Every September, Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month brings renewed attention to the tens of thousands of Americans navigating life after a life-altering diagnosis. This year, that attention comes with an update. Paralyzed Veterans of America has released the fifth edition of “Yes, You Can!,” a guide that's shaped how newly injured veterans and civilians learn to live with spinal cord injuries and diseases.
The book isn't new. First published nearly 80 years ago, “Yes, You Can!” has become something of an institution in the SCI/D community. It’s the kind of resource handed to someone in the disorienting weeks after an injury, when questions about bladder care, mobility, or simply getting through the day can feel overwhelming. What's changed is the science behind it. The fifth edition incorporates more than 15 years of new clinical research and adds three topics that didn't exist in earlier printings, reflecting how much rehabilitation medicine and disability care have evolved since the book was last substantially updated.
“When I first received the book at the beginning of my VA care, I read it cover to cover,” said Dave B., a U.S. Army veteran who had a spinal cord infection in 2016 that resulted in paraplegia. “It helped me to understand my injury and the changes in body functions.
For others, the book's value isn't a single read-through, but something they return to again and again.
“Many people learn better by seeing the written words vs being told information. The book is an asset for that,” said Christina B., a PVA member who served in the Wisconsin Army National Guard for 22 years and deployed to Iraq twice. “I would tell someone to utilize the book to help learn on your own and confirm what your medical team is telling you.”
PVA has spent more than 80 years advocating for veterans with spinal cord injuries and diseases — including multiple sclerosis and ALS — as well as for people with disabilities more broadly. “Yes, You Can!” has long been one of the more concrete pieces of that work. It’s not a policy position or a benefit, but a practical document meant to sit on someone's nightstand or in a caregiver's bag.
That practicality is part of why the update matters to people like Christina B., who has spent years navigating the day-to-day realities the book tries to address.
“[The book] has also helped as a reference when I am mentoring folks who’ve been injured more recently than me, and helped me understand some of the differences between male and female health care issues,” she said.
The release is tied to PVA's broader One of One Campaign, an effort to position the organization as a leader in specialized care for spinal cord injuries and diseases — care that, by its nature, looks different for every individual. PVA leaders point to “Yes, You Can!” as an example of how the organization tries to translate that individualized approach into something usable.
“It was a great help for me to understand my condition. It was also a comfort to know there were people who understood and knew how to help,” Dave B. said. “Everyone with SCI/D should be encouraged to read it.”
The fifth edition is available as a free download through PVA's website, a decision the organization says is meant to keep the resource accessible to anyone who needs it. Rehabilitation centers, hospitals, and veterans service organizations are among the groups PVA hopes will continue to pass the guide along to people newly facing a spinal cord injury or disease diagnosis.
For readers like Dave, Christina, and others, the update is less about the book itself than about what it represents: a resource written for people in the earliest, hardest days of adjusting to a new reality, still being revised decades later because the questions never really go away.
The free, digital version of “Yes, You Can!” can be downloaded here.
