Traffic to the blog suddenly spiked tonight and I’m at a loss for an explanation. Most of the hits are coming from this Wikipedia article on SMA that I, uh, edited last year to include myself as a reference. It was a lame attempt at self-promotion, but it seems to be paying off now. Damned if I can figure out why, though. Maybe there was something on the Discovery Channel.

The bailout legislation enacted yesterday did include one provision that health care advocates have long waited for: the Mental Health Parity Act. This law prohibits private insurers from imposing more restrictive limits on mental health services than those for other medical services. For example, an insurer cannot require higher co-pays for mental health visits compared to other types of clinic visits. And it can’t cover fewer mental health visits compared to the number of covered visits for other medical services.

The Act isn’t perfect–small businesses with fifty or fewer employees are exempt and insurers aren’t required to offer mental health services. But it goes a long way towards creating better and more equitable access to mental health benefits for millions of people. The late Senator Paul Wellstone and his wife Sheila were both early and vocal supporters of this legislation, so it’s fitting that Minnesota Representative Jim Ramstad played an instrumental role in the law’s passage.

Taken together with the recent passage of the ADA Amendments Act, this Congress has created more protections for people with disabilities than any in recent memory. Granted, the previous Congresses in this decade set the bar pretty low in that regard, but both of these laws deserve recognition as significant milestones on the road to a more just and accessible society.

Enough of this tiresome McCain-Obama contest. Let’s give the third-party candidates some attention. For instance:

President Shatner will put a food replicator in every kitchen and finally bring an end to the conflict with the Romulans. Plus, that Hasselhoff is a real looker.

My major task for today was to present material for both a morning and afternoon videoconference. The conference site was located in another building a few miles from my office, so I made two round trips on the shuttle bus that serves state employees in the area. And I rode in the back each time, where there wasn’t much in the way of shock absorption. The first time, it was kind of invigorating, like a cheap amusement park ride. The subsequent trips, not so much. As I bounced around in my chair, getting spinal adjustments on the fly, I had flashbacks to all those similarly turbulent school bus rides I took as a kid. And this was no shortbus like the kind you would typically associate with “special” kids like me. No, this was your standard-issue school bus, complete with a driver who had lost his hearing back before the continents drifted apart and who, judging from his terrifying driving, had absolutely no regard for the welfare of his passengers.

And people wonder how I got to be so tough.

During some aimless surfing last night, I stumbled across a short documentary entitled The Lucky Mutant. The film  profiles a day in the life of Keith Hogan,  a Texas man who has spinal muscular atrophy.  Keith narrates most of the film most of the film, but it also features interviews with his personal care attendants (who clearly regard him as a friend) and other people in his life. Much of Keith’s routine seems similar to my own and I nodded in agreement with his observations on the “supercrip” phenomenon.

Here’s the film: