Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

My Story: Keeping a Secret to Achieve Workforce Inclusion

Excerpt from: Disability Blog (click for full article)

 

My name is John W. Quinn and I was born with cerebral palsy.  I couldn’t walk on my own until the age of four, due to being partially paralyzed on one side of my body and my left foot being two and a half sizes smaller than my right.  I wore eye patches to help correct my vision and heavy orthopedic shoes to straighten my spine, and endured grueling physical therapy sessions all throughout grade school to build up my “pipe cleaner” limbs. 

I kept this all a secret in order to join the United States Navy. In fact, I maintained the secret of my disability during my entire 20-year military career.  No one knew I had cerebral palsy as I served onboard battleships, destroyers and aircraft carriers.  I stood every watch, participated in every drill and fought every fire.  I performed at the highest levels and retired in 2002 as a Senior Chief Petty Officer – the second highest enlisted rank you can hold in the Navy.  It was an honor to serve my country.

I couldn’t meet the standard of fitness that the military needed from their recruits.  So what did I do?  I went home and started doing that duck walk exercise down in my basement. I did it every day for a year. Then, I went back and took the physical again.  I was the best duck walker in the building and passed with flying colors.  It took hard work, sweat, determination and a big lie, but I was finally able to gain inclusion into the Navy and have the career of my dreams. 

When I use the word “inclusion” in relation to the working world, many people believe that I’m asking for a lowering of a standard to fit a need.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Inclusion to me is the opportunity to hit the same standard as anyone else.  Sadly, many people, especially those with disabilities, do not even get the chance to show what they can do.

Health Care and Military Spending Bear the Brunt of Proposed Cuts

Excerpt from: The New York Times (click for full article)

 

President Obama’s effort to control federal spending would require the largest cuts from the government’s biggest programs — health care and the military — while preserving or increasing spending on favored initiatives like early education, manufacturing and research.

The president’s proposed budget, for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, will be extensively rewritten in Congress, but is designed to reduce the growth of federal health spending by $401 billion over 10 years.

The budget would require $57 billion in higher payments by Medicare beneficiaries, cut $306 billion in projected Medicare payments to health care providers and squeeze $19 billion out of Medicaid, the program for low-income people.

Taking brain injuries from the battlefield to the classroom

Excerpt from: KOSU (click for full article)

 

TBI isn’t a new injury, and it’s not unique to recent wars. But many experts believe that the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, with their blurred front lines and improvised explosive devices, have particular harm to the brains of the people fighting in them.

“These wars are different from, say, World War II,” says David Hovda, Director of the UCLA Brain Injury Research Center. “In Iraq and Afghanistan, you could be walking down any street and have somebody blow up an IED or a car and the explosive that’s being used is so powerful, it’s a devastating way to be exposed to an injury.”

Just how many veterans have a traumatic brain injury is a surprisingly difficult question to answer. Estimates vary widely; the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center says almost 270,000 traumatic brain injuries have been diagnosed in service members between 2000 and 2012 — most of which are not deployment-related – and a report from the Rand Corporation suggests that almost 20 percent of service members who served in Iraq or Afghanistan say they experienced a traumatic brain injury during deployment.

What about Americans with Disabilities in the Military?

Excerpt from: Monastic Musings Too (click for full article)

 

Policy changes opened or widened the door to military service this year, to wide acclaim in the news media.  Women will be allowed to serve in combat roles, and people will not be dismissed or barred from military service on the basis of homosexuality.

I was really surprised to find that the Americans With Disabilities Act, granting a variety of rights to people with disabilities, isn’t yet activated for the U.S. military.  Deaf people are automatically excluded from any military service — even in the 80% of non-combat positions.

Combat Pay

 

New FMLA Rules for Military Families

Excerpt from: Warner, Norcross & Judd (click for full article)

 

It may be time to update your Family and Medical Leave Policy. The Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued a new Final Rule  that takes effect on March 8, 2013. Among other changes, the Final Rule expands the military caregiver and qualifying exigency leave provisions.

Military Caregiver Leave allows an eligible employee who is the spouse, parent, child or next of kin of a covered service member with a serious illness or injury to take up to 26 work weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave during any single 12-month period to care for the service member. Previously, military caregiver leave was limited to the family members of current covered service members. The Final Rule expands the military caregiver leave to include family members of “covered veterans.”

A “covered veteran” is an individual who (1) was a member of the Armed Forces, including a member of the National Guard or Reserves; (2) was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable; and (3) was discharged or released during the five-year period before the first date the eligible employee takes FMLA leave to care for the covered veteran.

The Final Rule also expands the definition of “serious injury or illness” to include injuries or illnesses that pre-existed the service member or covered veteran’s active duty, but were aggravated in the line of duty

Qualifying Exigency Leave has been expanded. Previously, it was limited to eligible employees whose family member was a military member of the National Guard and Reserves. Now the definition includes members of the Regular Armed Forces on covered active duty. “Covered active duty” requires deployment to a foreign country.

Mouth device in clinical trials as possible treatment for TBI

Excerpt from: Army Mil (click for full article)

 

Now researchers at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and NeuroHabilitation Corporation are leveraging the power of those tiny nerves. They are aiming to restore lost physical and mental function for service members and civilians who suffered traumatic brain injury or stroke, or who have Parkinson's or multiple sclerosis.

The treatment involves sending specially-patterned nerve impulses to a patient's brain through an electrode-covered oral device called a "PoNS," a battery-operated appliance placed on the tongue. The 20-30 minute stimulation therapy, called cranial nerve non-invasive neuromodulation, or CN-NiNM, is accompanied with a custom set of physical, occupational, and cognitive exercises, based on the patient's deficits. The idea is to improve the brain's organizational ability and allow the patient to regain neural control.

U.S. Military's Suicide Rate Surpassed Combat Deaths In 2012

Excerpt from: NPR (click for full article)

 

The number of suicide deaths in the U.S. military surged to a record 349 last year — more than the 295 Americans who died fighting in Afghanistan in 2012. The numbers were first reported by the AP; NPR has confirmed them.

The new figures show that the number of military suicides rose from 2011, when 301 such deaths were reported. And people who work with veterans say the numbers could grow worse, as returning soldiers adjust to civilian life. The AP says the numbers are considered to be "tentative," pending review.

On All Things Considered, NPR's Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman tells co-host Audie Cornish that the figures represent "active duty and reserve ... the largest portion were the active duty Army; 182 took their own lives in 2012."

Amputee a driving force in getting people with disabilities moving

Excerpt from: Chicago Tribune (click for full article)

 

Army veteran Melissa Stockwell has one strong, healthy leg. The other is a scarred, 6-inch stump that she has proudly nicknamed "Little Leg."

The Bucktown woman throws birthday parties for this shortened limb, always dresses it in her favorite colors — red, white and blue — and has trouble imagining going through life any other way. "I've done more with one leg than I ever could have with two," she often says.

The first female soldier to lose a limb in Iraq, Stockwell, 32, has managed to turn a traumatic above-the-knee amputation into an uplifting experience, one that motivates people of all abilities. Since the injury she has shaken hands with presidents, won three consecutive paratriathlon world championships, run marathons, skied down mountains and raced 267 miles across Alaska in the longest wheelchair and handcycle race in the world.

Earlier this month she declared on her blog, "I'm going to be an Ironman," and signed up for Ironman Arizona, a punishing 2.4-mile swim and 112-mile bike ride, followed by a 26.2-mile run.

But Stockwell's physical feats only partly explain why a company like Trek now touts her as one of its "great athletes," calling her an inspirational role model.

Rules Eased for Veterans’ Brain Injury Benefits

Excerpt from: The New York Times (click for full article)

 

The Department of Veterans Affairs will propose new regulations on Friday that will make it easier for thousands of veterans to receive health care and compensation for certain illnesses that have been linked to traumatic brain injury.

The regulations, which will be published on Monday in the Federal Register, lists Parkinsonism, unprovoked seizures, certain dementias, depression and hormone deficiency diseases related to the hypothalamus, pituitary or adrenal glands as eligible for the expanded benefits.

The proposal, which must undergo a 60-day public comment period, could open the door to tens of thousands of veterans filing claims with the Veterans Benefits Administration, which is already struggling to process a huge inventory of such claims.