Hemiplegic Migraine - Understanding This Rare Condition

Judy's Note: This is one of the online content writers I personally read & when I came across this article of hers, I had to share it with you...

Hemiphlegic Migraine - Understanding This Rare Condition

By: Charlotte Kuchinsky

An Excerpt:

When you say the word "migraine," you generally get one of two responses. The first one goes something like this: "I know what you mean. My sister gets these and they literally stop her in her tracks for days." The other typical response almost always begins with a roll of the eyes. Then the person says something like; "a headache is just a headache. Get over it already!" On the other hand, if you say the phrase "hemiplegic migraine," most people just offer a blank stare. Perhaps that is because this rare form of migraine still remains somewhat of a mystery, even to the medical field itself. As a sufferer of hemiplegic migraines for more than 30 years, I have made it a point to learn as much as possible about the condition. Like regular migraines, there are no two hemiplegic migraines exactly alike.

For the rest of her article, click the link above.

Cool Way To Organize

Get Organized with Case Logic Accessories

Universal attachment system fits different locations on wheelchairs, providing quick access to essentials like cell phone

Case Logic, a partner in the NSCIA online store, has designed a variety of accessories to keep the wheelchair user organized. A Mobility Catch All attaches to the side of your wheelchair and is a great place to hold a cell phone, or anything else you may need at your convenient disposal. The Mobility Lap Organizer straps across your lap and is also a great place to keep items for extra convenience.

The Mobility Under Seat Organizer is a great place to store all of those “just in case” items. Keep an extra $20 on your person at all times under your chair. Hold onto an extra cell phone battery, matches, a deck of playing cards or a disposable camera. You’ll never know it’s there until you need it in a pinch!

Are you sick of the winter weather yet, and planning a vacation? The Mobility Backpack (manual and power chair versions available) is the perfect carry-on bag for your trip! With oversized zipper-pulls and multiple storage compartments (including a special section for a water bottle), you can feel secure in knowing you have everything you need right behind you.

Also available for power chair or scooter users is the Mobility Armrest Organizer. This pouch rests against the chair over the armrest, keeping your most important items at your side.

All of the above mentioned Case Logic products are latex free and come with a five year warranty.

Visit the NSCIA online store to find out more about these and other exciting products. And remember, when you buy from NSCIA’s online store, you are getting quality products at a great price, and each purchase benefits NSCIA and our members!

Request for Input

The National Council on Disability (NCD) is gathering public input for a study of emerging issues and trends affecting the lives of people with disabilities. Information gathered will be used in the development of NCD's next annual progress report to the President and Congress. The Council is
seeking input on disability issues including health, housing, employment, insurance, transportation, assistive technology, recreation, emergency preparedness, early intervention and education.


Suggestions should be sent to NCD by July 22, 2008 via ncd@ncd.gov . Type "Emerging Trends" in the subject line.

ALERT - July 15 @ 9am - ADA Regulations Hearing

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM)

Proposal to Revise ADA Regulations under Title II and Title III

http://www.ada.gov/NPRM2008/ADAnprm08.htm

On Friday, May 30, 2008, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey signed proposed regulations to revise the Department’s ADA regulations, including its ADA
Standards for Accessible Design. On Tuesday, June 17, 2008, the proposed regulations were published in the Federal Register. The proposed regulations
consist of a notice of proposed rulemaking to amend the ADA regulation for State  and local governments, a notice of proposed rulemaking to amend the ADA
regulation for public accommodations and commercial facilities, a Regulatory Impact Analysis, and two supporting appendices.
The U.S. Department of Justice will be holding a public hearing on these comments on Tuesday, July 15 beginning at 9:00 AM.

The hearing will be webcast live.  For information on viewing the webcast go to
http://www.ada.gov/NPRM2008/nprmwebcastinfo.php

If you would like to attend the conference in person, you may find logistical information here: http://www.ada.gov/NPRM2008/nprmhearing08directions.htm

The U.S. Department of Justice will be accepting comments on the proposed regulations until August 18, 2008.

The original proposed regulations accidentally left out the two appendices, so they published corrections to each set of regulations containing those two
appendices.

To submit comments on any of the regulations (Title II, Title III, or the appendices), you must go to one of the following links.  The links labeled
“correction” contain the missing appendices.  You may also view the regulations through the below links.

Title II Proposed Regulations

Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in State and Local Government Services
http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=SubmitComment&o=090000648062a623


Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in State and Local Government Services; Correction
http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=SubmitComment&o=090000648064a610

Title III Proposed Regulations

Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability by Public Accommodations and in Commercial Facilities
http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=SubmitComment&o=090000648062a604

Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability by Public Accommodations and in Commercial Facilities; Correction

http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=SubmitComment&o=090000648064a63a

Delaware Values Life

Just got this in my email, and have to share it. Delaware just passed a resolution which protects the rights of people with disabilities to not die by starvation like Terri had to.

Check out this blogger's post: Here

I'm back

I had a bad January and it took me some time to get myself back to writing, so I'm just now getting back to blogging. I just wanted to let everyone know I'm getting caught up.

Judy

WV Public Radio : WV DHHR Silenced Employees in Disability Hearing, Lawsuit Says

WV DHHR silenced employees in disability hearing, lawsuit says – 9/25/07

By Scott Finn, West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Studio lead: For the past six years, Shawn Shumbera (Shum-BEAR-a) has lived at Bateman Hospital, a state mental institution in Huntington.

His doctors have said he could live on his own – with help from the state’s MR/DD Waiver program. But state officials have rejected him three times from the program.

They say he’s not disabled enough to qualify – even though he’s disabled enough to stay at a state-run institution.

Shumbera is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the state Department of Health and Human Resources. The non-profit group Mountain State Justice says that DHHR officials routinely discriminate against people like Shumbera, who has been diagnosed as both mentally retarded and mentally ill.

Now, his lawyers are leveling another accusation against DHHR. They say top officials at DHHR and Bateman Hospital have intimidated their employees so they will not testify on Shumbera’s behalf. Scott Finn reports.

Finn: It sounds like the plot to a mobster movie. The prosecution finds two witnesses who are ready to testify in court -- but someone gets to them. All of a sudden, the witnesses change their story and they’re not willing to testify any longer.

This is what lawyers for Shawn Shumera say happened in their case.

Shumbera was rejected for the MR/DD waiver program. It would provide him medical care and other services designed to help him leave Bateman Hospital and live on his own.

His lawyer, Melissa Stacy, arranged for an appeal hearing on August 27^th. She lined up the testimony of two Bateman Hospital employees – social worker Toby Spiker and psychologist Chuck Painter.

According to Stacy, the two witnesses had consistently said that Shumbera was mentally retarded and in need of waiver services. But right before the hearing, Painter and Spiker backed out.

Stacy: According to Mr. Spiker, Bateman Hospital CEO instructed both witnesses they were not permitted to come to the hearing

Finn: A few days before the scheduled hearing, the witnesses were called into a meeting with some high-powered state officials -- Bateman Hospital CEO Mary Beth Carlisle, Social Work Director Deborah Wilson, Richard Workman, a contract psychologist for the state, and assistant attorney general Alva Page, who represents DHHR.

Stacy: They went to Bateman and discussed the case with the witnesses, and persuaded the witnesses that their conclusions they had reached regarding Shawn’s mental retardation diagnosis were incorrect, and they should change their testimony on that.

Finn: Not only that, the witnesses said they’d no longer be able to testify at all, Stacy says. She relates a conversation that Shumbera’s advocate, a woman named Kelly Williamson, had with one of the would-be witnesses, Toby Spiker.

Stacy: And when she was told by Toby, first of all, that he wasn’t coming to the hearing, and then secondly, that the witnesses had possibly changed their mind about Shawn’s diagnosis, in his own defense, he said to her, Kelly, you need to remember who signs my paycheck, there’s really nothing I can do here, which suggested to us there was some pressure exerted on Mr. Spiker.

Finn: For almost two weeks, we’ve been trying to get DHHR officials to respond to these allegations. Spokeswoman Shannon Riley says they can’t, because of the lawsuit and because they don’t want to violate Shumbera’s privacy.

In the past, DHHR officials have said that Shumbera’s low IQ scores are due more to his mental illness than any mental retardation, and that makes him ineligible for the program.

So why were such high-ranking officials involved in what was, essentially, an administrative hearing?

Stacy: In my experience, the state’s attorney has never, never held a meeting with witnesses prior to a hearing like this.

Finn: Stacy thinks she knows. Shumbera had just become the lead plaintiff in this class-action lawsuit against the state DHHR.

Stacy: These actions are particularly disturbing to us because they indicate a total disregard of due process rights for this already vulnerable class of people. And because of what we’re dealing with, we’ve decided to at least temporarily postpone Shawn’s hearing and other hearings involving these issues. We’re concerned our clients are not going to be able to receive due process through this hearing process.

Finn: She says that she can’t get a fair hearing under the current process, where the hearing officer is a state employee and the experts are under contract to DHHR.

So, where’s her proof? She says she lost ten cases at the DHHR hearing level – but when she appealed to Kanawha County Circuit Court, the judge ruled for her clients every time.

For West Virginia Public Broadcasting, I’m Scott Finn in Charleston

Vision Services in West Virginia

The Seeing Hand's low vision clinics, which were last held in January 2005 under the auspices of the West Virginia University Eye Institute, have resumed at the center on 750 Main Street in Wheeling. EddieMcDonald, O.D., who is a graduate of Southern College of Optometry in
Memphis and is practicing optometry in Moundsville, is the optometrist who leads the team in providing low vision rehabilitation services.

Low vision rehabilitation services are to be an extension of the vision services one is presently receiving from one's own eye doctor. Low vision rehabilitation services are offered to maximize the remaining sight, enhance safety and improve quality of life. An individual's vision should meet Seeing Hand's eligibility guidelines: a visual acuity of 20/70 or less in the better eye with correction, a field of vision of 20 degrees or less or the potential loss of sight due to a
deteriorating eye disease.

Low vision clinics are the second and third Fridays of each month from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Each exam is anticipated to require on an average of one hour and thirty minutes.

Please call Seeing Hand at 304-232-4810 for any questions regarding the low vision clinic and eligibility for services.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Subscribers & Readers :)

I hope this Thanksgiving, you and your family will find you are blessed as you think on all that you have to be thankful for.

I am thankful for many things...

1. The newest addition to my family, a second granddaughter was born in September. And I was there for her birth.

2. My youngest sister has come back into our lives after years of estrangement.

3. My son-in-law was able to come home from Afghanistan for the birth of his daughter and being able to hug him and see his face was a huge blessing.

4. My two year old granddaughter is the joy of my life and she feeds my soul.

5. My 14 year old daughter is growing up into a wise, talented and interesting young lady.

6. My 16 year old, who is mature beyond her years, is being a good friend of mine.. what all mothers want of their daughters as they grow older..

7. My 22 year old daughter is finally (lol) thinking before she acts and she comes to me for advice and since she is no longer hormonal, she actually enjoys my company (LOL)

8. I'm writing my first novel and it is coming along great! I'm participating in NaNoWriMo.org's annual writing event through the month of November. I am no where near completing the challenge, but I am proud of my accomplishments thus far. I have learned so much through this process and noveling is no longer scary to me. I'm planning on finding a literary agent and seeking publication once this novel is completed.

9. I've finally embraced that my work is writing. I'm working towards writing daily online content articles, attempting to keep up with my blogs and find myself encouraged to write further novels.

10. My husband, who works so hard for too little money and shoulders the financial burdens of this household. Without his support of my writing, I would not have the peace needed to continue.

Ken Ervin to be Honored by Governor Manchin

Ken Ervin to be Named Distinguished Mountaineer by Governor Joe Manchin

On Monday, November 26, 2007, Governor Joe Manchin will honor the life of Ken Ervin, who passed away in October, with the Distinguished Mountaineer Award. The ceremony will take place at 12:30 in the Governor’s Reception Room at the Capitol. Ken was born in Buckhannon, West Virginia, on January 7, 1962. He was a graduate of Buckhannon High School and had a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling from West Virginia University. Ken was a tireless advocate for people with disabilities. Whether Ken was chaining himself to the fence of the White House in Washington, D.C., to a school flagpole in Monongalia County, or helping some one move out of a nursing home, his commitment was beyond rhetoric - he lived what he believed.

A memorial Service will follow in the Governor’s Reception Room at 3pm. At 5pm, Ken will be honored at the Opening of the ROMPP (Real Opportunities Make People Productive) Art Exhibit, located at the Cultural Center on the Capitol grounds. The show has been dedicated to Ken, and two videos will be shown of Ken’s life and work. Friends, family and those touched by Ken’s life are all invited to attend the activities planned for the day.