Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA)
PVA is a specialist in a directory of generalists: the only congressionally chartered veterans service organization dedicated solely to veterans with spinal cord injury or disease. Its membership is narrow by design — but its service officers, like the other chartered VSOs', help all veterans and their families, free of charge.
- Founded: 1946 — conceived January 18, 1946, by seventy paraplegic patients at Birmingham General Hospital, Van Nuys, California
- Status: Congressionally chartered veterans service organization; 501(c)(3) nonprofit
- Headquarters: Washington, D.C.
- Size: “more than 16,000 members”; 73 offices and 33 chapters nationwide (PVA’s own figures)
- Website: pva.org
Who it serves
Membership is limited, and PVA states it exactly: a U.S. citizen or territorial national, a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces discharged other than dishonorably, with a spinal cord injury or disease (SCI/D) — including ALS and MS (all veterans with those diagnoses qualify), cauda equina syndrome, poliomyelitis, spina bifida, spinal cord tumor, severe spinal stenosis causing neurological impairment, syringomyelia, and transverse myelitis. Service-connected and non-service-connected disabilities both qualify.
Services are not limited to members. PVA’s National Service Officers are accredited experts who “can legally represent Veterans, dependents and survivors before the VA” — free — and PVA states they help ALL veterans and their families get the benefits they have earned.
What it does
- Veterans benefits — NSO claims representation (above), including monitoring of care inside VA spinal cord injury units.
- Research and education toward a cure and better care for paralysis.
- Accessibility — architecture and advocacy for accessible public buildings and spaces, the work that made PVA a central voice behind disability access law.
- Veterans Career Program — free career planning and vocational counseling for veterans, transitioning service members, spouses, and caregivers.
- Sports and rehabilitation programs; PN magazine for people with SCI/D, their families, and caregivers; scholarships extending to members’ spouses and dependent children.
How a family uses it
- Benefits Helpline: 1-866-734-0857. Main line: (800) 424-8200.
- Membership: pva.org/find-support/membership (DD-214, medical evidence of SCI/D, and proof of citizenship required) · members@pva.org · 888-838-7782.
A family whose veteran lives with catastrophic injury should know this organization exists even if he never qualifies for its membership card — the helpline and the career program do not ask for one.
Facts on this page are drawn from PVA's own published materials (pva.org), checked October 2026. PVA's own site governs. Corrections: care@bowmanwebservices.com.