Finding accessible housing or making your current home more accessible can be difficult, and navigating the process of getting permits and renovating to improve accessibility can be complicated and expensive. Sudden needs for accessible housing are a particular problem for many people with spinal cord injury, progressive diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS), or other conditions that impact mobility. In this episode, you’ll hear from Julie Lineberger, Co-Founder of WheelPad L3C, one of the startup companies in Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation’s 2024 Remarkable US Accelerator Program. WheelPad works with customers to provide modular, accessible housing solutions for short-term or long-term use. 

Julie shares why they started the company, describes their current SuitePAD and upcoming products, and gives examples of how their products are helping people with disabilities stay at home with their families in their communities. Our second guest, Nora McCabe, talks about her experiences using a SuitePAD that her parents attached to their home after her spinal cord injury, and she explains how this accessible bedroom and bathroom addition has made a huge difference for their family.

Living an active lifestyle has wide-ranging benefits, including better mental and physical health. However, people with physical disabilities experience unique obstacles, and it can be difficult to decide which adaptive activities are right for you. The Kelly Brush Foundation is dedicated to inspiring and empowering people with spinal cord injuries to lead active and engaged lives. Through the Active Project, they provide relevant resources for people with many different disabilities, not just spinal cord injuries.

Edie Perkins, Executive Director of the Kelly Brush Foundation, joined host Molly Lazarus in this episode to talk more about how the Active Project is helping people with disabilities learn more about adaptive sports, discover local sport organizations and events, and connect with other disability community members who are interested in becoming more active or who already consider themselves active.

If you feel daunted by your never-ending task lists and have struggled trying to use a range of different solutions at work — from notebooks and spreadsheets to sophisticated project management tools — you’re not alone. Most work environments and project management tools aren’t designed to meet the needs of people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, autism, and other conditions. The founders of Leantime — one of the startup companies in Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation’s  2024 Remarkable US Accelerator Program — want to change that. In this episode, Leantime CEO and Co-Founder Gloria Folaron, shares how their people-first project management software uses goals to drive motivation and help neurodivergent people succeed at work. In the second half of the episode, you’ll hear from Jonathan Stephens, an independent director of product design and development who has been helping with design and strategy for Leantime’s software.

Telehealth and virtual reality (VR) approaches have the potential to transform healthcare for people with disabilities who often face barriers in receiving the care they need. In our latest Research Roundup episode, we highlight three recent papers that examine these two approaches. One study focused on the development and evaluation of a new exercise program for children with cerebral palsy (CP) that was delivered remotely via telehealth. We also discussed two review articles that summarize what we’ve learned from the research studies done to date on how VR therapies affect balance and movement in children with CP. 

Host Dr. Marie McNeely briefly describes each of these papers, and CPARF’s Vice President of Education, Jocelyn Cohen, sheds light on why these studies matter for people with CP. The papers discussed in this episode weren’t funded by CPARF, but they represent other interesting, innovative work being done in the CP research space. 

Links to the abstracts of the studies featured in this episode:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38441939/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38375076/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38350039/

Martyn Sibley is on a mission to create a more inclusive world, and his work as an entrepreneur has involved building communities, making it easier to find accessible accommodations, curating and sharing relevant disability-related information and stories, and increasing disabled representation in the content and media we see every day. With co-founder Srin Madipalli, Martyn launched a disability magazine called Disability Horizons, an online disability lifestyle publication that gave disabled people a voice and a platform for 12 years. He and Srin also created and grew the startup Accommable, which was later acquired by Airbnb in 2017. 

Currently, Martyn is CEO and Founder of Purple Goat Agency, an inclusive international marketing agency. In this episode, Martyn shares stories from his entrepreneurial journey, insights into how he and his teams have built successful companies, and advice for fellow founders. He also introduces some of his latest efforts in advocacy and entrepreneurship, including the newly created Purple Collective and work with The Lilac Review, which aims to address inequalities faced by disabled business owners and bolster entrepreneurship in the UK.

Getting dressed is an everyday task that many people with disabilities dread because finding clothes and shoes that look good and meet your needs can be a major challenge. No one should have to sacrifice independence, comfort, or style to find fashion that works for you. This episode features three startup companies that are making waves to make apparel more fun and functional to meet the needs of people with a range of mobility limitations, pain conditions, and other disabilities. 

Johannes Sauer, CEO of Cadense Shoes, discusses their adaptive shoes designed with advanced slide technology to help people with walking difficulties. Springrose CEO and Founder Nicole Cuervo shares how their adaptive intimates are helping women preserve their independence and dignity with their versatile bras. Hilary Pham, Founder and CEO of Equability, introduces you to their clothing adaptation services that allow people with disabilities to customize their old favorites or their latest finds to meet their unique needs.

Imagine what you could accomplish if you could walk farther, go faster, and use less energy. For people with mobility-related disabilities, making this a reality with assistive technology would be transformative. In our first season (episode 5), we introduced you to Biomotum, a startup company dedicated to developing life-changing robotic orthotics to improve mobility for disabled people who walk. Their device has exciting features that make it promising for both assistance and building strength.

In this episode, Dr. Collin Bowersock updates us on his CPARF-funded fellowship project, which is testing whether people can use the Biomotum SPARK device outside of the laboratory in real-world settings. Dr. Bowersock is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Northern Arizona University who works in the Biomechatronics Lab under the mentorship of Dr. Zach Lerner. Dr. Bowersock is working with a range of people with cerebral palsy to get feedback on the SPARK device and understand how well it meets their needs in their own homes and communities. This work will inform further device development and provide important information on how people could use the device at home in the future.

Researchers and innovators are creating novel technologies that address unmet needs, improve function, and enhance quality of life for people with disabilities. This short Research Roundup episode features three recent studies that highlight the development and evaluation of new technology-based interventions for people with CP and other disabilities, including a customized 4-D printed hand orthosis, a cable-driven robotic platform that helps with head and neck movements, and a wearable full-body garment that aims to improve mobility and reduce pain. The host, Dr. Marie McNeely, discusses the findings of each paper, and CPARF’s Vice President of Education, Jocelyn Cohen, provides her perspectives on why these studies matter for people with CP. The studies covered in this episode weren’t funded by CPARF, but they highlight other interesting, innovative work being done in the CP research space. 

Links to the abstracts of the studies featured in this episode:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38365340/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38627418/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38354212/

Millions of people around the world navigate their daily lives with low or no vision, and this can be particularly challenging when their environments aren’t accessible. Common tasks like doing laundry or buying something online could be made much easier if they could — even just for a moment — see what’s in front of them. Be My Eyes meets this need by connecting people with low or no vision to sighted volunteers through a video app. By showing volunteers real-time videos and talking to them, app users can ask questions and get more information about what they aren’t able to see. 

In this episode, Be My Eyes Founder Hans Jørgen Wiberg talks with host Molly Lazarus about his startup journey, and how he and his team have grown Be My Eyes into the company it is today. They discuss early monetization strategies, making deals with some of the world’s largest companies, and incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) to stay on the cutting edge of innovation.

Scientists around the world are continuing to make important advances in research that could improve the lives of people with cerebral palsy (CP) and other disabilities. In this short Research Roundup episode, host Dr. Marie McNeely talks about four recent studies focused on diagnosing CP and other conditions, as well as predicting outcomes. These papers examine new diagnostic approaches being developed that use brain activity, movement patterns, or characteristics of walking plus deep learning artificial intelligence to make it easier to diagnose CP and better predict important outcomes. CPARF’s Vice President of Education, Jocelyn Cohen, also joins the discussion to share how findings from these studies are relevant for people with CP. The research studies discussed in this episode weren’t funded by CPARF, but they highlight other interesting, innovative work happening in the CP research space. 

Links to the abstracts of the studies featured in this episode:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38583406/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38616771/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38629475/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38350399/