Spinal cord activist shifts focus from cure to care
September 25th, 2009‘I feel like I’ve lied to a lot of people’
Alan T. Brown, who is quadriplegic as the result of an injury, has spent the last two decades trying to find a cure for people who are paralyzed. Now he’s changed his emphasis, working toward improving medical care, insurance coverage and quality of life for people with spinal cord injuries.
“All those people that I’ve spoken to over the years, in the hospitals and the families, and I said ‘one day there’s going to be a cure,’” he says. “And I hope there is … But I can’t guarantee that’s going to happen and I’m not going to sit around and wait any more. I have two children that I have to make sure are cared for.”
Brown is collaborating with the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, which changed its slogan in the summer of 2008 “Go Forward” to “Today’s Care. Tomorrow’s Cure.”
“When we first started, our entire focus was to find a cure, to get people walking again,” says Reeve Foundation president and CEO Peter Wilderhotter. “As we came to realize that since no injury is completely alike and given the complexity of the spinal cord-there will be no ‘magic bullet.’”
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September 25th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
A very welcome change of attitude and approach, both from Mr. Brown and the Reeve Foundation. Small steps that shake the ground when they fall.
September 25th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
I talk a little about this in a paper I wrote called the progression of the disabled community. I’ve often wondered how much progress is hampered when the newly injured disabled person is caught up with hoping for a cure and not giving full attention to improving the new barriers they face. Celebrities I feel can be more helpful by using their pull by making the world easier for people with disabilities rather than spending all their time searching for a cure. While I’d love a cure, let’s improve our world in the meantime.