Paralyzed Veterans of America Blog

Staff interviews now available on Soundcloud! October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. What are some barriers that disabled Veterans face in employment and how does the Veterans Career Program address them? Disabilities can be a big barrier to meaningful employment. Our clients deal with a range of disabilities, from PTSD to, in the case […]

What is your role on the Advocacy team?   In my capacity, I do a lot of liaison work with the Consortium for Constituents with Disabilities (CCD). I serve on a lot of CCD taskforces dealing with employment, Social Security, Veterans, and follow issues relating to those topics. I also participate in a number of […]

What kinds of programs does the Sports and Recreation team run? What is some current programming happening right now?  The Sports and Recreation team oversee a variety of different programs, which we offer both in person and online. Some in-person activities include trap and air gun shooting, bass fishing, handcycling, bowling, billiards and more. Our […]

William, a long-time friend of Veterans and a loyal supporter of Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA). As a young man, his lifelong dream was to study at Harvard University, and that dream came true when he was accepted and enrolled in the Fall of 1941. But when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred during his […]

Did you know that PVA secures more than $1 Billion every year in disability payments for Veterans and their families?  This wouldn’t be possible without the tireless work of PVA’s Veterans Benefits Department (VBD) Field Services Program.  This month, we sat down with Joseph Badzmierowski, Director of Field Services for VBD.  Joseph, his Associate Directors […]

What does the Architecture team do? The work the Architecture team does is very diverse. We group our work under three large categories: Accessible Design, Healthcare Architecture, and Education and Outreach. First, there’s our work in Accessible Design. We work with other architects, project managers, business owners and really anyone who is a decision-maker in […]

I’m a hand cyclist. To travel to and from the airport with my hand cycle, driving myself and having to park, is a job. One time I traveled through Houston’s George Bush Airport, parked my car where you drop off passengers, got out, got my wheelchair out, put my hand cycle on my shoulder and […]

I am a paraplegic traveler. Upon my arrival at LAX, I was placed on an aisle chair and promised that my wheelchair was at the gate. As I sat there waiting, they kept telling me it was coming. Thirty minutes later, I asked to transfer to the attendant’s bucket seat as I was worried about […]

I’d confirmed reservations for first class bulkhead seats for me and my travel assistant. Twice I’d confirmed seats and twice Alaska Airlines separated us and put us in different seats. Because of severe mobility issues I need those bulkhead seats to be close to lavatories in case I had to to go right now. Instead […]

I recently traveled from Florida to Dulles International Airport on American Airlines. I left West Palm Beach, Florida and connected through Charlotte. When I arrived in Charlotte, my brand new Permobil F5 corpus was in perfect shape. I could not have been more pleased. My new chair had made the first portion of the trip […]