SPORTS — 2024 Paralympics
Team USA
Medals
The first medal for the United States was silver, claimed by Ellie Marks in the women’s 50m freestyle Para Swimming event. The first gold was won by Gia Pergolini in the women’s 100m backstroke Para Swimming event.
Here’s a look at all medals won by the U.S. in the Paris Paralympics. Use the controls at the top to see medal breakdowns by sport, gender and day of competition.
In the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, the United States won a total of 113 medals, down from 121 in the 2016 Rio Paralympics. Here’s a look at the medal totals over the past six Summer Paralympics:
The 105 medals won in 2024 ranks as the 10th-highest total ever for Team USA.
The record medal haul was in the 1984 Stoke Mandeville Paralympics, when the United States won 397 medals in total.
Leaving an indelible mark on the landscape of tomorrow.
Electronic implants enable paraplegic patients to stand and walk for first time
Electronic implants have for the first time enabled people totally paralyzed by spinal cord injury to stand, walk and even swim and cycle. Swiss researchers at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and Lausanne University Hospital announced in 2018 that their devices had restored movement to the legs of paraplegic patients with partial spinal injuries. Now they have improved the technology with new implants and artificial intelligence software to restore trunk and leg function to three patients whose lower limbs had been completely immobile. The study is published in the journal Nature Medicine. “All three patients were able to stand, walk, pedal, swim and control their torso movements in just one day, after their implants were activated,” said Grégoire Courtine, EPFL professor and co-leader of the project. “That’s thanks to the specific stimulation programs we wrote for each type of activity.” Patients specify their desired activity on a small tablet computer, which relays the appropriate instructions wireless to a pacemaker in their abdomen and then on to a series of electrodes implanted in the lower spinal cord, below the injury site. These stimulate nerve cells to initiate movement in the muscles. One of the patients, Michel Roccati who was paralyzed in a motorbike accident four years ago, described his experience of the implant ahead of the study’s publication. “The first few steps were incredible — a dream come true,” Roccati said. Intensive training over several months strengthened muscles wasted by years of inactivity, while getting the brain re-accustomed to standing and moving around. “I’ve set myself a series of goals,” said Roccati. “For instance, I can now go up and down stairs, and I hope to be able to walk one kilometer [with a walker] by this spring.”
Elon Musk’s Nueralink Company making groundbreaking innovations toward making the disabled able
Neuralink is currently seeking people with quadriplegia to participate in a groundbreaking investigational medical device clinical trial for our brain-computer interface.
If you have quadriplegia and want to explore new ways of controlling your computer, please consider joining our Patient Registry.
Reversing Paralysis: “Dancing Molecules” Can Fix Spinal Cord Injuries
A new injectable treatment for spinal cord injury makes use of specially created molecules that prompt spinal cells to respond by healing. The scientists used X-ray characterization at the Advanced Photon Source (APS). This allowed the scientists to ascertain the structure of these molecules as they combined to create small fibers in a liquid solution.
These fibers’ motion may be controlled by scientists, making it possible for the fibers to interact with the spinal cells more effectively.
The Treatment’s Impact
Every year, hundreds of thousands of individuals have spinal injuries that often result in paralysis. For many years, researchers have been looking for a cure for these injuries. With only one dosage, this new injectable treatment reversed paralysis in mice after four weeks.
If it works the same way in people, individuals with serious spinal injuries could have a chance to walk once again. The techniques and approaches to characterization with X-rays could also help develop other therapeutic approaches requiring insights into the molecular structure.
Summary
A critical portion of this research into a novel treatment for spinal injuries was conducted at the APS, a Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility at Argonne National Laboratory. There, scientists from Northwestern University and the Air Force Research Laboratories used ultrabright X-ray beams to study the structure of the engineered molecules and how they behaved together in a solution.
Injected as a liquid, the molecules came together to form tiny fiber structures (called nanofibers) that surrounded the spinal cord.
Disability Rights and Voting Access: A significant case involving Disability Rights Mississippi (DRMS) recently addressed absentee voting rights for disabled individuals. In 2023, Mississippi passed Senate Bill (SB) 2358, which limited the ability of people with disabilities to choose who could assist them in submitting absentee ballots. However, this law faced legal challenges, with advocates arguing it violated Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act, which guarantees disabled voters the right to assistance from a person of their choice. In 2024, the court granted an injunction against SB 2358, and the state revised the law through SB 2425 to better align with federal protections. This change ensures that disabled voters can now receive help from someone of their choosing to submit absentee ballots during elections https://www.aclu.org/cases/disability-rights-mississippi-v-fitch?document=Plaintiffs-Appellees-Opposition-to-Motion-to-Dismiss-Appeal
Mental Health Legislation: Mississippi has made strides in mental health services for individuals with disabilities through the Mississippi Collaborative Response to Mental Health Act, introduced in 2023. The legislation aims to improve collaboration between mental health professionals and law enforcement by requiring training in Mental Health First Aid across the state’s agencies. This training is designed to support better interaction with individuals with mental health challenges, many of whom also have other disabilities, and to reduce reliance on inpatient services
