Group promotes outdoor adventures for the disabled

LEWISVILLE LAKE — Nine-year-old Joshua Vandiver stood in a folding chair so he could see at the helm of a 70-foot catamaran on Lewisville Lake on Sunday morning.

“He’s such a natural,” said the boat’s captain, Julie Jacob. “He just feels the wind in his hair and he knows where he’s going.”

Joshua, who has spina bifida, took the cruise as part of an outing with RISE Adventures, a new nonprofit organization for North Texas. The group’s goal is to encourage independence among those with physical disabilities by teaching them how to participate in adapted sports and other outdoor activities. Continue Reading »

Tip of the iceberg

There’s more to paralysis than not being able to move. Victoria reveals the hidden medical challenges faced by people with spinal injuries

Paralysis is rather like an iceberg. The bit you can see, the not-being-able-to-walk palaver, is just the tip. Suffering a spinal injury has a number of other effects on the body which most of the time remain hidden from public gaze, but which can be just as difficult to come to terms with.

One unwelcome physical change a wheelchair user may encounter is dislocated hips. Over time, as muscles grow weaker through disuse, they become less effective at holding joints in place, so it’s not uncommon for paraplegics to experience dislocated hips. Continue Reading »

Swims wash away depths of despair for paralyzed Mexico man

ENSENADA, Mexico — The marathon swimmer churned a solitary path through the chilly current, his wave-sculpted shoulders and arms dragging his lifeless legs through the sea off Baja California.

Thirty years ago, a car accident severed Sergio Valencia’s spine; he has used a wheelchair ever since.

The ocean then called to him in a dream. In the ocean, a voice told him, you will find freedom. Continue Reading »

Rallying call for the disabled

Disabled people in Greece should try to get out of their homes more, despite the obstacles they encounter on sidewalks, in stores and on public transport, the man organizing an exhibition in Athens to promote facilities and equipment for the disabled told Kathimerini yesterday.

The Autonomy 2007 exhibition began at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Neo Faliron, southern Athens, yesterday and runs until tomorrow. But its organizer, Nikos Voulgaropoulos, is not disheartened by the fact that it will be difficult for disabled people to actually attend the show.

“That’s exactly why we are holding the exhibition,” said Voulgaropoulos, who founded the www.disabled.gr website and a magazine for disabled people that has 8,500 subscriptions. Continue Reading »

Still making a difference

Twenty years ago, the kind of spinal-cord injury Caleb Brousseau sustained when he landed badly from a 12-metre jump while snowboarding in February would have left him in traction for months, contemplating a world of limited opportunity from a wheelchair.

These days, the 18-year-old Terrace high school student — who was made Paraplegic by the accident — is up and about, playing ball hockey with other spinal cord patients and feeling pretty good about what life has to offer.

“Right now,” he said, “not being able to walk is not a blessing, but it’s not a bad thing either. . . . I wouldn’t have the opportunities that I have right now if this [the accident] hadn’t happened.” Continue Reading »

College wheelchair athletes play in ‘other’ basketball tourney

EDINBORO, Pa. – The nine teams battling it out on the basketball court here aren’t listed on any NCAA brackets. There will be no crowd-pleasing slam dunks, no sky-high leaps and no national television coverage.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t any less madness in this March tournament.

As the game clock starts, these athletes dribble and pass the ball while propelling themselves down the court in sweeping, powerful strokes with their muscular arms on lightweight wheelchairs. They spin around opponents, blocking shots or stopping them from advancing. With a large crash, they slam into each other, occasionally falling on their sides before picking themselves up and doing it all over again.

This is wheelchair basketball. Continue Reading »

No excuses: former LP resident focuses on capabilities, not disabilities

New children’s book is her latest project

Maureen Pranghofer might claim she is just like everyone else, but one look at her life reveals that she is anything but ordinary.

The former Lester Prairie resident is a speaker, songwriter, and author. She has spent her life helping others and reaching out to those who are going through difficult times.

Her warmth and sense of humor engage one from the start, and it would be easy to forget that she happens to be blind and a Functional quadriplegic. Continue Reading »

‘Exciting times’ for spinal cord research

Thank you Prime Minister Stephen Harper! Thank you Rick Hansen! Thank you Tony Clement and Steven Fletcher! Thank you, thank you and thank you. Finally someone gets it!

A wise person once said that to know where you’re going, you have to look at where you’ve been. Spinal cord injuries were only endured during the Second World War when better antibiotics and medical care meant secondary complications of paralysis could become survivable. Since that time, people afflicted with paralysis were in a homeostatic state for more than 50 years. Lumped with all disabled people and considered invalids or shut-ins until the ’60s, we have come a long way from institutions and forced sterilization to access to medical care and quality of life issues and to the final holy grail — the cure. You’re right Celine, these are exciting times. Continue Reading »

Connecticut Murderball

Depending on how you read the situation, the Connecticut Jammers are either having a bad year or a great one.

The state’s wheelchair rugby team’s one-and-nine record isn’t impressive, but other factors have to be considered. Like how the team’s roster has swelled to 10 players thanks to recent mainstream exposure to the sport, and some of the team’s troubles are explained by the addition of players new to the game. Continue Reading »

Drew’s Life After paralysis

The Donnellans had their annual Christmas party one week ago.

They served the same jerk chicken with rice and peas, made by a friend of Fran’s from Jamaica. Friends surged through the doors starting at 2 p.m.

Parents chatted and kids played in the backyard of their Midtown home. Drew sat in his wheelchair in the middle of the room, talking more than ever. Wickett, his dog, sat on his lap. Continue Reading »