Q: l"m a Quad looking for second hand vans. Can you point me to an e-mail list or a web page address?
A: Disabled Dealer magazine lists used mobility equipment and is currently published in Fl and Ca with more regional publications to come. One caveat: Remember that beauty, or in this case, price, is in the eye of the beholder. The magazine does give a useful basis for comparing prices of used adapted Motor vehicles. Contact Disabled Dealer by e-mail at disdeal@aol.com or by phone at 800/555-4036.
Both the National Organization on Disability and the American Association of People with Disabilities now have current information about the presidential candidates posted on their web sites.
Links to the disability platforms of President Bush and each Democratic contender who responded can be found at www.nod.org/election.2004.html. "I am pleased that the candidates' statements linked to our web site reflect serious thought and attention to our constituency by the candidates," says NOD President Alan Reich. "Never have they spoken out so early in a campaign."
AAPD asked a series of questions on such issues as MICASSA to all nine Democratic contenders. Seven responded: Carol Moseley Braun, Wesley Clark, Howard Dean, John Edwards, Dick Gephardt, John Kerry and Dennis Kucinich. AAPD says President Bush was not sent a questionnaire since he definitely will be the Republican candidate. For candidates' responses, log on to www.aapd-dc. org/campaign04/presdisability.html, or call AAPD at 800-840-8844.
ADA CASES TO WATCH
RadioShack is being sued for inaccessible merchandise displays, lack of clear path travel, and inaccessible entrances. One of the plaintiffs, wheelchair user Stephen Rosen, says he tried to enter a RadioShack in Bethesda, Md., but a step blocked the entrance and RadioShack employees ignored his requests for help, saying they were "too busy."
In addition to Rosen, the RadioShack plaintiffs
include the Disability Rights Council of Greater Washington and wheelchair user Selene Fear DaltonKumins. The DRC says 100 percent of the RadioShacks in the Washington, D.C., area are inaccessible in one way or another.
Also in Washington, D.C., four former patients with physical disabilities sued the Washington Hospital Center in late November, saying the hospital lacks adjustable-height examination tables, accessible nursing call buttons, rest rooms and telephones. Plaintiffs in both cases are being represented by the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.
MED SCHOOL? NO PROBLEM
Dale Brannon was a 24-year-old college junior when his plans to attend med school were put on hold—but only temporarily—after a C6-7 injury in 1994. Now in his first-year residency at the University of Oklahoma, Brannon joins the small but growing number of quads who've graduated medical school.
"I had to do a gut check," he says of his post-injury options. "I was married, had a baby, and considered teaching, business, or running a restaurant, but those things would have been just as difficult, so I just did what I always wanted to do. The biggest hurdle was just getting in." Brannon employs a nurse practitioner to assist in some duties of his first-year residency in nuclear medicine, but the expense is out-of-pocket. "I'll accept assistance when I'm entitled to it," he says, "but nobody's going to see me trying to get a free ride."
Still, Brannon admits he didn't get through med school entirely on his own. "If it wasn't for my wife and family, I wouldn't have been able to do it," he says. "I saw a lot of guys abandoned by their friends and families in rehab. I know how lucky I've been.
LOOK MA, FREE HANDS!
Quads are benefiting from an advanced application of Functional electrical stimulation in NeuroControl's Freehand system, which restores some hand function.
"I use mine every day and I'm lost without it," says Freehand user John Mumford of Denver, a 49-year-old C5-6 quad who's been using the implant for three years. "I use my hand the same way someone with a functional hand would. Instead of wishing I could do what was needed or wanted," says Mumford, who is 18 years post-injury, "I
