Wheelchair users are starting to receive COVID-19 vaccinations and report being relieved that they may soon be immune to the virus. “In short, it is amazing! I have waited on this since March, and I feel like I can now finally see the light at the end of a long, dark tunnel,” says New Mobility web partner Cory Lee Woodard, who has spinal muscular atrophy. “There’s truly no better feeling.
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Wheelchair Users’ Experiences With New COVID-19 Vaccine
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8 New Products for Wheelchair Users
We asked companies that sell products for wheelchair users to tell us what they’ve got that’s new. Here’s what they told us: Meet market newcomer Cheelcare Companion Power Assist Cheelcare says its new power assist, Companion, allows users to quickly connect or disconnect it from their wheelchair. Plus, it can be used with one hand and its throttle grip control is designed to reduce force on the...
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Piscopo’s Vision: Maximizing The Disability Advantage
Seventy-five years after United Spinal Association was born, Piscopo is looking to leverage his background in creativity and innovation to make sure the organization remains the go-to organization for the SCI/D community for the next 75 years. “I want to create a culture of innovation in United Spinal,” he says. “We have to be brave — not be afraid to fail, learn from it and go on. We have to be...
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Leading From the Heart: United Spinal’s New CEO, Enzo Piscopo
It is our first all-staff meeting with our new boss. Jim Weisman has retired as United Spinal’s CEO and gracefully bowed out, and now Vincenzo “Enzo” Piscopo is in charge. What will the culture of our organization be like with him at the helm? He has a hardcore corporate background — 25 years of experience in various roles at The Coca-Cola Company — and we’re a grassroots nonprofit.
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Yes, Home Care is Infrastructure
Home care being reframed as infrastructure is the most revolutionary development in personal assistance since ADAPT bullied the bully Newt Gingrich, then speaker of the U.S. House, into supporting Our Homes Not Nursing Homes back in ’96. I was with ADAPT that day. We’d hectored Gingrich from Atlanta to Washington, D.C., until he agreed in writing, on a cocktail napkin, to the outline of what...
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9 New Apps, Accessories, Wheelchairs and More
We asked our vendors to share what’s new and WOW, did they come through! Read on for updates on apps, adaptive vehicles, wheelchairs and more. Braunability goes green with its launch of the first-ever retail hybrid wheelchair-accessible vehicle — the BraunAbility Toyota Sienna conversion. “Finally, the mobility disability community has a choice in taking a more eco-conscious route when selecting...
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How We Became United Spinal Association
Today, United Spinal Association is the largest disability membership organization in the world, with 59,000 members, 49 chapters, close to 200 support groups and over 100 rehab and hospital partners. We’re vibrant, diverse, active and energetic. In many ways, we are a young, up-and-coming disability network. Yet, our roots go back to the paralyzed World War II vets who came home to an...
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The Disability Guide We’ve Been Waiting For
Rooted in Rights Editor Emily Ladau has gifted the disability community with a short, simple book that packs in just about everything we wish our friends and families understood about disability but don’t know how to tell them. In less than 200 pages, Ladau demonstrates intersectionality and a cross-disability approach, breaks down all the various models we’re subjected to and even presents an...
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Enter to Win Accessible VIP Treatment at a Portugal. The Man Concert
Today the Grammy-award winning rock band Portugal. The Man released its new single, “ What, Me Worry?” and announced “Night Out,” its new initiative to support disabled fans requiring ADA access. In select markets, pairs of winning ticket holders will be treated as VIP guests of the band — provided with transportation to and from the show and concierge escorts throughout the venue...
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A Spirit Runs Through Us All
Spiritual connection can be found anywhere, whether in a church, synagogue, at the top of a ravine or in a Facebook post. These four wheelchair users share where they find it, how they recognize it, and how it sustains them. See also: Alternate States: Spirituality, Psychedelics & SCI Traveling through New Zealand was like moving through a dream, says Ashley Lyn Olson, a T12 para.
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