To better serve the constituents of United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) and the readers of ABILITY Magazine, the two organizations recently joined forces to raise awareness of cerebral palsy and other disabilities by featuring regular UCP articles within the magazine.

“We’re excited to provide more to up-to-date information about what UCP is doing, such as its Big Sky Project/Life Without Limits, which offers a refreshingly bold vision for the future of people with disabilities,” Pamela Johnson, ABILITY Magazine’s managing editor, said recently.

“UCP affiliates serve a million people in a year,” Johnson added, “and what they’re doing directly or indirectly affects individuals, families and communities worldwide. So we’re happy that UCP now has a permanent home in our pages.”

In the first installment, the organization’s director of marketing and communications, Armetta Parker, wrote about a world in which, “10 years from now, people with limited mobility will be able to put on an exoskeleton suit and climb stairs or lift heavy objects. Fired by a 15-kilogram battery, the invention—currently in the development phase—detects muscle movement through electrical signal flows on the skin’s surface.”

In the second installment, published in our most recent issue, the UCP Los Angeles affiliate squired us half a world away to Asia on an important mission:

“Recently, on a dark and stormy afternoon in Quy Nhon, Vietnam,” UCP Wheels for Humanity’s CEO Ron Cohen wrote, “our staff, volunteers and in-country partners custom-fitted wheelchairs for the last of a long line of children with disabilities. Many had been carried on their mothers’ or caregiver’ backs, through a category 7 typhoon. Later, the children rolled away from the “seating” clinic and into a new phase of independence.”

The next UCP story, about an information portal and online community for parents of very young children with disabilities, is slated to run later this spring.

About United Cerebral Palsy

For more than 55 years, it has been committed to change and progress for persons with disabilities. Founded in 1949, the national organization and its affiliates strive to ensure the inclusion of persons with disabilities in every facet of society—from the Web to the workplace, from the classroom to the community. As one of the largest health charities in America, the mission of United Cerebral Palsy is to advance the independence, productivity and full citizenship of people with disabilities. UCP affiliates serve more than 170,000 children and adults with disabilities and their families every day.

About ABILITY Magazine

An award-winning publication distributed by Time Warner, ABILITY enjoys a combined online and print audience of more than a million readers. Since its inception more than 15 years ago, its stories have continually addressed and advocated for mental, physical and emotional well-being, while exploring issues of aging, the environment and quality of life.

Interviews with celebrities, politicians and activists who have appeared in the publication over the past decade and a half include Ty Pennington, Sally Field, Kirk Douglas, Christopher and Dana Reeve, Montel Williams, Laura Bush and hundreds more.

The magazine scope is vast and is of particular relevance to individuals concerned about their health, Baby Boomers—the more than 79 million individuals born between the years of 1946 and 1964, now nearing retirement, as well as those 50-million plus Americans currently dealing with some form of disability. It is estimated, in fact, that every American will face approximately 13 years of living with a disability.

United Cerebral Palsy

www.ucp.org

ABILITY Magazine

www.abilitymagazine.com