This website was developed for 3 reasons:
1) Most importantly, this blog is designed to help anyone newly paralyzed and permanently confined to a manual wheelchair. The idea for an informative blog originally stems from frustration. Throughout the years I’ve seen paraplegics in wheelchairs that have never learned what I consider to be simple functional living skills. Some didn’t learn because resources were scarce at the time of their injury. Others because they chose not to learn, further disabling themselves in the long run. I was paralyzed in 1999, but have been fortunate enough to live a relatively normal active life. Hopefully this website can serve as means to the same for someone green (new) to paraplegia.
2) It was time for me to “join the real world” after 30 days of in-patient physical rehabilitation at one of the most recognized spinal cord injury hospitals in the country, and I was genuinely terrified.Maybe this website can help someone in a similar situation alleviate some of the same fears.
3) At least from my experience, most physical therapists are textbook teachers when it comes to paralysis. This is a result of textbook learning. Ideally, the best way to teach someone green to paralysis is by active teaching. Hopefully, this website can be informative for green paraplegics as well as physical therapists. Through active learning, possibly they will become active teachers.
