Yet one more place on the WWW for those of us living with these diseases, and our families and friends, to find information, solace, and encouragement.

Our goal is to provide a convenient, one-stop shopping site for FAQs, links to other sources, and anything else we can find (or that you suggest.) No particular axes to grind, beyond the idea that suffering shared is suffering lessened.

We're 21 YEARS OLD! (We're legal!) That's positively archaic by WWW standards.

• The Social Security Administration has amended the rules for qualifying for disability. In general they have actually made it potentially easier to qualify, by finally acknowledging problems related to IBD being a chronic condition. Contact AdvocacyForPatients.org for more information on this important update.



• "Know Your Rights: A Handbook for Patients with Chronic Illness" New 2008 Edition - A preview of the table of contents can be found here. Advocacy for Patients with Chronic Illness, Inc. - and the new Handbook - will provide advice, information and services in many areas, including but not limited to the following:
  • How to get your own medical records.
  • How to get and keep health insurance. EXPANDED
  • How to get FREE prescription drugs. EXPANDED
  • How to get health insurance coverage or financial assistance for particular treatments, drugs, and/or therapies. EXPANDED
  • How to get private disability insurance coverage.
  • How to get Social Security Disability Income. EXPANDED
  • How to assert your rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
  • How to assert your rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
  • How to ensure that schools accommodate students with chronic illnesses. EXPANDED
  • How to obtain housing accomodations. NEW SECTION
  • And much, much more.
  
  
• Advocacy for Patients with Chronic Illness, Inc. is a new not-for-profit organization where you can get free information, advice, and advocacy services from attorneys trained to help you in areas like: getting your own medical records; getting and keeping health insurance; getting private and Social Security disability income; asserting your rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act or the Family and Medical Leave Act; accomodations for students, and lots more.
  
  
• The US Govt Accounting Office (GAO) has published a document entitled "SSA Actions Could Enhance Assistance to Claimants with Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Other Impairments" which at least on the surface seems to suggest that it may become easier to get approval for benefits.
  
  
• The IBD Quilt Project exists to create and enhance public awareness of Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's Disease via the display of the IBD Quilt panels, and to provide IBD patients, their families and friends a creative outlet to express their thoughts and experiences of living with a chronic disease.
  
  




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• an interactive support forum.

• FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions (with answers))

• Advocacy & Promotion Efforts

• Medical Institutions

• Pharmaceutical Companies

• Service Providers

• Government Agencies

• Sites hosted by Individuals

• Commercial sites

• News Groups, Mail Lists, Forums & Chat Channels

• Books and Reviews

• Support Organizations

• Everything Else

And now, for something completely different...

Exclusive (hah!) photos of Major League Baseball's 1999 AllStar Game at Boston's Fenway Park.

Take a look at some photographs of mine. They have nothing to do with diseases of any kind. They are, however, pleasant to look at, which is reason enough in my mind to include them here.
One of them even won the Grand Prize in a photo contest sponsored by businesses of Estes Park, CO.

Here are 1995's pictures. We took another trip to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. I didn't take quite so many pictures this time (17 rolls instead of 25) because the Aspen hadn't turned yet, and it rained a lot of the time we were there, when it wasn't snowing. So I didn't get to do many of the trails I'd planned on. Eventually I figured out that the challenge was to see the picture that was there, and get it, rather than crab about the picture I wanted to take that wasn't there.

And there are more photos from 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006.

DISCLAIMER:
The documents contained within these WWW pages are presented expressly for informational purposes only. In no way are any of the materials presented here meant to be a substitute for professional medical care or attention by a qualified practitioner, nor should they be construed as such. ALWAYS check with your doctor if you have any questions or concerns about your condition, or before starting a new program of treatment. The sysop is simply a fellow IBD patient performing what he feels to be a valuable public service, and is NOT a doctor. The sysop is not responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for ANY form of damages whatsoever resulting from the use (or misuse) of information contained in or implied by these documents.
Materials presented on these pages is copyrighted by the various authors. Except as superseded in individual documents found here, these materials may not be sold or redistributed for profit in any way without express (not email) written permission of the authors. This includes, but is not limited to, translations into foreign languages, mass archival as on a CD_ROM and inclusion in commercially published compilations (books).
Otherwise you are free to copy (some of) these documents for personal use, or to make them available for redistribution in electronic format, provided that:

1) it remains wholly unedited and unmodified,
2) no fee or compensation is charged for copies of or access to this information, and
3) copyright notices and the accompanying disclaimers remain attached.

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