“Spinal Cord Injury and Parenting” is a Swedish project aimed at increasing knowledge about fertility, pregnancy, childbirth and parenting for people with spinal cord injuries.

About 5,000 people in Sweden live with a spinal cord injury. About 3,000 of these individuals are at an age when people consider starting a family. Having children requires major changes in any family. If one parent also has a spinal cord injury, many questions arise that can be difficult to answer. We who started this project are parents with a spinal cord injury.

Through this project we aim to:

1. Gather information about fertility, pregnancy, childbirth and parenting for people with spinal cord injuries.

2. Disseminate information to people with spinal cord injuries and relevant healthcare personnel.

3. Strengthen and inspire parents and/or parents-to-be with spinal cord injuries. We thereby also indirectly support children of parents with spinal cord injuries.

4. Facilitate encounters where people with spinal cord injuries can inspire each other and share their experiences.

The foundation of the project is this website where information is gathered and presented. Visitors to the website will be able to download information in pdf-format, get tips on assistive equipment and get in touch with other people in the same situation. Lectures on the topic will be available for people with spinal cord injuries, family members and healthcare personnel. A parenting network has also been launched as part of the project.

The project intentionally chose the internet as a platform due to its easy accessibility. By using blogs, twitter and Facebook the project will reach an active target group that is beyond the contact network of spinal cord injury units.

The project is run by the Spinalis Foundation and financed by the Swedish Inheritance Fund and Promobilia.