National
and International Resources
The Disability and Health Team currently administers grants to
organizations that provide resources for a healthy lifestyle to all
people with disabilities. The specialty centers cover spina bifida,
limb loss, paralysis, and intellectual disabilities.
The Disability and Health Team at the CDC, National Center on Birth
Defects supports the National Resource Center on Spina Bifida housed
within the
Spina Bifida Association of America. Since 1973, the
Spina Bifida Association of America, which is located in Washington,
D.C., has been the nation’s voluntary health agency dedicated to
enhancing the lives of over 70,000 children and adults who live with
spina bifida. Every year, the National Resource Center responds to
as many as 10,000 questions about health care, education,
employment, and benefits. The Center draws from a variety of
publications and resources, including a network of 175 spina bifida
clinics and more than 57 local chapters.
As
part of developing the information and resource center, the Spina
Bifida Association of America recently developed a
Health Guide for Adults Living with Spina Bifida.
This guide provides health information and resources for adults
living with spina bifida to help them manage their own health. The
guide is intended to promote independence and self care skills. It
may also be used as a resource for talking with another adult about
spina bifida.
The University of Illinois at
Chicago, Department of Disability and Human Development, and
Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, and the National Center on
Accessibility at University of Indiana jointly run
the National Center on Physical Activity and Disability (NCPAD).
Established through a CDC award in 1999, this Center serves as a
national clearinghouse to gather, organize and consolidate existing
information and to synthesize resources on physical activity for
people with disabilities, and facilitate dissemination to consumers,
practitioners, and disability and service organizations.
-
The Center's Website
http://www.ncpad.org provides a searchable, on-line database
of information regarding all aspects of physical activity as well fact
sheets and bibliographies on topics related to specific disabilities and
physical activity. Visitors can also conduct searches on organizations,
agencies, books, videos, and ways to obtain information from multiple
sources on a wide range of general or specific topics.
-
A voice and TTY toll free line. Callers
receive referral and individualized information from specialists who can
research specific requests and provide materials in many topic areas.
-
The Center can provide very specialized information
on topics such as programs for women, elderly, and condition-specific
disabilities as to exercise activities, measures for determining
accessible fitness and exercise facilities, referral of complex
questions to an expert panel, and a centralized source of information
and literature on physical, sensory, and mental disabilities.
-
NCPAD offers a free monthly electronic newsletter.
To sign up for this, send an e-mail to
Listserv@listserv.uic.edu
with this message in the body of the e-mail: SUBSCRIBE NCPAD-NEWS
yourfirstname
yourlastname
-
The assistive technology unit provides technical
assistance in modifications of commercial recreational and exercise
equipment and finding solutions that can match a person's interests and
abilities with the exercise task they are trying to perform.
The Amputee
Coalition of America, a CDC-grantee that is based in Knoxville,
Tennessee runs the National Limb Loss Information Center. The
Amputee Coalition of America has established a large database of
literature and referral sources to respond to the needs for
information and referral, publications, prosthetic resources, and
peer support. In addition they conduct an annual meeting each summer
to bring together the Coalition's national constituency to review
and advance its information sharing mission, and clinical and
outreach products. The National Loss Information Center is the first
to provide limb loss information on a national basis to consumers,
families and providers. Information venues include a magazine for
consumers and providers, peer support groups, and a Web site at
http://www.amputee-coalition.org/nllic_about.html
The Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center, located in
Short Hills, New Jersey, officially opened in April 2002. This new
Center is designed to help improve the quality of life for
people with paralysis. This coordinating facility houses a staff
of information specialists, a library, and a website to provide
educational materials, referral services, and self-help guidance to
those living with paralysis, their families, and caregivers. In addition
to providing information services related to paralysis, the Center also
awards community-based health promotion grants twice a year. For more
information, contact the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource
Center at (800) 539-7309 or
www.paralysis.org
Promoting Health Athletes Through Health Screenings at Special
Olympics , Healthy Athletes.
http://www.specialolympics.org
Under special Congressional funding, the CDC Disability and Health Team
provides support for the Healthy Athletes Program hosted by
Special Olympics to promote the health of athletes with with
mental retardation and other disabilities. Funding for the Healthy
Athletes Program helps expand on-site health screening and clinical
services, and various other supports to over 360,000 athletes with
disabilities who participate in the 26 sporting events. In addition to
funding,
CDC Disability and Health staff has
attended several meetings and
collaborated in the analysis of health-screening data obtained during the
Special Olympics Games.
Healthy Athletes screening data are available.
[Return to Top]
Date: October 24, 2008
Content source: National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental
Disabilities /> Content source: National Center on Birth Defects and
Developmental Disabilities