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Education

Education Within Reach

To make planning for and going to college easier for students with neuromuscular disease, MDA launched a new online workshop called Access to Education: Higher Education. This no-cost educational program, available on-demand, offers an overview of common considerations, tips for choosing a school, information on financial preparation, and guidance on finding support if students encounter access barriers during their higher education experience.

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How to Make a Decision About a Clinical Trial

Colleen and Chris Labbadia of Geneva, Fla., became concerned when their son, Brendan, was slow meeting early physical milestones. He was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) before his second birthday, and when he was 4, they enrolled him in a clinical trial for an experimental drug. "It was the hope for a better future for Brendan," Colleen says.

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MDA Q&A: Top of Mind

You don’t have to navigate your neuromuscular disease journey alone. The MDA Resource Center is available to provide one-on-one support. Here, Resource Center specialists answer Quest readers’ top questions. Q: I have oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD). Is COVID-19 vaccination safe for people with neuromuscular disease? Are there any side effects?

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Support for Your Journey

Why do people contact the MDA Resource Center? There are a lot of reasons, according to Brooke Smith, associate director of the Resource Center.It could be that they or a family member was recently diagnosed with a neuromuscular disease, and they need information about the disease or want to find an MDA Care Center.

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Plan for a Bright Future

Josie Badger, DHCE, CRC, has used everything that life has handed her, including her disability, to pursue her dreams. Diagnosed with congenital myasthenic syndrome (CMS) at age 11, Josie now relies on a ventilator, power wheelchair, and 24-hour care. While many would see such challenges as a roadblock to pursuing an occupation, she has used them to fuel a career she is passionate about: advocating for disability rights.

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Disability… or Superpower?

When I Google the definition of the word “disability,” this is what is returned: a physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements, senses, or activities. Period. End of story. That’s all they have to say about that.But I have my own definition of disability. I define it as an opportunity to learn or heighten skills like positivity, determination, problem-solving, and about a billion others. It is a differentiator. (Who wants to be like everyone else, anyway?) It is an opportunity to do hard things and show the world the ease with which you can pull them off. It is an opportunity to laugh at the surprising and ridiculous things that occur daily. And it is a tool you can employ — just by existing and being who you are — to impact people around you with lessons on compassion, kindness, and open-mindedness.

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The Search for Inclusion-Body Myositis Treatment

Inclusion-body myositis (IBM) is one of the most common disabling inflammatory myopathies in older adults, but its underlying cause is poorly understood.IBM is characterized by progressive muscle weakness and wasting. In patients with the disease, inflammatory cells invade muscle tissue and collect between the muscle fibers. Muscle biopsies of patients diagnosed with IBM reveal multiple “inclusion bodies” containing cellular material of dead tissue.

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The Way of the Future

As the novel coronavirus pandemic has called for vigilance in health safety measures such as social distancing — especially for people with neuromuscular disease who are at higher risk for severe illness related to COVID-19 — many of us have had to rethink how we do what we need to do. We’ve adjusted how we see our families and friends, how we get food and medicine, and how we continue care with therapists and physicians who, themselves, may work in high-risk locations.

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From a Distance

When Faith Fortenberry’s elementary school closed in March because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, she missed seeing her friends and teachers every day. An outgoing 9-year-old living with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), Faith thrives on social interaction. Even so, she found that online learning offered some advantages.

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Change for the Better

Stephanie Erbacher is a passionate advocate on behalf of her 12-year-old daughter, Rylie, who has spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Her path to advocacy started when Rylie couldn’t swing at a local playground in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.“I pushed the parks department to put in an adaptive swing with back support and a solid harness in front,” Stephanie says. When park officials responded that an accessible playground might be built in more than a year, Stephanie pressed on, emailing the city manager and eventually talking to the superintendent of parks. “I let them know I had researched costs of the swing and was very motivated to work with the city to see how we could find a solution that would allow disabled children to have even just a single option to be included at the playground.”

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MDA Resource Center: We’re Here For You

Our trained specialists are here to provide one-on-one support for every part of your journey. Send a message below or call us at 1-833-ASK-MDA1 (1-833-275-6321). If you live outside the U.S., we may be able to connect you to muscular dystrophy groups in your area, but MDA programs are only available in the U.S.

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