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Inside The Casey Martin Decision — p. 10 Local ADA Lawsuit Started — p. 12
What IF The Government Shut Down? — Page 9
June 10, 2001
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“Disability is not a ‘ brave struggle’ or ‘courage in the face of adversity’ . . . disability is an art. It’s an ingenuous way to live.”
— Neil Marcus
Non-profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Mpls. MN Permit No. 4766
Volume 12, Number 6
SOURCES
RESOURCES
June 10, 2001
ACCESS PRESS YEAR IN REVIEW DESPITE BIG LOSS, SHIP STILL ON COURSE by Jeff Nygaard
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Repetitive Motion Disorders: The Unseen Disability by Amy Farrar Part 1 of 2: Treatment, compensation “an uphill battle”
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he Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary defines “disabled” as “incapacitated by illness, injury or wounds.” Many of us, when we think of someone who has a disability, think of people who are incapacitated in some way that is visually obvious. But for people with repetitive motion disorders, their disability is not always so readily apparent. This simple fact alone has led to widespread misunderstanding of the origins, symptoms, and clinical background of repetitive motion disorders, and no doubt has contributed to the recent repeal by the Bush administration of ergonomics legislation that would have required employers to take measures to protect workers from these injuries by providing ergonomic workspaces and equipment. The whole issue of repetitive motion disorders (RMDs) is mired in a firestorm of controversy. RMDs—also called cumulative trauma disorders, musculoskeletal disorders (a wider classifica-
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tion of injuries including those that result from repetition), repetitive stress disorders, and repetitive strain— affect people differently and present with a wide variety of symptoms, all dependent on a multitude of factors. These factors make it extremely difficult to assign one “cure” for RMDs. Furthermore, since RMDs affect people differently, it can often be difficult to determine their origins, although the numbers are weighted heavily toward the workplace. This is just the tip of the iceberg. A Widespread Problem According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 246,700 people in the United States had disorders associated with repeated traumas, a number representing 66 percent of the total number of injuries recorded in 1999 (the most recent year for which statistics are available.) Not all RMDs result in temporary damage that heals with time. In fact, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, many RMDs can cause permanent damage to soft tissues in the body such as
muscles, nerves, tendons, and ligaments. RMDs can occur in the hands and arms (where they most often present), but also occur in the wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck, back, hips, knees, feet, legs and ankles. BLS statistics show that workers in almost every industry are exposed to the risk of acquiring RMDs. However, a large proportion of RMD victims are women. BLS statistics state that 18,651, or 67 percent, of all cases of carpal tunnel syndrome, and 10,127, or 61 percent, of tendinitis cases, were reported by women in 1999. These statistics, says the BLS, do not account for unreported cases of RMDs. While the BLS says they cannot estimate the number of unreported cases, according to Stephanie Barnes, the founder of ARMS, the Association for Repetitive Motion Syndromes, it is becoming extremely commonplace for employers to know that they have employees who have these problems, but do nothing about it. In addition, an unknown number of workers go to the doctor for an RMD, Stress - cont. on p. 13
t would be an understatement to say that this past year has been a historic one at Access Press. Founder, editor, and publisher Charlie Smith was diagnosed with cancer on the day before Thanksgiving last November and died just as the May 2001 issue was going into production. Charlie hired me as the interim editor in January, but he continued to direct the paper from his sickbed right up until the end. In fact, he and I had an editorial meeting about the May issue only five days before he died. Just as he would have wanted. Remarkably, through all of the turmoil caused by Charlie’s illness and death, Access Press never missed a single deadline during the past year, hitting the streets on the 10th of every month, right on schedule. Charlie was a stickler about getting the paper out on time, so he would be happy about that! Credit for this remarkable achievement is due to more people than I could possibly name in this space, but I will single out a few. First and foremost are the central production team, those “behind-the-scenes” people who make each issue happen. Nathan Halvorson, editorial assistant, did yeoman’s work during this past few months. Despite only starting with the paper in May 2000, he stepped into the breach between Charlie’s entry into the hospital in November and my coming on board in January. Thanks, Nathan! Ellen Houghton, Access Press typesetter and paste-up wizard, extricated the office crew from many a jam over the past few months. Her years of experience with the paper have been invaluable
during the past year. Our regular columnists— Lolly Lijewski, John Schatzlein, Nicole Roberts, and Pete Feigal—have been great, as has cartoonist Scott Adams, and the numerous advocates and personal friends who have chipped in to help in a million ways. Once again this year, the Friends of Access Press provided crucial and ongoing support. The total Friends contributions this year came to more than $10,000! Our thanks to all of you. The support of the Friends is always critical, and even more so in a time of turmoil such as we are going through right now. Not only does the financial support provided by the Friends support the paper directly, but it also provides the concrete evidence that we will need to document as we seek out grants and other support in the months and years ahead. The Medtronic Foundation once again this year saw fit to make a generous grant to Access Press, as reported in the April issue. Some of these funds will be used to pay extra costs involved in re-organizing the paper in the wake of Charlie’s death, such as training for new staff, new accessibility systems for the new editor, new computer software, and so forth. This year in particular, the importance of the Medtronic Foundation’s generosity cannot be overstated. During the past year Access Press continued to bring you profiles of outstanding community members, announcements of new information resources, notices and reviews of arts and cultural
events, letters to the editor, and even a report on how our severe winter weather affected people with disabilities! Of course, Access Press also always strives be true to our mission “to inform the disability community about topics of concern to us and to provide accurate information about disability issues to the general public.” Whether it was reporting on such national issues as Social Security and the Supreme Court, or on local issues such as the closing (and reopening) of Allina’s Wound Clinic and the new state hiring goals for people with disabilities, Access Press continued during the past year to provide coverage of issues that were often under-reported—or unreported—in the mainstream press. Finally, new editor Tim Benjamin was hired by Charlie in April. Over the coming months he will be meeting and getting to know many of you – feel free to share your thoughts and feelings about the paper with him! This article is supposed to be about the past year, so I won’t talk about some of the exciting projects that Charlie initiated and that we hope to bring to completion in the near future. You’ll be hearing about them. During the past year we received a letter from a local law firm telling us that Access Press is now considered by the legal community to be “the resource for people with disabilities” in the region. With your help and support, we hope remain so.
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