Something new in the world of spinal cord injury-

At a recent summit in Washington, DC, 19 national organizations/institutions working to improve the lives of individuals with spinal cord injuries or disorders joined together to establish the Spinal Cord Leaders Council. The purpose of the Leaders Council is to advance federal legislative and regulatory policies that would empower persons with SCI/D to lead more active and productive lives.

The players appear to be the who-is-who of American spinal cord injury organizations plus some. Here’s the roster.

Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, the Kennedy Kreiger Institute, the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, the Paralyzed Veterans of America, the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation, the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, Craig Hospital, the American Spinal Injury Association, the Commission on the Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, the National Rehabilitation Hospital, the Shepherd Center, the United Spinal Association, the University of Utah-Rehabilitation Services, the Rehabilitation Institute of Indianapolis, the Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience, the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation, the ITEM Coalition, New Mobility magazine, and Quickie Wheelchairs.

OK, you are probably thinking that this is just one more load of egos cruising the Beltway and occasionally playing at politics. Maybe so. I guess time will tell.

Personally I feel good about this coalition. That’s something that bothers my normally pessimistic side. There is combined political savvy equaling hundreds of years and the scars from hundreds of political battles to go with it. More importantly, they represent or are in touch with tens of thousands of people with spinal cord injuries. They should know the issues at the street level.

There is one thing missing in all of this. It’s you! You can coalesce the brightest and the best but it just doesn’t work without the numbers behind it. At some point this council will start making moves and the call will go out for action. We all need to be there when that happens.

I know that they are planning a web site in the near future. For now you can follow the development of this group in United Spinal’s e-newsletter. It’s a once in a while newsletter that won’t test the capacity of your email box. You can sign up for it here.

Read more about the Spinal Cord Leaders Council