Must Watch Videos – BeautyAbility

by Tiff - January 25, 2013February 2, 2013

Taking on the shower

I look forward to my shower almost as much as my first cup of coffee, but when I was first paralyzed this was so not the case. I could never warm up afterwards, and it never felt like it used to feel.

But now, just feeling just the hot water on my neck and shoulders is enough to make showering one of my favorite things to do now. I finally saw the light.

How do you use of the shower if you can’t walk? That’s one of the first things kids always ask me. And well, it’s not just a matter of just jumping in the shower now. Things are a bit more complicated. And the answer? By either using a shower chair, a shower bench or maybe taking a bath.

But getting into these contraptions (transfers and the like) is the hard part. Here’s a look at some of the best how to videos what it comes to getting into the shower safely and securely, and some tricks of the trade too. Read this entry

Featured photo via Flickr member miriamwilcox // Creative Commons

by Tiff - January 22, 2013January 30, 2013

SCI Superstar: Rosemarie Rossetti

A savvy business lady before AND after her injury (at age 45, a tree fell on her while bike riding), here’s how Rosemarie Rossetti Phd has soared post-injury.

She has created the “Universal Living Design Laboratory,” a seriously gorgeous show home in Ohio that uses universal design & green building principals. Read this entry

by Tiff - January 16, 2013January 30, 2013

SCI Superstar: Frank Gardner

As part of my blogging for SPINALpedia.com, I get to write about a lot of awesome people with SCI. And Frank Gardner, a paralyzed BBC security correspondent, is one of the coolest.

Learn all about this badass Brit who was shot in Saudi Arabia in 2004, and hasn’t stopped being a high-profile journalist. Read this entry

by Tiff - January 11, 2013January 30, 2013

Explaining disability to those darned kids

As a wheelchair-user, you gotta love kids for their innocence and open-mindedness, but let’s face, sometimes it can be awkward explaining EVERYTHING to them lol.

Here are three people with spinal cord injuries seamlessly speaking to kids (including a clip of Christopher Reeve on Sesame Street!). Read this entry

by Tiff - January 9, 2013January 30, 2013

SCI Superstar: Ellen Stohl

She’s the one and only woman with a spinal cord injury to pose in Playboy (the June 1987 issue to be exact), and yes, it desperately needs to be repeated.

See what Ellen Stohl is up to these days, including working as a professor at Cal State Northridge. Read this entry

by Tiff - January 3, 2013January 30, 2013

SCI Superstar: Mitch Longley

The hunkiest guy in a wheelchair to make it big in Hollywood – Mitch Longley.

He’s been a hearthrob fans adored in General Hospital and Another World, he was on NBC’s Las Vegas until 2010 and he’s in the new documentary CinemAbility. This guy really needs a website. Read this entry

by Tiff - December 29, 2012January 30, 2013

Bill Murray plays FDR in “Hyde Park on the Hudson”

I’ve always loved FDR. He made it cool to be in a wheelchair (even though he didn’t want the world to know he was in one). Ok, maybe “cool” isn’t the operative term. “Badass”….yeah, that’s more like it.

FDR essentially turned the word “invalid” upside down. You can imagine how excited I was then when I saw the preview for Hyde Park on the Hudson last night.

It’s a new movie profiling a snippet of FDR’s life in the summer of 1939, starring Bill Murray as FDR and Laura linney as Daisy Stuckley. Read this entry

by Tiff - December 29, 2012January 30, 2013

Ready, set, time to get old?

You never think about getting old after you sustain a spinal cord injury, but before you know it, you’re 18 years post (not cool!).

Staying healthy is huge in our world. Watch a great video interviewing 5 people 18 years post; what’s changed and tips galore.

Plus – two more videos, one of shoulder pain prevention, the other on pressure sore prevention (did you know you have to eat 3x the amount of protein when you have one?). Read this entry

by Tiff - December 28, 2012January 30, 2013

SCI Superstar: Hydred Makabali

Hyrded Makabali, a paraplegic from Cali (who grew up in the UK), has gone on to become the only female semi-pro pool player with a spinal cord injury. And she’s a makeup artist (with a talent in special effects makeup).

Learn all about this stunner on wheels! Read this entry

by Tiff - December 20, 2012January 30, 2013

Three amazing wheelchair comics

Three hysterical comedians with spinal cord injuries:

Chuck Bittner (pictured), a C5 quad from New Hampshire doing some stinging self-deprecating “wicked” humor and Damon Rozier, a para from NYC, doing a “wheelchair lap dance.”

Also watch legendary UK Cockney comic (wc-user from polio), who passed away this spring, Tony Gerrard. Read this entry