Daily Living

Do you know an outstanding professional caregiver?  This would be a good week to show some special appreciation for the important work he or she does.

Spurred on by organizations that represent professional caregivers, the United States Senate has declared the week starting Sept. 12, 2010, to be the third annual National Direct Support Professionals Recognition Week. Events are planned across the country to celebrate and raise awareness of the work of direct support professionals, a group that includes personal care attendants and home health aides.

The Americans with Disabilities Act— the ADA — turned 20 on July 26, 2010. How has this landmark civil rights legislation affected your daily life? Have you experienced discrimination in employment, in access or in attitude? What are some of the best changes that have occurred thanks to the ADA — and where do we still need to improve?

Two decades ago, on July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed into law the landmark civil rights legislation called the Americans with Disabilities Act, intended to eliminate barriers for people with disabilities.

Two decades later, daily life has become much more accessible and fairer in many ways, not only for people with disabilities but for everybody. And yet — in physical accessibility, in employment discrimination, in general public understanding — there still is a ways to go.

The “passenger” in Steve Williams’ motorcycle sidecar doesn’t say much, but if it could talk, it probably would have plenty of stories to tell.

Steve Williams explains how he and his brother outfitted this Honda Nighthawk with a special wheelchair-carrying sidecar.

The passenger is Williams’ manual wheelchair.

“Even though I struggle to put a hat on my head or walk up a staircase, I can still operate in 40- to 60-foot waves and provide a service that may save someone’s life.”

Ryan Levinson, 38, lives life to the fullest, and he’s not going to let a disease like facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSH) deter him.

January 17 was a particularly special day for Tom Mecke. It was his 50^th birthday, and he had beaten a pretty long set of odds to get there.

Mecke, a San Antonio, Texas, resident all his life, has Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). He and his parents got the news that he has the disease when he was 6 years old. They also were told he’d probably die before he turned 20.

A new, no-cost iPhone application is now available to help shoppers locate facilities like elevators and accessible restrooms in the country’s larger malls.

Called FastMall, the application (app) from Web developer MindSmack may prove especially helpful to wheelchair users and others who want to chart accessible pathways among a maze of retail outlets. For outside the mall, FastMall has a helpful “remember where you parked” capability.

Attention, young adults ages 18 to 35: A new online group, Trailblazers, aims to provide you with a virtual gathering spot where you can share thoughts and ideas, challenges, resources and recipes for success.

Trailblazers is one of several dozen groups on MDA’s e-community myMDA, which connects people around the country who are coping with muscle diseases.

On one of her first days at the University of Missouri, freshman Gabriella Garbero achieved campus-wide notoriety when her father Matt passed out in her dormitory.

He wasn’t impaired -- other than being dehydrated and not having eaten for most of the day, and having diabetes, which he found out about from that experience. The stress of helping his daughter get settled into college life probably also played a part.

Many people, upon noting the academic credentials of high school senior Lindsay Lee, might characterize her as a math whiz.

The 17-year-old, who has congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD), is quick to demur. “Oh, I don’t know if I’d say that. I just really like math … and, well … I’m pretty good at it.”