The New York TM Support Group held its second luncheon meeting on October 23, 1999. There were 26 people in attendance. Hope Klopchin conducted the support group discussion. Hope is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in counseling psychology at the State University of Buffalo, New York and a TMA member. The support group meeting offered New York members the opportunity to discuss coping strategies for dealing with Transverse Myelitis and to gain information about research and any new treatments. There was a discussion of the first International Symposium of the Transverse Myelitis Association held in August 1999 in Seattle, Washington. Deanne Gilmur made materials available to the New York Support Group that were distributed at the meeting. The Support Group meeting also provided a wonderful opportunity for socializing and meeting others who have the TM diagnosis. The next support group meeting and luncheon will be held at the end of March 2000.

Disabled Discounts Project
Gene Murphy

I started The Disabled Discounts Project while coping with my own disability and listening to people with their stories of struggling in life with their disabilities. Many live with pain, loneliness, financial difficulties, and lost dreams; yet have an inner strength for life that others do not see. It is a struggle when you are hit with a disability. It can happen at any age, any time. You don't know what to do, where to go and families can be shattered. There can be real adversity. We expect a lot of help and answers to our problems, but often we find ourselves alone.

The Disabled Discounts Project is a grass-roots, non-profit organization that you or your organization can start in your state and community, established to make people aware of the financial difficulties facing the disabled in our society. The Disabled Discounts Project is requesting retail stores and business professionals to open new markets in discounts to the disabled, much the same as they do for senior citizens and students. Senior citizens in our society are eligible for discounts on products and services. The disabled are not. Let's change this!

Some of the markets the Disabled Discounts Project is trying to reach are: banking, attorneys, department stores, doctors, dentists, drug stores, restaurants, repair services, movie theatres, transportation, and health clubs.

The Disabled are a new market! If you are interested in participating in the Disabled Discounts Project or in starting a Disabled Discounts Project in your community, please contact me at the address or phone number below.

Gene Murphy
Founder and President
Disabled Discounts Project
200 Dashew Drive Suite 7A
Suffern, NY 10901
(914) 357-7495

The Transverse Myelitis Association Online
Jim Lubin

The Transverse Myelitis Association web site has been visited approximately 17,000 times since March 1999. The web site remains one of the most important tools the Association has for disseminating information, providing education to our members and to the general public and offering support and networking. Our web site is the most effective approach we have for outreach, and it is certainly the most frequently used means for persons with TM to find the Association.

The following list presents the number of visits that are made to our web site from all over the world. It is an interesting illustration of the importance of our web site as a tool for outreach, as well as a reflection of the interest people from all over the world have in Transverse Myelitis. For those of us with TM, it is a very graphic reminder that we are really not alone. (These totals represent the summary period of Oct 17, 1999 to Oct 25, 1999, a typical week of activity from the web site).

There is a page on the web site where additional resources about Transverse Myelitis can be found. There are numerous references to research and publications. Additionally, there are links to newspaper articles and news releases related to the Transverse Myelitis condition.

I have also added a page to the web site that chronicles the First International Symposium of The Transverse Myelitis Association that was held in August in Seattle, Washington. The site includes picture highlights from the symposium. The Program Agenda is also available with printable copies of the handouts that were provided by the presenters at the symposium. The Seattle page is located at <http://www.myelitis.org/seattle99>.

I also want to take the opportunity to remind our members that if you shop online through the iGive mall or Amazon.com links on the TMA site that a percentage of your purchases go to TMA. For the Association to receive your contribution from your purchases, be sure to go to these Internet sites through the links on the TMA web page. It is an easy and fun way to shop and it is an easy way to raise money for the Association.

The Transverse Myelitis Internet Club continues to be a vital support group and source of information and comfort for those who are newly diagnosed with TM, as well as for people who have had TM for decades. There are currently almost 350 people who are registered on the TMIC list group. If you are new to the Internet, I would encourage you to subscribe to the TMIC and to get involved in this very friendly and supportive community.

Finally, I would like to encourage those of you who have never seen the TMA web site to try to do so in the near future. Receiving the newsletters and the other materials from the Association help us all to feel connected and remind us that we are not alone in our experiences with Transverse Myelitis. The TMA on the Internet is perhaps one of the most powerful ways to experience this support and connection with others. We know this because we hear from people all over the world who communicate their surprise and their gratitude for having found the Association web site. You do not need a computer to share in this experience. Almost every public library in the country offers computer access to the Internet. You do not need any computer knowledge or experience; most will be glad to assist you. You only need to provide them with our web address, which you have in this article, and in various places in this newsletter. If you have trouble getting to a public library, most of you have family members and friends who also have access to the Internet. I think you will find our web site both informative and inspirational. I hope that you get the opportunity to view it sometime soon.

The TMA on the Internet

You can send us information, submit stories and articles for the newsletter, contribute your articles for the In Their Own Words column, send us your questions and refer new members to TMA by using our Internet addresses. You can also use the Internet to submit your surveys and to send questions for the Dr. Lynn and Dr. Uretsky Question and Answer columns for the newsletter. Please send your e-mail to: