U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has announced that individuals with disabilities will have greater access to intercity, commuter and high-speed train travel as a result of a new rule requiring new station platform construction or significant renovation to enable those with disabilities to get on and off any car on a train.

“This will help give passengers with disabilities better access to rail travel across the country,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “By putting this protection in place, passengers with disabilities will be able to get on and off any accessible car that is available to passengers at a new or altered station platform.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is amending its Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations to require intercity, commuter and high-speed passenger railroads to ensure, at new and significantly renovated station platforms, that passengers with disabilities can get on and off any accessible car of the train.   Passenger railroads must provide level-entry boarding at new or altered stations in which no track passing through the station and adjacent to platforms is shared with existing freight rail operations.   For new or altered stations in which track shared with existing freight rail operations precludes compliance, passenger railroads will be able to choose among a variety of means to meet a performance standard to ensure that passengers with disabilities can access each accessible train car that other passengers can board at the station. These options include providing car-borne lifts, station-based lifts, or mini-high platforms.   The Department will review a railroad’s proposed method to ensure that it provides reliable and safe services to individuals with disabilities in an integrated manner.

This new rule also requires that transit providers carry a wheelchair and occupant if the lift and vehicle can physically accommodate them, unless doing so is inconsistent with legitimate safety requirements.

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation has compiled a list of apps for SmartPhones (including iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry) that benefit people living with paralysis of any kind.

The list is constructed from a wide range of apps and includes those that were specifically created for wheelchair users as well as apps that might just improve the quality of life for anyone including people living with paralysis.

Click here to see the list

To mark the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act the first member of the House of Representatives with quadriplegia presided over the U.S. House of Representatives.

Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., was the first person using a wheelchair to take the helm of the House. The opportunity was possible because of recent alterations to the House Speaker’s platform making it wheelchair accessible through a series of lifts.

“I have long said that I may be the first quadriplegic to serve in Congress, but I won’t be the last,” Langevin, a five-term congressman, said in a statement. “This is an extremely proud moment for me and helps renew my spirit as we continue to remove barriers and strengthen the ADA for millions of Americans with disabilities in the decades to come.”

On Virginia Beach, a new park called Grommet Island Park is being created to allow the disabled, adults, children, and the elderly to be able to play together. It allows for people in wheelchairs and nearly any disability to enjoy a day on the beach. The park contains waves and sand tables, a rock wall, slides, a sensory wall for young or old people with autism, and much more. Grommet Island Park is the first ever fully handicapped accessible park built on a beach.

Bruce Thompson was the mastermind behind the idea. His inspiration came from his son, Josh Thompson, a surfer who was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease in 2006. After taking Josh’s two sons to the beach and realizing how difficult, if not impossible it was for someone in Josh’s condition or any other disability to enjoy the beach, he decided to make a difference. So he began the plans for the beach front park with over $2 million dollars in donations for the project, half of which will be donated to ALS research.

The “Grommet” in Grommet Island Park is a slang term for surfer.

The park is scheduled to have its grand opening on May 28, 2010.