United Spinal Association Advocacy Network

08/27/2026

Finding the line between friendship and professional caregiving isn’t always simple, especially when your caregiver is in your home and part of your daily routine.

Genuine connection and mutual trust make caregiving meaningful, but solid boundaries are what keep you in control of your own life, routines, and healthcare choices. Respect goes both ways: clients deserve autonomy and quality care, while caregivers deserve clear expectations and respect for their time.

This new resource from the United Spinal Association Advocacy Network Care Support Working Group shares the lived experiences of people with disabilities and caregivers on navigating power dynamics, setting healthy limits, and keeping self-advocacy at the heart of your care support. 🧡

Learn how caregivers and clients can build meaningful relationships while maintaining healthy boundaries, choice, and professionalism.

08/26/2026

What can a children’s book teach us about disability, inclusion, and the abilities within us all? Join us LIVE to find out!

On Wednesday, August 26 at 12:00 PM ET, The United Spinal Association Meet an Advocate Live Stream welcomes longtime writer and children’s book author Marie Kriedman.

Marie will introduce her newest book, Abilities Beyond My Disability: The ABCs of What I Wish You Knew About Me. Through thoughtful storytelling and artwork by artists with disabilities, the book encourages young readers to celebrate individuality, recognize each person’s talents, and discover how much we all share.

We’ll talk with Marie about using stories to challenge assumptions, inspire curiosity, and help children see disability and inclusion from a new perspective.

Marie is also donating 10% of book sales to Inspiration Studios, an organization that supports people with developmental and intellectual disabilities through art, wellness, life skills, transportation, and inclusive community programs.

� Wednesday, August 26
� 12:00 PM ET
� LIVE on the United Spinal Association Advocacy Network page
� Learn more about Marie and her books: www.booksbymarie.com

Mark your calendar and join us for a conversation about advocacy, creativity, and the power of a good story to change the way we see disability. ��

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

08/24/2026

🚗♿ Access starts before you enter the building.

Join the United States Access Board on Thursday, September 3, from 2:30–4:00 p.m. ET for “Accessible Parking: Pushing Beyond Minimum Requirements to Meet Today’s Demand.”

📅 September 3, 2026
🕒 2:30–4:00 p.m. ET
🔗 Learn more and register: https://www.accessibilityonline.org/ao/session/?id=111229

United Spinal Association's Senior Director of Advocacy & Policy, Steve Lieberman, and Josh Schorr of the U.S. Access Board will discuss the nationwide shortage of accessible parking and explore ways communities can increase accessible spaces, strengthen enforcement, and improve public awareness.

The Great Lakes ADA Center offers this session as a self-paced webinars.This session has been approved for 1.5 contact hours for AIA HSW and Great Lakes ADA Center’s Certificate of Attendance. Due to the verification process, the criteria to earn Continuing Education credit requires that you view ...

08/21/2026

📚 What can a children’s book teach us about disability, empathy, and inclusion? A lot.

Join us LIVE Wednesday, August 26 at 12:00 PM ET for the next Meet an Advocate Live Stream featuring longtime writer and children’s book author Marie Kriedman!

Marie’s newest book, Abilities Beyond My Disability: The ABCs of What I Wish You Knew About Me, celebrates the talents, individuality, and experiences of people with disabilities while helping young readers recognize just how much we all have in common. The book also features artwork created by several artists with disabilities, bringing lived experience directly to its pages.

Marie is giving back, too, donating 10% of book sales to Inspiration Studios, which creates opportunities for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities through art, wellness, life skills, transportation, and inclusive community programs.

💬 Tune in right here at the United Spinal Association Advocacy Network page as we talk with Marie about using storytelling to challenge perceptions of disability, spark curiosity, start meaningful conversations, and help the next generation see inclusion a little differently.

📅 Wednesday, August 26
⏰ 12:00 PM ET
🔴 LIVE — Meet an Advocate

📖 Learn more about Marie and her books: https://www.booksbymarie.com/

Sometimes changing the way we think about disability can start with something as simple and powerful as a good story. ♿📚

08/20/2026

🚨 Registration is NOW OPEN for the Spinal Cord Injury Patient-Focused Drug Development Meeting!

📅 Official SCI PFDD Virtual Meeting: September 29, 2026
⏰ 10 AM – 3 PM ET / 7 AM – 12 PM PT
➡️ Register: scipfdd.org/register

The SCI PFDD Meeting is an opportunity to put the priorities and unmet needs of people living with SCI at the center of treatment development and evaluation. You don’t have to be an expert or polished public speaker to participate. Individuals with SCI and care partners can listen, respond to live polls, and share comments throughout the meeting.

Every perspective helps the FDA and treatment developers better understand daily life with SCI, experiences with current treatments, and what the community needs from future research.

08/18/2026

♿ Accessible healthcare is not a luxury. It is a right.

New federal accessibility requirements for healthcare providers receiving federal funding are in effect, including requirements aimed at increasing access to medical diagnostic equipment such as accessible exam tables and wheelchair-accessible weight scales.

For people with disabilities, these aren’t minor conveniences. Being able to get on an exam table, be accurately weighed, or receive the same basic screenings as everyone else can directly impact the quality of our healthcare.

These new requirements are an important step forward, but a regulation is only as meaningful as its implementation. That’s why disability advocacy and lived experience must continue to be part of the conversation.

Want to help? Join United Spinal Association Advocacy Network Health Access Working Group to collaborate with advocates across the country, share experiences, identify barriers to healthcare, and help push for meaningful change at: https://unitedspinal.org/working-groups/

https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2026/08/17/healthcare-providers-hit-with-new-accessibility-requirements/32128/

A pair of federal rules are imposing first-ever requirements designed to ensure that people with disabilities are better served when they visit the doctor.

08/14/2026

🎉 Advocacy works, and this is what progress looks like!

For 10 years, Medicare rules have forced wheelchair users who need carbon fiber or titanium frames to pay the full cost out of pocket. On July 20, the U.S. House of Representatives took an important step toward changing that by passing the Choices for Increased Mobility Act (H.R. 1703/S. 247)!

This bill would require Medicare to create billing codes so wheelchair users pay only the difference for an ultralight frame, and it comes at no additional cost to taxpayers.

🧡 A huge THANK YOU to advocates across the country who helped make this possible! Your emails, calls, stories, and meetings with lawmakers, including your advocacy during this year’s United Spinal Association Roll on Capitol Hill, helped move this legislation forward. This victory belongs to you.

But we’re only halfway there. Now it’s the Senate’s turn. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R) and Senator Tammy Duckworth (D) are already leading the way as sponsors. Let’s keep the momentum going and get this across the finish line!

📣 Tell your Senators to support the Choices for Increased Mobility Act today:
https://unitedspinal.org/advocacy-action/?vvsrc=%2fCampaigns%2f137726%2fRespond

Your voice got us this far. Let’s finish the job. ♿💪

08/13/2026

Kelly Brush Foundation Adaptive Rec Talks
Adaptive Rec Talks: Fishing
Tuesday, August 18th, 5:30 - 6:30 PM EST
More Info: https://adaptiverechub.org/adaptive-rec-talks/

Adaptive fishing offers time outdoors, a chance to build new skills, and plenty of opportunities to enjoy the water at your own pace.

Join on August 18th at 5:30 PM ET for an Adaptive Rec Talk as we hear from people with experience in adaptive fishing and programs about how to get started, adaptive equipment, and what makes fishing such a fun and accessible activity.

Whether you're just getting started or an experienced fisherman, our crew welcomes you to join us! This conversation will help you discover what's possible on the water. 🎣

08/11/2026

🏁 READY TO ROLL 26.2 MILES FOR A CAUSE? ♿💨

Unite 2 Fight Paralysis (U2FP) is recruiting wheelchair users to join Team U2FP for the 2026 Twin Cities Marathon on Sunday, October 4!

Whether you hand cycle, push a racing chair, use power assist, or roll in your everyday chair there’s a place for you at the starting line. Battery-powered mobility devices are welcome, too!

And this is about more than race day. Come for a full weekend of community, connection, SCI advocacy, education, and research, and leave knowing that every mile you rolled helped move the fight for functional recovery forward.

💪 26.2 miles. One powerful community. A whole lot of wheels.

Every Team U2FP participant raises funds to support legislative advocacy and research focused on what matters in everyday life with SCI, including bladder and hand function, pain management, autonomic health, and more.

📅 Sunday, October 4, 2026
📍 Twin Cities Marathon — Minneapolis & Saint Paul
♿ All wheelchair users welcome
💰 Fundraising minimum: $2,000

New faces aren’t just welcome... They are encouraged!

Ready to roll with Team U2FP? Email [email protected] to get signed up.

08/10/2026

🏥 Healthcare should be accessible, equitable, and respectful for everyone.

United Spinal Association’s Understanding and Combating Medical Ableism resource was created from the lived experiences and insights shared by members of the Health Access Working Group... people with disabilities who understand firsthand the barriers that can exist within our healthcare system.

From inaccessible medical equipment and facilities to harmful assumptions, communication barriers, and unequal treatment, medical ableism can have a very real impact on a person’s ability to access quality care.

By sharing their experiences, our working group members helped turn individual challenges into a resource that can educate, empower, and advocate for change.

Disability advocacy starts with listening to lived experience. When we speak up about the barriers we face, we can help healthcare professionals, policymakers, and others better understand what needs to change.

Everyone deserves healthcare that is accessible, equitable, respectful, and inclusive.

📖 Read Understanding and Combating Medical Ableism and learn how we can work together to create a more accessible healthcare system for the disability community.

When Healthcare Doesn't Feel Like Healthcare