UBER: Does the Transportation Revolution Include Us?
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Women of Rugby New Gait Brace Cycling for All UBER: Does the Transportation Revolution Include Us? life beyond wheels newmobility.com MAY 2016 $4 Athlete, inspirational speaker, T10 paraplegic, and pizza connoisseur Jeremy McGhee delivers the goods during a night out at Crust Pizzeria in San Diego. You can read Jeremy’s blog and follow his adventures at http://www.JeremyMcGhee.com. Robotic (800) 659-4548 Mobilization www.InnovationsHealth.com Device DISCOVER THE WORLD’S SMALLEST VERTICAL MOBILITY DEVICE Keep up with your world with the TEK-RMD vertical Once stopped, you can stand with ease while using mobility device from Innovations Health. The TEK both hands to reach, grasp, and interact with others allows paraplegics or others with good arm and hand at eye level. Unlike bulky standing power chairs, the function but are unable to stand to be able to quickly TEK allows you to stand close to your family and transfer from a manual chair and instantly experience friends, allowing for conversations without shouting unprecedented vertical mobility. No door is too small or the need to crane your neck. To learn more about for the impossibly narrow TEK. At less than 16.5” the TEK-RMD or any of the other uniquely enabling wide at the base and under 20” wide at the handles, mobility devices from Innovations Health, contact the TEK can squeeze between tables and chairs, us by email at [email protected], visit us maneuver through crowds of people, and allow you online, like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ to drive with one hand while the other remains free. innovationshealth, or call us at (800) 659-4548. ErGOtrans Special thanks to Kimia & Matt Othick and the entire team at San Diego’s safeCrust transfer Pizzeria harness on Carmel Mountain Road. ErGOtrans Powered by safe transfer harness There’s a great big world outside your bathroom. Introducing a better way to go. Peristeen® by Coloplast. Bowel management. It’s hard to talk about. For most people it’s never an issue, but if you’re dealing with bowel incontinence or chronic constipation, it’s almost always on your mind. Peristeen is changing all that with a simple, effective and predictable bowel care routine that can change your life. By cleaning out the lower colon, you can work, dance and go on vacation without worrying about having an accident along the way. That’s confidence. That’s control. That’s freedom. That’s Peristeen. Find out if Peristeen is right for you. Learn more at www.peristeen.us. Important Safety Information: Peristeen empties the bowel by introducing water into the bowel using a rectal catheter. The anal irrigation procedure should always be carried out with care. Bowel perforation is an extremely rare, but serious and potentially lethal complication to anal irrigation and will require immediate admission to hospital, often requiring surgery. The risk information provided here is not comprehensive. To learn more, talk to your healthcare provider to understand the risks and benefits to determine if Peristeen is right for you. This treatment is prescribed by your physician. Although many patients benefit from the use of this device, results may vary. For further questions, call Coloplast Corp. at 1‑855‑605‑7594 and/or consult the company website at www.coloplast.us. Coloplast Corp. Minneapolis, MN 55411 / 1-800-533-0464 www.coloplast.us The Coloplast logo is a registered trademark of Coloplast A/S. © 2016 Coloplast Corp. All rights reserved. M3326N 04.15 M3326N PeristeenLittleAds.indd 5 3/21/16 5:59 PM CONTENTS VOLUME 27 NUMBER 272 May 2016 life beyond wheels FEATURES 14 HIT LIKE A WOMAN Despite its macho image, wheelchair rugby is a coed sport. IAN RUDER talks with women who are trying to level the playing field. 19 A KO TO TRADITIONAL KAFOs? Users are raving about Ottobock’s C-Brace, a new high-tech Knee/Ankle/Foot/Orthotic. RICHARD HOLICKY investigates. 36 HANDCYCLING FOR EVERYONE A wave of new handcycles and adaptations are making it easier for a larger audience to get out and cycle. BY BOB VOGEL Photo by Erin Wild Photography ALL ABOUTCOVER UBER STORY22 Transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft are revolu- tionizing the way we get around, but are they leaving riders with disabilities at the curb? JOSIE BYZEK checks in all around the United States to see how the revolution is affecting our community and the different ways people are adapting to the new reality. DEPARTMENTS 4 BULLY PULPIT 13 EAT WELL, LIVE WELL 6 LETTERS 31 UNITED SPINAL NEWS 8 NEWS 40 MOTORVATION 10 EVERYDAY ADVOCACY 44 RAISING A RUCKUS 12 SCI LIFE 48 CRIP BUZZ JCPenney Photo courtesy of Shayna Pulley BULLY PULPIT life beyond wheels MAY 2016 NEW MOBILITY IS THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF PRESIDENT & CEO: JAMES WEISMAN VICE PRESIDENT OF PUBLICATIONS: JEAN DOBBS EDITORIAL Where Have All the Rental Vans Gone? EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: JEAN DOBBS The days of renting a wheelchair accessible said the only hand-controlled minivan they EDITOR: TIM GILMER minivan with hand controls from an adaptive had was out for two years. At $79 per day, that’s MANAGING EDITOR: JOSIE BYZEK van dealer are all but over. Too bad. $59,250! Huh? The third store said Mobility SENIOR EDITOR: IAN RUDER I love minivans. In 1984 I bought the first Works has no hand-controlled minivans for rent SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: BOB VOGEL available minivan, a Plymouth Voyager. Then in all of Illinois. Hmmm. making travel easy for individuals with spinal cord disabilities EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS: I purchased a 1988 Grand Caravan with the I called three other Mobility Works stores [email protected] more powerful engine, followed by a used 1993 in different states but never found a single model. Now I own a 2001 Town and Country minivan available with hand controls. A smaller with 163,000 miles on it. I’m fortunate to be dealer (not Mobility Works) told me: “Ninety CUSTOMER SERVICE a low para with decent arm and shoulder percent of people who want to rent a minivan Toll-free 800/404-2898, strength. I use a tall wheelchair, so I can transfer are [nondisabled people] who need to pick up ext. 7203 with no need for a lowered floor. I take out one Grandma at the airport. It’s too much hassle back seat, get in on the passenger’s side, pull putting hand controls on and taking them off. my chair in with the wheels on, slide over to the ADVERTISING SALES driver’s seat (no console) and go. If you try to rent a lowered floor 718/803-3782 I have rented dozens of minivans with hand NATIONAL SALES MANAGER: controls from airport rental companies. I did minivan with hand controls from MEGAN LEE, EXT. 7253 that throughout the 1990s up until about 2012, AD MATERIALS: renting in California, Florida, New York, Arizona, an adaptive van dealer, with rare DEANNA FIKE, EXT. 7250 Hawaii — wherever business or pleasure took exceptions, you will not succeed. PRODUCTION me. Then the airport rental companies stopped putting hand controls on their minivans. Besides, it’s not a problem for those who need PRODUCTION MANAGER: DEANNA FIKE Today if you try to rent a lowered floor hand controls if they plan ahead.” minivan with hand controls from an adaptive Really? Not a problem for the single mom CIRCULATION van dealer, with rare exceptions, you will not who’s a para and wants to drive her children on CIRCULATION MANAGER: succeed. You can rent one for someone else to vacation? Not a problem for the businessman BEVERLY SMITH drive — a nondisabled friend, spouse, or aide, wheeler who flies frequently by himself and CIRCULATION COORDINATOR: but if you want a hand-controlled minivan to must have a ramp van? Not a problem for me MARIA KURTZ drive yourself, forget it. when I wanted to visit my nephew who was dy- POSTMASTER: Send address changes to New Mobility, 120-34 The largest wheelchair accessible van dealer ing in a hospital in a distant location 200 miles Queens Blvd, #320, Kew Gardens NY 11415. from the nearest airport? Subscription rates: $27.95/year; $35.95/year in Canada; in the United States, Mobility Works, advertises $67.95/year international via airmail. wheelchair accessible minivans for rent. With I tried contacting the president/CEO of New Mobility (ISSN 1086-4741), Volume 27, Issue 272, is 57 stores, they are one of the fastest growing Mobility Works multiple times to clarify the published monthly by United Spinal Association, 120-34 Queens Blvd, #320, Kew Gardens NY 11415. companies in the United States. I called three company’s rental policy and have a discussion Copyright 2016, all rights reserved. Reproduction without Chicago area Mobility Works stores, looking to about the ADA, but ... no response. permission of any material contained herein is strictly prohibited. We welcome comments; rent. The first store said they had one minivan Have you had a similar experience? Let me we reserve the right to edit submissions. with hand controls, but it was out, rented for know. Periodicals postage paid at Flushing, NY and additional mailing offices. one year. What? One year? The second store — TIM GILMER www.newmobility.com 4 NEW MOBILITY CONTRIBUTORS life beyond wheels MAY 2016 CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Joanne Smith sustained a spinal cord injury at 19, then went on MICHAEL COLLINS to earn a psychology degree and become a certified nutritional practitioner. Dedicating her career to raising awareness of disability MIKE ERVIN issues, she has hosted and produced two national award-winning ROXANNE FURLONG television programs that focused on telling in-depth stories about RICHARD HOLICKY Canadians with disabilities.