“Primary care teams often do not learn about a patient’s accommodation needs until the person arrives for an appointment, making physical accessibility, including accessible clinic spaces and adaptive medical equipment, essential for care. Beyond these basic accessibility features, reliable transfer assistance can significantly improve independence, autonomy, and confidence in care for people with spinal cord injury, allowing them to attend visits without a caregiver and receive more thorough examinations. It requires not only appropriate equipment but also staff trained in safe transfer techniques and proper positioning for SCI, helping patients maintain function, prevent pressure injuries, and preserve their independence.”

— Carol H.
Northwestern University

“Healthcare providers and staff share a common belief with people with SCI that asking about disability is important and can benefit everyone involved in care. However, healthcare providers sometimes lack confidence to ask about disability – especially when the disability is not visible. Additionally, there can be disagreement about who has the “right” knowledge to determine what accommodations are necessary for a clinical visit. People with SCI have expertise in their bodies and functions, while clinicians have expertise in what specific visits or procedures may involve.”

— Carol H.
Northwestern University

“Affordable, locally-sourced Personal Care Assistance (PCA) remains a major barrier for artists traveling to us from other parts of the country. Non-medical support is relatively easy to identify, but more invasive daily living tasks, including catheter use and bowel programs, typically require hiring a nurse directly, at a significantly higher cost than standard PCA rates. It also requires our organization, which doesn’t specialize in medical care, to obtain liability insurance that is both expensive and difficult to secure. This is an area where partnerships with organizations that do specialize in medical/home care, or have existing insurance infrastructure, could make a real difference for arts organizations trying to host artists who need this kind of support.”

— Toccarra T.
Santa Fe Art Institute

“Trellis Horticultural Therapy Alliance constructed a bigger and better therapeutic teaching garden that is wheelchair accessible, known as the Ability Garden at Legacy Park in Decatur, GA.  The Ability Garden provides a connection to gardening and nature for overall wellness through purposeful engagement, life-long learning, and critical social connection to combat isolation. Through renovation of our indoor program space, we now have a fully wheelchair-accessible kitchen and are now embarking on healthy cooking initiative centered on fresh garden-grown food. Trellis believes equal access to nature and the outdoors is essential to health and wellness for everyone.”

— Rachel C.
Trellis Horticultural Therapy Alliance

“Because the story we tell about access to nature in those early days is hugely important.

Rehabilitation can be a time of uncertainty, grief, and reimagining what life looks like. Too often, theoutdoors is unintentionally framed as something that may no longer be possible. When we bring outdoor programming into that space, we are offering a different narrative – one that says you still belong here and there are ways forward, even if they look different than before.

Introducing birding and time outside during rehabilitation helps create a bridge to rebuilding a relationship with the natural world that has many different ways to practice. It also provides tools, confidence, and a sense of possibility that can carry into life beyond rehab. And perhaps most importantly, it offers moments of connection, joy, and curiosity during a time when those things can feel far away.”

— Cat F.
Birdability

“Many of our program participants are reconfiguring their entire lives. We invited a trained chef and mixologist, Brendan Town, who has a SCI, to be a guest leader for one of our Gather & Grow sessions of adults with SCI.  Brendon demonstrated creating a hearty vegetable soup and sharing many adaptive tips and tricks. Brendan asked the group how many people cook regularly for themselves.  Only 2 out of 8 people raised their hands. Trellis wants to empower this community by showing them the never-ending learning experiences centered around gardening and fresh food.  To quote one of our participants ‘after my injury, I thought my life was over. Trellis has shown me a new community where people understand my everyday challenges, keep me motivated to leave the house and where I can learn something new about the natural world every time I show up!'”

— Rachel C.
Trellis Horticultural Therapy Alliance

“We created an SCI-specific monthly email newsletter to help people find what’s most relevant to them. When participants sign up for our programs, they can opt in to receive clear information about support groups, guest speakers, and upcoming activities. This targeted communication helps reduce information overload. Participants no longer have to sort through multiple calendars or announcements, and we’ve seen increased participation and retention as a result.”

— Emily S.
BORP Adaptive Sports and Recreation

“We switched most of our internal team correspondence from email to text messages. Some of our team members with SCI have a hard time navigating email and Google calendar, so it’s easier and saves time for us to text messages and Zoom links, and to have phone calls and meet in person. We do still use email, especially when in talks with community partners and anyone from outside of our immediate team.”

— Alex E.
Open Doors NYC

“We approach our work from a very human, individual perspective, knowing that what works for one person may not work for another. We support people with a wide range of SCI experiences and try to consider physical, emotional, and social needs together. Being honest about challenges and limitations builds trust and helps people decide what will work for them. We also refer or partner with other organizations when it’s a better fit, because supporting one another strengthens the SCI community.”

— Jennifer W.
Adventures Without Limits

“One of the most important ways BORP builds trust is by supporting community-led programming. Many of our staff, coaches, and instructors are people with disabilities themselves. This close connection to the community we serve allows us to identify and address gaps in access to recreation and sports, and our shared lived experience creates credibility and mutual trust.

We foster trust by creating a welcoming environment not only for participants, but also for their families, friends, and support networks. Disabled people do not often have opportunities to engage in recreational activities alongside their non-disabled loved ones, and we know that participation increases when people can join with someone they trust and care about. For example, our cycling center welcomes peers, support people, and family members to ride alongside BORP participants, and our youth wheelchair basketball program invites siblings to participate as well.”

— Emily S.
BORP Adaptive Sports and Recreation