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RESNA (Rehab Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America)
RESNA (Rehab Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America) is a great place to find highly qualified rehab and assistive technology professionals in your area. They also have provided their research to help providers and the families they serve make decisions about powered mobility for young children.
Logo for RESNA with a red flag and black lettering that says Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology Professional Society of North America
Episode 5: Cerebral Palsy Health. Wendy Pierce, MD: What Does a Physiatrist Do Anyway?
On this episode, I have the honor of talking with Wendy Pierce, MD, a pediatric physiatrist at Colorado Children's Hospital about physiatry, also known as Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. This fantastic field of medicine can be helpful for individuals with cerebral palsy across with lifespan, but it has a confusing name and sometimes a confusing job description. So we set out to help listeners better understand what a physiatrist does.
Photo of Wendy Pierce wearing a dark tan sweater on a light tan background
How to Get Quality Sleep with CP and/or Chronic Pain
I suppose there has to be one silver lining that comes out of being sheltered in place for months on end (due to Covid-19): I’ve finally been catching up on sleep. The recommended nightly hours of sleep is between 7 and 9 hours . For me, getting a good night’s sleep has been the best way to regain a sense of control and ease during such unnerving times. Not only does sleep improve mood and
Text: How to Get Quality Sleep with CP and/or Chronic Pain, black and white photo of a woman in a wheelchair looking out a window.
People with Disabilities Also Have Diverse Sexualities and Gender Identities
A year ago, I wrote in my Forbes column about the decades-long pattern of Pride Month celebrations excluding people with disabilities. The underlying reason why Pride events were (and still are) mostly inaccessible for people with disabilities, both in terms of physical spaces and social acceptance, is that mainstream media and public don’t see them having identities outside of their disabilities.
"People with Disabilities Also Have Diverse Sexualities and Gender Identities" is written in text above a representation of different people, some using wheelchairs, some using crutches, some standing without assistance. The representations of people are all in different colors reminiscent of the pride flag
How I’ve Learned to Celebrate My Late Birth Mother
Saturdays were special as a kid growing up in Port Washington, New York. Saturdays meant Burger King outings with my grandparents, a great big slice of trade-marked Hershey’s chocolate pie for me and piping hot oatmeal for them. And we can’t forget about the Kids Meal toys. But on this particular Saturday, everything was different - at the tender age of five, I started to notice that certain aspects of my life were just off.
"How I’ve Learned to Celebrate My Late Birth Mother" written in text to the right of an image or writer, Sarah Kim, as a child
Friendships in the Time of COVID-19
I don’t know if this is just me, but my time in quarantine has made me have weird flashbacks to my childhood. As a kid growing up with CP, especially with a speech impediment and mobility limitations, my lifeline to making and keeping friends was through AIM (AOL Instant Messenger, for those of you who are too young to remember) and one of the first video chatting platforms, ooVoo. Fast forward 15 years, many of us are in a similar situation. To slow the spread of COVID-19, most of life has moved online, including friendships.
"Friendships in the Time of COVID-19" written in text below an image of writer Sarah Kim
Navigating CP and Depression at the Same Time
There is insufficient research on adults living with cerebral palsy, (as referenced in my previous blog post on cerebral palsy and adulthood). Although there is a paucity of studies examining mental health in this population, medical researchers have speculated that the rate of depression is three to four times higher in people with disabilities such as CP than it is in the general population.
"Navigating CP and Depression at the Same Time" is shown in text above an illustration of a person in a wheelchair colored in blue
7 Tips Daily Mindfulness
As a physician and researcher, I skeptically looked forward to learning more about mindfulness practice, because there is evidence it helps with stress management, self-regulation, focus, productivity and happiness. As a mom, I felt that weird mix of guilt that I was going to focus on “not-my-children” for a whole day, excited anticipation and anxiety that maybe I would be a complete failure at this. It turns out all the mental baggage I took into the workshop was the exact opposite of what mindfulness tries to achieve. The daily practice has since changed my life.
Drawing of a person meditating with doodles of suns and happy faces against a green background
Top 5 Reasons Not To Hate The NICU
PTSD can be common in parents after a child with Cerebral Palsy has left the NICU. One of the hardest days of my life as a NICU parent was not what I would have expected it to be. It was the day I went home without my baby, after spending every waking moment since my emergency C-section by his incubator. I never knew I had a dream about what it would be like to have a baby until that dream was taken away.
Baby in an incubator in the NICU touching parent's hand