Paraplegic Changing Tires on Car

A paraplegic demonstrates how he changes the tires on his car in this video.

Ride along with Andrew

Andrew , a paraplegic, talks about his life in this vlog as he uses his new wheelchair-scooter.



For more videos by Andrew, click here.

The first 24 months after acquiring a spinal cord injury: on YouTube

Andrew, a T-7 paraplegic, has started making videos of the first 24 months after he acquired his spinal cord injury.

In his first video, he introduces himself and talks about his injury.




In this video, he filmed a typical day going to work.



Looking forward to more!

SPINALpedia

SPINALpedia is a new site offering spinal injury advice and support to "help ease and simplify the difficult transition for the spinal cord injury community into life with paralysis". It plans to use the "power of experience" to help people support each other.



via its site:

Vision Statement

SPINALpedia helps injured people and their support systems transition to a productive life with paralysis through the power of the stories and experiences of others who have overcome similar challenges. We envision a world where no one affected by a SCI is left isolated from the support of others.


SPINALpedia is a social mentoring network and video archive that allows the spinal cord injury community to motivate each other with the knowledge and triumphs gained from our individual experiences.

This video explains it further:



Go on over and check it out, whether you're living with a spinal injury and/or are interested in supporting the site.

Paraplegic drummer invents ParaPedal

Here's the video about the creation of the ParaPedal - designed by a paraplegic drummer.

QuadPara Association of South Africa

{visual description: A photo of a man in a wheelchair holding up a sign that says "Quadriplegics demand equal access". Above his photo is lettering that reads: New QASA Publication: QASA has just published "Know Your Rights" 80 pages of info for persons with disabilities. Empower yourself and click here to download this publication.]

Hello to my friends in South Africa! I have a number of readers down there and wanted to share this organization's link just as a reminder to everyone of the international nature of our disability community. If you check out my map of readers, you'll see that I put on a translator because I blog only in English .

I love this website. They have things such as Quads4Quads, a Quad Squad, and celebrate life and disability in many supportive ways. But there are other reasons.

First of all, they have lots of pictures which is wonderful. Photos are a good way to communicate information about events and do disability education/awareness. Secondly, they are a very active organization, provide resources for self advocacy, are actively raising funds (empowering!) and keep their website current. Last, but not least, their website has something for everyone - disabled, able bodied, allies, etc. They run a piece on spinal cord injury prevention, show equipment/recreational/sports information, have started a computer learning program, offer opportunities for allies to get involved, etc.


This is the hallmark of true inclusion - it draws in every person to learn, to share, to relate. Go visit them by clicking the title of this post (sorry the picture doesn't work to do that)- you will come away enthused!

{visual description: A logo showing the words The QuadPara Association of South Africa says Buckle up! We don't want new members.]

educating about spinal cord injury

Today my older nephew told me he saw a video in driver's ed (one of those they show the kids to emphasize safety) where the driver was injured and left with a spinal cord injury. He told me that the guy was not a quadriplegic, but that his spinal cord was affected.

I explained to him that being a paraplegic or a quadriplegic is a matter of where the injury is on the spinal cord. The spinal cord is sectioned off into levels such as C for cervical, T for thoracic and L for lumbar, and S for sacral. According to Wikipedia,

"There are 31 spinal cord segments:
8 cervical segments
12 thoracic segments
5 lumbar segments
5 sacral segments
1 coccygeal segment"

The higher the injury, the greater the loss of function; however, the injury varies depending on whether it is a complete/incomplete injury.

Click above for a chart describing the functional goals for various levels of spinal cord injury.