Los Angeles based Cityzen, has a message, and Tobias Forrest won’t let you forget it. Disaboom has a great feature article with the quadriplegic frontman of this talented and charismatic band. Check it out!

“I’m very passionate about not showing the world people with disabilities but instead showing people with disabilities the world. We all have the potential to be beautiful, wonderful and talented people,” singer Tobias Forrest says, “I just want to sing.”

And, sing he does. Forrest is the lead singer of the band Cityzen in Los Angeles.

The band offers a great sound and is building a following in clubs and on http://www.myspace.com/CITYZENLA.

“I started the group with Jeff Line. We played in a band in college before my accident. I was almost 23 when I became a C5 quadriplegic. It was May 1998 and I was diving off a waterfall in the Grand Canyon. It was the time of El Niño and the water level was lower. I was told it was safe to dive there, but it was too shallow. I did a little drowning, I did a little dying, but I said Heaven can wait,” Forrest explains with a laugh. “I didn’t lose my sense of humor.”

Cityzen’s tour schedule and music can be found at their mySpace page. Mad talent.

The Free Wheelchair Mission is an organization which sends wheelchairs to the poor in countries where other help is unavailable to disabled citizens. Recently, a shipment was sent to Uganda, India, and Ecuador. If you would like to donate or help in any way, please visit their site at: http://www.freewheelchairmission.org/ The joy of the recipients is uncontained, and unrestrained.

Music and pets have long been known to provide solace and inspiration to those facing daily challenges in living. Chamber Music Today has posted an article about assistive technologies available to elderly and disabled people which aid them to continue their musical inclinations and activities.

The piano bench or chair that is the destination for the ‘to’ transfer is another issue altogether. Most benches or chairs have a poor center-of-gravity and are too prone to tipping over. A local machine shop or cabinetry maker can be engaged to make different legs for your mother’s favorite piano bench or chair, to attach ballast weights at floor level (say, 5 kg steel or lead weight per leg) with ‘block’ feet 10 cm square or more so that the chair will not tip. You may want to have a ‘grab bar’ added to an existing bench that you have, so that there is an obvious and reliable grip for your mom to aim for as the transfer proceeds. (Grabbing the piano around the keyboard is obviously not safe or reliable.)

Even though the Medicare National Coverage Determination for Mobility Related Equipment was revamped in 2005, many providers and suppliers continue to be perplexed by complex policy requirements and strict protocols for physician and clinician documentation using the algorithmic approach to qualify the appropriate level of Mobility Assistive Equipment (MAE). Additionally, recent audit outcomes in Jurisdiction A and B highlight the need for targeted education to insure future provider and supplier compliance.

The American Association for Homecare is jointly sponsoring a workshop and online webinar with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center called “Best Practices and Clinical Documentation for Mobility Assistive Equipment” on May 29, 2008 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The workshop will take place at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pa.