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From the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation comes this very very valuable nugget of information…
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Lizzy Clark, represented by Cinel Gabran Management, was the first child with Asperger's syndrome to play an Asperger's syndrome role in a major television drama.
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It’s not uncommon for blind gamers to feel invisible in addition to visually impaired. For instance, when gamer Brandon Cole wrote [game developer] THQ a letter suggesting changes to make its Smackdown series of WWE wrestling games more accessible to the blind, he received a form letter back thanking him for his appreciation of the game’s graphics.
But now, one visually impaired gamer has gone beyond simply requesting accessibility features and is demanding them by way of a lawsuit. Last month, disabled gamer Alexander Stern filed suit against Sony, Sony Online Entertainment, and Sony Computer Entertainment America in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. The suit alleges that Sony is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to implement features to make its games accessible to visually impaired gamers.
The Americans with Disabilities Act states that, “No individual shall be discriminated against on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of any place of public accommodation by any person who owns, leases (or leases to), or operates a place of public accommodation.”
According to the suit, Sony ignored repeated … Continue reading this article on gamespot.com
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The family of an 11-year-old girl with cerebral palsy has accused the Blackpool Transport tram company of abandoning her on a day out after they refused to carry her wheelchair back from the seafront.
Has the whole darn world gone bonkers??
We’re very, very intrigued by inclusive travel consultant Craig Grimes‘ Barcelona-based first installments of the YouTube video series “Lap Packing.” We truly hope he continues to make them!
Check out parts 1 and 2 of Lap Packing now:
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Warren Macdonald knows a LOT about motivation. He famously (see appearances on Oprah, Larry King Live, Vicki Gabereau, The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos, etc) survived a harrowing, agonizing ordeal while mountain climbing, when he was trapped beneath a one-ton boulder in a freak rock fall. Macdonald’s test of will lasted two full days before a helicopter arrived. He was rescued, but the accident cost him both legs.
Ten months after becoming a double above-knee amputee, Macdonald, who currently lives in Vancouver and travels worldwide as a professional speaker, climbed Tasmania’s Cradle Mountain “using a modified wheelchair and the seat of his pants.”
A year later, he traveled through some of the most inhospitable terrain in Australia and climbed Federation Peak.
In winter ‘03, he became the first double above-knee amputee to reach the summit of Africa’s tallest peak, Mt Kilimanjaro (19,222ft).
And more recently, in a mind-bogglingly punishing climb that required more than 2800 pull-ups over 4 days, he made an ascent of America’s tallest cliff face, El Capitan.
He is also the only known above knee amputee to make an ascent of Canada’s landmark frozen waterfall, the 600 ft “Weeping Wall“ in Alberta.
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For more, visit…
warren-macdonald.com
twitter.com/warrenmacdonald
youtube.com/warrenmacdonald
facebook.com/warrenmacdonaldunlimited
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When Rob Buren broke his back mountain biking last October, he lost more than the use of his legs—he lost the physical confidence his 6-foot-2 frame had always given him.
And though the 38-year-old father of two quickly learned sporting activities such as hand cycling and sit skiing, it wasn’t until he took a new self-defence class for wheelchair-users that he began to feel at ease with his new paralyzed status.
“When you become a paraplegic and are in a chair, physically your world changes. You’re looking up all of a sudden,” he says. “(The class) was a great way for me to get to know my body again, to get comfortable in the chair and to build up a sense of confidence.”
The course, taught at Neuro Core Physiotherapy & Pilates Centre in Richmond Hill, [Ontario] was developed by Grant Murray, a taekwondo black belt, and Rich VanderWal, a recreation therapist at a rehab facility.
Each class begins with … Continue reading this article and watch a corresponding video on thestar.com
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Dr. Tom McDavitt, like most deaf veterinarians, has learned to auscultate with his hands.
The nervous Corgi dug its nails into the metal examination table as Dr. Thomas McDavitt held the tan-and-white dog in place. The patient began to relax as the veterinarian listened for a heartbeat. But instead of using a stethoscope, he felt the dog’s side with his cheek. It was a bit untraditional, but then again, so is Dr. McDavitt.
After contracting spinal meningitis at the age of 5, Dr. McDavitt experienced swelling from the infection that damaged his auditory nerve and left him permanently deaf. Since that tender age, he resolved to be undeterred by his disability, and later, to pursue his dream of becoming a veterinarian. In fact, whenever anyone told him he couldn’t do something because of his deafness, Dr. McDavitt always had a reply ready—”Watch me!”
The rigors of veterinary education and practice can be difficult enough, but an additional set of challenges arise for people with profound hearing loss. They face issues such as how they will communicate with their peers and clients in various settings and whether they can properly appreciate animal heart, lung, and bowel sounds.
A number of deaf veterinarians have met those challenges in their own way … Continue reading this article on avma.org
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The numbers:
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Remember TiLite Wheelchairs, the awesome Kennewick, Washington-based company we profiled last month (”designed by engineers who use wheelchairs”)?
Well…we were thrilled to come across this November 4th message on TiLite’s official Twitter page:
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One in fifty Americans is now living with some form of paralysis.
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