Circa 2010-11 Did you all have a great holiday? It’s still pretty hot down here in Florida. I get to wear shorts and no coats, so that’s been pretty nice. Even when I’m enjoying time off from racing there’s plenty going on! A couple of weeks ago, a crew from CBS’s Courage in Sports ... Read more
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Alfred Molina Issue
Articles in the Alfred Molina Issue; Senator Tom Harkin — IDEA 35 Years; Ashley’s Column — Girls Ride; Acupuncture — Ancient Chinese Secret, Revealed!; Aphasia: The Movie — A Film Beyond Words; Love Simple — Lights! Camera!…Lupus?; Trail Mix — The Wilderness Made Accessible; Amputee Recovery — From the Middle East to Haiti; Lachi — A Voice in the Darkness; Laura Hogikyan — The Play’s the Thing; Creative Arts Festival — Veterans with Artistic Vision; A Trip to Germany — Disability and Deutchland; A Day In The Life — Nursing with a Movement Disorder; Alfred Molina — Law & Order and the Injustice of AIDS; Malcolm Smith — A Ride Down Memory Lane; Shakes — Parkinson’s Disease; Victoria Taylor — Excerpt From Caitlin’s Wish; Sally Franz — Excerpt From Scrambled Leggs; ABILITY’s Crossword Puzzle; Events and Conferences
Acupuncture — Ancient Chinese Secret, Revealed!
Circa 2010-11 Is acupuncture an art? A science? A religion? Hey, as long as it works, who cares? Whatever it is, acupuncture has been used to treat a variety of ailments for about 2,000 years. Though it doesn’t stop cancer cells from dividing or make transected nerves in an injured spinal cord regenerate, acupuncture ... Read more
Love Simple — Lights! Camera!…Lupus
Circa 2010-11 Love Simple is not an easy ride. An independent, low-budget film—produced in three short weeks and written and directed by Mark Von Sternberg— it portrays the difficulties of a romantic relationship based entirely on deception. The film’s protagonist, Seta (Patrizia Hernandez), suffers from lupus, an auto-immune disease that typically manifests as a ... Read more
Aphasia: The Movie — A Film Beyond Words
Circa 2010-11 Carl McIntyre can’t throw a baseball very well with his left hand, but his six-year-old son, Sawyer, doesn’t really care. He just knows Dad is playing ball with him. To Sawyer, Dad has always been the way he is today. Sawyer doesn’t remember what happened to his father on September 15, 2005, ... Read more
Trail Mix — The Wilderness Made Accessible
Circa 2010-11 New York’s Adirondack Park is a six-million acre wonderland for those who love the outdoors. The largest wilderness area east of the Mississippi River, it attracts hikers and bikers, as well as folks who fish, bird, golf and gallop. But if you’re blind or deaf or use a wheelchair, you may have ... Read more
Amputee Recovery — From the Middle East to Haiti
Circa 2010-11 Colonel Jennifer Menetrez sympathized with the man on the hospital bed. She knew his status: lower spinal cord injury. Lower leg amputation. This man would never walk again. At least, that was what he had been told by caretakers, shortly after a 7.0 earthquake had rocked Haiti and killed 220,000. The region’s ... Read more
Laura Hogikyan — The Play’s the Thing
Circa 2010-11 Some seventeen-year-olds draw inspiration from teen idols. Laura Hogikyan, a freshman at Harvard University and accomplished playwright, looks elsewhere. “When I think about who inspires me, it really does come down to family, friends and teachers,” Hogikyan said. “Big-name figures are just too far away to really be inspirational.” Hogikyan’s play, The ... Read more
Creative Arts Festival — Veterans with Artistic Vision
Circa 2010-11 Lana Gillaspie doesn’t mind if you peek inside her journal. Sometimes her words are crystal clear and pop off the pages. Other times they’re a little smeary. You might be able to pick up a word here, an idea there, but the responsibility to complete the story often falls to the reader. ... Read more
A Trip To Germany — Disability and Deutchland
Circa 2010-11 Twice a month I walk four easy minutes to my local tram stop, hop on the tram, and disembark fifteen minutes later at Ebertplatz. From there I walk just five minutes to join the other women of my writing group. My trip is usually so easy, I don’t even think about it. ... Read more
A Day In The Life — Nursing with a Movement Disorder
Circa 2010-11 So how did an aspiring artist and photographer end up working nights surrounded by medical equipment and sick people? I blame my father. He’s not here to defend himself anymore, but take my word for it: there was no way he was going to let any of his daughters become starving artists. ... Read more
Shakes — Parkinson’s Disease
Circa 2010-11 In 1817, English apothecary James Parkinson documented a “shaking palsy” in some of his patients. Today the disease that bears his name remains a sobering medical reality: approximately one million Americans suffer from Parkinson’s disease (PD) and about 50,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. As it is a neurodegenerative disease, PD ... Read more
Victoria Taylor — Excerpt From Caitlin’s Wish
Circa 2010-11 Originally from Warrington, England, Victoria Taylor lives in South West Wales with her husband, Robert, and their two children, Christopher and Adele-Caitlin. Robert and Victoria had been happily married for seven years when Robert was unexpectedly diagnosed with intracranial hypertension (IH), a neurological disorder in which the pressure of cerebrospinal fluid within ... Read more
Sally Franz — Excerpt From Scrambled Leggs
Circa 2010-11 The following excerpt is from author Sally Franz’s novel Scrambled Leggs: A Snarky Tale of Hospital Hooey. The author has transverse myelitis, a rare neurological disorder of the central nervous system, and became paralyzed within 30 minutes of first feeling her symptoms. Her novel takes a humorous look at dealing with the ... Read more
Alfred Molina — Law & Order and the Injustice of AIDS
Circa 2010-11 With a career spanning more than 30 years, actor Alfred Molina’s colossal talent has earned him worldwide acclaim and memorable roles in films as diverse as Chocolat, Frida, An Education and SpiderMan 2. Molina’s latest venture brings his talents to the small screen, where he plays Deputy District Attorney Ricardo Morales in ... Read more
Malcolm Smith — A Ride Down Memory Lane
Circa 2010-11 Meeting up with Malcolm Smith stands as one of the most unique interviewing experiences of my life. Seated in the large showroom of Malcolm Smith Motorsports in Riverside, CA, I find myself mulling over a variety of ways to approach my introduction. Do I start off with, “Hey, how have you been? ... Read more
Senator Tom Harkin — IDEA 35 Years
Circa 2010-11 35 YEARS OF PROGRESS THANKS TO IDEA Dear ABILITY readers, November 18 marked the 35th anniversary of Public Law 94-142, now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This is a tremendously important and successful law, and it embodies a simple but radical idea: every child can benefit from an ... Read more
