Wheeler-Dealer

| BOOK NOOK

Wheeler-Dealer: The Rip-Roaring Adventures of My Uncle Gordon, a Quadriplegic in Hollywood. By Chip Jacobs. First Person Press, Los Angeles, 2006. 303 pp. ISBN 0-9761331-9-9.

Reviewed by Andrea Dimech

When I first set out to read this book my purpose was to see if, as a United Spinal staff member living without a disability, I could gain some additional insight into a world I can only imagine, a world of living with a spinal cord injury. Since I began working here I have gained many friends, some of whom use a wheelchair to get around. I have also become quite knowledgeable about the great strides the disability movement has made in the last 60 years.

After reading Wheeler-Dealer, I have to admit there was not much more that I learned about this life I view from the outside. One thing I did learn though, is that human perseverance and determination can get anything accomplished, no matter what time period or circumstances you are born into.

Chip Jacobs recalls the story of his Uncle Gordon, paralyzed from the shoulders down as the result of an accident in the gym at age 13, and in doing so, he uncovers hidden family secrets, and the strength of his uncle to live life to the fullest in the face of tragedy. The book begins with Chip as a young boy in Hollywood, visiting Gordon in the hospital. The smells, sounds and sights overwhelm his senses and he is too young to fully understand the circumstances of what has happened. The book takes place over a 20-year span, uncovering the trials and tribulations of every member of this family. Fully dramatizing the fact that spinal cord injury changes not only the dynamics of any family unit, but entire neighborhoods.

Wheeler-Dealer takes you back to the roaring 1950s. Although a midpoint of the 20th century, it was merely the beginning of accessibility, as we know it today. Simple advances like curb cuts, and accessible public transportation were only an idea. Finding accessible housing outside of a nursing home was unheard of. But Gordon is the master of his own fate. What he wants, he gets.

Gordon hires an architect to build one of the first fully accessible homes. Realizing people might not be able to get past his appearance; he conducts most of his business by phone until he can secure a contract. Impressed by his inability to give up, Hollywood producers and movie stars flock to him while he markets his father’s background music for feature films and television shows. Innovative thinking and willpower prove to be the combination Gordon banks on, risking it all to prove his will to survive is more powerful than a doctor’s grim prognosis. Surpassing everyone’s expectations with a little help from his friends, who would help transfer him into a car, or tie his wheelchair to the helm of a boat, or assist him on his many business trips to Asia, Africa or the Middle East, Gordon accomplishes what most of us only dream of.

It will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and it will make you want to turn your dreams of the impossible into reality. An inspiration to anyone who reads it, with or without a disability. Gordon lives a life of glamour, travel, and financial success. What have you got to lose? When it’s all on the line you dive in and take the plunge. Gordon proves he is in control of his life and lives each and every minute to the fullest.

I encourage you to meet the characters this book introduces you to and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Andrea Dimech is senior graphic designer of Action.