CEDHARS
Mental health awareness month is opportunity for disability community
Dr. Robin Lanzi, professor in the School of Public Health Department of Health Behavior and Psychology, is the CEDHARS core director for Community Engagement and NCHPAD national director for community engagement and translational sciences. She founded the UAB Mental Health Ambassadors Program as her Honors College Faculty Fellows initiative.
Read moreClina lands prestigious University of Kansas postdoc
A series of “happy accidents” has set soon-to-be Dr. Julianne Clina on the exact path she was supposed to be on all along.
Read moreAmerican Spinal Injury Association features UAB, CEDHARS members
The 50th annual American Spinal Injury Association had a strong UAB flavor, prominently featuring multiple CEDHARS members at the gathering held from April 17-19 in Atlanta.
Read moreColumn: We need public transportation access for all
April 10, 2013, is a day I’ll never forget. It was opening day for the Barons at the new Regions Field in downtown Birmingham. It was a day my friend and avid baseball fan, Butch, had been looking forward to.
Read moreCEDHARS co-director receives Margaret Nosek Award
The recognitions are pouring in for CEDHARS Co-Director and Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Director of Research Dr. Yu-Ying Chen.
Read moreExperts give thoughts on National Developmental Disabilities Month
In 1987, President Ronald Reagan dedicated March as National Developmental Disabilities Month to increase awareness for Americans with developmental disabilities and to provide “both encouragement and the opportunities they need to lead productive lives and achieve their full potential.” This designation was part of a small but important shift in public perception and sparked grass-roots movements, which eventually led to landmark legislation, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and later the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Read moreMENTOR program enrolling for current waves
The popular Mindfulness, Exercise and Nutrition to Optimize Resilience (MENTOR) is recruiting for its current waves of participants who learn the skills and gain the confidence to thrive as a person with disability living a wholistic life.
Read morePhoto exhibit marks historic day at UAB, CEDHARS for disability representation
An amazing event happened the week before last in UAB’s Wellness, Health and Research Facility, WHARF. A young lady by the name of Harper Nichols, a recent graduate of UAB, transformed the building into a living, breathing culture of disability art.
Read moreCEDHARS affiliate members using constraint-induced therapy for Long COVID
Dr. Gitendra Uswatte is collaborating with his long-time colleagues Dr. Edward Taub and Dr. Karlene Ball, university professors, on treating the cognitive effects of long-haul COVID with a revolutionary intervention.
Read moreM2M participant discusses benefits of study, why others should participate
Movement to Music (M2M) is a rhythmic based exercise program delivered through Zoom in which participants can actively engage with instructors and other participants in the convenience of their own home.
Read moreCEDHARS affiliate improving study design with award-winning research
Dr. Yumi Kim was on track to go into the real world with a business degree in hand, but a fall from the eighth floor of an apartment building set her on a path of recovery and a new career.
Read moreCEDHARS scientist collaborating with UAB researchers to provide NeuroCOVID intervention
Dr. Keith McGregor, CEDHARS scientist and director of research in the School of Health Professions, had a “record scratch” moment when talking with other UAB researchers about interventions, or lack thereof, for neuroCOVID. So, they decided to act.
Read moreCEDHARS affiliate awarded prestigious NIDILRR Switzer Fellowship
Personal life events have set a CEDHARS associate scientist down a path of fulfilling research, and now the Ph.D. student will continue her work with the aid of a prestigious fellowship at the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research.
Read moreDisability discrimination abounds in medical practice, public transportation
In an editorial that appeared in The New York Times last week, Dr. Lisa Iezzoni, a researcher and physician from Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, conducted a set of focus groups among her peer physicians to examine their attitudes toward treating people with disabilities. Disappointingly, she concluded that the medical profession continues to be largely discriminatory in providing healthcare for people with disabilities. While I have been an active reader of Dr. Iezzoni’s research for the last two decades and have heard many times before that physicians aren’t treating patients with disabilities in the same way as patients without disabilities, the findings from this new study were even more dramatic and shocking than her previous reports. Here is a quote that summarizes the study findings:
Read moreDirector of NIDILRR visits UAB, speaks on disability identity
Dr. Anjali Forber-Pratt, director of the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research had a successful visit to UAB’s campus last week, meeting with various NIDILRR grantee stakeholders as well as giving a seminar on disability identity.
Read moreWall Street Journal gets into the science of disability inclusion
Each morning after doing a few chores, I open two newspapers on my computer – the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The Times recognized the importance of covering stories on people with disabilities several years ago and runs a regular column on disability that appears every few weeks. The series led to the book About Us, which is a terrific collection of personal stories written by people with disabilities.
Read moreCEDHARS faculty collaborating with Arts in Medicine on healing festival
The area of research in garnering the power of arts in health is growing, and a CEDHARS faculty member is bringing his expertise in occupational therapy to the field.
Read moreICYMI: Developing anti-ableist practices in health care
When we conflate disability and health status, our efforts to promote a healthy life for all are undermined.
Read moreCommentary: Academia needs to reckon with ableism
As reported in a new systematic review by Sally Lindsay and Kristina Fuentes at the University of Toronto, ableist attitudes and resistance are stigmatizing disabilities, stifling faculty and staff with a disability from advocating for themselves, and preventing critical accommodations and policies for faculty and staff with a disability from being created and widely implemented.
Read morePilot grant hopes to optimize most effective treatment for Parkinson’s Disease
Although dopaminergic therapy, particularly the medication levodopa, can be quite effective for treating Parkinson’s Disease, the efficacy can widely vary from person to person. But a NORC grant awarded to a fellow in The UAB/Lakeshore Research Collaborative is looking to shrink that gap.
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