heat causes me to twitch or slouch to the sidelines. And the effects of cold swimming pools on spastic muscles would be amusing if I weren't so afraid of drowning. Did this web site address these issues? Yes, it did, as thoroughly as possible, and many other issues, too. You'll have to be the judge of how well it covers your own disability, but the sections I reviewed on other disabilities seem as thorough as the one on MS.
NEW MOBILITY QUOTES FROM THE COURIER-JOURNAL...
:'Even though it was wonderful to get dressed up and to be sort of like a princess for a day, the mam focus of the Miss America Wheelchair Pageant is to select a national spokesperson who will educate the public on the importance of disability rights and the issues that effect women in wheelchairs."
