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ShareMarcie Roth: No Stopping for Road Blogs
As CEO and executive director of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association (NSCIA), Marcie Roth , is a passionate spokesperson and can often be found in some pretty unexpected places. Currently, Roth is sharing her enthusiasm and expertise in Qatar as a US Delegate to the Shafallah Forum on Children with Disabilities . Read on to hear some of her experiences in her own words.
April 22
I am new to blogging so bear with me. I am told that my activities may interest our members so I will give blogging a try and see how it is received. I am starting with some interesting activities I've been fortunate to be involved in over the past week. On 4/17, I spoke at the FireStorm Conference , "Every Disaster is a Human Disaster". My topic was on the additional emergency preparedness needs of people with disabilities. The other speakers included three former Surgeons General and General Russell Honoré, former Commander of the 1st Army and the Chief of Joint Task Force Katrina. You may remember him coming off a helicopter a couple days after the hurricane and started creating order where there was chaos in New Orleans. Recently he retired from the Army and he has dedicated himself to "a Culture of Preparedness" and thankfully he really includes the needs of people with disabilities in his leadership activities. I was proud to be included in this wonderful conference, and more importantly to have our issues taken so seriously!
The following day, I boarded a plane for Doha, Qatar. This is my 3rd trip as a US Delegate to the Shafallah Forum on Children with Disabilities. This year I was invited to present on assistive technology to enable people with mobility disabilities to participate in sports and recreation. The emphasis at the conference on sport was exciting and included a heavy focus on Paralympic sport. Sir Philip Craven, Chair of the International Paralympic Committee was one of our speakers and the delegates from across the globe attended demonstrations of sled hockey on the rink at the City Center and wheelchair basketball at the incredible Aspire Center, which recently was host to the Asian Games and is the centerpiece for the Qatar bid for the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics.
Her Highness Sheikha Mouza joined us at the Aspire Center and throughout the Forum and the commitment to sports development is truly exciting! I met several of the basketball team and all were very excited about working together to increase resources for Qataris with SCI and others in the Arabic nations as well.
One of the best parts has been watching a young man from Doha, a student at Shafallah, connecting with an athlete from the US with similar disabilities. Their shared love of sports allowed us all to witness their burgeoning relationship. Peer support and mentoring at its finest. The athlete introduced the young boy to sled hockey and basketball, and he must also have given some great wheelie lessons because the younger child, robed like his elders, spent the rest of the night intently practicing the art of popping wheelies, much to the comic and clearly feigned consternation of his family and teachers.
This afternoon, I am headed back to meet with the team at the Rehabilitation Hospital in Doha. With the highest number of new spinal cord injuries per capita in the world (due to auto and construction accidents), they are struggling with the many needs and cultural challenges facing their communities. This is my second visit to Rumailah Hospital and I look forward to learning about their progress and the shared initiatives we are all interested in pursuing.