Right now, I’m working with the Rick Hansen Foundation in Vancouver, Canada, that works with spinal cord research. In May of 2012, we’re hosting an international conference to mark the 25^thanniversary of Rick Hansen going around the world in his push wheelchair. People to donated to the foundation. When he arrived home, he learned that $26 million had been donated, which had two main focuses: a cure for spinal cord injury and the elimination of political barriers and physical accessibility.

Just because you have a disability doesn't mean you can't go wherever you want!

The conference is called Interdependence 2012 Conference and Exposition and will be held May 15-18 in Vancouver. Half of the conference will focus on cures for spinal cord injuries and will feature speakers who are doctors and medical researchers. The other half of the conference will be on physical accessibility, which is the part of the conference with which I’ll be working on and involved. My focus will be specifically on tourism for people with physical challenges.

There are resources available that detail traveling destinations for the physically challenged. When you look at them, you’ll be overwhelmed at the number of places that you can go and travel to that have made modifications to make their destination much more accessible to not only people in wheelchairs, but people with all types of injuries.

The Rick Hansen Foundation is also currently starting the Global Accessibility Initiative. If you do a Google search on the Rick Hansen Global Accessibility Initiative, you’ll see a map tool where individuals who travel can add their own comments on where they’ve gone, what they’ve done, and how accessible this destination was for them. 

What we’re hoping for is that the entire travel industry will make accessibility a part of the education, information and advertising in the way that they market their destinations and/or venues.

People with disabilities should be well informed and educated about places they plan to visit.

We want to help the travel industry make travel easier for disabled people. And, if we travel more, they’ll make more money. The map tool that the Rick Hansen Foundation created will allow people to comment on their trip. When you see a location marked on the map, and click on that location, our hope is you’ll be able to read comments from a physically challenged person who can say, “Been there, done that.”

What we’re really striving for is for physically-challenged people to be recognized and included in the travel industry worldwide as a market that destinations and venues want to promote and advertise to and provide services and benefits for these people. I believe that one of the problems is that most companies don’t realize how much money that people with disabilities spend each year worldwide on travel.

Often corporations may consider the physically challenged because of the ADA, which requires them to have accessible rooms, but they forget to inform everyone.  Have you noticed that travel agencies or venues don’t show disabled people enjoying their facilities? Consequently, when we’re searching for a place to go and can’t find any information about the accessibility of that destination, we’ll have to travel to somewhere else. We’ll go to a different destination that does a better job of advertising accessibility.

The more accessible, the better.

When hotels and destinations begin to realize that the physically challenged are potential customers and say, “Let’s make this information available,” then they’ll include that information that they send out to travel agencies. That information needs to be available to everyone in the travel agency business. We want the travel industry to not only say, “We’ve made our facilities accessible,” but to revel in the fact that they want us to come and spend our money with them.

Scott Rains believes that the more information travel agencies and destinations offer about accessibility, the more money they'll make because disabled people will feel comfortable traveling there.

Two major professional organizations that help disabled people who want to travel are:
* ENAT, the European Network for Accessible Tourism, a project done by the entire European Union.
* SATH, which stands for Society of Accessible Travel and Hospitality in the U.S.

A private company that’s based in Australia is TRAVability. On this website you’ll see these people really have made a case for companies, venues, etc. to consider the physically challenged as a market. They’re making a conscious effort to let the travel industry know what physically challenged people need, and how big our market is. They even go one step further and tell the travel industry how to make money by providing accessibility.

To learn more about Dr. Scott Rains, please visit his blog.

About the Author: For the last 12 years, John E. Phillips of Vestavia, Alabama, has been a professional blogger for major companies, corporations and tourism associations throughout the nation. During his 24 years as Outdoor Editor for “The Birmingham Post-Herald” newspaper, he published more than 7,000 newspaper columns and sold more than 100,000 of his photos to newspapers, magazines and internet sites. He also hosted a radio show that was syndicated at 27 radio stations; created, wrote and sold a syndicated newspaper column that ran in 38 newspapers for more than a decade; and wrote and sold more than 30 books. Learn more at http://www.nighthawkpublications.com

Scott Rains is a leading advocate for inclusive tourism.

I’ve always noticed that the lodging I went to when I traveled overseas were very customer service oriented. Oftentimes, the manager of the lodging would come and ask me, “What can we do better to make our rooms more accessible for people in wheelchairs?”

Then I talked to them about the standards that we had for disabled people in America, and the building codes that had been put in place in recent years to make sure that people in wheelchairs and with other disabilities were considered when buildings were built. Even outside the U.S., many of the facilities where I stayed were familiar the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and the building codes that had been changed. Also, they were familiar with the Air Carrier Access Act, which covers the needs of people with disabilities on airplanes.

I was doing quite a bit of informal accessibility audits and giving advice to property owners on how they could make their properties more inclusive for all people with disabilities. Next I started being invited to places to speak on this subject as a visiting journalist. A couple of years ago, I was invited to South Africa by three different provinces to look at their tourism products, before the 2010 World Cup soccer match took place. I was also invited to speak to the United Nations in 2007 at a conference in Asia on tourism and disability. The U.N. in Bangkok hosted the meeting.

During the 10 years I decided not to travel and was furthering my education and working for non-profits, I often talked to my wife about all the places I’d gone and the things I’d seen. She became very interested, and we started saving our money. I also noticed that change was taking place in the United States, and more tourist destinations were becoming conscious of the fact that people with disabilities did travel.

The very first trip that I took was to Brazil after my 10 years of not traveling out of the country. During those 10 years, I had gotten a master’s degree in pastoral studies and a doctorate in applied theology, which is called pastoral ministries today. I more or less functioned as a pastor of a church when I was at Benedictine University.

Scott Rains at Toca Waterfalls on Ilhabela in São Paulo state, Brazil getting help from a native.

My particular focus was on service to the community – specifically the alleviation of poverty. I also found that because I was disabled and in a wheelchair, I’d be asked to speak at retreats and frequently asked to write articles for different publications about my experiences as a person with a disability. I spoke on equality of the disabled, and being non-discriminatory and non-prejudiced toward people with disabilities.

All these different jobs and ministries often were taking place at the same time. I was a linguist and a pastor, who also worked in non-profits and spoke and wrote about travel accessibility. I did travel assessments on a wide variety of venues. The non-profits that I worked for had the same values I did, and the values that I believed in came through a very thorough study of the New Testament Gospels. 

Scott Rains is all about helping other people. He posted this photo showing how special that really is.

One of the first things I did publicly was to make a presentation in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil at the International Conference on Universal Design at a conference titled, “Designing for the Twenty First Century.” I did a pre-conference one day workshop on universal design and tourism that people from all over the world attended. Several other people, who had worked in universal design and had backgrounds in tourism, helped me with this one day seminar.

After that conference, I began my work with companies from other countries and put together a team of people I could call on for specific needs of these companies to make suggestions for designs that would make their facilities more inclusion friendly.

To learn more about Dr. Scott Rains, please visit his blog.

Next: Greater Accessibility Means More Money With Dr. Scott Rains

About the Author: For the last 12 years, John E. Phillips of Vestavia, Alabama, has been a professional blogger for major companies, corporations and tourism associations throughout the nation. During his 24 years as Outdoor Editor for “The Birmingham Post-Herald” newspaper, he published more than 7,000 newspaper columns and sold more than 100,000 of his photos to newspapers, magazines and internet sites. He also hosted a radio show that was syndicated at 27 radio stations; created, wrote and sold a syndicated newspaper column that ran in 38 newspapers for more than a decade; and wrote and sold more than 30 books. Learn more at http://www.nighthawkpublications.com

Scott Rains has always been passionate about travel.

I grew up in Seattle, Washington and spent a lot of time in the mountains hiking, camping and skiing before my injury. When I was 13, I had the opportunity to work at a ranch in Wyoming for two summers, and I enjoyed that a lot. Then my Spanish teacher invited me to join in an exchange student program in Guatemala, because I was doing well in Spanish. I had such a wonderful experience that I went after a scholarship to go to Brazil in 1971, but at the end of that school year, I was paralyzed.

Although I was only 17 when I became paralyzed. I was a teenager who already had traveled a good portion of the world, and then I found myself stuck in a wheelchair. I realized I wouldn’t fulfill my dream of being a ranch hand after I graduated from high school. The Sunday before I went into the hospital for my operation, I was approved as a ski instructor but didn’t learn about that approval until 2 weeks after my operation. I thought then, “Oh, this is great. I can be a ski instructor, but I can’t walk.” When I read the sentence on the letter that said, “By the way, I own a ski school, and I want you to be one of my instructors,” I started laughing hard. I began to think about what I really wanted to do with my life, and what I could do. I had 50% of my body that I couldn’t use, which meant that 50% of the things I wanted to do, I couldn’t do. Next I listed all the things that I could do, and the longer my list got, the more I realized that there were an infinite number of things I could do.

Scott Rains thinks about what he can do, not what he can't do.

I decided, “Ok, even though I’m in a wheelchair, I’m going to live the rest of my life doing the things I can do. Perhaps I‘ll have to do them a little differently, however, I’m not going to worry about the things I can’t do.” I knew I couldn’t be a ski instructor, but I found out I could ride a zipline between one state and another state in Brazil. Since that time, I’ve been on all types of adventures in many other countries and really have enjoyed life.

I decided after my injury that for 10 years I wouldn’t leave this country. I got an undergraduate degree in linguistics. The languages I could speak were Spanish and Portuguese, but I also studied German, Italian and Tamil.

Scott Rains is fluent in several languages. This must make it easy for him to make friends in other countries!

After I got my undergraduate degree, I started a graduate program in linguistics, and I found that there really wasn’t a job that I was likely to get as a linguist. With that much study in language, I could have been a translator for the CIA, but they didn’t have much need for a translator, and traveling for me was difficult. That’s when I decided that I wanted to prove at least to myself that I still could travel. Once I learned there wasn’t a job I wanted to do in linguistics, I decided to stay in this country and work for non-profit organizations. I started my career in New York working for an organization called L’Arche, that helped disabled adults and people with Down Syndrome to live in group homes. I was running a household, cooking, cleaning and helping people get to their jobs. I also did some accounting.

Scott Rains wants an accessible world, where anyone can achieve great things.

I decided to go back to college and went to Santa Clara University for 6 years where I was a campus minister. I was invited to become the director of university ministries at Benedictine University outside of Chicago. Then I worked for a company called SeniorNet that set up free computer centers for senior adults. Most of my work was with technology and working with technology companies. However, while working for all of these different companies, I also started working in the field of travel and instability. Sometimes I’d work full time consulting on this issue, and at other times, I would only work part time. For the last 18 months, I’ve been working for Benetech, a non-profit company that creates accessible books for the people with print disabilities for a project called Bookshare. For the last 10 years, I’ve been working on travel and disability projects.

To learn more about Dr. Scott Rains, visit his blog.

Next: Dr. Scott Rains’ Success In Helping Others  

About the Author: For the last 12 years, John E. Phillips of Vestavia, Alabama, has been a professional blogger for major companies, corporations and tourism associations throughout the nation. During his 24 years as Outdoor Editor for “The Birmingham Post-Herald” newspaper, he published more than 7,000 newspaper columns and sold more than 100,000 of his photos to newspapers, magazines and internet sites. He also hosted a radio show that was syndicated at 27 radio stations; created, wrote and sold a syndicated newspaper column that ran in 38 newspapers for more than a decade; and wrote and sold more than 30 books. Learn more at http://www.nighthawkpublications.com

Scott in South Africa with some new friends.

Editor’s Note: The real key to success is taking your disability and turning it into an advantage- it’s about what you can do, not what you cannot do. In the story of Dr. Scott Rains, a consultant on travel and disability, you’ll see that his wheelchair has become his marketing tool. Dr. Rains, “New Mobility” magazine’s Person of the Year, is known worldwide for opening up many countries, businesses and vacation sites to physically challenged individuals and has enabled these places to become more inclusive. Part 2 of a 5 part series.

According to two studies done in 2005 and 2007 for the Americans with Disabilities Act, first passed by Congress in 1990 and later expanded, Americans with disabilities are spending $13.6 billion a year on travel alone. We all know that America isn’t the only country with disabled people who travel. Canada is the first destination that Americans visit. The Caribbeanis the fifth top destination that disabled Americans visit. As other countries start to realize how much money disabled people are spending on travel, then the next questions are, “How do we get these disabled people to come to our destination?” and, “How can we make our destination more accessible for these people?”

Scott having a blast in Korea.

What I do is explain and teach businesses that if they make their facilities more accessible to more people, then they can make more money. I decided fairly early after my injury that I could live with a spinal cord injury. I discovered that a tremendous amount of work had been done in this country to make more and more facilities and destinations accessible to people with physical challenges. Then I realized that physically challenged or disabled people represented a huge market for tourism and want to live their lives to the fullest.

The studies from 2005 and 2007 indicated that people in wheelchairs and with other disabilities would travel even more (possibly twice as much) if there were more places that they could go to and be comfortable. When you look at the possibility of doubling the amount of money that disabled Americans spend on travel, you’re talking about a market that’s worth $27.2 billion a year.

Therefore, I’m saying, “Mr. Hotel Owner, Mr. Attraction Owner, Mr. Airline President and Commerce Secretary, you can make more money, if you change your facilities to include everybody, and by doing so, you’ll make America stronger and healthier.” When I show up in Italy, Thailandor any other country, these people can see I’m disabled and that if they’ll make their destinations so that I can be comfortable, then more people like me will come and visit.

Scott in Bangkok, Thailand.

 Here’s an example of a tourism company that has gone the extra mile to assist travellers with physical challenges. Waypoint Yacht Charter Services books the wheelchair-adapted wood-hulled yacht the Sea Wolf.  This picture below is from a May 25-30, 2008 tour that Dr. Rains took out of Gustavus, Alaska.

Glacier Bay on Sea Wolf

Small enough to be intimate (six cabins/ three wheelchair usable) and retrofitted with wheelchair lifts to each of the three main decks cruises in Glacier Bay, Alaska on the Sea Wolf include sea kayaking because the owner has installed …a unique lift system. Scott was out of his wheelchair and into his kayak with the splash skirt fitted down in 60 seconds thanks to a skilled and attentive crew.

To take the trip yourself contact:
Sherri Backstrom
Waypoint Yacht Charter Services
contact@waypointcharter.com
www.waypointcharter.com/accessible_travel.htm
t 888-491-2949 or 360-656-5934 

Please visit Dr. Rains’ blog to learn more!

Next: Dr. Scott Rains Realizes He Can Be A Ski Instructor Even Though He Can’t Walk

About the Author: For the last 12 years, John E. Phillips of Vestavia, Alabama, has been a professional blogger for major companies, corporations and tourism associations throughout the nation. During his 24 years as Outdoor Editor for “The Birmingham Post-Herald” newspaper, he published more than 7,000 newspaper columns and sold more than 100,000 of his photos to newspapers, magazines and internet sites. He also hosted a radio show that was syndicated at 27 radio stations; created, wrote and sold a syndicated newspaper column that ran in 38 newspapers for more than a decade; and wrote and sold more than 30 books. Learn more at http://www.nighthawkpublications.com

Scott Rains discovered that he loves to travel, even though he's in a wheelchair.

Editor’s Note: The real key to success is taking your disability and turning it into an advantage- it’s about what you can do, not what you cannot do. In the story of Dr. Scott Rains, a consultant on travel and disability, you’ll see that his wheelchair has become his marketing tool. Dr. Rains, “New Mobility” magazine’s Person of the Year, is known worldwide for opening up many countries, businesses and vacation sites to physically challenged individuals and has enabled these places to become more inclusive. Part 1 of a 5 part series.

Rains: Not all people with physical problems need extra access like ramps and other modifications that we generally think of when we think of accessibility. In 1972, I had cancer in my spine between the third and fourth cervical levels.

Since I had incomplete damage to the spinal cord, I still could use my hands but couldn’t walk. Then in 1975 when I was in Brazil as an exchange student, I discovered that I really liked traveling–even with my wheelchair. 

I noticed Brazil had some places that weren’t accessible to me. I realized we had many advantages in the U.S. that you didn’t find in other countries and that many events, lodgings, facilities and sites weren’t wheelchair accessible.

I knew that accessibility in other countries wasn’t going to improve, unless changes were made. That’s when I decided I needed to become an influence for change.

Scott Rains in Brazil at Iguacu Falls.

I knew that I would continue to travel to other countries, and that somebody had to explain to these people in other countries how to make their destinations more accessible and inclusive for people with any type of physical challenge. I came up with a term I called inclusive tourism. For instance, a facility that included the broadest range of people would include not only people with disabilities but also children and the elderly, so everyone could participate. Older people and children may not be as strong as middle aged adults.

Scott has seen and shot pictures of the seven wonders of the world.

I used my disability to explain that you could get a marginal increase in the amount of business that came to a facility, if you could modify it to include different types of people. The world isn’t just made up of only healthy 30 to 50 year old adults.

I began to inform people about making a facility or a product more accessible to people with disabilities. Doing this will increase the facility’s or product’s profit, because you’re drawing from a bigger consumer base. Another advantage that I explain to companies and capitalize on is that most people with physical challenges travel with someone else other than family, which increases the number of people who will come to a specific destination, fly on certain airplanes, eat at particular restaurants and stay in certain hotels that have made modifications to include the disabled, children and the elderly.

Scott says that inclusive tourism will increase profit of travel destinations greatly!

Please visit Dr. Rains’ blog to learn more!

Next: The Benefits Of Travel Destinations Becoming More Accessible With Dr. Scott Rains

About the Author: For the last 12 years, John E. Phillips of Vestavia, Alabama, has been a professional blogger for major companies, corporations and tourism associations throughout the nation. During his 24 years as Outdoor Editor for “The Birmingham Post-Herald” newspaper, he published more than 7,000 newspaper columns and sold more than 100,000 of his photos to newspapers, magazines and internet sites. He also hosted a radio show that was syndicated at 27 radio stations; created, wrote and sold a syndicated newspaper column that ran in 38 newspapers for more than a decade; and wrote and sold more than 30 books. Learn more at http://www.nighthawkpublications.com

Clinicians who want to learn more or participate in the program should visit: http://www.uromed.com

Millions of Americans suffer from urology health-related issues every year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, incontinence alone affects up to 25 million Americans, including 11 percent of those aged 65-74 and 16 percent of those over 75. Such prevalence makes urology health concerns a common part of coordinated treatment plans across a wide range of healthcare professionals.

Today, UroMed in partnership with Dorland Health [one of the nation’s leading providers of clinician CEU programs] has launched one of the largest CEU programs on Urologic Health available to medical professionals. Hollister Incorporated has also provided an educational grant to Dorland Health to assist in funding this series.

With this launch, you’ll see a few changes to our website on the home page, clinician education page and our blog. We’ve added links to help clinicians access the program with one click!  See the Clinician Continuing Education RSS feed to the right side of this post for details.

The Urology Health series offers 12 continuing education articles written by clinical experts from a wide range of health care organizations, including Kernan Rehabilitation Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Atlanta, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Texas Children’s Hospital, Rainbow Babies Hospital, Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital, MUSC Pediatric Oncology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Metropolitan Urology and Penn State Hershey Rehabilitation Hospital.  

Each article is worth up to two hours of continuing education credits. The content, related to urology health, includes topics on:

• Neurogenic Bladder
• Spina Bifida
• Spinal Cord Injury
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Caregiving Issues

The Dorland Health continuing education series on urology health is applicable to the following types of healthcare professionals:

• Case Managers
• Clinical Nurses
• Disability Management Specialists
• Life Care Planners
• Nurse Practitioners
• Urology Nurses
• Rehabilitation Nurses
• Social Workers
• Wound Care Nurses

See the press release here: http://www.uromed.com/News/

Clinicians who want to learn more or participate in the program should visit: http://www.uromed.com/Clinicians/ContinuingEducation

Ashleigh provided information referrals at ASCIA.

The main reason I stopped playing wheelchair rugby was because I was really getting involved with my school.  I was attending a community college and got my associate degree in physiology. I continued on to receive my bachelor’s degree and had a minor in organizational studies.

During that time, I was offered a job by the Arizona Spinal Cord Injury Association, doing information referral. I had already done some volunteer work with them and had been mentored there. So, I accepted the position, thinking I could go to school full time and work for the association full time. But, I was so disorganized at that time that I couldn’t keep up with both responsibilities, so I dropped out of school and continued to work with the Spinal Cord Injury Association.

The day I met my husband, Joel, I was shopping for bedroom furniture. He worked at this furniture store and we talked for 4 hours.  Joel was one of the easiest people to talk to. Over the next couple of weeks, we both found excuses to call each other. We’ve been together ever since.

Joel was really fascinated that I was in a wheelchair. Typically, people want to know about my injury, but they’re not sure how to ask questions about it because they don’t want to pry. But Joel just asked in a mater of fact way, “So, what happened to you? Why are you in a chair?” After I explained my injury to him, I learned later that he went home and learned all he could about spinal cord injuries.  Joel was really interested in how my injury affected me and my body, and the amazing thing was he wasn’t intimidated or turned off by my problems. He’s one of those rare people who believe life is what it is, and you just accept it and move on from there. Joel always tells me that tomorrow’s coming, and we’ll get through today.

Ashleigh and her supportive husband, Joel.

Today, Joel and I have been married 2 years, and I had our son last year in February. Fortunately, I had a very easy pregnancy. The only problem I had was that I had low blood pressure. When I told my doctor I wanted to have a baby, she said, “Go for it. Don’t let anything hold you back.”  I was a high risk pregnancy and had placenta previa. Because I was high risk, my obstetrician decided that the best thing was for me to have a Cesarean section. I had to stay in the hospital a month before the delivery to be monitored every hour before I went into labor. I had to be delivered quickly. When I first saw my little guy, I realized that having him was one of the most beautiful experiences ever. The feelings I had when I first held my Evan were beyond description – what a wonderful moment.

Ashleigh treasures the first moments with her son, Evan.

Evan is doing great now. Joel is the manager for the furniture store, and I work for AdvisaCare as the media manager. I handle their Facebook and Twitter posts, newsletters and website program. I also write their blogs. This company has opened several doors for me.

When I worked at the Arizona Spinal Cord Injury Association in the peer mentoring program, I’d meet with people with spinal cord injuries and help them see what life could be like outside of the hospital. I showed them how I drove my car, and how I could get around and go almost anywhere I wanted to go. I was a paid part time employee.

Ashleigh participated in peer mentor programs to show others with spinal cord injuries how she lived her day to day life.

With the information referral service, I’d find information about programs, assistance and advice that people with spinal cord injuries needed to know. I’d get them information on how to find a van with hand controlsand doctors who worked with spinal cord injury patients. I’d also show them the programs available for them, as well as other resources that could help their families. I worked at this job about 3 years.

When the CEO of AdvisaCare learned about what all I’d done at my former job, he asked me to start writing blogs for them and provide the information I’d learned. The good news was that I could do it all from home.  I basically taught myself how to build a webpage and how to move items around. I’m sort of feeling my way through social media. After building the blog and beginning to write it, I’ve continued to learn.

In the future, we may have another child. I’d really love to have a little girl. Don’t get me wrong. I love my little boy. In the future, I want to be healthier and participate in endurance races.

I’m the vice president of my local chapter of  myTeam Triumph, an organization that puts able bodied runners with disabled runners. We often have people with severe cerebral palsy and other major medical problems who run road races teamed with an able bodied athlete. They cross the finish line together.

I coordinate these events, and I hope soon to be participating in 5K races, either with a hand cycleor just hand pushing my wheelchair.

Ashleigh has a bright future for herself and others with spinal cord injuries.

I’ve learned that the living of life isn’t about surviving a spinal cord injury; it’s about how you live with it. I want to try and show people all the things they can do. In the future, I hope to create a more useful and popular blog to help others. I want the blog to be fun, and I want to give the readers of the blog reasons to come back every day. In so doing, I’ll have an identity.

About the Author: For the last 12 years, John E. Phillips of Vestavia, Alabama, has been a professional blogger for major companies, corporations and tourism associations throughout the nation. During his 24 years as Outdoor Editor for “The Birmingham Post-Herald” newspaper, he published more than 7,000 newspaper columns and sold more than 100,000 of his photos to newspapers, magazines and internet sites. He also hosted a radio show that was syndicated at 27 radio stations; created, wrote and sold a syndicated newspaper column that ran in 38 newspapers for more than a decade; and wrote and sold more than 30 books. Learn more at http://www.nighthawkpublications.com

The first 2 weeks of rehab I couldn’t do anything for myself. I was still moving very slowly, because of my brain injury. I was in a mental fog and had a very difficult time thinking. I also had a broken collar bone and shoulder blade  I couldn’t do anything on my left side. However, when that part of my body began to heal, I started learning how to do transfers. I never will forget what a big accomplishment being able to make that first transfer from my wheelchair was. Being able to transfer myself was my first real triumph since the accident. My next triumph was when I was able to write my own name, since I had limited mobility in my hands. Next, being able to lean over in my wheelchair and being able to pick something up off the floor was my next big accomplishment. When I could pick up my hairbrush, I felt like I was really getting better. When you lose all your physical abilities, including your bowel functions, and life breaks you down that much, then when you start to have little successes, they become major triumphs. You appreciate the little triumphs too and start to love them. I developed a love for everything I could do. I feel like even now that I’m always recovering. But, my initial recovery took about 3 years. That’s when I began to accept who I was and started participating in wheelchair sports.

Ashleigh Justice wasn't able to do many day to day things in rehab, but she pulled herself out of that hole and made many accomplishments.

One of the major benefits I got from wheelchair sports was that I didn’t feel guilty or self conscious for being in a wheelchair and having to rely on others to help me. Wheelchair sports allowed me to express myself and to regain the personality I’d had before my injury.  I finally loved who I was. My favorite sport was wheelchair rugby, which was one of the few sports that a quadriplegic could do. I had some mentors from the hospital who played wheelchair rugby, and they encouraged me to try the sport. I went to a rugby clinic and fell in love with it. I was able to learn so much from my rugby teammates. Nationally only about six or seven girls played wheelchair rugby, and I was the only girl on my team. Rugby was challenging enough to allow me to feel like I was really accomplishing my goal of getting better.

Rugby made Ashleigh Justice feel great!

The competition was level enough that I didn’t feel like I was being overshadowed by the boys. I was a player – I wasn’t just a girl or just a quadriplegic. To be honest, I really enjoyed knocking the boys down. When I could knock a guy out of his chair, I really felt awesome. But, most of the time, they knocked themselves over trying to get to me. My being able to snatch the ball away from a guy or passing the ball over his head really made the guys angry, and then they’d come after me. They didn’t back off just because I was a girl. The day before I met my husband was the last rugby tournament I ever played.  

About Ashleigh Justice
As a 10-year veteran of SCI and TBI,  Ashleigh has lived with her injuries (the result of a rollover car accident) since she was 15 and has overcome many challenges, including most recently, becoming a parent. She has spent many years mentoring other people with SCI and has discovered that with the right attitude and the right amount of knowledge, nothing is impossible. Today, Ashleigh writes a blog for brain and spinal cord injured individuals (quadriplegia mainly) called The QuadFiles, sponsored by AdvisaCare.  It’s a compilation of resources, stories and motivations – see www.theQuadfiles.com for details. 

Next: Life After Wheelchair Rugby With Quadriplegic Ashleigh Justice

About the Author: For the last 12 years, John E. Phillips of Vestavia, Alabama, has been a professional blogger for major companies, corporations and tourism associations throughout the nation. During his 24 years as Outdoor Editor for “The Birmingham Post-Herald” newspaper, he published more than 7,000 newspaper columns and sold more than 100,000 of his photos to newspapers, magazines and internet sites. He also hosted a radio show that was syndicated at 27 radio stations; created, wrote and sold a syndicated newspaper column that ran in 38 newspapers for more than a decade; and wrote and sold more than 30 books. Learn more at http://www.nighthawkpublications.com

Ashleigh Justice eventually went back to high school and wanted to be a normal teenager again.

Immediately after I left  the hospital and rehab, I went back to high school. I just wanted to be normal again. I knew I had my spinal cord injury and would be in a wheelchair, but I didn’t want to be held back in school due to my brain injury.

 

Although my teachers were really great, I had a hard time learning and I was always exhausted. During those first 2 years back at school, I’d have to wake up at 4:00 every morning so my mom could help me get dressed. This chore usually required about 2 hours. Next, I’d have a 2 hour bus ride to school, return home about 5:00 in the afternoon and then do homework before I could sleep. I was physically exhausted by the end of the day. I went from being an A/B student to being a C, D and F student.

 

I thought to myself, “Ok, I can’t be a normal teenager because of my spinal cord injury, and now I can’t even make good grades like I once made.” These problems only added insult to my injury.

To make things even worse, my room was on the second story of my house, so I lost it. Everything that was personal to me as a teenager, I lost. My aunt and her three children had been evicted from their apartment after a divorce, so they came to live with us. My cousin took over my room and started playing with my stereo, slept in my bed and took all my posters off my walls. Then he started reading my journals. Everything that I felt was a part of my identity was trashed.

About the same time, my grandmother became really sick, so my mom, my sister and I moved in with her. I became a caregiver for my grandmother. My parents had been going through a rough time, and they had separated right before the accident occurred.

I was not only physically disabled, but the rest of my life was a big mess. The situation was so bad that my sister went to live with a friend. I lived in the living room for about 1 1/2 months, before my dad made the old house where we once lived accessible for me and my wheelchair.

My uncle and the men he worked with volunteered the time and the materials needed to remake the house, so that I could get around in it. They took out walls, built a new shower and completely overhauled it. It was nice to be able to get around.

About Ashleigh Justice
As a 10-year veteran of SCI and TBI,  Ashleigh has lived with her injuries (the result of a rollover car accident) since she was 15 and has overcome many challenges, including most recently, becoming a parent. She has spent many years mentoring other people with SCI and has discovered that with the right attitude and the right amount of knowledge, nothing is impossible. Today, Ashleigh writes a blog for brain and spinal cord injured individuals (quadriplegia mainly) called The QuadFiles, sponsored by AdvisaCare.  It’s a compilation of resources, stories and motivations – see www.theQuadfiles.com for details. 

Next: Quadriplegic Ashleigh Justice’s Adventures In Rehab And Rugby

About the Author: For the last 12 years, John E. Phillips of Vestavia, Alabama, has been a professional blogger for major companies, corporations and tourism associations throughout the nation. During his 24 years as Outdoor Editor for “The Birmingham Post-Herald” newspaper, he published more than 7,000 newspaper columns and sold more than 100,000 of his photos to newspapers, magazines and internet sites. He also hosted a radio show that was syndicated at 27 radio stations; created, wrote and sold a syndicated newspaper column that ran in 38 newspapers for more than a decade; and wrote and sold more than 30 books. Learn more at http://www.nighthawkpublications.com

Ashleigh Justice had a hard time accepting what her injury did to her body. She didn't give up, and her short term memory and personality eventually returned.

The 10 days I spent in intensive care after my accident were the worst 10 days of my life. I felt like I was in a nightmare that I couldn’t wake up from. The doctors had put me in an induced coma for 3 days to reduce the brain swelling. I remember the day the surgeons brought me out of the coma. I had to track my surgeon’s finger with my eyes as the surgeon moved it. The surgeons also asked me questions, and I was to blink once for no and twice for yes. I had doctors and students all around me, as I began to come out of my coma, who were all looking at me. I remember feeling as though I only existed and had no thoughts and no memory. While I was in the coma, the doctors did a spinal fusion on my neck, took a piece of bone from my hip and used it to replace a shattered vertebra and put titanium rods and plates in my back.

When I woke up, I remember being really dizzy and very sick. If my mother and my sister tried to take me around the hospital in a reclining wheelchair, I became very nauseated. The doctors diagnosed me with axonal shear injury. During the accident, my brain hit my skull, creating problems with my short term memory and affecting my ability to talk. Sometimes I knew the words I wanted to say, but I couldn’t say them. Not being able to say the words I wanted to caused me to be very frustrated, so I just quit talking.  However, I gradually felt more like myself.  A year passed before my short term memory returned.

About Ashleigh Justice
As a 10-year veteran of SCI and TBI,  Ashleigh has lived with her injuries (the result of a rollover car accident) since she was 15 and has overcome many challenges, including most recently, becoming a parent. She has spent many years mentoring other people with SCI and has discovered that with the right attitude and the right amount of knowledge, nothing is impossible. Today, Ashleigh writes a blog for brain and spinal cord injured individuals (quadriplegia mainly) called The QuadFiles, sponsored by AdvisaCare.  It’s a compilation of resources, stories and motivations – see www.theQuadfiles.com for details. 

Next: Quadriplegic Ashleigh Justice Wants To Be Normal Again

About the Author: For the last 12 years, John E. Phillips of Vestavia, Alabama, has been a professional blogger for major companies, corporations and tourism associations throughout the nation. During his 24 years as Outdoor Editor for “The Birmingham Post-Herald” newspaper, he published more than 7,000 newspaper columns and sold more than 100,000 of his photos to newspapers, magazines and internet sites. He also hosted a radio show that was syndicated at 27 radio stations; created, wrote and sold a syndicated newspaper column that ran in 38 newspapers for more than a decade; and wrote and sold more than 30 books. Learn more at http://www.nighthawkpublications.com