It's no secret standard accessories sometimes aren't enough for the average auto-driving SCI wheeler, especially quads. Doug Grems, C6, from Esterville , Iowa , employed some homespun smarts of his own when he realized the tabless wiper control on his 2004 Chevrolet Express van was too hard to operate.
His solution: Cut a small piece of black plastic and contour it to match the curve of the control with a rotary tool. Adhere it with Gorilla Glue and clamp it on overnight to finish the job. Grems says his solution, now colored with a black marker, looks like it came standard. Nice!
Lurking beneath the warm depths of the Gulf of Mexico is one of the most unlikely treasure hunters that curious clownfish have ever run into. Tim Swieckowski, 29, is one of the very few scuba divers in the world with his level of injury (C3-5). He's also the founder of DreamQuest Adventurers (www.dreamquest.cc).
Swieckowski's bicycle accident in 1990 led him to found the company, which researches long-lost shipwrecks and splits the treasure among their investors. "My company was set up to bring in all adventurers, nondisabled and disabled alike," says Swieclowski. "At this present time we've started the final archaeological research on three specific treasure wrecks off the coast of Florida ."
Swieckowski, a resident of Indian Rocks Beach , Fl, uses PADI scuba gear, a 100-cubic-foot oxygen cylinder, and a breathing regulator with a sensitive setting to accommodate his shallow breathing. "I hope to have a diving company support me with the more costly, but safer, full diving mask with communication and a breathing regulator built in."
Swieckowski hopes the company's first official dives will happen soon. In the meantime, he has diving recreationally in his favorite spot, Key West , Fl.
"There are so many incentives to diving beyond my own biased Dream Quest," he says. "One of the most fascinating things I've found about being underwater is that when you take in air and keep more in you than you expel, you rise up. With that said, this technique enables a quadriplegic to stay mid-drift off the bottom, moving with the current. This actual feeling is the closest I have come to the feeling of walking again-because if you concentrate on your breathing you can almost stand up with your feet touching the ocean floor.
*RoHo High Profile 16x16 cushions; $160; 589-6620.
*Ford 1997 Econoline Van; 100,140 mi; $16,000. Hunter Green-gray; new tires & brakes; "loaded"; call 270-786-4547; ask for Dale.
*Cookbooks for Sale : Recipes compiled by Chapter members; $10:00. Call David @ 589-6620.
*Video tapes for sale . Various topics related to spinal cord injuries. Call David Allgood or Buddy Lawson.
***If assistance is needed to pay for any of the above items, contact Kentucky Assistive Technology Loan Corporation at for information on loans at 5% interest to qualified candidates.
