FLATIRON — Wearing yellow buttons stating “Separate is NOT equal,” a dozen advocates in wheelchairs rolled into the “Taxi of Tomorrow” exhibit near Madison Square Park Thursday to raise concerns about the lack of disability access in the city’s forthcoming fleet of cabs.

The “Roll-In” protest against the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission exhibit was designed to pressure officials to reverse their position on accommodating disabled riders before New York City’s newly designed fleet of cabs hits the streets in 2013. Continue Reading »

Paraplegic Jamie Harris hopes a groundbreaking research trial into spinal injuries could see him back on his feet.

The Hamilton 26-year-old was hit by a car and paralysed five years ago. He has been confined to his bed for two years.

But Mr Harris has volunteered for a world-first trial of a treatment that will take nerve cells from his nose and put them on the site of his spinal injury. Continue Reading »

They came in wheels, with dogs and on foot to see dancers, sword-fighters and experts.

Visitors flowed in steadily, mostly in wheelchairs, to join the city’s first Annual Ability Expo, hosted by the Greater Kansas City Spinal Cord Injury Association . Call if part festival, part conference, part networking. Joan McMahon called it a success. Continue Reading »

Four wheelchair-bound friends are touring India in an effort to sensitise the government and the people to the need of making travel barrier-free for the disabled

Finding your way across the sprawling Rock Gardens in Chandigarh is not meant to be an effort, unless your movement is restricted by the wheelchair you are travelling in. The uneven paths make progress difficult and negotiating the narrow lanes is an exercise in patience. When Arvind Prabhoo, Sunita Sancheti, Neenu Kewlani and Nishant Khade decided to undertake a road trip across India, it was difficulties such as these that the wheelchair-bound friends had anticipated and hoped to document to sensitise governments to the need of making travel barrier-free. Continue Reading »

With Nov. 1 quickly approaching, there is still no start to the NBA season in sight. If you’re a basketball fan and you’re feeling depressed, angry and/or incomplete right now because of the lockout, you’re not alone. Even with college basketball still carrying on as usual, without the NBA, I fear that I won’t get my appropriate dose of hoops this season.

Thankfully, exactly what the doctor ordered to counter these gloomy lockout side-effects can be found right here in Mesa. Allow me to introduce you to the Banner Wheelchair Suns of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association. Continue Reading »

The world’s first test on patients of a treatment for spinal cord injury using human embryonic stem cells is so far proving safe, one year after the first of four patients received injections.

The treatment, developed by researchers at UC Irvine, involves injection of neural cells derived from human embryonic stem cells into the site of a spinal cord injury within seven to 14 days — known as “acute” injuries, as opposed to longer-term injuries known as “chronic.”

None of the patients has experienced any adverse reactions from the treatment, according to Geron Corp., which is conducting the trials, although a few “mild” adverse reactions were reported from a drug used to suppress the patients’ immune responses. Continue Reading »

Vancouver – New research from the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation may help explain why people with spinal cord injury (SCI) have a higher risk of developing heart disease.

Damage to the autonomic nervous system is a key predictor of cardiovascular risk, researcher Rianne Ravensbergen told the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2011, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. Continue Reading »

Brian Keefer expects a lot of tears when he and his family watch the episode of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” on Friday, accompanied by hundreds, if not thousands, of the volunteers who helped rebuild their house.

Keefer, 24, was paralyzed by a gymnastics accident in 2008. His upbeat attitude and close family caught the attention of the Extreme Makeover crew, who spent a week in June rebuilding the family home in Newberry Twp. to help Brian become as independent as possible and, perhaps, someday walk again.

Not even the Keefers have seen the episode yet, and they have not been allowed to invite outsiders into their home until the episode airs in order to keep the element of surprise. Continue Reading »

COURAGE DEFINES MOMENT: Sara Gallagher, seriously injured in an ATV accident, wants chance to run again

Sara Gallagher doesn’t take the fact she will step off an airplane on Friday for granted. Two months ago, that wasn’t possible.

On Aug. 6, the once-elite high school girls lacrosse player and daughter of Carthage coach Sue Gallagher was enjoying a summer afternoon in Croghan with friends when she hopped on the back of an all-terrain vehicle. She strapped on her helmet and the ATV took off on Trail S87C off Fish Creek Road. Continue Reading »

The new approach, currently being studied by the FDA for phase I trials, avoids the problems of immunological rejection and the controversy around the use of embryonic stem cells

ROCKVILLE, Md.—A new experiment aimed at achieving actor Christopher Reeve​’s dream of finding an effective treatment for spinal paralysis was announced this week at an international meeting of scientists and people with spinal cord injury sponsored by the United 2 Fight Paralysis Foundation. The approach, which already is shown to be promising in animals and avoids the need for patients to take immunosuppressive drugs, has not yet been proved effective in humans. Nonetheless, patients are excited to see this advance as they have been frustrated waiting for the first human trials of the new approach. Continue Reading »