Every attempt is made to provide information about international organizations for individuals with HSP or PLS. There is a small handful of groups listed below that are specific to HSP, which may be open to those with PLS. There do not appear to be any international organizations specifically dedicated to PLS, however, many international ALS or MDA organizations include PLS and/or HSP in their services.

Jean Chambers, an SPF board member who lives in Canada, organizes Connection events there.  Please contact Jean.

A helpful link is the International Alliance of ALS/MND Associations, comprised of more than 50 national patient support and advocacy groups from over 40 countries worldwide.

HSP Group formed in Europe

The HSP groups of France, the UK, Spain, Norway, Iceland and Germany are in the process of building a European HSP-group. Other countries are expected to participate as well. 

Website: http://www.hsp-info.eu/
Contacts:

NEW:  Denmark, Kåre Pedersen, kaare@pedersen.tcdadsl.dk
   France, Philippe Grammont, pg@hsp-info.eu
  Great Britain, Ian Bennett, ib@hsp-info.eu
  Spain, Francisco Rodriguez, fr@hsp-info.eu
  Norway, Ingerid Ringheim, ir@hsp-info.eu
  Iceland, Sigurdur H. Pétursson, sg@hsp-info.eu
  Germany, Rudolf Kleinsorge, rk@hsp-info.eu

 A search engine was added to the European HSP homepage. This search engine works in more than 800 abstracts of the last five years concerning HSP. Every HSP related item as well as the names of HSP researchers can be entered as a search string.   HSP Search 

Australian HSP Support Group and Foundation

Mission: The HSP Research Foundation is a health promotion charity that is a voice for HSP sufferers throughout Australia. It will raise funds for HSP directed research and make applications for funding by Government. It will promote the establishment of gene testing facilities in Australia and maintain a database of affected individuals. The HSPRF will become a focal point for neurologists, scientists, gene counselors and academics as well as sufferers. 

Website: http://www.hspersunite.org.au
Contact Robin Bligh at rjbligh@bigpond.net.au

Association Strümpell-Lorrain (French)

Philippe Grammont
Association Strümpell-Lorrain
7 D rue des Granges, F 25000 Besançon
Tél. et Fax. : + 33 3 81 83 52 40
Email: asl.spastic@wanadoo.fr
Website: http://assoc.wanadoo.fr/asl.spastic/

Philippe Grammont is able to answer in English, French, and limited German and Spanish. The ASL has a quarterly newsletter available (in French). ASL also maintains an International Registry of people with HSP.

United Kingdom FSP Support Group

An internet site for the support group covering the UK, with quarterly newsletters and annual meetings. Contact information:

David Pearce
FSP Group Secretary
8 Brinkworth Road
Clayhall
Ilford
Essex, IG5 0JS
UK
Email: pearce-david-john@yahoo.co.uk
Website: http://www.fspgroup.org/

Asociacion Española de Paraparesia Espastica Familiar (AEPEF) (Spanish)

c/ Algeciras 3, 2º C
28005 Madrid
Presidente Francisco Rodriguez Galvan
Email: aepef@yahoo.es
Website: http://es.geocities.com/aepef/
Group (Spanish) aepef@yahoogroups.com

HSP-Scandinavia

Hans Filipsson has started the HSP-Scandinavia (formerly HSP-Sweden) YahooGroup community, which provides an email discussion list for speakers of Swedish, Danish and Norwegian.For more information, or to become a member of the HSP-Scandinavia community, click on the button or link below. If you are not already a member of Yahoo, you will need to register in order to join (registration is free). Questions about the HSP-Scandinavia community should be directed to HSP-Scandinavia-owner@egroups.com.

The Tom Wahlig Foundation (German)

The foundation was been named after its founder - Dr. Tom Wahlig It is an independent welfare foundation, organized under the roof of the Ernst Abbe Foundation and lead by the founder and two other persons. The aim of the foundation is to support both research in the field of the familial spastic spinal paralysis and persons affected including their relatives. The foundation holds symposiums and informative events about this disease.

Dr. Tom Wahlig
Veghestraße 22
48149 Münster
Tel: +49 (0)251 294848 Fax: 278564
Email: Wahlig@t-online.de

NEW!   HSP Meeting in Germany - April 11, 2008

Hereditary Neurodegenerations: Genes, mechanism and diseases - The 2008 Tom Wahlig Foundation symposium will be held on April 11 at the Magdeburg, Maritim Hotel (in central Germany). The meeting will feature well known researchers from all over the world. For a copy of the tentative speaker list please contact Annette Lockwood. If you are interested in attending, please contact Rudi Kleinsorge.

German Tom Wahlig Foundation presents its new website. It is in German and in English (click on the United Kingdom flag in the upper right hand corner). See www.hsp-info.de

NOTE: There is also a Support Group of HSP-sufferers in Germany which closely cooperates with the Tom-Wahlig-Foundation. The group has already more than 250 members at the beginning of the year 2006. The web site of the group is www.hsp-selbsthilfegruppe.de. The Support Group informs its members about all news to the HSP and gives advice to dealing with the illness. SPF has been proud to have taken part in a study of the group concerning the symptoms of the HSP. A small initial evaluation has been released - click here (PDF). A full evaluation will be finished in the spring if the study is completed. Contact the group: Rudolf Kleinsorge rk@hsp-selbsthilfegruppe.de or Lothar Riehl lr@hsp-selbsthilfegruppe.de.