SC Assistive Technology

This is from the Leslie Shipp.

The SC Assistive Technology Loan Program offers financial loans for assistive technology items for home modifications up to $7,500.00. Call 803-896-4553 or 866-247-8354 toll free for more information.

Examples of assistive technology for home modifications include:

· Accessible kitchen cabinets and counters

· Accessible bathroom fixtures, cabinets and counters

· Stair lifts

· Bath lifts

· Pull-down shelves for kitchen cabinets

· Pull-down closet rods

· Automatic entry systems

Marvin S. Murdaugh, M.D. Opportunity Grant

This is from the SC Spinal Cord Injury Association.

This grant only applies to people who have spinal cord injuries.

The Spinal Cord Injury Association is pleased to announce the establishment of the Marvin S. Murdaugh, M.D. Opportunity Grant. The grant was made possible by donations in memory of Dr. Murdaugh.

In 2011, two $300 grants will be awarded to South Carolina residents with spinal cord injuries. The grants will help provide opportunities to pursue employment, educational, or recreational goals or help meet needs that will enhance quality of life. The types of requests that could be funded by the grants include assistance towards the purchase of hand controls, college textbooks, a sports wheelchair, or construction of a ramp.

Applying for the Marvin S. Murdaugh, M.D. Opportunity Grant involves completing an application form, writing a short essay, and submitting one letter of reference. The deadline to apply is September 7, 2011. The application form and guidelines are available on the association’s website at www.scspinalcord.org/opportunity-grant.php or can be obtained by calling the state office at 803-252-2198 or toll-free at 866-445-5509.

For more information on the grant, please click the above title.

Expert Answers on Macular Degeneration

New York Times (July 19, 2011)-This week on the Consults blog, Stephen Rose of the Foundation Fighting Blindness took reader questions about macular degeneration and related diseases. Here, Dr. Rose responds to questions about macular degeneration. See, too, his responses in “Vitamins for Vision Loss.”

Wet vs. Dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Q.

What’s the difference between wet and dry A.M.D.?
Johnny E., Tex.

A.

Dr. Stephen Rose responds:

Wet age-related macular degeneration occurs when abnormal blood vessels behind the retina start to grow under the macula, a small spot where vision is sharpest. These new blood vessels tend to be very fragile and often leak blood and fluid. The blood and fluid raise the macula from its normal place at the back of the eye, and loss of central vision can occur quickly. If it is not treated quickly, retinal cells that provide vision can degenerate, as well. An early symptom of wet A.M.D. is that straight lines appear wavy.

Dry A.M.D. occurs when the cells in the macula slowly break down, gradually blurring central vision in the affected eye. As dry A.M.D. gets worse, you may see a blurred spot in the center of your vision. You may also have difficulty recognizing faces. You may need more light for reading and other tasks. Dry A.M.D. generally affects both eyes, but vision can be lost in one eye while the other eye seems unaffected.

Approximately 85 percent of people with severe vision loss from A.M.D. have the wet form. However, having dry A.M.D. greatly increases the chance of developing the wet form.

Avastin vs. Lucentis for Macular Degeneration

Q.

What do you think of Avastin as a therapy for wet macular degeneration?
Maria, Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.

A.

The decision to use Avastin or Lucentis for treating wet age-related macular degeneration is one that you and your ophthalmologist need to make together. Lucentis is the Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment for wet A.M.D., whereas Avastin, which is F.D.A.-approved for treating certain cancers, has been used “off-label” to treat wet A.M.D.

The final results of the “head-to-head” clinical trial of Lucentis vs. Avastin (the CATT study financed by the National Eye Institute) remain to be seen. A one-year interim analysis of the two-year study was reported this spring in The New England Journal of Medicine. The interim report states that Lucentis and Avastin have been equally effective thus far in maintaining or improving visual acuity.

To read entire the interview with Dr. Stephen Rose, please click the above title.

New Computer Tool for Elderly and Disabled

ScienceDaily (Jan. 28, 2011) — Disabled and elderly people could find it easier to navigate around town and city centres with a new hand-held computer being developed by a geographical information systems professor at Kingston University in South West London.

A Kingston University professor is developing a hand-held computer that could help disabled and older people to find their way around town and city centres.

Nigel Walford, Professor of Applied Geographical Information Systems, said the device would allow people with mobility problems to make their way more easily around an unfamiliar place by alerting them to hazards like steep slopes, stairs, physical obstructions and poorly lit streets.

After two years in development, Professor Walford said he was ready to produce a prototype that he hoped would attract the interest of industry backers. Rather than working like a satellite navigation device which gives directions to and from a specific location, the new tool would provide a survey of a town or city highlighting areas that might cause difficulties to someone with disabilities, to older people or to anyone who might want to avoid streets that were difficult to navigate. It could also help users find services such as public toilets or children's play areas.

To read the entire article, please click the above title.

New Technology Allows Disabled Children To Explore Their Creative Side

Medical News Today (July 16, 2011) - Doodling, colouring in and drawing are all important parts of a child's development. But what if the child has a disability and does not have the use or control of their limbs?

A team of researchers at Royal Holloway, University of London are working with charity SpecialEffect to use innovative technology to design a computer programme to allow those with disabilities to be able to explore their creativity.

The novel technology developed at Royal Holloway uses an eye-tracker to find out exactly how eye movements correspond with the participants preferences. Having identified a tell-tale pattern of eye-movements which allowed them to predict the participant's preferences, the researchers developed an evolutionary algorithm to manipulate designs right before the subjects' eyes, so that they gradually evolved to match each person's preferences. The subjects were not told to look for their favourite design, but allowed the computer to 'read their minds' through their eye movements.

To read the entire article, please click the above title.

Americans with Disabilities Meet with White House Officials

Disabled World (July 12,2011)- On Tuesday, July 12, Americans with disabilities and their family members will meet White House officials and members of Congress to discuss the way that Medicaid has strengthened their families and provided them with opportunities that would otherwise be out of reach. These everyday Americans will meet with the most powerful people in government to share their stories and provide a human face to the debt ceiling negotiations. The Administration has signaled their strong support for Medicaid and other programs critical to people with disabilities. It is vital that this support continues and that members of Congress work with the Administration to prevent devastating cuts.

Medicaid is a lifeline for 8 million children and adults with disabilities, among others including millions of seniors and families.

"It is critical that President Obama continue his support for Medicaid and that members of Congress stand up for the most vulnerable people in America. Leaders in Washington must not balance the budget on the backs of people with disabilities, children, the elderly, and the poor," said Mark Perriello, President and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD).

"Tackling our nation's budget woes cannot be combined with an attack on people with disabilities, their families, and caregivers," said Stephen Bennett, President and CEO of United Cerebral Palsy. "Medicaid is a fundamental lynchpin for people with disabilities to live and work independently in communities across our nation. To eliminate this vital support is short-sighted and wrong."

To read the entire article. please click the above title.

Improving Mental Health Globally

Disabled World (July 12, 2011)- The Grand Challenges in Global Mental Health Initiative, led by the National Institutes of Health and the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases, has identified the top 40 barriers to better mental health around the world.

Similar to past grand challenges, which focused on infectious diseases and chronic, noncommunicable diseases, this initiative seeks to build a community of funders dedicated to supporting research that will significantly improve the lives of people living with MNS disorders within the next 10 years.

Twenty-five of the specific challenges and the process used to derive them are described in an article that will be published on July 7, 2011, in the journal Nature.

"Participating in global mental health research is an enormous opportunity, a means to accelerate advances in mental health care for the diverse U.S. population, as well as an extension of our vision of a world where mental illnesses are prevented and cured," said Thomas R. Insel, M.D., director of the National Institute of Mental Health ( NIMH ), the NIH institute heading this effort.

According to the paper's authors, the disorders targeted by the Grand Challenges in Global Mental Health — for example, schizophrenia, depression, epilepsy, dementia, and alcohol dependence — collectively account for more years of life lost to poor health, disability, or early death than either cardiovascular disease or cancer. Yet, compared to illnesses like cardiovascular disease and cancer, there are far fewer effective treatments or preventive methods. In addition, interventions are not widely available to those who need them most.

In recognizing the need to address this imbalance, Pamela Collins, M.D., M.P.H., of the NIMH Office for Research on Disparities and Global Mental Health, and colleagues assembled an international panel of experts to identify research priorities using the Delphi method, a widely accepted consensus-building tool. The panel consisted of 422 experts in fields such as neuroscience, basic behavioral science, mental health services, and epidemiology, and represented more than 60 countries.

Parkinson's Disease Patients May Benefit from Virtual-Reality-Based Therapies

ScienceDaily (July 11, 2011) — In people with Parkinson's Disease (PD), the inability to make quick movements limits basic functioning in daily life. Movement can be improved by various cueing techniques, such as providing visual or auditory stimuli when movements are started. In a study scheduled for publication in the August issue of the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, researchers report that virtual reality (VR) and physical reality exercises can be used to provide effective stimuli to increase movement speeds in PD patients.Investigators from the Departments of Occupational Therapy, Neurology, and Mechanical Engineering, the Institute of Education, and Allied Health Sciences, the National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, studied a group of 13 women and 16 men with PD who were age-matched against 14 women and 11 men without PD. Each participant was asked to reach for and grasp a stationary ball as quickly as possible. Then, moving balls were rolled down a ramp and the participants were asked to catch them when they reached a particular point on the ramp. When trying to catch the moving balls, the targets were visible for periods from 1.1 to 0.5 seconds. These trials were done in both normal physical reality and in a virtual reality environment.

To read the entire article, please click on the above title.

Making Sickle Cell Disease a Manageable Illness

New York Times (July 7, 2011)- On most days Giovanna Poli acts like a typical 12-year-old. She enjoys riding bikes with her brother, likes learning about the planets in science class and wants to be a pediatrician when she grows up.

But Giovanna, a brown-haired girl from West Palm Beach, Fla., also suffers from debilitating pain, recurring infections and organ damage. She was born with sickle cell disease, a genetic disorder with unpredictable complications that causes the red blood cells to assume an abnormal sickle shape, making it difficult for blood to flow through vessels and deliver oxygen throughout the body.

“I usually feel good,” she says. “But some days it hurts so much in my legs and arms. I can’t really walk, and I don’t like people touching me. If it’s really bad, I have to go to the hospital.”

Every year, nearly 1,000 babies in the United States are born with sickle cell disease, which is thought to affect about 100,000 Americans. Forty years ago, the outlook for babies born with the disease was pretty bleak; the average child lived to be only 14. However, over the last four decades, new treatments, early intervention techniques and newborn screening programs have helped turn this disease, which was once a death sentence, into a manageable chronic illness.

“Our entire approach to treating sickle cell disease has changed,” said Dr. Clinton H. Joiner, director of the division of hematology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He notes that today, most patients live to see their 40th birthday.

To read the entire article, please click the above title.

For disabled veterans, gardening is therapy

The State (June 25, 2011)-- Disabled veteran Mike Steward said he considered ending his life.

It was three years ago. He had health problems, his marriage was failing and he was stressed about money.

As Steward tells the story, he was in his Forest Acres backyard, and his tomato plant caught his eye. The plant was withered and dying — a symbol of his life, he thought.

“Then the rain came.”

And so flourished the idea to convert an unproductive plot of land at Fort Jackson into a gathering spot for disabled veterans who water and nurture, harvest and share.

Steward, 48, who has a spinal-cord injury, said gardening gives him a sense of accomplishment.

“Plus it’s very healthy,” he said. “I’ve lost a lot of weight, eating fruits and vegetables.”

The garden has five raised beds, built waist-high. It is crisscrossed by cement paths, wide enough for wheelchairs. And on scheduled work days, it hums with volunteers mowing, weeding and sweating. The garden has a hired hand, Larry McDuffie, but volunteers are critical to the project.

Steward said as many as 15 veterans share the space and the labor. It’s one of 38 fenced areas that make up Fort Jackson’s Victory Garden.

The entire area was given over to gardening about 40 years ago, manager Valerie Kinsley said. It looks to be about four acres, edged by a creek providing irrigation for the growing fruits and vegetables. Fences chart ownership and deter deer.

To read more about disabled veterans, please click the above title.

Check out these two great resources

Family Connection

If your child has special needs, so do you! Below you will find links to many different resources in South Carolina for children with special health care needs.

Unexpected Treasures A guide for new and expectant parents of children with special needs.

Parent Resource Guide A guide to statewide resources, services, agencies, and organizations.

NOTE: More wonderful resources may be downloaded at: http://www.familyconnectionsc.org/resources/

Genetic Component of Autism Spectrum Disorders May Be Moderate Compared to Environment, Twin Study Suggests

ScienceDaily (July 4, 2011) — After evaluating twin pairs in which at least one child has autism or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), researchers suggest that the shared environment may play a more substantial role in development of the condition than shared genes do, according to a report published Online First by Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.Current estimates suggest that 40 of every 10,000 children have autism, and prevalence rates for ASDs are about 1 percent, according to background information in the article. Studies of siblings have found a concordance rate (the likelihood that if one child has the disorder, others will as well) of up to 14 percent. The authors note that in previous studies of twins, concordance rates for autism were relatively high for identical (monozygotic) twins, but nonexistent for fraternal (dizygotic) twins. Further, studies that depended on differing methods of diagnosis have resulted in a broad range of estimates of autism's heritability. "However," the authors state, "none of these more recent studies included structured clinical assessments by both parental interview and direct child observation, which is the contemporary standard for establishing the diagnosis of autism or ASD."

To read the entire article, please click on the above title.

South Carolina Pediatric Reuse Listserv!

South Carolina Pediatric Reuse Listserv!

Were starting a new listserv and network focused on pediatric assistive technology reuse in South Carolina. Please spread the news to people who might be interested. From time to time we'll send out items on the SC AT Exchange that might be useful for children. We don’t have a definite age specification for this listserv; we’re trying to focus on children and those who serve in pediatric or school settings. We're hoping this separate listserv will help to dramatically increase the amount of used pediatric equipment that can be given to children who otherwise wouldn't have what they need.

The first message to the Pediatric Reuse Listserv was sent yesterday. If you received it, you're already a member. If not, please contact Janet Jendron at Janet.Jendron@uscmed.sc.edu to become a member. Specify that it's the pediatric listserv you want to join. If you have questions, you can call Janet at 803 935 5273.

Read about all SCATP listservs (including the Web/IT Accessibility Listserve) at http://www.sc.edu/scatp/join.htm.

As a side note: We are looking for a specific item that we're hoping someone has. It's a power cord for Berkline Lift Chair Model S-674807. Below is a picture: If you have this item, please contact Kimberly Tissot at the Disability Action center by emailing her at KTissot@dacsc.org or calling (800) 681-6805, TTY: (803) 779-0949

#6233 Okin SMPS Switchable SP2A Transformer