This week’s spotlight is on the United States Adaptive Recreation Center (USARC).

The USARC was founded in 1983 in order to help those with disabilities participate in outdoor recreational activities. They work with everything from park and recreation departments to hospitals to reach those with both cognitive and physical disabilities. There are programs for snowboarding, skiing, water skiing, sailing and even bike riding. All of the equipment has been modified to cover a variety of disabilities and trained instructors are always close by working to provide a fun and safe experience.

Their mission statements says that their goals are:

* Facilitating challenging and adventurous recreational programming.
* Enabling achievement with superior instruction and personnel.
* Confronting limitations resolutely and educationally.
* Developing independence through a cooperative reliance on others.
* Providing resources for sustained participation with peers.
* Creating awareness throughout the community.

As we know, living with a disability can seem overwhelming and limiting, but with programs such as this one, both kids and adults can stretch their self perception as they find alternative ways to participate in activities that previously seemed out of reach.

There are some significant differences between post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and a traumatic brain injury (TBI), but those differences are often eclipsed by the similarities. With all of the discussion regarding Iraq soldiers who are returning with cognitive problems, it’s not hard to mix them up.

Here are some ways you can differentiate between the two.

A TBI is caused by a physical trauma to the brain tissue that creates symptoms such as memory loss, anxiety and confusion, while PTSD happens after an emotional trauma and can have many of the same symptoms.

PTSD can be caused by many different things - childhood abuse, accidents, natural disasters and witnessing or experiencing violence such as happens in war. Emotions arise such as fear, anger, anxiety that can appear immediately, but often show up later. Depression, difficulty focusing and a sense of being out of control can begin to negatively affect the person’s life and lead them to find treatment.

TBI’s can also lead to depression and agitation, but they tend to create physically symptoms that PTSD doesn’t. Dizziness, blurred vision and interrupted sleep patterns are all common side effects. TBI’s can be verified through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and can be treated through both physical and psychological rehabilitation.

There aren’t any guaranteed treatments for either condition, though researchers have been working hard on finding ways to help people reduce, if not cure, their symptoms.

Two good resources for information on these injuries are the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

This week’s resource is the Assistive Technology Industry Association’s (ATIA) list of upcoming events that focus on new developments and accessibility in the area of assistive technology.

Some of the upcoming events include the ATIA 2009 Orlando celebration that will showcase new and innovative technology for both adults and children, the ATIA Leadership Forum on Accessibility that is designed to “help large corporations, government agencies and educational institutions derive business value through accessibility,” and the ATIA 2009 Chicago technology celebration.

ATIA has been focused for the past ten years on providing education and a forum for communication between those with disabilities, who work with the disabled and who provide assistive technology. They are a non-profit membership organization of manufacturers of assistive devices and services.

If you are interested in any of these or future events, please visit their Website here.

This week’s resource is the Website America’s Heroes at Work.

The United States Department of Labor (DOL) created this site in order to address the “employment challenges of returning service members living with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and/or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).”

America’s Heroes gives employers tools that can help our military men and women affected by TBI and PTSD better succeed in the civilian workplace. To accomplish this they are collaborating with the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) and the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP).

For more information, visit their site here.

This week’s spotlight is on The Prince Synergy, a worldwide organization focused on maximizing human capitol.

In The Prince Synergy’s own words, “Traumatic Brain Injury takes away victims’ freedom and opportunities internally.” With the unique obstacles faced by traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients in mind, this business works to help companies and their employees work with the limitations created by this injury and others.

The Prince Synergy provides teaching and consulting in the areas of health and stress management, leadership and innovation at “times of unexpected change, stress, illness and injury.”

If you or someone you know has sustained a TBI that is interfering with productivity, this company may be just what you are looking for. To find out more, click here.

Remember that feeling of invincibility that you had as a teenager? For most of us, that feeling is almost unrecognizable now that life has caught up with us and we are aware of just how delicate life can be.

Dr. Najma Ahmed, the assistant director of trauma at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada, says that this feeling of invincibility is preventable. “Teenage drivers have the highest rate of injury and death from motor vehicle crashes of any demographic group in Canada,” says the Canadian Press, and most of these teens are oblivious to their danger.

Dr. Ahmed says “It’s my job, our job to save them.” With a new program at St. Michael’s, she is hoping to do just that. A study of 260 adolescents found that when teens met with their peers who had sustained paralysis or another such life altering injury, they were most likely to alter their attitude and behavior in regards to taking the risk of damage or death seriously.

Dr. Ahmed is promoting the ThinkFirst Injury Prevention Strategy for Youth (TIPSY) at St. Michael’s, a program that takes teens to see first hand what can happen to them. Some of the situations included visiting young victims of accidents in the ICU unit, a situation that worked to bring the intended point home.

Researchers are hoping that programs such as this will spread as parents begin to realize the importance of prevention. Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) or spinal cord injuries (SCI) are just some of the life changing results of a teen driving too fast and losing control of their car.

With early education, such as is given through TIPSY, the researchers at St. Michael’s hope to greatly minimize these traumatic situations as more youth leave behind the idea that “it can’t happen to me”.