For Students
Strategies for Students
Utilize your resources!
At UNC-CH, the Disability Services Website explains the nature of a disability, saying "All disabilities are medical conditions, but not all medical conditions are disabilities."
Am I eligible for these services?
Yes, as long as you can do these steps! If you are a high school student, begin the process of accessing your IEPs and 504 plans and discussing them with teachers.
1). Provide documentation with a substantial amount of information about how your orthopedic impairment has limited one or many of your major life activities, including classroom work and extracurricular lifestyles.
2). While some disabilities appear permanent, providing IEP's and 504 plans from High School will ensure that you receive a more accurate up-to-date report of how life has been affected by this impairment.
3). Students will be asked to write a "current impact statement," in which you will be asked to discuss these issues in a short personal essay.
4). Figured it out yet? Please wait! Each of these cases is decided on a one-by-one basis, so be sure to contact the professionals before you count your chickens!
College is an opportunity to take advantage of your resources and academically excel in a manner which most students are not able to in a traditional high school setting. By utilizing the resources which have been made for individuals such as yourself, you will be presented a more fair and equal learning opportunity which is equitable to that of your peers!
Source: UNC-CH Disability Website
Take Time To Unwind!
Balance School, Extracurricular, Personal, and Family time!
As of 2010, developers for Wii games have began to adapt their educational tools to be more accessible for all! " It involves three people so to release 3 para-pros to work with one student is a luxury many teachers don't have. Because of this it is harder to get class time at school when it can be done as a daily therapy tool. We have also set the cardboard and pad on a laptray on a wheelchair and supported the student to use arms and hands to press the arrows down while arms rest on the tray.The Outdoor Challenge game has a pipe slider activity that allows the player to sit on a sled and slide down a large tube."
Source: No Limits to Learning
Am I eligible for these services?
Yes, as long as you can do these steps! If you are a high school student, begin the process of accessing your IEPs and 504 plans and discussing them with teachers.
1). Provide documentation with a substantial amount of information about how your orthopedic impairment has limited one or many of your major life activities, including classroom work and extracurricular lifestyles.
2). While some disabilities appear permanent, providing IEP's and 504 plans from High School will ensure that you receive a more accurate up-to-date report of how life has been affected by this impairment.
3). Students will be asked to write a "current impact statement," in which you will be asked to discuss these issues in a short personal essay.
4). Figured it out yet? Please wait! Each of these cases is decided on a one-by-one basis, so be sure to contact the professionals before you count your chickens!
College is an opportunity to take advantage of your resources and academically excel in a manner which most students are not able to in a traditional high school setting. By utilizing the resources which have been made for individuals such as yourself, you will be presented a more fair and equal learning opportunity which is equitable to that of your peers!
Source: UNC-CH Disability Website
Take Time To Unwind!
Balance School, Extracurricular, Personal, and Family time!
As of 2010, developers for Wii games have began to adapt their educational tools to be more accessible for all! " It involves three people so to release 3 para-pros to work with one student is a luxury many teachers don't have. Because of this it is harder to get class time at school when it can be done as a daily therapy tool. We have also set the cardboard and pad on a laptray on a wheelchair and supported the student to use arms and hands to press the arrows down while arms rest on the tray.The Outdoor Challenge game has a pipe slider activity that allows the player to sit on a sled and slide down a large tube."
Source: No Limits to Learning
Famous People with Orthopedic Impairments
Abbey Nicole Curran - (born 1987) - Abbey Curran represented Iowa at the Miss USA 2008 pageant in Las Vegas, held on April 11, 2008. Curran was born with Cerebral Palsy. She and has made an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, CBS The Early Show, Inside Edition, Access Hollywood, Extra, and CNN Headline News. Curran is the current chairman of her own non-profit pageant "The Miss You Can Do It Pageant" for young girls and women with special needs and challenges. Diagnosed at age 2, Abbey Curran wants other girls like her to know they can compete like anyone else.
Bonner Paddock - Born with Cerebral Palsy, Bonner Paddock lived his early years playing sports as if he didn't have a disability at all. He was not accurately diagnosed until the age of 11, and even received news he not might make to his 20th birthday. As an adult with cerebral palsy, he became the first person with Cerebral Palsy to reach the summit of the tallest freestanding mountain in the world, Mt. Kilimanjaro, unassisted, to demonstrate that life without limits is possible. This achievement was documented in the film Beyond Limits, narrated by Michael Clarke Duncan in 2009. Bonner tackled the climb with the determination and vigor that has defined his life. OM Foundation (OMF) is the progression of Bonner Paddock's overall mission, which had little to do with individual success and everything to do with aiding others in constructing the first learning center to serve children with and without disabilities in Orange County and across the globe - http://1man1mission.org
Geri Jewell - (born September 13, 1956) - Comedian and Actress. Appeared on The Facts of Life television show. Geri Jewell is an actor and comedian born with cerebral palsy. She is most famous for her roles on the television program The Facts of Life. and on HBO's Deadwood. Geri brings to her presentations personal experience of having her behavior and actions misunderstood because of her cerebral palsy. Geri Jewell is said to be a pioneer for comedians with disabilities.
Josh Blue - (born November 27, 1978) is an American comedian who was voted the Last Comic Standing on NBC's reality show Last Comic Standing during its fourth season, which aired May-August, 2006. Josh Blue has cerebral palsy and many of his jokes center on living with his disability, how he deals with it and how other people view him. He coined the term "palsy punch" during his final set of the final round of the show, when he said that the palsy punch is effective in a fight because "first of all, they don't know where the punch is coming from, and second of all, neither do I." Blue also joked that signing an autograph takes 45 minutes, and that to write down his phone number he has to find a "big ole' stack of paper." More information on Josh Blue - The Comedian with Cerebral Palsy. You can also view several video clips of Josh Blue.
RJ Mitte - Roy Frank "RJ" Mitte III - (born August 21, 1992) - An American actor. He is best known for his role as Walter White Jr. on the AMC television series, Breaking Bad. In 2006 RJ Mitte moved to Hollywood and began training with personal talent manager Addison Witt. RJ has mild cerebral palsy. Addison states that it was RJ's diligence and attitude that has helped him overcome challenges in all areas of his life.
Stephen Hopkins - (March 7, 1707 - July 13, 1785) - Stephen Hopkins was born in Scituate (then a part of Providence), Rhode Island. He attended the first Continental Congress in 1774, and was a party to the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He recorded his name with a trembling right hand, which he had to guide with his left. Hopkins had cerebral palsy, and was noted to have said, as he signed the Declaration, "My hand trembles, my heart does not."
John Cougar Mellencamp - John Mellencamp, also known as John Cougar and John Cougar Mellencamp, (born October 7, 1951) is best known for being an American rock singer-songwriter. As a child in Seymour, IN, Mellencamp had suffered a number of setbacks, including being born with a neural tube defect called spina bifida that necessitated a lengthy hospitalization as a baby. As a teenager, he was rebellious, often getting in trouble with the law. He formed his first band at the age of 14, and continued to play throughout his teens.
Rene Kirby - Rene Kirby (born February 27, 1955) is an American film and television actor. Kirby used spina bifida to his advantage when he played his role in shallow Hal, he was also in "Stuck on you" with Matt Damon. He is the living proof that you can lead a productive life even with disabilities.
Frida Kahlo - (July 6, 1907 - July 13, 1954) was a Mexican painter, who has achieved great international popularity. She painted using vibrant colors in a style that was influenced by indigenous cultures of Mexico as well as European influences that include Realism, Symbolism, and Surrealism. Kahlo contracted polio at age six, which left her right leg looking thinner sometimes than the other (a deformity Kahlo hid by wearing long skirts). It has also been conjectured that she also had spina bifida that would have affected both spinal and leg development.
Judy Woodruff - Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Woodruff served as the chief White House correspondent for NBC from 1977 to 1982, and covered Washington for The Today Show from 1982 - 83. She is the parent of three children including a son born with severe spina bifida. Her husband is Al Hunt, formerly of CNN and The Wall Street Journal, now Executive Editor of the Bloomberg News Washington, D.C, bureau.
Damon Wayans - Damon Kyle Wayans (born September 4, 1960) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, and actor who began his career as a stand-up comic in 1982. He is one of the Wayans brothers. He has four sisters, Vonnie, Nadia, Kim, Deidre, and four brothers, actors Marlon Wayans, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Shawn Wayans, and Dwayne Wayans. He had a clubbed foot as a child. This attribute would also be given to his character in My Wife & Kids and his character on the cartoon series Waynehead a cartoon for the WB, loosely based on his own childhood growing up in a large family, starring a poor boy with a club foot.
Charles Woodson - (born on October 7, 1976 in Fremont, Ohio) is an American football cornerback for the Green Bay Packers. He played college football at the University of Michigan for the Michigan Wolverines. In 1997, Woodson led the Wolverines to a share of the national championship. He is the only primarily defensive player to have won the Heisman Trophy. Chuck was born with a club foot and had to wear braces until he was 4 years old to fix the problem. On April 26, 2006, Woodson and the Green Bay Packers reached a 7-year contract agreement that could be worth as much as $52.7 million with bonuses and incentives.
Lawrence Sherry - (July 25, 1935 - December 17, 2006) was an American right-handed relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who spent most of his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Detroit Tigers. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1959 World Series as the Dodgers won their first championship since relocating from Brooklyn just two years earlier. Sherry was born with clubfeet for which he needed surgery as an infant and wore special shoes.
Mia Hamm - (born Mariel Margaret Hamm on March 17, 1972 in Selma, Alabama) is a former American soccer player. Playing for many years as a forward for the United States women's national soccer team, she scored more international goals in her career than any other player, male or female, in the history of the sport . She was a member of the women soccer team, who won the Olympics in 1996 Hamm was among those eager to develop their sports ability, but first she had to overcome the birth defect of a partial clubfoot. "Casts were placed on her feet to try and correct that irregularity," said Hamm's sister Caroline Cruickshank. "As soon as those things were taken off her feet, you could not stop her."
Kristi Yamaguchi - Kristine Tsuya "Kristi" Yamaguchi (Kristi Hedican) (born July 12, 1971) is an American figure skater and the 1992 Olympic Champion in women's singles. Yamaguchi also won two World Figure Skating Championships in 1991 and 1992 and a U.S. Figure Skating Championships in 1992. She won two national titles in 1989 and 1990 and one junior world title in 1988 as a pairs skater with Rudy Galindo. In December 2005, she was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. Yamaguchi began skating as a child, as physical therapy for her club feet.
Troy Aikman - Troy Kenneth Aikman (born November 21, 1966 in West Covina, California) is a former American football quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League, and currently a television sportscaster for the Fox network. He is also a joint owner of the NASCAR Nextel Cup racing team, Hall of Fame Racing, along with fellow former Cowboys quarterback, Roger Staubach. Troy Aikman's was born with what doctors call "Third Club Foot", Troy was in plaster till he was 8 months old, then he wore special shoes till he was 3 years old, since then he has not suffered from any form of Club Foot.
Source: Disabled World - Disability News for all the Family: http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/spina-bifida-famous.shtml#ixzz2CHfxWYT6
Bonner Paddock - Born with Cerebral Palsy, Bonner Paddock lived his early years playing sports as if he didn't have a disability at all. He was not accurately diagnosed until the age of 11, and even received news he not might make to his 20th birthday. As an adult with cerebral palsy, he became the first person with Cerebral Palsy to reach the summit of the tallest freestanding mountain in the world, Mt. Kilimanjaro, unassisted, to demonstrate that life without limits is possible. This achievement was documented in the film Beyond Limits, narrated by Michael Clarke Duncan in 2009. Bonner tackled the climb with the determination and vigor that has defined his life. OM Foundation (OMF) is the progression of Bonner Paddock's overall mission, which had little to do with individual success and everything to do with aiding others in constructing the first learning center to serve children with and without disabilities in Orange County and across the globe - http://1man1mission.org
Geri Jewell - (born September 13, 1956) - Comedian and Actress. Appeared on The Facts of Life television show. Geri Jewell is an actor and comedian born with cerebral palsy. She is most famous for her roles on the television program The Facts of Life. and on HBO's Deadwood. Geri brings to her presentations personal experience of having her behavior and actions misunderstood because of her cerebral palsy. Geri Jewell is said to be a pioneer for comedians with disabilities.
Josh Blue - (born November 27, 1978) is an American comedian who was voted the Last Comic Standing on NBC's reality show Last Comic Standing during its fourth season, which aired May-August, 2006. Josh Blue has cerebral palsy and many of his jokes center on living with his disability, how he deals with it and how other people view him. He coined the term "palsy punch" during his final set of the final round of the show, when he said that the palsy punch is effective in a fight because "first of all, they don't know where the punch is coming from, and second of all, neither do I." Blue also joked that signing an autograph takes 45 minutes, and that to write down his phone number he has to find a "big ole' stack of paper." More information on Josh Blue - The Comedian with Cerebral Palsy. You can also view several video clips of Josh Blue.
RJ Mitte - Roy Frank "RJ" Mitte III - (born August 21, 1992) - An American actor. He is best known for his role as Walter White Jr. on the AMC television series, Breaking Bad. In 2006 RJ Mitte moved to Hollywood and began training with personal talent manager Addison Witt. RJ has mild cerebral palsy. Addison states that it was RJ's diligence and attitude that has helped him overcome challenges in all areas of his life.
Stephen Hopkins - (March 7, 1707 - July 13, 1785) - Stephen Hopkins was born in Scituate (then a part of Providence), Rhode Island. He attended the first Continental Congress in 1774, and was a party to the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He recorded his name with a trembling right hand, which he had to guide with his left. Hopkins had cerebral palsy, and was noted to have said, as he signed the Declaration, "My hand trembles, my heart does not."
John Cougar Mellencamp - John Mellencamp, also known as John Cougar and John Cougar Mellencamp, (born October 7, 1951) is best known for being an American rock singer-songwriter. As a child in Seymour, IN, Mellencamp had suffered a number of setbacks, including being born with a neural tube defect called spina bifida that necessitated a lengthy hospitalization as a baby. As a teenager, he was rebellious, often getting in trouble with the law. He formed his first band at the age of 14, and continued to play throughout his teens.
Rene Kirby - Rene Kirby (born February 27, 1955) is an American film and television actor. Kirby used spina bifida to his advantage when he played his role in shallow Hal, he was also in "Stuck on you" with Matt Damon. He is the living proof that you can lead a productive life even with disabilities.
Frida Kahlo - (July 6, 1907 - July 13, 1954) was a Mexican painter, who has achieved great international popularity. She painted using vibrant colors in a style that was influenced by indigenous cultures of Mexico as well as European influences that include Realism, Symbolism, and Surrealism. Kahlo contracted polio at age six, which left her right leg looking thinner sometimes than the other (a deformity Kahlo hid by wearing long skirts). It has also been conjectured that she also had spina bifida that would have affected both spinal and leg development.
Judy Woodruff - Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Woodruff served as the chief White House correspondent for NBC from 1977 to 1982, and covered Washington for The Today Show from 1982 - 83. She is the parent of three children including a son born with severe spina bifida. Her husband is Al Hunt, formerly of CNN and The Wall Street Journal, now Executive Editor of the Bloomberg News Washington, D.C, bureau.
Damon Wayans - Damon Kyle Wayans (born September 4, 1960) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, and actor who began his career as a stand-up comic in 1982. He is one of the Wayans brothers. He has four sisters, Vonnie, Nadia, Kim, Deidre, and four brothers, actors Marlon Wayans, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Shawn Wayans, and Dwayne Wayans. He had a clubbed foot as a child. This attribute would also be given to his character in My Wife & Kids and his character on the cartoon series Waynehead a cartoon for the WB, loosely based on his own childhood growing up in a large family, starring a poor boy with a club foot.
Charles Woodson - (born on October 7, 1976 in Fremont, Ohio) is an American football cornerback for the Green Bay Packers. He played college football at the University of Michigan for the Michigan Wolverines. In 1997, Woodson led the Wolverines to a share of the national championship. He is the only primarily defensive player to have won the Heisman Trophy. Chuck was born with a club foot and had to wear braces until he was 4 years old to fix the problem. On April 26, 2006, Woodson and the Green Bay Packers reached a 7-year contract agreement that could be worth as much as $52.7 million with bonuses and incentives.
Lawrence Sherry - (July 25, 1935 - December 17, 2006) was an American right-handed relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who spent most of his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Detroit Tigers. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1959 World Series as the Dodgers won their first championship since relocating from Brooklyn just two years earlier. Sherry was born with clubfeet for which he needed surgery as an infant and wore special shoes.
Mia Hamm - (born Mariel Margaret Hamm on March 17, 1972 in Selma, Alabama) is a former American soccer player. Playing for many years as a forward for the United States women's national soccer team, she scored more international goals in her career than any other player, male or female, in the history of the sport . She was a member of the women soccer team, who won the Olympics in 1996 Hamm was among those eager to develop their sports ability, but first she had to overcome the birth defect of a partial clubfoot. "Casts were placed on her feet to try and correct that irregularity," said Hamm's sister Caroline Cruickshank. "As soon as those things were taken off her feet, you could not stop her."
Kristi Yamaguchi - Kristine Tsuya "Kristi" Yamaguchi (Kristi Hedican) (born July 12, 1971) is an American figure skater and the 1992 Olympic Champion in women's singles. Yamaguchi also won two World Figure Skating Championships in 1991 and 1992 and a U.S. Figure Skating Championships in 1992. She won two national titles in 1989 and 1990 and one junior world title in 1988 as a pairs skater with Rudy Galindo. In December 2005, she was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. Yamaguchi began skating as a child, as physical therapy for her club feet.
Troy Aikman - Troy Kenneth Aikman (born November 21, 1966 in West Covina, California) is a former American football quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League, and currently a television sportscaster for the Fox network. He is also a joint owner of the NASCAR Nextel Cup racing team, Hall of Fame Racing, along with fellow former Cowboys quarterback, Roger Staubach. Troy Aikman's was born with what doctors call "Third Club Foot", Troy was in plaster till he was 8 months old, then he wore special shoes till he was 3 years old, since then he has not suffered from any form of Club Foot.
Source: Disabled World - Disability News for all the Family: http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/spina-bifida-famous.shtml#ixzz2CHfxWYT6
Resources for Students
http://www.spinabifidaassociation.org
This is a great website for people with Spina Bifida. This website contains useful information, support networks, and advocacy opportunities
http://discovertechnology.com/GameP/gamep.html
This website has games designed for people with limited abilities. These games are great for children with cerebral palsy.
http://www.bestonlinekidsgames.com/
This is a free website with many games designed for kids. Many doctors hypothesize that video games are very beneficial for children with cerebral palsy.
http://www.mdff.org
The Muscular Dystrophy Famly Fund exists to provide resources, services, and adaptive equipment to enable persons with neuromuscular diseases and theri family members to live independent lives.
http://www.spinalcord.org/resources-for-people-living-with-spasticity/
This website provides a variety of excellent informational resources for people living with spasticity.
This is a great website for people with Spina Bifida. This website contains useful information, support networks, and advocacy opportunities
http://discovertechnology.com/GameP/gamep.html
This website has games designed for people with limited abilities. These games are great for children with cerebral palsy.
http://www.bestonlinekidsgames.com/
This is a free website with many games designed for kids. Many doctors hypothesize that video games are very beneficial for children with cerebral palsy.
http://www.mdff.org
The Muscular Dystrophy Famly Fund exists to provide resources, services, and adaptive equipment to enable persons with neuromuscular diseases and theri family members to live independent lives.
http://www.spinalcord.org/resources-for-people-living-with-spasticity/
This website provides a variety of excellent informational resources for people living with spasticity.