Funded By:
Health and wellness includes our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. These are key ingredients to living well. A healthy lifestyle means more than just "not" having an illness or a disability. A healthy lifestyle means you enjoy life, eat nutritious food, exercise regularly, cope with stress, know how to relax, and go to the doctor for regular check-ups. Living a healthy lifestyle has many benefits. A healthy lifestyle can help prevent further complications from a disability, it can make your daily activities easier as a result of increased strength and/or energy, and it may even help you feel happier and better able to handle life’s circumstances. Living a healthy lifestyle can help you deal with depression or even prevent it.
Quality of health and wellness for people with disabilities includes:
To live a healthy lifestyle, it is important to receive quality primary and preventive health care services on a routine basis. Everyone benefits from routine health care services, but it may be harder for disabled people because many health care facilities are not fully accessible, and staff may not be trained on how to assist a person with a disability.
It is important for individuals with disabilities to be provided with the same health promotions as individuals without disabilities. Health promotions involve educational efforts to teach people and keep them informed about ways to create a healthy lifestyle and healthy environment to prevent medical and other secondary conditions.
North
Carolina Office on Disability and Health (NCODH)
The North Carolina Office on Disability and Health (NCODH) promotes
the health and wellness of persons with disabilities through an
integrated program of policy, practice, and research. The goals
of the NCODH are to increase awareness and understanding of health-related
issues that concern people with disabilities, improve access and
community inclusion, develop health promotion programs and educational
materials for consumers and professionals, and collect research
related to these areas.
In conjunction with the Massachusetts Office of Health and Disability, the North Carolina Office of Disability and Health designed the “Health Promotion Resource Guide (2003).” This resource guide was designed to increase awareness and inclusion of disabled individuals in health promotion programs. The Health Promotion Resource Guide provides a starting place for finding, using, and adapting health promotion and wellness resources appropriate for people with disabilities.
The Health Promotion Resource Guide includes a section that discusses accessibility and communication. Topics include disability and healthy living, physical activity, nutrition, substance abuse, women’s health, violence, sexuality, relationships, and parenting.
North
Carolina Office on Disability and Health
FPG Child Development Institute
UNC-CH, 8185
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-8185
919-966-0868
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~ncodh
Resource Guide: http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~ncodh/Publications.cfm (pdf or html version near bottom of publication list on this web page.)
Massachusetts
Department of Public Health (MDPH)
Office on Health and Disability (OHD)
The Office on Health and Disability of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health promotes the health and well being of people with disabilities and chronic conditions in Massachusetts. Programs within OHD are mainly focused on the needs and concerns of adults and young people with a wide range of disabilities.
The goals of OHD are to ensure availability and use of data to determine prevalence of disabilities and identify health and related needs of individuals with disabilities. OHD aims to build and expand a health and disability constituency that adapts individual and organizational awareness to promote health and well being.
Massachusetts
Department of Health
Office on Health and Disability
250 Washington Street
Boston, MA 02108
617-624-6090
617-624-5992 (TTY)
http://www.state.ma.us/dph/fch/ohd/index.htm
United
Cerebral Palsy (UCP)
UCP is a national organization that strives to ensure the inclusion
of persons with disabilities in every aspect of society - from the
Web to the workplace and from the classroom to the community. UCP's
mission is to advance the independence, productivity and full citizenship
of people with cerebral palsy and other disabilities through commitment
to the principles of independence, inclusion, and self-determination.
The website contains information on health and wellness, education, housing, sports, and parenting. Under health and wellness, the website provides general information, disability research, health care, and health insurance information.
UCP
National
1660 L Street, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20036
1-800-872-5827
202-973-7197 (TTY)
http://www.ucpa.org
