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ABILITIES BUZZ

Keeping you abreast of current news and trends in the disability and senior

markets

June 2005

Welcome to ABILITIES BUZZ 2005 , a monthly newsletter that keeps you updated

on the latest news and trends in the disability and senior markets. In this

issue we provide a report on how communities are banding together to provide

extracurricular activities for young people living with a disability; we also

review the House passage of the Stem Cell Enhancement Act. We report on the

2005 National Quad Rugby Championships; and we report on how new assistive

devices are improving the lives of people living with a disability. This month

we

also feature a report from The Orange County Register that highlights from

Abilities Expo/ Southern California, which took place from June 3-5 at the

Anaheim Convention Center. It's not too late to register for Abilities Expo/

Metro

Detroit taking place August 26-28 at the Novi Expo Center in Novi, MI. Visit

www.abilitiesexpo.com for more information.

Read on for a synopsis of the latest industry news and trends. For complete

text on any of the articles, email amy@....

Athletes with quadriplegia take sports to the extreme with wheelchair version

A report on the 2005 National Quad Rugby Championships and " Murderball "

Release

The Boston Globe, on May 31, reports on the 2005 National Quad Rugby

Championships, a game as fearless as its competitors. DuBose, 33, who

became a

quadriplegic in 1992 when a deer cut in front of his pickup truck and he was

thrown from the vehicle, is one of those athletes. Hustling for a loose ball,

DuBose, playing for the Pasadena Texans, is clipped from behind. He flips his

wheelchair and lands on his head. The game is stopped and DuBose is picked up

by members of the staff. There is no hush from the crowd, because Broadbent

Arena is empty. His teammates are totally unconcerned. They see this as an

opportunity to catch their breath, make minor adjustments to their gloves, grab

a

gulp of water. DuBose refuses to come out; after all, this happens all the

time. The players call it " Murderball " among themselves but they use another

name

in an official capacity so they don't terrify sponsors.

Welcome to the 2005 National Quad Rugby Championships. " I figure I've already

got a broken neck, what else can happen? " said DuBose. According to league

officials, at least 75 percent of the players incurred their spinal cord

injuries in motor vehicle accidents, and there's an alarming number of young

players

who were gunshot victims. The game is played by quadriplegics in special

wheelchairs with angled wheels and metal grills. Played on a regulation

basketball

court, it's a combination of football, basketball, hockey, and ''Ben-Hur. "

They don't have to wear helmets, but all players must be strapped in.

It is only fitting that the championships are held here in Muhammad Ali's

hometown, because each athlete has the heart of a champion. Eight teams battle

for a trophy. There is no prize money. To be eligible, players must have a

combination of upper- and lower-extremity impairment. Three limbs must be

affected.

Before the tournament, each player is evaluated and given a classification

ranging from .5 for the worst injuries to 3.5. Teams field four players at a

time, and their combined classifications must not exceed 8. They use a

regulation

(but sticky) volleyball with a pseudo-blood-stained hand as a logo. They play

four eight-minute quarters.

Murderball was invented in Canada and imported to the University of North

Dakota in 1981 by Brad Mikkelsen, a quadriplegic who formed a team called the

Wallbangers. With 45 teams in the United States and 20 international teams, Quad

Rugby is the fastest-growing wheelchair sport in the world. The documentary on

the sport, ''Murderball , " was the winner of the Documentary Audience Award

and a Special Jury Prize for Editing at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

From the gyms of middle America to the Olympic arena in Athens, Greece,

" Murderball " tells the story of a group of world-class athletes unlike any ever

shown on screen. In addition to smashing chairs, it will smash every stereotype

you ever had about the disabled. It is a film about family, revenge, honor,

sex (yes, they can) and the triumph of love over loss. But most of all, it is a

film about standing up, even after your spirit - and your spine - has been

crushed. The film will be released in NY and LA on July 8, 2005 followed by a

national release.

For more information visit www.murderballmovie.com

Communities band together to provide innovations for people living with

disabilities Two New Jersey communities provide better accessibility to people

living with disabilities

On May 15, the NJ Edition of The New York Times reports that two areas of New

Jersey are working hard to change the perception of " fun " and " disability. "

In Hamilton, New Jersey, one of the most wheelchair-accessible baseball fields

in the Northeast is taking shape. And, in Passaic, New Jersey, a hands-free

pinball machine is making waves.

In Hamilton, the wheelchair-accessible baseball field is not

wheelchair-accessible for the fans, but for the players. It's called a Miracle

Field, and

when it's completed this summer, said Greg Blair of the Hamilton/Washington

Townships Sunrise Rotary, it will be the 15th such field in the country, and the

first in the Northeast. It consists not of dirt and grass, but of a seamless

synthetic material laid over blacktop, similar to a tennis court, so that a

player in a wheelchair can roll around the bases, or one who struggles to walk

can

roam the infield without tripping in rough terrain.

The ''field of dreams'' cliches will no doubt be thick in the air then, but

''field of persistence'' is more to the point. The club found that the concept

was one thing, paying for it another: the costs seemed prohibitive. But then

the Rotarians connected with another local organization, the Hamilton Area

Y.M.C.A., which had two things they did not: a large tract on Sawmill Road, and

an

organizational structure that could run the league, Special Kids Organized

Recreation, which provides programs for the disabled. Kathy Rhead, director of

Special Kids, said she hopes to have a fall and a spring league, with 100

children participating initially.

Speaking of reaching out, it has been three years since Ron Kochel and Gene

Gulich of Passaic, NJ caused a stir at the Abilities Expo in Edison with their

adaptive pinball machine, something they had developed almost as an

afterthought (their main line of work being a glass-replacement business). It

was a

regular pinball machine that they had adapted so that it could be played by

people with little or no hand use, via switching devices that could be flicked

with

the hand or the foot or even the head. Back then they had made only a few of

the machines, but word has spread. Now, Mr. Kochel said, their company, U Can

Do, has about 50 out in the world.

He is especially excited about two recent wrinkles: one of his machines has a

cameo in an informational film being made by the and Dana Reeve

Paralysis Resource Center, and he just received an order from the New York City

public schools. The Reeve Center recently sent a crew to a private home in

Mountainside to film a woman playing a U Can Do machine. And Mr. Kochel is

preparing to deliver two pinball machines to a public school on Staten Island --

unusual, he said, because most of his sales have been to privately financed

institutions or ones for adults.

Support for Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act

Reeve Paralysis Foundation Supports Act as a First Step Toward

Unfettered Scientific Inquiry

The PR Newswire on May 23, reports The Reeve Paralysis Foundation

(CRPF), the non-profit organization founded by the late actor

Reeve and his wife Dana Reeve to fund research for cures and treatments for

spinal cord injuries and provide resources for people living with disabilities,

strongly supported passage of H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act.

The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, passed in the House with a vote of

238-194.

" H.R. 810 is an important first step in moving the country toward unfettered

scientific research, " said Manganiello, senior vice president of

Government Relations for the CRPF. " The bill would allow scientists access to

stem

cell lines derived from donated, unused embryos from in vitro fertilization

clinics, vastly expanding the lines available for research. " The current law

only gives scientists with Federal support access to stem cell lines derived

prior to August 9, 2001.

" The bill enjoyed broad bi-partisan support among Americans, with even

Republican constituents favoring it by a 55 percent to 40 percent majority, "

Manganiello noted. " We hope that their elected representatives in Congress and

the

White House will recognize the will of the people by passing and enacting this

legislation into law. " " In addition to the immediate need to give American

scientists the opportunity to work in this promising field with Federal support,

there is a larger issue, " said Kathy , president and CEO of the CRPF.

" Inhibiting basic scientific research of any kind is unacceptable. It steals

hope

from the millions of Americans that are counting on the promise of scientific

breakthroughs. "

Medical Devices that are Changing People's Lives

Breakthrough in assistive technology

On May 29, Medical Devices & Surgical Technology Week reports on a new

medical device that is helping to improve the lives of those living with

disabilities. 's 4-year-old son has Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1, a

disease

that has minimized his movement and muscle control, leaving him with just the

slightest movement in his hands. After trying several very expensive

alternative input devices and being disappointed with the results, found

the

SmartNAV from NaturalPoint. The SmartNAV is a hands-free mouse alternative that

allows for complete control of a computer using only slight head movements or,

in

's case, arm movements.

The SmartNAV can help a wide range of people, from those with physical

disabilities like ALS and quadriplegia to those who are experiencing pain from

repetitive strain injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Head tracking

devices,

like the SmartNAV, have been on the market for years, so while this is not a

revolutionary new type of device, the price is. The industry standard price for

head tracking devices is $1000, which does not include the software necessary

for complete computer control. If a user wants the ability to perform an

actual mouse click, that software will cost them extra.

The SmartNAV product line ranges in cost from $199 to $399, with the $399

model offering built-in dwell-clicking and on-screen keyboard for truly complete

computer control. These prices allow families and friends to purchase the

device without needing insurance companies or subsidies, which can be very slow

or

may not be available. Nearly 80% of SmartNAV purchases are funded personally

without the need for grants or insurance companies. A common misconception is

that because of the low price the SmartNAV is inferior to the $1,000+ head

tracking devices. Reading through the product testimonials, one will discover

that many users have replaced their older, more expensive head-controlled mice

with the SmartNAV.

When asked how the SmartNAV delivers the same performance as competitors at a

fraction of the cost, NaturalPoint's president Jim said, " When I

was designing the SmartNAV I was driven from the perspective of what a user

would need, including the need to be able to afford the device. " This focus

included incorporating cutting-edge technology that allowed Jim to eliminate the

need for costly microchips by utilizing the power of modern computers.

Devices for disabled dazzle

Abilities Expo showcases high-tech gadgets to help people move around.

Liddane a reporter for The Orange County Register visited the Abilities

Expo/Southern California and wrote the following article on June 6th. Saturday

was a different kind of " window-shopping " day for the Cabrals of Irvine. It

wasn't for toys, clothes or candy. Instead, they came to look for ways to

enable the Cabral kids to explore the world.

Rick Cabral, 41, his wife, , 40, and six of their seven kids were among

the families at the Abilities Expo, an annual event showcasing the latest

products that help the disabled with daily living. Up to 15,000 people were

expected to attend the three-day event that ends today. " We're here to get

ideas,

then we talk about them with the kids' physical therapist, " said Cabral.

Four Cabral boys have an undiagnosed medical condition that mimics some

symptoms of cerebral palsy. The children need equipment such as wheelchairs to

get

around. On the family's wish list: A wheelchair for Simon, 3. Standers to

support , 12, and , 14, in a standing position. And for

,

10, a recumbent bike so he can ride like his brothers.

In another aisle, Dusty Brandom and his parents had their eye on the iBOT, a

motorized wheelchair that can travel on grass, sand and gravel. It even

descends a small set of stairs. " I like that iBOT's seat can go up and high, "

said

Dusty, 12, who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic condition in which

muscles gradually deteriorate. " We like the iBOT because it can go up and down

steps and enable Dusty to communicate with others at eye level, " said Dusty's

mom, Brandom, 42, of Newport Beach.

Other products included GameCycle, a machine with handlebars for an

upper-body workout while the user plays Nintendo GameCube video games, and

Akcess

Fitness Systems, a wheelchair- friendly home gym.

About Abilities Buzz

ABILITIES BUZZ is sponsored by Questex Media Group, producers of Abilities

Expo. We encourage our readers to submit information on news and articles of

interest that can be shared within the industry. Send story ideas to Amy Riemer

at amy@... . Our goal is to keep you abreast of the

latest news being reported in the industry to improve the lives of people with

disabilities, senior citizens, their families and caregivers - as well as

healthcare and education professionals.

Following is the list of dates and locations for the four remaining Abilities

Expos to be held in 2005:

· Abilities Expo/Metro Detroit - August 26-28 at the Novi Expo Center in

Novi, MI.

· Abilities Expo/Chicago Metro - September 16-18 at the E. s

Convention Center in Rosemont, IL.

· Abilities Expo/Northern California - November 18-20 at the Santa Clara

Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.

· Abilities Expo/Texas - December 9-11, 2005 at the R. Brown

Convention Center in Houston, TX

Seeking Speaker Proposals

With four upcoming conferences in 2005, the Abilities Team is seeking

proposals for speakers. Key areas of interest for 2005 include children with

disabilities, hearing and visual impairments, respite care, feeding, and

hyperbaric

oxygenation therapy (HBOT). If you are interested in submitting a proposal,

please visit our website www.abilitiesexpo.com, and submit a speakers proposal.

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