United Spinal Association

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United Spinal Association United Spinal supports and empowers wheelchair users.

‪Nancy Berg, a wheelchair user, and Diane Ulmer, an occupational therapist, saw the need for connection and support for ...
10/07/2026

‪Nancy Berg, a wheelchair user, and Diane Ulmer, an occupational therapist, saw the need for connection and support for wheelchair users in Nebraska. So they teamed up.‬

‪“I had tried to start the chapter a couple of times and I was like, ‘oh, this is too much to do alone.’ Nancy was already trying to network people and collectively it felt like, ‘oh wow, this is bigger than me now. We both have the same vision, let’s do it. Let’s jump in,” says Ulmer, vice president of United Spinal Association of Nebraska.

‪The chapter has over 150 members and counting. They recently secured a non-profit membership to the Kiewit Luminarium, an interactive arts and science museum in Omaha, which allows their members to visit for free in 2026.‬

‪Ulmer and Berg recognize how far the chapter has come and are excited to keep growing it. “We have been busy,” says Ulmer. “I’m proud of us. We do a lot.”‬

‪Hear more of their story: https://unitedspinal.org/stronger-together-in-nebraska/

10/02/2026

“I became a paraplegic 40 years ago and I was out on an island, an information island, a civil rights island, I knew nothing. I needed an organization like United Spinal to help me make my quality of life better,” says Carmen Jones, United Spinal board member, after attending the Chapter Leadership Meeting. 

“I’m invigorated by the work of the chapters. The board of directors is committed to supporting the chapters at a national level so they can reach and serve more people.”

Get involved with a chapter near you: https://unitedspinal.org/support/chapter-network/

For a decade, wheelchair users on Medicare who wanted a titanium or carbon fiber frame have had to cover the entire cost...
10/01/2026

For a decade, wheelchair users on Medicare who wanted a titanium or carbon fiber frame have had to cover the entire cost themselves.

That's changing. On Sept. 30, the Senate passed the Choices for Increased Mobility Act (H.R. 1703). It cleared the House in July, and now it heads to the president's desk.

Once it becomes law, Medicare must create separate billing codes for carbon fiber and titanium frames by Jan. 1, 2028, so you pay only the difference for an ultralight frame. It costs taxpayers nothing.

This happened because of you. Advocates carried this bill into congressional offices at Roll on Capitol Hill, then kept the pressure on with messages to their senators.

Thank you to Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Rep. John Joyce, R-Pa., for leading the way.

We'll keep you posted as the bill is signed and as Medicare builds the new codes. Follow along for updates. And in the meantime, join our Grassroots Advocacy Network to continue the momentum: https://unitedspinal.org/grassroots-advocacy-network/

09/30/2026

� MEET AN ADVOCATE — LIVE THIS WEDNESDAY!

What does it mean to make sure people with disabilities have a real voice, and real power in shaping the systems that impact our lives?

Join us Wednesday, September 30 at 12:00 PM ET for our next United Spinal Association Advocacy Network Meet an Advocate Live Stream, featuring Marcus Johnson, disability justice activist, policy strategist, educator, and systems-change leader.

For more than two decades, Marcus has worked at the intersection of disability advocacy, rehabilitation, mental health, healthcare equity, and community organizing. His advocacy centers on independent living, community-based supports, civil rights, and ensuring that lived experience is recognized as expertise.

During our conversation, we’ll explore disability justice, race and disability, healthcare equity, leadership, advocacy, and the importance of having people with disabilities at the table when decisions are being made about our lives.

Marcus’s advocacy is grounded in a powerful message:

� “Limiting choices limits existence.”

� Wednesday, September 30
� 12:00 PM ET

Tune in LIVE on the United Spinal Association Advocacy Network page, United Spinal Association page, or the United Spinal Association LinkedIn page and join us for a conversation about advocacy, lived experience, and creating meaningful change.

� Come meet the advocate behind the advocacy!

� New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! �

09/29/2026

Disabled people's right to live in our own homes and communities hasn't changed. This week, a bipartisan group in the House put that on the record.

Ask your representative to cosponsor H.Res. 1586: https://www.votervoice.net/mobile/UnitedSpinal/campaigns/139985/respond

Steve Lieberman, our senior director of advocacy and policy, and Jessica Podesva of the National Council on Independent Living spent days on Capitol Hill urging congressional offices to defend community integration.

Bipartisan Disability Caucus co-chairs Reps. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., introduced the resolution. It affirms that the Supreme Court's 1999 Olmstead decision reflects what Congress intended: People with disabilities have the right to live and receive services in their communities instead of institutions.

Five more members have already signed on, three Republicans and two Democrats. It needs more.

Our chapter leaders from near and far got together this weekend to create connections, explore new ideas & learn from on...
09/28/2026

Our chapter leaders from near and far got together this weekend to create connections, explore new ideas & learn from one another. Thank you to Lakeshore Foundation for hosting and for the generous support of our sponsors!

09/26/2026

That’s a wrap on our 2026 Chapter Leadership Meeting! For the first time in a while, United Spinal chapter leaders from across the country were together in one room, and we plan to keep doing it.

Over two days, leaders swapped ideas and resources, worked on how the national organization and our chapters can support each other, and learned about adaptive fitness and recreation at Lakeshore Foundation’s world-class facility.

Thank you to Lakeshore Foundation for hosting us and partnering with us to bring more resources and programming to our chapters. Thank you to the United Spinal staff and our sponsors who made the meeting happen. And thank you to our chapter leaders who traveled across the country to join us and for their endless commitment to wheelchair users in their communities.

Yesterday, a federal judge in Texas v. Kennedy threw out the community integration provisions of the 2024 Section 504 ru...
09/24/2026

Yesterday, a federal judge in Texas v. Kennedy threw out the community integration provisions of the 2024 Section 504 rule from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The order applies nationwide.

Here's what that means for wheelchair users and people with disabilities: Your right to live in your own home and community still stands. Section 504, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Supreme Court's Olmstead decision are still the law. What's gone is the federal government's clear direction to states that services should support people in community settings whenever appropriate.

That puts the pressure on governors, attorneys general and state legislatures. United Spinal Association and the rest of the Defend Community Integration Coalition are calling on governors, attorneys general and state legislatures to recognize that this order runs against decades of established law, and on legislatures to write the right to live in the community into state law.

We will not go back.

Full statement at: https://unitedspinal.org/texas-kennedy-statement/

One of the most-asked questions in the spinal cord injury community is “What’s the best advice you wish someone had give...
09/22/2026

One of the most-asked questions in the spinal cord injury community is “What’s the best advice you wish someone had given you when you were injured?” New Mobility writers have been answering this question since the magazine’s founding in 1989. As we celebrate SCI Awareness Month, we thought it would be fun to dig through the archive and highlight some of the most memorable answers and advice shared in our stories.

“Hang out with people who push you past your limits. A neighbor of mine was a seasoned para and would not let me just sit on my laurels, like how I couldn’t get into his truck. He would gently taunt me: ‘Oh the poor little quad,’ ‘I can’t do this.’ We figured it out together, eventually using a pillow on the ledge of his truck so I could transfer from my chair to the ledge, then up to the seat. He and I took long road trips together, and it was a blast,” says Topher Downham, C6-7, 30 years post-injury, pictured here.

For more advice from Topher and other top answers, read here: https://unitedspinal.org/newly-injured-start-here/

"United Spinal continues to drive the vision and mission set forth by four veterans 80 years ago. We want to make sure t...
09/18/2026

"United Spinal continues to drive the vision and mission set forth by four veterans 80 years ago. We want to make sure that all community members have the opportunity and support to define their own lives no matter what challenges they face," says Matt Castelluccio, CEO of United Spinal Association, in recognition of the organization's 80th anniversary.

We went back to our roots in New York City on Thursday and celebrated the legacy of United Spinal alongside staff, members and supporters. Wandercraft also showed a glimpse into the future and unveiled their new exoskeleton, Eve.

Please help us to continue to our mission for the years to come: https://unitedspinal.org/support-our-mission/

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