UEA-Life
www.uea-life.com
We have featured an amputee site previously on Website
of the Month in June of 2006. Amputees have been
represented more prominently in the news during the past few
years as a result of the Iraq war. Those stories
generally show determination and accomplishment by
soldiers who have had limbs amputated. Some of the
focus in news articles have been about the latest advancement in
prosthetics. Other stories have been about amputees and
sports. There has certainly been increased
awareness about amputees because of the war and that
increased awareness includes the entire amputee
community; which that brings us to our Website of the
Month.
This month we feature another Amputee site UEA-Life.com. This site is unique from other
amputee sites we have visited and that we link to from
our portal on northeastcenter.com. UEA-Life.com
is a site devoted to bringing information and
inspiration to upper extremity amputees (UEA).
UEA-Life.com is a website and
Ezine that was founded
by Dave Hersher. Dave worked for twenty-four
years in a steel mill. In 1996 an accident on the
job resulted in the amputation of his left hand.
Dave went through the experience of having to adjust
as well as returning to school to acquire new skills
since he was unable to return to doing his former
position.
Dave told us why he started
UEA-Life.com:
I
started UEA-Life.com in response to my search
for, both, information and inspiration when I
became an upper extremity amputee in March,
1996. I wanted information concerning what my
(and my family's) new life would be like and,
above all, I was looking for inspiration to
show me that life wasn't over. A new amputee
struggles with that aspect. What I found was
allot of technical information but virtually
no practical information for myself or my
family. This lack of information led me to,
eventually, begin this website and magazine.
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Dave
started
UEA-Life.com with a simple and clear purpose:
Our
mission is to be a source of that information
and to provide the inspiration, to upper
extremity amputees, that helps them to reach
their goals and ambitions. To live life to
it's fullest and enjoy each and every day
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The
UEA-Life.com website is easy to navigate. It
starts with some basic information about the site and
its purpose; followed by links to sites about upper-extremity
amputation, prosthetics, veterans resources and other related
sites. There is also a glossary of UEA terms
that are used by the upper extremity amputee
community.
Of great help to upper extremity amputees and their families
is a seventeen page listing of amputee support groups
that covers all fifty states and several foreign
countries. The listing include contact
information. This support group listing is
available as a downloadable PDF file and like
everything on the site it is free.
UEA-Life.com also has a sister website:
Ampspiration.com -
an inspirational site for amputees that contains links
to current news stories about amputees and is
regularly updated. You can click onto
Ampspiration.com from the
UEA-Life.com homepage.
We have described a site with a number of useful
features and if that was all there was you would have a great
web resource for upper extremity amputees. Well
there's more and it comes in the form of an Ezine.
UEA-Life.com Ezine is published quarterly. The
first issues premiered in the fall of 2006 and a
second issue has been released in January 2007.
The Ezine is a free publication. It can be
downloaded as a PDF file from the site or you can join
the
UEA-Life.com mailing list and
be notified when the latest issued is posted and a link to take you
there.
Published like a glossy magazine each issues contains
helpful and inspirational articles for upper extremity
amputees. For example the Fall 2006 issue contained
an in-depth interview with Michael Deutsch, blues/jazz
musician who is also an amputee, and articles on
one-handed typing and adaptive keyboards, honesty and
a review of the Nintendo Wii console which utilizes a
one-handed wireless control that can be used by some amputees.
The Winter 2007 issue has an interesting article on
amputee children and education covering early school
years through college. There is an extensive
article oh physical barriers in video games which
includes a discussion of accessible game controllers
and has images of the controllers. There is also
a guide to photography for upper extremity amputees
and an inspirational story of hope for a broken
heart. Very impressive start for this Ezine
Hersher noted:
I
want UEA-Life.com to be the source that
demonstrates that upper extremity amputees are
still people with goals and ambitions. I want
them to see that those goals and ambitions can
still be accomplished. To do that I strive to
present the stories of upper extremity
amputees that have done just that.
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And
it succeeds not only for upper extremity amputees but
for their families, friends and anyone interested in
knowing more about the possibilities for people who
have experienced an amputation.
As
we have said in the past we like "grass roots"
kinds of websites that are created because someone has
identified a need and took the effort to build a
resources to fill that need. Dave Hersher has done
just that with UEA-Life.com
and we encourage you to take some time and pay them a
visit. Make sure you subscribe to their Ezine,
it's free and an excellent publication.
Northeast Center for Special Care is pleased to
present UEA-Life.com as our website of the month for
January, 2007. They
are just a click away,
and don't forget to bookmark them so you can
visit again.
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