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Understanding ALS: Home

Welcome!

 

Welcome to the home page for the Design Thinking Project! We have tons of resources for you to learn more about ALS here. This guide is divided into five sections: home, websites, videos, databases and celebrities with ALS.

At the bottom of this page you will see a link to a private page where you can find passwords to access our databases from off campus as well!

What is ALS?

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (a-my-o-TROE-fik LAT-ur-ul skluh-ROE-sis), or ALS, is a progressive nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of muscle control.

ALS often begins with muscle twitching and weakness in a limb, or slurred speech. Eventually, ALS affects control of the muscles needed to move, speak, eat and breathe. There is no cure for this fatal disease.                         --- The Mayo Clinic, mayoclinic.org

Lou Gehrig's Disease

ALS is often called Lou Gehrig's disease, after the baseball player who was diagnosed with it. Doctors usually don't know why ALS occurs. Some cases are inherited.