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For many people with disabilities, accessible vans are the key to unlocking their independence on the road.
By Tom Scott
As more and more wheelchair-users take to the road in pursuit of adventure, many prefer the peace of mind that comes with being behind the controls of a vehicle modified to fit their needs and equipped for the long haul— wherever the destination may be. Let’s face it, the last thing most of us want to deal with on vacation is public transportation, especially if you’re planning your own itinerary and would like to visit attractions and tourist spots at [...]
A native of Sun Valley, Idaho, Muffy Davis (seen above balancing near the rim of the Fox River Gorge in Namibia) injured her spine while training at Olympic ski racing during high school.
Davis and husband Jeff ride
an elephant in Thailand.
After graduating valedictorian in her class and while continuing her studies at Stanford University, Davis discovered adaptive skiing, and she was off and racing again-and winning medals at Nagano and Salt Lake City and World Cup titles in Switzerland multiple years in a row.
Davis has also long been involved in community service. She won an award for [...]
Getting Somewhere?
Well, I’m not sure exactly how to respond to your recent articles on public transit accessibility (July 2007), other than to say, you are referencing only the most advanced and progressive regions while ignoring the bulk of the United States, which appears to be ignoring the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Planning a mile-high vacation? Here are three ways to have extreme fun in Colorado for the adventure-loving adaptive sportsperson.
By Andrea J. Kennedy
Downhill mountain bikers can test their skills on stairs at the top of the trail leading to the road down the mountain.
Colorado is one of the most adventurous destinations in the world. Lovers of the outdoors are attracted to the state’s endless mountain landscapes, bountiful rivers and lakes, and four seasons of fresh air, blue skies, and perfect weather. But perhaps contrary to popular belief, Colorado is also one of the most accessible states in the US. Small ski [...]
Recently I was talking to David Politz, 45, an Air Force veteran and United Spinal member from Philadelphia, who was telling me about his plans this summer. After four years in rehab for an accident that resulted in a spinal cord injury, Dave said, “I’m finally going to take a vacation.”
This past spring, Dave was reading an issue of Action when his eye fell on an ad for “wheelchair friendly cruises” from Royal Caribbean and United Spinal’s ABLE to Travel program. (You can see a similar ad on page 15 of this issue.) “Something about it really caught my attention,” Dave [...]
The 1986 Air Carrier Access Act has been updated and expanded to include foreign carriers, but travelers with disabilities still have a responsibility to help keep air travel as accessible as possible.
By Kleo King
The Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) was enacted into law in 1986 and the implementing regulations were promulgated four years later by the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). A lot has happened in the 21 years since the passing of the legislation.
Significant amendments to the regulations have been added, including requiring level-entry boarding, mechanical lifts or other devices for all aircraft with 19 or more [...]
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 [...]
As warmer weekends and summer vacations draw near, the number of Americans participating in outdoor recreational activities and sports increases. And unfortunately, so do the injuries.
By Celina De León
Never ride without a certified motorcycle helmet and eye protection.
United Spinal Association’s Motorsafe program is a nationwide public awareness campaign promoting safe motoring. The program targets all people who operate automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), motorboats, personal watercraft, and snowmobiles. United Spinal’s goal is to share information and knowledge of specific hazards involved in operating these types of equipment and to highlight good practices that will prevent serious injury or even [...]
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 [...]
By now you have received, and hopefully have had the opportunity to review, proposed bylaw changes mailed to you last month. With the change in our organization’s name three years ago and our expanded mission, it was essential to overhaul our governing and procedural rules.
The proposed revisions were the result of lengthy review and deliberation by a board-appointed committee composed of board members and members-at-large whose knowledge and experience we hold in the highest esteem.
Alfred Hitchcock famously defined suspense by invoking a scene in a movie in which two people are innocuously chatting and, without warning, a bomb under the table goes off. Now compare that with a scene in which the audience knows there’s a bomb under a table at which two people are innocuously chatting. “In the first case we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion,” Hitchcock said. “In the second case we have provided them with fifteen minutes of suspense.”
A similar principle is at work on me knowing what will be in coming issues [...]
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 [...]
Looking to get back into the sport of downhill skiing, or to try it for the first time? Here are a few things you will want to know before you plan a trip.
By Beth Livingston
The author poses with Dave Donaldson, recreation therapist
for C-5 (combat casualty care center) at Balboa
Naval Medical Center, San Diego, and Mohawkie,
a service dog sponsored by Life Is Good!, while attending
the Ski Spectacular in Breckenridge, Colorado, last month.
Editor’s Note: In the February 2006 Action, former Paralympic skier Beth Livingston wrote the following about her return to the slopes after [...]
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 [...]
Universities to Study Wheelchair Transportation Safety
The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) and three other university partners have been awarded a $4.5 million five-year federal grant to continue research on transportation safety and usability for people in wheelchairs.
The U.S. Department of Education’s National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research has renewed funding of the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Wheelchair Transportation Safety (RERC WTS), a partnership headed by UMTRI that also includes the universities of Pittsburgh, Louisville and Colorado.
The partnership was originally formed in 2001 to advance the safety, usability and independence of the large proportion of 1.7 million wheelchair [...]
If you’re traveling to London in December, please consider including in your itinerary Able Voices – an exhibition of photographs taken by disabled people in Bangladesh, Cameroon and the UK, timed to take place the week following the International Day of Disabled Persons 2006 (December 3rd) at the Hoopers Gallery in Farringdon. The photographs were taken during participatory photography projects run by PhotoVoice in partnership with Healthlink Worldwide and Barchester (UK) Healthcare.
More details are available online at www.photovoice.org/html/exhibitionsandevents/upcoming/bangladeshexhib.html
Sandra Cammaroto of the Transportation Security Administration would like to remind everyone about the new security measures:
I have been getting many calls about the removal of footwear at checkpoints for persons with disabilities and medical conditions.
People with Disabilities, those with prosthetic devices, and those with medical conditions DO NOT have to remove their shoes during this heightened security level nor has this been the case during routine travel times.
TSA Officers know this and should allow all persons with disabilities to keep their shoes on.
Those who keep their shoes on will be subjected to additional screening that [...]
What’s good news for people with disabilities who want to use taxis in New York City is good news for people with disabilities nationwide.
By Terry Moakley
At the end of May, partly as a result of advocacy by United Spinal and other local groups, the New York City Council passed a law that soon will raise the total of hybrid or clean-air taxis to 273 and wheelchair- accessible cabs to 231. In a joint press release issued by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s office on the day of this vote, City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn stated, “We have a responsibility to [...]
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