United Spinal Association

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United Spinal Association United Spinal supports and empowers wheelchair users.

10/20/2026

‪Election day is on November 3rd and many states are starting early voting. One in five Americans have a disability so it is important to elect representatives that will protect our community’s rights and freedoms. All polling places are required by law to be accessible, so make your voting plan today. ‬

‪Check out vote.org for more info and join our Grassroots Advocacy Network to continue creating change — ‬unitedspinal.org/grassroots-advocacy-network

10/15/2026

Rachel Miller, the founder of our new California chapter, is currently studying stem cell biology and regenerative medicine at the University of Southern California. She talks about why it is important for people with disabilities to be represented in healthcare.

“When I’m working in the emergency department, half the time doctors will see me wheeling around going to patient rooms and they’ll think that I’m a patient and will tell me ‘hey you can’t be back here’. So it really clicked in my mind that there’s so much that people don’t understand about people with disabilities and that inspired me to show them I can do whatever I put my mind to.”

Email [email protected] to get involved! Or find another chapter near you: unitedspinal.org/support/chapter-network

‪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/

Address

102 Duane Road
New York, NY
11359

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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+17188033782

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