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For those who can’t use accessible mass transportation systems, the ADA requires localities to make available paratransit services. How have they been performing since the ADA became law?
By Terry Moakley
Charles Roman (in chair) is mostly satisfied with the paratransit service he has received. Is he typical or unusual?
In June of 2005, in his letter of transmittal to President Bush of his agency’s comprehensive report-The Current State of Transportation for People with Disabilities in the United States- then-National Council on Disability (NCD) chairperson Lex Frieden wrote, “There have been many advances in America’s transportation systems and services [...]
By Bob Nunn
Dealers mingled at the National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association (NMEDA) show in Tampa, Florida where new products making personal transportation more accessible to drivers with disabilities were exhibited.
When Carol Hawkins needed a rear-entry wheelchair van to transport her 37-year-old daughter, Joella, from Rhode Island to Florida, Hawkins turned to eBay. Joella, who has spina bifida and hydrocephalus, uses a wheelchair too big to fit in a side-entry vehicle.
Late last year, Hawkins paid $13,500 for a used van from someone in Kentucky and immediately noticed problems with the vehicle upon delivery. A discrepancy with the odometer [...]
How does someone with limited resources find an affordable adapted vehicle? Here’s one person’s story…
By Tiffiny Carlson
Note: Some of the terms used in the following article are specific to the state of Minnesota.
Four wheels. We can get them for free from the government if they’re on durable medical equipment, but when it comes to gas-powered four-wheeled vehicles that take us 65 mph on the Interstate (i.e., an adapted vehicle), the government isn’t as interested in giving those away for free.
Most states simply don’t like to fund adapted vehicles for citizens with disabilities. With new vans costing upwards [...]
Hybrid Taxis at the Expense of Accessibility
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s announcement that the city’s yellow taxi fleet will become completely hybrid within five years (news article, May 23) callously ignores the immediate transportation needs of people with severe physical disabilities who cannot enter or exit currently approved hybrid taxi vehicles, as well as New York City’s growing aging population, who are much more likely to acquire a physical impairment.
Despite the availability today of half a dozen minivans that can be modified for easy access for all people, and the continuing development of a factory-built wheelchair accessible sedan that can carry four additional [...]
Staff and members participated in PepsiCo’s first annual Multicultural Inclusion Summit.
By Marlene Harmon-Perkins and Kleo King
On March 27 to 29 more than 500 of PepsiCo’s senior management staff and personnel from around the world came together for the first time to discuss the company’s plans, goals, and commitment to cultural diversity.
In the past, the various groups representing different cultural entities, met individually to formulate policy, ideas, and programs that would enhance the company’s outlook regarding diversity. For the first time, however, under the leadership of PepsiCo’s new Chairman Elect and CEO Indra Nooyi and the direction of Ron Parker, [...]
Women liberated by their wheelchairs are celebrated at the annual Rolling with Style Gala during Fashion Week in New York.
By Kelly Rouba
Wendy Crawford, chairwoman and founding member of Discovery through Design, rolls on the red carpet in a chair and outfit designed by Thom Browne.
Last month, seven women made history by becoming fashion “roll models” when they rolled down the runway in their wheelchairs during the peak of Fashion Week in New York City.
“You are truly part of a historic event,” said Marilyn Hamilton, creator of Quickie wheelchairs, as she addressed nearly 600 attendees following the fashion [...]
By Rosemarie Rossetti, Ph.D.
When you are a wheelchair-user, you really notice when a bathroom is designed properly and meets your every need. Too often we are confronted with public restrooms, as well as hotel bathrooms, with designs that inhibit our independence and make life more difficult.
When given the chance to remodel our existing bathrooms or build a new house with custom bathrooms, we need to pay attention to all the details. Size does matter. An improperly sized bathroom can force us into a world of frustration and a lack of privacy. I know from experience.
It has been eight years since my [...]
The Murderball star becomes the spokesperson for anyone who’s ever had to wait for an accessible parking spot.
By Jennifer Rodriguez-Khadir
Mark Zupan scowls at a crucial moment of a new public
service announcement for United Spinal Association.
With his short red hair and long red goatee, US Paralympic quad rugby player Mark Zupan has become an icon since his starring role in the 2005 documentary Murderball, followed by indestructible appearances on MTV’s Jackass and the film Jackass Two. Late last year, Zupan, who has been a C-6-7 quad since an accident in college, published a memoir provocatively titled [...]
By William Clarke
The tow rope became tense. It signaled that an object of great mass was being pulled. That object was me-or I was part of the object.
I was at a ski mountain in Pennsylvania by the name of Camelback, a chilly vacation spot. I came with my brother, my two nephews, my 9-year-old son and the promise that I would be joining in the fun. Me being the adventurous type, I had jumped at the chance to go.
On the drive up, everyone was playing it cool. Even the kids wanted to appear as if they had done this [...]
By Rosemarie Rossetti, PhD
Last fall, my husband and I met Mark and Jasue Mix of Warsaw, Ohio, who had recently built a home along universal design principles. An Iraq war veteran who was injured in the war, Mark now uses a wheelchair. We were curious about the universal design features used in the Mix home that we could incorporate in our own new home (and future Universal Design Living Laboratory www.udll.com).
As we entered the kitchen and stopped to chat at the center island, Mark handed me a list of things that he and his wife wished they had done [...]
By Tamar Asedo Sherman
Suppose you’ve been injured or are experiencing exacerbations from a chronic health condition that impacts your ability to work. Before you leave that job in anger and frustration, stop and think. Is there some modification or adjustment to the job, the work environment, or the way things are usually done that would enable you to continue to do your job?
A travel agent with paraplegia, Kelly Giannattasio shares some traveling tips she’s picked up from personal experience.
By Tiffiny Carlson
Kelly Giannattasio, 33, of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, didn’t plan to become a travel agent while in college. “I had just graduated with my degree in Exercise Physiology four months before the injury.” Giannattasio, a T-6 complete paraplegic, was injured in a Jeep rollover accident in Santa Barbara, California, back in 1998.
Knowing her previous professional goal of becoming a physical trainer would be out of the question, Giannattasio decided to answer an ad looking for travel counselors. “I figured it was [...]
United Spinal Board member Denise Mc Quade’s struggle with polio as a child steeled her for the larger struggle of advocating for the civil rights of people with disabilities
By Rob Ingraham
Board member Denise Mc Quade educated
United Spinal staff about her condition at a recent
“Lunch and Learn” seminar on post-polio.
For most of us, the word “polio” conjures up black and white images from the 1950s: school kids lined up for vaccinations, clumsy metal and leather leg braces, a doctor named Jonas Salk, and a fearsome device known as an “iron lung.”
During the early 1950s, more than 20,000 new [...]
By Josie Kelly
As the holidays approach, most of us fondly remember the games and toys of our childhood. The anticipation of tearing open wrapping paper to find a new toy, and the pleasure of mastering the new skills such toys represent, are universal. Children with disabilities are no different, even if the toys we found under our wrapping paper weren’t always the same as the toys of other kids. While “Big Wheels” were making a commotion roaming the sidewalks in my neighborhood in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I was making my own noise on my “Sit ‘n’ Spin” and mesmerizing [...]
By Tamar Asedo Sherman
Thanks to technology, there are many devices that can increase, maintain or improve the functional capabilities of people with spinal cord impairments, enabling us to live independently and even return to work. If you can move anything—a finger, your mouth, your eyelid or your head—you can operate a computer. Technology is progressing so fast that there are few limitations that can’t be overcome.
By Rosemarie Rossetti, Ph.D.
Universal design is a framework for the design of living and working spaces and products benefiting the widest possible range of people in the widest range of situations without special or separate design. My husband Mark Leder and I have been applying its principles as we build our new home, the Universal Design Living Library (www.udll.com) in Columbus, Ohio, which I’ve written about in previous columns.
Ron Mace, an internationally renowned architect, product designer and educator, is credited with conceiving the term “universal design.” He founded the Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University (www.design.ncsu.edu/cud) in Raleigh [...]
Social Security: Proposed Cuts Would Hurt People with Disabilities
People with disabilities have long complained about inadequate service from the Social Security Administration (SSA): lengthy delays in applying for disability benefits, poor administration of work incentive programs, and, of course, the ever-present long lines and wait times on the 800 number. Now these problems threaten to get even worse.
The proposed funding for SSA’s administrative costs in this year’s Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriation bills is even lower than the already inadequate figure proposed by the President. The current House bill would reduce SSA’s budget to $200 million below [...]
United Spinal is partnering with PepsiCo to create a model corporate culture for people with disabilities.
By Dominic Marinelli
During the past year, United Spinal Association has worked with the PepsiCo family, which includes Pepsi, Frito-Lay, Quaker Oats, Gatorade and Tropicana, to improve employment opportunities and accessibility for people with disabilities inside the company.
The initiative began during the fall of 2005 when the leadership of PepsiCo invited United Spinal to participate in a day-long meeting focusing on the varying abilities of employees and customers. Throughout the day, staff members from United Spinal discussed issues impacting people with disabilities with PepsiCo management.
“We were specifically [...]
By John M. Williams
Three times within the past year, I have witnessed the new Microsoft Windows Vista’s accessibility features being demonstrated. Each time increased my appreciation of the Windows upgrade, which is due for general release just after the New Year, and I now rate the new accessibility features higher than the original Windows accessibility features.
Windows Vista includes a new Ease of Access center (located in the Control Panel), where anyone can turn on accessibility settings and tools. Users can enter the Center by selecting Winkey (between the control and alt keys on PC keyboards) +U. A questionnaire helps users [...]
UN Panel Approves Treaty to Protect the World’s Estimated 650 Million People With Disabilities
On August 26, a United Nations General Assembly panel passed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities-a treaty to expand the rights and freedoms of persons with disabilities throughout the world. The full 192-nation General Assembly is expected to approve the treaty during its next session, which opens in September. The treaty is expected to take effect in 2008 or 2009.
The treaty will require nations that sign it to adopt laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability. Currently only 45 nations have laws that protect [...]
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