By JOHN BERMAN

 As Seen On ABC World News:  A boy’s first ride on a carousel. A 57-year-old woman’s first time on a swing. A no-holds-barred adventure in the water. These are simple joys that for so many people with special needs were out of reach, until a place called Morgan’s Wonderland came around.

 Morgan’s Wonderland in San Antonio, the first large theme park created for people with special needs, was created by Gordon Hartman, 46, a former San Antonio real estate developer who said his daughter Morgan was his inspiration.

“Morgan has really taught me that there’s more to life in many ways than what I saw before, being so busy as a business man,” Hartman said. Hartman’s 16-year-old daughter Morgan suffers from severe cognitive delay. A few years ago, Hartman sold his business and began spending more time with Morgan and her friends, he said.

One day, while he and Morgan were in a swimming pool, Hartman said he had a realization that helped put his life into perspective. “There were some other children at the other end of the pool, a couple of kids playing with a ball back and forth and you could tell Morgan wanted to play with them,” Hartman said. But because of her inability to communicate properly, Morgan and the kids were left on opposite sides of the pool. So Hartman decided to make sure there was a place where couldn’t, shouldn’t or can’t were not a part of the vocabulary.

He raised $30 million, including $1 million of his own, to build Morgan’s Wonderland, which is scheduled to officially open on April 10 but has already been open to some visitors.

Taking Special Care to Design a Park for Special Needs

“Morgan’s Wonderland is a park that has been designed with special needs individuals in mind, at the beginning of the process and throughout the entire process,” Hartman said.

The concept of inclusion goes far beyond the design of the park. Admission is free for those with disabilities, and only costs $5 for friends and family.

Some of the features of the park’s layout are easy to understand: big, wide ramps for wheelchairs and a sensory village to enjoy light, touch and sounds. But other features are not so obvious. The park has special computer bracelets that allow you to keep track of each other while in the park.
The size of the crowd is also controlled, because big numbers can be overwhelming for many of these kids.

Debbie West, the mother of 11-year-old Ashton West who has cerebral palsy and ditaxia, said the park is an opportunity she never thought her son would have.

“You see them struggle with so many different things, little things that no one could even imagine,” she said. “You know seeing here without that limitation, it is just, it’s overwhelming, it is amazing, it is fun. “I just admire anybody with disabilities who can just, they find their way, they make their way and do what they want to do, but they have to do it differently,” she said. “You are only disabled in an environment that makes you that way. And you are not here.”

It is a sentiment shared by Courtney Wyrtzen, who brought her daughter Blythe to the park. When Wyrtzen looks at her daughter’s face while in the park, she said she sees “pure joy.”

Hearing and seeing how happy the park makes people is the best reward for his hard work, Hartman said. “The best thanks is when these kids come up to me and hug me and say thank you and they don’t even have to say thank you, you can see it in their eyes,” he said.

And of course, there is the incredible added reward of finally having a place where his own child, Morgan, can play and feel like she belongs. “Morgan taught me that there’s more to life in many ways than what I saw before,” said Hartman. “The blessing that Morgan has brought is beyond anything that I ever could have imagined and could explain.”

AS READ ON EXCEPTIONAL PARENT WEBSITE – John Gray, a saddle maker, of Horseshoe Bend, Arkansas, has gone the extra mile to make sure that everyone that wants to ride a horse has a saddle to fit their needs. He stepped up to the plate when Nina, an avid horseback rider, was hurt in an accident and was left paraplegic, and no longer able to participate in her favorite sport of trail riding and showing horses. She needed something she could use to compete in shows without the use of someone to lead her horse or walk along beside her horse. There could be no entry unless the rider could ride independently. Since there was no category for this type of event she was instrumental in starting a class so other riders could compete and get a trophy on their own merit. Now Nina says, “Help me on my horse and I can take it from there.”

 John Gray told me, “Give Nina the reins and off she goes. She has always been a good rider and a handicap won’t slow her down. I’m happy I could help. She doesn’t look at her injury as life threatening but it is life changing.”

 John Gray is a unique saddle maker. He designs and crafts saddles for the physically challenged rider. He understands the needs of each rider.  He feels that because a person is physically challenged there is no need to give up a pleasurable sport.

 Elizabeth was a competition gymnast until she was hurt in an automobile accident. She was so depressed she was contemplating suicide until she found out about John Gray and was able to order a saddle for her impairment. In order to get the money to purchase the saddle she managed to get several country music personalities to sign a guitar, which then was auctioned off to raise the money.

 Devon was not able to ride even with help until he received a special needs saddle. His father told Mr. Gray, “You are amazing that you have the heart to help these kids and give them hope.”

 The “Make a Wish foundation” helped Noah, a young boy in Florida, achieve his hearts desire in being able to ride alone. “The smile on his face was worth it all” a spokesperson said. This was done with the aid of one of John Gray’s saddles. In the beginning John adapted standard saddles for challenged or impaired riders, using old fashioned ingenuity to customize for any disability.

 For more than 20 years John has made saddles for people with difficulties resulting from accidents, illness, and diseases. He uses his engineering skills to design what is needed on an individual basis.

 Mr. Gray says, “I consider it a privilege to watch people achieve their goals. I consider it an honor that I can help.”

 John followed in his father’s footsteps in the saddle making business but learned about therapeutic saddles by traditional trial and error.  In the beginning John adapted standard saddles for challenged or impaired riders, than found a tree maker willing to customize for any disability. Each saddletree is marked for the rider so that it can be tailored for the particular handicap. He is in contact with various agencies that help the disabled.

A pony is a childhood dream; a horse is an adult treasure. John and his wife Fran feel thrilled to help in any way they can make dreams come true and adults keep their treasure.

 John Gray constructs specifically for the impairment. He devised a saddle for a young man who had been an active rider but lost both legs in the Middle East. He still wanted to trail ride with his wife. And so the bucket seat was created. It is like an old fashioned side saddle in that it has a horn to balance with. Yarmony Creek Lodge in the beautiful Colorado Rocky Mountains outside of Vail, Colorado helps disabled veterans to ride again. Sgt. Tim Johannsen said, “I came to watch my wife ride and found I could accompany her. Thank you Mr. Gray.”

 Mr. Gray fashioned a saddle with a seat belt along with head and chest restraints for a rider that wanted to ride in the Mardi Gras Parade.

 Toby, a young man in New Mexico has ordered a special saddle so he can go on a trail ride up El Capitan Mountain with a group. El Capitan is a challenge for anyone and this young man is willing to accept that challenge.

 Bobby was born with a disability and felt left out because he couldn’t ride with his sisters. Now with John’s help he can trail ride with the family.

 The Hamilton Ohio Riding Club has a special disabled riders program so more people can enjoy trail riding. Fieldstone Farm Therapeutic in Chagrin Falls, Ohio riding center also provides health-giving equine programs.

 Each story is different and they all pull at your heart strings. These people have been through life altering experiences but not life ending and with determination they can still do the things they love.

 With the help of John’s skills as a saddle maker more people can reap the healthful benefits of pleasure riding whether it is trail riding or in the show ring. There is no age limit on the love of horseback riding.

 There is an old Indian saying: “ The outside of a horse is good for the inside of man.” That must mean that the Indians also realized the benefits of horseback riding.

This saying is very true because there is a great psychological benefit for a person to be able to ride without a lead rope held by a side walker. Riding is also good physical exercise. It gets a person out in the sunshine and takes him to a place where he might never go otherwise. 

 John Gray has taken the old Indian saying a step further and makes saddles for the physically challenged so that anyone that wants to can reap the benefits from horseback riding. He understands that because you have a handicap is no reason to stop doing something you love. For a disabled person to be able to handle an animal as big as a horse gives a person a real feeling of accomplishment. Therefore the benefits are two fold, the physical well being as well as the mental health well being.

 john Gray is always available for discussion to try to help solve your riding problem. His wife Fran is an added asset to the business as she is very personable and extremely knowledgeable and helpful. As parents they both take a lively interest in young people.

John Gray not only makes new saddles but he will repair a familiar old one. He understands that a saddle is a tool that must be kept in good condition. He still uses the age-old tools of his trade. He will help with advice when he can. He is able to fit the saddle to the rider along with the horse.

 He also makes saddles that are awarded for youth contests along with other saddles, bridles, chaps, saddle bags, canteens and many additional leather items for the trail rider, pleasure rider, competition rider or cowboy.

 It is an unfortunate fact of life that there are people that do remarkable deeds and are never recognized for the things they do. John Gray is one of those people.    

 Angels don’t always have shiny silver wings, sometime they come with faded jeans and cowboy boots.

With the advent of the World Wide Web John Gray is as close as your computer. For more information go to: www.grayscustomsaddlery.com. Gray’s Saddlery has sent saddles to several states including Alaska and also Canada.

FROM EXCEPTIONAL PARENT WEBSITE – Nicole Boice saw first-hand the anguish her friend Kelly went through after giving birth to a son with a rare genetic disorder. Born with involuntary eye movements, extra digits on his hands and feet, a hooked arm and clubfoot, clenched fists, low muscle tone and contractures in his fingers, the child couldn’t breastfeed, digest food or cough up phlegm, and he suffered several bouts of bronchitis and pneumonia. After two and a half years, doctors finally diagnosed the baby with Joubert syndrome, a condition also characterized by an underdeveloped or missing portion of the brain that controls balance and coordination. Boice was so moved by Kelly’s feelings of helplessness, isolation and frustration that in September 2008, she launched the Children’s Rare Disease Network (CRDN) to boost public awareness and connect the millions of impacted families and caregivers.

 Boice knew that, by working together, the families of children affected by Angelman syndrome, Fragile X and other disorders could do more than they could alone. By definition, a rare disease impacts fewer than 200,000 people, which not only makes it difficult to diagnose and treat, but can also create a financial hardship for families seeking solutions. Collectively, however, more than 25 million people in the U.S. are born with 6,000 identified rare diseases. And they all need the same thing: a doctor who understands their child’s illness, the ability to afford medical care, information about scientific developments, and resources to help them cope with physical and social issues.

 “Rare disease needs a voice, a champion that will tell the world that we can no longer look past these families and their children, our friends, relatives and neighbors and ignore their needs,” Boice wrote on the California-based organization’s website. “There has been little attention paid towards rare diseases as a whole because the families affected by them are focused on their individual issues. As a result the efforts today are segmented. We intend to change that.”

 To accomplish this, CRDN serves as an online home to link families, organizations, physicians and researchers. Blogs, podcasts and social networking venues help parents find each other, access the information they need and share common problems. They can also post videos, success stories and photos; learn how to advocate for their children; and better understand specific diseases through comprehensive databases. An online SOLVE Toolkit shows parents what steps to take to reach a diagnosis.

 The feedback from participants has been very promising. ”There are millions of children with rare diseases who have absolutely nowhere to turn for information,” wrote the mother of a child with Williams syndrome. “The Children’s Rare Disease Network is a magnet and a long-awaited home for these kids and their families. We don’t have to feel so alone. CRDN is on our side.”

 “We know this is a winning model,” Boice says. “We have seen this work effectively around such diseases as AIDS and breast cancer. Greater awareness leads to greater understanding. With greater understanding comes greater funding for research. And that eventually leads to new therapies, improved lives and hopefully cures. It is really that simple.”

 Already, CRDN has won a grant from the Life Technologies Foundation for a three-part PBS series focused on rare diseases. Plans are underway to raise research funds through the sale of special art pieces auctioned at an annual gala event. On February 28—Global Rare Disease Day—the organization will team up with the Global Genes Project to help raise awareness of this issue. Thanks to an advisory board made up of children, CRDN will also partner with DonateGames.org to generate funds for rare disease charities.

 The six-member “Kids Helping Kids” board has, in fact, become a vital part of CRDN. The mother of two healthy children, Boice felt it was important that they learn to serve, give back and help make a difference. The board president is a sixth-grader with diabetes.

 In the future, Boice hopes to see “a robust community, sharing information, supporting one another regardless of disease.” She hopes to educate the general public “that rare disease is not so rare,” she says. “Everyone knows someone affected. With the total numbers affected being so large, this community deserves more attention that will drive more support and funding.”

 For more information about the Children’s Rare Disease Network, see www.crdnetwork.org.

FROM KENNEDY KREIGER INSTITUTE WEBSITE – Dorothy Hamill and Kennedy Krieger Institute Announce New Adaptive Skating Program

I-Skate Program featured on NBC’s TODAY Show. Watch it here.

Kennedy Krieger Institute announced today that Olympic Gold Medalist and Hall of Fame figure skater, Dorothy Hamill, has partnered with the Institute to create an adaptive skating program called I-Skate. Part of the Physically Challenged Sports Program at Kennedy Krieger, I-Skate offers children with physical disabilities the unique opportunity to learn how to ice skate—not only improving their health and independence, but providing important social interaction with their peers.

“When I learned to skate, the motion of gliding on the ice and the fresh air on my face felt like heaven. And learning to handle yourself on the ice, mastering something difficult, gives you a sense of pride,” said Ms. Hamill. “I want to give that experience to these children, so they will be able to say, ‘I can skate.’”

Launched in November 2009, the I-Skate program is open to children ages 5 to 18 with a wide range of physical disabilities that can include cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, limb differences and paralysis. Specially designed adaptive ice skates, walkers, ice sleds and helmets make it possible for these children to participate in weekly skating sessions. The program participants range from children who may eventually become independent skaters to those who may always use a walker for support.

“We are very grateful to Dorothy for making it possible to add ice skating to the more than a dozen adaptive sports that we offer,” said Gerry Herman, Director of the Physically Challenged Sports Program at Kennedy Krieger. “Her kindness and dedication to the children is evident each time she steps on the ice to teach them how to enjoy the sport that she loves.”

For photos and more information on I-Skate: Dorothy Hamill’s Adaptive Skating Program at Kennedy Krieger Institute, visit www.i-skate.org.

About Dorothy Hamill

Ms. Hamill is an accomplished athlete, humanitarian, media personality, and business executive. At just nineteen years of age, Ms. Hamill began a successful career by winning a Gold Medal for figure skating at the 1976 Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria and following that up with a World Championship title in Gothenburg, Sweden. As a professional, she has skated with many productions including eight years with the company she helped bring to preeminence among touring ice shows, the Ice Capades, had an unprecedented four ABC television prime time specials produced in her honor, won five consecutive World Professional titles, starred in her own touring productions, won an Emmy, and was inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame and the Figure Skating Hall of Fame, amongst other achievements and accolades. In addition to her skating roles, Ms. Hamill was the first recipient of the Stars of Madison Avenue Award for her continued roles in successful advertising campaigns, released a best-selling memoir, and is consistently involved in charity work including the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, the International Special Olympics, Big Brothers & Sisters of America, Buoniconti Fund, Olympic Aid, Vaccine Fund, American Cancer Society, Ronald McDonald House, and teaching blind children to skate through the March of Dimes. While every four years, the Olympic Games produce a new group of champions, only rarely does one of these champions transcend their sport to completely capture the imaginations of the public as Ms. Hamill has done.

About Physically Challenged Sports at Kennedy Krieger Institute

Gerry and Gwena Herman started the physically challenged sports program at Kennedy Krieger in 1989. The Hermans started with a wheelchair basketball program, but expanded the program so that kids with a wider range of disabilities would be able to compete. Today, the scope of the program is impressive. Kids have the opportunity to take part in sports such a sled hockey, wheelchair basketball and football, swimming, track, field, archery, baseball, cycling, petracycling, sitting volleyball, and tennis. Thanks to this world-class sports program, many of the participants go on to become champions at the national and international level. Many also go on to the Paralympics or receive scholarships to continue their sport and further their education. To learn more, visit www.bennett.kennedykrieger.org.

About Kennedy Krieger Institute

Internationally recognized for improving the lives of children and adolescents with disorders and injuries of the brain, spinal cord and muscle, the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, MD serves more than 13,000 individuals each year through inpatient and outpatient clinics, home and community services and school-based programs. Kennedy Krieger provides a wide range of services for children with developmental concerns mild to severe, and is home to a team of investigators who are contributing to the understanding of how disorders develop while pioneering new interventions and earlier diagnosis. For more information on Kennedy Krieger Institute, visit www.kennedykrieger.org.

Following is an interesting article I read on the Exceptional Parent website:

Tying shoes, buttoning buttons, reading signs, doing math, making a bed, catching a ball, mailing a letter, opening a can, and brushing your teeth.   What do all these tasks have in common? Take a minute. . .think about it. . .read the list again.   All of these tasks must be LEARNED.   We are not born with the innate ability to accomplish any of the above. Yet, mastering each creates a common learning situation in most households.

For many children, learning these tasks is easy. For others, any of these tasks could be likened to climbing Mount Everest. To further complicate life, these are only nine of the millions of individual tasks that an individual is presented with in his or her life span.   How can a child, especially a child with exceptional learning challenges, be expected to master them? More importantly, how can you, the parent or caregiver of an exceptional child, facilitate this learning process? Be helping your child learn how to learn through planned recreation and leisure activities.

While in the moment it might seem that tying shoes or buttoning buttons is the most important task to learn, in actuality, the most important thing for anyone to learn to do is to learn HOW to learn something.   It isn’t about a specific task. Rather, it is about mastering a process for handling what we don’t already know. Once the process is mastered, that process can be applied to a wide range of situations and tasks to facilitate further, more specific accomplishment. Keeping the fun and enjoyment in mastering that process will not only make learning easier, but also more pleasant for all involved.

Your family probably already has many built in opportunities for doing just that – having fun while learning how to learn. What you already do for recreation and leisure can easily become opportunities for enhancing that learning how to learn process. Recreational activities can teach your child how to –

• Ask questions
• Gather information
• Clarify misunderstandings
• Make decisions
• Plan actions
• Make Changes
• Get help and/or assist others
• Interact with his or her environment
• Apply motor abilities and skills

 All recreational activities involve process. By looking for and stressing the process in an already fun activity, you can assist your child learn how to learn.   Then, when encountering a new task or experience, your child will already have capabilities he or she can utilize to meet the new learning challenge.

Here are specific examples of recreational activities that can help someone learn how to learn.

Learning Challenge	Learning Task	Recreational Activity
Ask questions	To learn how to ask a specific question and use the answer to solve a problem.	Play “Who am I?” This is a two-person activity. The person who is “it”, decides what they are going to portray. It can be anything – alive or not.   The child then asks questions until he or she can successfully identify the thing being portrayed. The person doing the portrayal answers the questions and may add actions as clues. The only question that cannot be asked is “What/Who are you?” Once the portrayal is guessed, the roles are reversed and the adult becomes the questioner, thus modeling for the child appropriate behavior.
Gather information	To learn how to obtain and analyze specific amounts of information.	Play the board game Clue©. For a younger child, play hide and seek with two other people. The child closes his or her eyes. A second person not only hides, but in the process of hiding, leaves clues – a little trail – that the child must follow. The third person assists the child in processing the information found on the trail by asking questions such as – “Whose is that? (for a personal item) “What direction are those feet going?” (for footprints) “Did you look in all directions?” (to encourage looking high as well as low) Once the person hiding has been found, reverse the rotate the roles. Be sure the child has a chance to take a turn as the person who leaves the trail, as well as the helper.
Clarify misunderstandings	To learn to notice and interpret non-verbal cues.	Play charades. This easy family game can help a child learn that there are many different ways an action can be interpreted. Include emotions, as well as actions in the charade categories. Again, be sure the child gets a chance to assume each different role in the game.
Make decisions	To learn to make a decision without relying on directions from another person.	Create an obstacle course maze in the backyard. Include 5 or 6 decision-making points and a few dead ends. Allow the child to progress through the maze, making his or her own decisions as he or she proceeds. Establish that reaching a dead end is not a failure. Rather it is just something that happens and one should continue on in a new direction.
Plan actions	To learn how to decide ahead of time what actions and/or behaviors will be needed in a given specific situation.	With your child, make a morning plan for the next day. Include time of getting up, eating breakfast, leaving the house for an errand, and coming home again. Then, ask the child to plan, by him or herself, what he or she will wear for each activity on the list. The next day, the child should follow through with the planned attire. Will mistakes be made?   Of course, but let the child experience the mistake and THEN select a change of clothes as necessary. If no clothes are planned, then an activity cannot go forward until the child makes the plan. Turn the tables and ask the child to plan what you should wear. This activity can easily morph into a dress-up or costume event, depending on the season.
Make changes	To learn how to adjust a plan or make a change in activity on short notice.	Plan a “Tic Tock Time” Game.   Select an hour or two to be the Tic Tock Time. During this time, set an alarm clock to go off every 15 minutes (shorter or longer depending on the age of the child). Then, start a game of activity. When the alarm goes off, everyone must change to a totally NEW activity.   This change must be made, no matter where everyone is in the existing activity. At the end of the Tic Tock Time, you can go back and finish something, if needed, or talk about what it was like to have to make the changes. Emphasize being a good sport about changing and suggest that helping make changes is very helpful.   Note, activities such as cooking are not appropriate. Activities for Tic Tock Time should be activities that it would be safe to stop suddenly. Include activities that aren’t really fun – like cleaning the yard – so stopping and changing an activity can actually work to someone’s advantage!
Get help and/or to assist others	To learn how to ask for assistance when unable to solve a problem, as well as to learn how to volunteer to help with a task.	Play “Help Your Neighbor”.   This game is played in partners.   To prepare for the game, task cards are made out ahead of time. Each task card should have a problem that a person would need help with. Examples of tasks include – I hurt my arm. Please help me put on my jacket. I lost my keys. Please help me find them. I need to find my shoes and sort my socks to find a pair. Can you help me do one of these things while I do the other? Task cards are placed face down between the partners. Then the partners decide who is the helper and who will need help. The person who needs help draws a card and asks his or her partner for assistance.   When the task is completed, roles are reversed and a new card is drawn. Children need to know how to ask for help AND they need to learn how to help others. You can score points for successfully completed tasks. Give a “Helper of the Week” award to the person who earns the most points after playing for several days.
Interact with the environment	To learn to notice and identify objects in the surrounding area.	Make a scavenger hunt. It could be in a nearby park, the local shopping mall, or your own backyard. List items by name or picture. Your child then must find the items on the list. Provide as little help as possible, encourage matching, asking for help, and keeping track of the number of items found. Turn the tables, and ask your child to make a scavenger hunt list of items for YOU to find.
Apply motor abilities and skills	To learn to control movement of one’s own body.	Play Follow-the-Leader. At the start, the leader should select motor skills that are very easy for the child. As the child experiences success, tasks can become more difficult. Praising all attempts will encourage a child to try (which is really what learning how to learn is all about). Be sure the child has a chance to become leader.   Use Follow-the-Leader when taking a walk or when just sitting around in the backyard. It can be short or long. Follow-the-Leader can even be played for clearing dishes after a meal or picking up a household mess.

 Anyone can turn a recreational activity into a learning to learn experience. When planning, ask not only “What are we going to do today?, but “What are we going to learn about learning today?”   Questions – how can we, how do we, how might we, what are our choices? assist your child in exploring alternatives – if this, then what????   If something else, will it turn out differently? Remember, it is also important to learn from choices that do not work. Sometimes it is good to not succeed. We learn from our mistakes too.

 The learning games above are for fun. They involve experimenting with behaviors BEFORE that behavior is needed in a real life situation. Enjoy the comedy that can result from unexpected response. Don’t take these life lessons too seriously or no one will want to play. Learning how to learn can be lots of fun for everyone. Take the time to built learning how to learn into your recreation and leisure activities.

 Susan J. Grosse is past president of the American Association for Active Lifestyles and Fitness and president of Aquatic Consulting and Education Resource Services. She can be reach through her website my.execpc.com/~sjgrosse or at sjgrosse@execpc.com

We all know just how fast children outgrow things! And I am sure you have faced this dilemma when sizing a wheelchair.  Well… Convaid has a new seat insert that will solve your problem!

We have launched the new wheelchair seat reducer insert. As children outgrow their current wheelchair, they require a larger size wheelchair every 6-12 months. Rather than buying multiple sized wheelchairs and in order to save money, buyers often select a wheelchair that is larger than the child’s current requirements in anticipation of future growth. However, oversized wheelchairs do not provide the proper positioning or comfort for the child. A child can grow significantly in five years requiring several larger size wheelchairs to be purchased during that period.  In addition, for those whose insurance providers pay a percentage of the wheelchair costs, the agencies often only allow the purchase of a new wheelchair every five years.

 The common solution is to buy oversized wheelchairs and “make do” until the child grows. Parents “fill the gaps” produced by oversized wheelchairs with rolled up towels and bunched up blankets. The disadvantage is that they do not provide proper positioning, are lumpy, will not stay in place, and can cause the child discomfort. 

 The new wheelchair seat insert was specifically designed to provide proper positioning in an oversized wheelchair. The wheelchair seat reducer is a comfortable foam cushion that easily slips into the seat of any chair to reduce the usable dimensions by 2 inches.

When ordering a Convaid Cruiser Portable Wheelchair, there are THREE Cruiser order forms to select from:

• Convaid Cruiser (Cordura Upholstery)
• Convaid Cruiser (Textilene Upholstery)
• Convaid Cruiser (Classic)

Convaid Cruiser (Cordura Upholstery) and Convaid Cruiser (Textilene Upholstery)

The new styled Cruiser lightweight wheelchair with the popular silver frame and one-piece push handle is available with either padded Cordura fabric OR breathable textilene fabric. When placing your order, please refer to the top of the price sheets where it will state either “Convaid Cruiser (Cordura Upholstery)” or “Convaid Cruiser (Textilene Upholstery)”.

Convaid Cruiser (Classic)

For those of you who prefer the classic features of the original Cruiser with 2-piece push handles and textilene upholstery, we offer the Cruiser Classic. When ordering this model, please use the order form, which states at the top “ Convaid Cruiser (Classic)”.

To download the new Cruiser order forms, click on “Download Brochures/Order Forms” located at the top of each page. For questions on how to order our lightweight portable wheelchairs, please call our Inside Sales Department at 888-CONVAID.

As 2009 comes to an end, I thought you might enjoy reviewing the top 10 health related stories… 

FROM HEALTHDAY NEWS –  Potentially historic moves toward health care reform, the emergence of the pandemic H1N1 flu and controversial changes to all made 2009 a very busy year for health news. Here are the top 10 health news stories from this past year, as selected by editors at HealthDay:

1. Major Health Care Reform Draws Near. After a summer punctuated by raucous “town hall meetings” and battling proposals from both sides of the aisle, House and Senate bills on health care reform were each passed in time for Christmas. The Senate version costs $871 billion but would expand coverage to more than 94 percent of Americans under the age of 65, including 31 million who are currently uninsured.

Voting on the bills was split along party lines, however, and more work needs to be done to hammer out differences between the House and Senate versions before President Barack Obama could sign any bill into law. If a final bill does go into effect, experts agree it would mark the most sweeping change to U.S. health care since the introduction of Medicare in the 1960s.

2. Emergence of Pandemic Swine Flu. Cases of a new, sometimes deadly strain of H1N1 influenza that seemed to target children and young adults first emerged in Mexico in March, and quickly spread to the United States and beyond. The World Health Organization’s Director-General, Margaret Chan, warned that “all of humanity” was under threat, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued nearly daily press advisories as the number of ill mounted. Vaccines were rushed into production, and as infections peaked in October public demand for the shot had outstripped supply.

By November, however, the autumn wave of H1N1 began to subside and vaccine supplies were plentiful. As of Dec. 19, the CDC has confirmed 36,163 hospitalizations and 1,630 deaths linked to influenza since the end of August — a number that is well within rates for prior flu seasons. Experts now worry that a second, winter wave of H1N1 flu is yet to come, although the virus remains tough to predict.

3. Changes in Cancer Screening Guidelines Spark Controversy. It used to be so simple: at a certain age and risk profile, Americans were advised to get various cancer screens at predictable intervals. That all changed in 2009. Early in the year, a long-simmering debate over the effectiveness of the PSA blood test for prostate cancer boiled over, with two major studies offering up arguments both pro and con for the test.

And in the fall, experts at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advised women to wait until age 21 to get their first Pap smear, and reduce frequency of testing to once every two years.

But the biggest firestorm centered on the mammogram, after a federal panel of experts in November advised that women in their 40s no longer needed the annual breast cancer screen. Breast cancer survivors, celebrities and groups as prestigious as the American Cancer Society all opposed the new recommendations, urging that decisions on mammography remain between a woman and her physician.

4. Obama Lifts Ban on Stem Cell Research. Early in March, President Obama signed a measure lifting an eight-year ban on federally funded research using embryonic stem cells sourced from all but 21 pre-existing lines. The ban, implemented early in President George W. Bush’s first term, drew fierce criticism from scientists who said it stymied potentially lifesaving research, but it was supported by those who believe that tampering with embryos involves the taking of human life. Earlier this month, the U.S. National Institutes of Health announced the release of 13 new embryonic stem cell lines for use in taxpayer-funded research, with more to come.

5. Fears Over Radiation Risk from CT Scans. American medicine’s decades-long love affair with the CT scan may be waning, with numerous new studies suggesting that as CT use has exploded, cancer risks linked to radiation from the scans have likewise surged. In fact, one study published in December in the Archives of Internal Medicine estimated that 29,000 future cancer cases could be linked to CT scans performed in 2007 alone.

6. FDA Gains Oversight of Tobacco Products. In a move anti-smoking advocates have been lobbying to see for decades, President Obama in June granted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration oversight over cigarettes and other tobacco products. The agency’s clout in helping to curb smoking — especially among the young — remains to be seen, but American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown called the move “a bold and courageous step.”

7. Worries Over Two Common Plastics Chemicals. New findings on health effects from bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates — ubiquitous chemicals found in items such as baby bottles, children’s toys and eating utensils — sparked public fears this year. Researchers found high levels of BPA tied to impotence in men, aggression in young girls, infertility and arrhythmias; while phthalates were associated with “feminized” play and breast development in boys. Consumer advocates called for bans on both substances, but the chemicals industry defended their use, saying much more study was needed to prove a link.

8. Good News, Bad News in the Fight Against Autism. Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders received a mixed bag of news in 2009. In February, a federal judge ruled out any connection between childhood vaccination and the developmental disorder, a clear setback for families who have long claimed a link. And in December, researchers at the CDC found that the number of 8-year-olds with autism jumped 57 percent between 2002 and 2006, to one in every 110 children. But there was good news, too: A study in this month’s issue of Pediatrics found that an intensive intervention program for toddlers can work to curb autism — if it is begun early enough.

9. Alternative to Warfarin May Be Near. For decades, a tough-to-manage blood thinner called warfarin has been the standard of care for millions of heart patients. The drug offers potent anti-clotting powers but must be constantly monitored to minimize bleeding risks. This fall, however, three promising studies suggested that a new drug, dabigatran — already approved in Canada and Europe — works as well as warfarin but is much easier to control.

10. New Promise in the Fight Against AIDS. HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, had a rather bad year in 2009. Results from one of the first completed vaccine trials found the combo shot had only a modest effect in shielding recipients from infection, but it did suggest that more potent immunization could be possible. And on the treatment front, the WHO in October announced that in 2008, 42 percent of people in the developing world who are infected with HIV now had access to life-extending medications — a tenfold increase in access over the prior five years.

SOURCES: HealthDay News reports, 2009

FROM EXCEPTIONAL PARENT  – The Arc of the United States (The Arc) supports and applauds the recent introduction of “Rosa’s Law,” a bipartisan bill introduced by U.S. Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Michael Enzi (R-WY). Modeled after a recently enacted law in the state of Maryland, this legislation would substitute the outdated, stigmatizing terms “mental retardation” and “mentally retarded” with the terms “intellectual disability” and “individual with an intellectual disability” in federal health, education and labor policy statutes.

The term “intellectual disability” covers the same population of individuals who were previously diagnosed with the term “mental retardation,” and “mentally retarded.” Therefore, the change in terminology would in no way alter the eligibility requirements for services and supports.  

“This bill is very important for people with intellectual disabilities who understand that language plays a crucial role in how they are perceived and treated in society and are actively advocating for terminology changes in federal and state laws.   ‘Retard,’ ‘retarded’ and ‘retardation,’ once accepted medical terms, are now only used to demean and insult people,” stated Peter V.   Berns, Chief Executive Officer, The Arc of the United States (The Arc). “The Arc, believes that changing how we talk about people with disabilities is a critical step in promoting and protecting their basic civil and human rights.”

 Read Senator Mikulski’s statement to the U.S. Senate upon introduction of the bill at: mikulski.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=319975&.

 While The Arc applauds the U.S. Senate’s introduction of “Rosa’s Law,” it is only the first step in a lengthy process towards enactment.   The Arc will continue to work to ensure the bill’s introduction in the U.S. House of Representatives and its progression through the entire legislative process.

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The Arc is the largest community-based nonprofit working through a network of 732 state and local chapters and their members to advocate on behalf of and serve people with intellectual and related developmental disabilities and their families.   The Arc works to improve systems of supports and services, connect families, inspire communities, and influence public policy.   It is the only organization that supports persons from pre-natal care through end-of-life issues and over 100 diagnoses that may include the effects of intellectual and developmental disabilities including autism.   For more information, please visit www.thearc.org.

FROM THE AUTISM SOCIETY — A recent national report released in the journal Pediatrics reveals that 1 percent of U.S. children ages 3-17 have an autism spectrum disorder, an estimated prevalence of one in every 91 children. This is a dramatic increase from the one in 150 prevalence rates currently reported.

“This national study charts a dramatic rise in the prevalence of autism in the United States and we applaud this administration’s recognition that autism is an urgent public health priority,” said Autism Society President and CEO Lee Grossman. “But families today are asking: how high must these prevalence rates rise before the nation responds? Significant resources must be directed toward screening and diagnosis, affordable interventions that treat the whole person and comprehensive education plans to foster lifelong skill development so that people with autism will have the ability to work and live independently.”

The report, entitled “Prevalence of Parent-Reported Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children in the US,” published in today’s issue of Pediatrics, was conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services National Survey of Children’s Health, using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report was conducted via a telephone survey of over 78,000 parents, and determined a point prevalence of 110 per 10,000 respondents, roughly 1 percent of the population of children in the United States.

On a constituent call to discuss the report, the CDC reported that its initial analysis of the Autism and Developmental Delay Monitoring project data, due out later this fall, confirm the 1 percent figure. This report will also contain more data on age of diagnosis, groups affected, and access to interventions.

The increasing numbers have long-term economic costs to the country, as autism is a chronic medical condition affecting people across the lifespan. “Lifespan services, particularly for adults, are typically inadequate and inappropriate,” Grossman stated. “This new data should be a call to action to the government to improve and increase services and supports first.”

The Autism Society has been working with Congress on several key bills, which have stalled. “The information in this new report highlights the pressing need for additional services, support and treatments for families affected by autism spectrum disorders,” said Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). “My bill, the Autism Treatment Acceleration Act, will help children and adults with autism gain better access to coordinated services, improve training for professionals treating these disorders, and will relieve the financial burden on the millions of families struggling with this disability.”

This bill, if funded, would provide funding for applied research into effective interventions, the first ever demonstration grants on adult services, create an adult prevalence study, and fund family support and information networks.

“Autism affects millions of American families, and the cost of diagnosis, early intervention, and treatment imposes a heavy burden on most of them,” said Congressman Mike Doyle (D-PA), co-chair of the Congressional Autism Caucus. “This legislation, the Autism Treatment Acceleration Act of 2009, would improve the dissemination of information between autism researchers and service providers, improve training for professionals treating autism spectrum disorders, and mandate that health insurers cover the diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders. Enactment of this legislation would do a lot to help millions of American families.”

“The increase in the reported prevalence of autism across the nation testifies to the urgency of executing a comprehensive strategy in response to this public health emergency,” said Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), co-chair of the Congressional Autism Caucus. “For its part, Congress must ensure robust funding to support aggressive programs of research, education, and services. Furthermore, Congress needs to enact additional legislation, such as the Autism Treatment Acceleration Act of 2009, that will establish the infrastructure and mechanisms for delivering appropriate services across the lifespan to individuals with autism and their families. We must look to maximize the reach and impact of our investments and activities by closely coordinating government efforts with those of national advocacy organizations, such as the Autism Society.”

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The Autism Society exists to improve the lives of all affected by autism. They do this by increasing public awareness about the day-to-day issues faced by people on the spectrum, advocating for appropriate services for individuals across the lifespan, and providing the latest information regarding treatment, education, research and advocacy. For more information, visit www.autism-society.org