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CCA 469 1114 The 1st mobility SUV with 360° of wheelchair maneuverability Contact us to receive news and updates about the VMI Honda Pilot Northstar E™ vmivans.com | 855-VMI-VANS CONTENTS VOLUME 28 NUMBER 291 December 2017 life beyond wheels FEATURES 16 MEET MIK SCARLET British media personality Mik Scarlet brings his punk aesthetic to everything he does, from fronting rock bands to confronting politicians. AARON BROVERMAN reports. 22 REVIEW: ‘KILLS ON WHEELS’ This 2016 Hungarian film hit about three wheelchair-using hitmen is finally available in the U.S. SETH MCBRIDE tells us why it’s worth watching. 32 WORKING STIFFS RICHARD HOLICKY shares the stories of five wheelchair users who have found lasting professional happiness by pursuing their passions. 36 LOOKING BACK ON SCI LIFE After 13 years and 157 columns, this issue holds the final SCI Life column. TIFFINY CARLSON looks back on the long run in a Q&A. COVER STORY FLYING THE UNFRIENDLY SKIES 24 Two airlines broke KENNY SALVINI’S wheelchair over the course of one year, and in doing so they set him on a mis- sion to find out why accessible air travel is so difficult. What he found is a history of failed policy, an industry blinded by money – and a growing voice for change. Cover and Contents Illustrations by Doug Davis DEPARTMENTS 4 BULLY PULPIT 14 HOW WE ROLL 5 CONTRIBUTORS 38 PARA/MEDIC 6 LETTERS 40 OUTDOOR TRACKS 8 NEWS 44 ERVIN 10 EVERYDAY ADVOCACY 47 CLASSIFIEDS 12 SCI LIFE 48 CRIP BUZZ BULLY PULPIT life beyond wheels DECEMBER 2017 NEW MOBILITY IS THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF There is no information on ‘best practices’ for [our] demographic – PRESIDENT & CEO: JAMES WEISMAN because no such group is recognized. VICE PRESIDENT OF PUBLICATIONS: JEAN DOBBS EDITORIAL PUBLISHER: JEAN DOBBS EDITOR: TIM GILMER Waiting for Care, Not Management MANAGING EDITOR: JOSIE BYZEK As I write this, I’m waiting … waiting for your life hangs in the balance. SENIOR EDITOR: IAN RUDER an insurance pre-authorization for an MRI. While I wait, the management com- SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: BOB VOGEL During a cystoscopy a few days ago, my pany, AIM, is deciding whether I need an making travel easy for individuals with spinal cord disabilities EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS: urologist discovered a mass in my urethra MRI followed by surgery based on what [email protected] that is potentially malignant. On the other is called “best practices.” Best practices hand, it might be a benign, chronic ab- is another misleading health care term. If scess. Whatever it is, I want it out of me, but you are like me, a 72-year old paraplegic CUSTOMER SERVICE the insurance company is taking its sweet with a neurogenic bladder who has had to Toll-free 800/404-2898, time to consider whether an MRI, followed self-catheterize five times per day every day ext. 7203 by surgery, is “cost-effective.” for the last 30 years in order to pee, there is The insurance company doesn’t actu- no information on “best practices” for your ally do the considering. They contract demographic — because no such group is ADVERTISING SALES with another company, American Imaging recognized. Doing the math, if there were Management, which will tell them if they 718/803-3782 such a group, each person in the group MANAGER, CORPORATE RELATIONS: should approve the MRI or not. This is the would have self-cathed about 54,750 times. MEGAN LEE, EXT. 7253 American way of doing what is referred to You think AIM’s cost managers have a lot of AD MATERIALS: as “health care,“ a system where doctors stats based on best practices for that group? DEANNA FIKE, EXT. 7250 must be subservient to the almighty dollar. Just who are these managers and why Cost is primary; care secondary. As I wait PRODUCTION do we have them? To me, the main reason to hear if I have cancer or not, the manage- PRODUCTION MANAGER: DEANNA FIKE we have health care managers is that ment model, which takes much longer to legislators who want to pay less taxes have run its twisted course than a doctor’s order, CIRCULATION decided that health care cost management makes me very anxious. CIRCULATION MANAGER: I think back to my lifelong friend, Loon, is the way they can get those taxes back BEVERLY SMITH who got trapped in the management mod- in their pockets. Most, but not all of them, CIRCULATION COORDINATOR: el when he was told he had metastatic mel- share a political worldview based on con- MARIA KURTZ anoma, a deadly cancer. He died in 2010 serving wealth — mostly theirs. To them, POSTMASTER: Send address changes to New Mobility, 120-34 after a year-long battle, but I still hear his health care for all Americans is blasphemy. Queens Blvd, #320, Kew Gardens NY 11415. You may remember that they tried to ram Subscription rates: $27.95/year; $35.95/year in Canada; voice on the phone, saying, “I’m lying here $67.95/year international via airmail. in the hospital fighting for my life, waiting a “health care” bill through Congress in New Mobility (ISSN 1086-4741), Volume 28, Issue 291, is … waiting for my cancer treatment, but no record time earlier this year. Now they are published monthly by United Spinal Association, 120-34 Queens Blvd, #320, Kew Gardens NY 11415. doctors or nurses or technicians are here to doing it again but calling it a “tax cut.” Copyright 2017, all rights reserved. Reproduction without do anything because it’s the weekend, and Personally, I would call it a health care permission of any material contained herein is strictly prohibited. We welcome comments; next Monday is a holiday. So I have to wait cut — not a tax cut — and I’m quite certain we reserve the right to edit submissions. three extra days because no one is work- it’s based on worst practices. Periodicals postage paid at Flushing, NY and additional mailing offices. ing.” Three days is a long time to wait when — TIM GILMER www.newmobility.com 4 NEW MOBILITY CONTRIBUTORS life beyond wheels DECEMBER 2017 Doug Davis’s distinctive drawings and caricatures have appeared on CONTRIBUTING the pages of NEW MOBILITY since 1998. Over the years, he has contrib- EDITORS uted more than a dozen covers and scores of interior illustrations on MICHAEL COLLINS topics ranging from sex to snake oil salesmen. He has won numer- ous awards for editorial cartooning from the California Newspaper MIKE ERVIN Publishers Association and the Los Angeles Press Club. Doug lives ROXANNE FURLONG in Pasadena, California, with his wife and son, where he enjoys the ALEX GHENIS great outdoors and plays the upright bass in a bluegrass band. RICHARD HOLICKY ALLEN RUCKER ROBERT SAMUELS ERIC STAMPFLI ELLEN STOHL Aaron Broverman is a freelance journalist with cerebral palsy BOB VOGEL based in Toronto, Ontario. He has been a contributor to NEW LOREN WORTHINGTON MOBILITY for a number of years and is a regular news writer on new- mobility.com. His last article of note in the print edition was an interview with Speechless star Micah Fowler. When he’s not cover- ing disability, he’s writing for outlets like Yahoo and Huffington Post and hosting a podcast called Speech Bubble, where he inter- COMMUNITY PARTNERS views Torontonians involved in the comic book industry. KIM ANDERSON CHRISTIAAN “OTTER” BAILEY MARTY BALL Since he was paralyzed in 1996, Nick LiBassi has worked in the dis- TIFFINY CARLSON ability community in various capacities. He is United Spinal’s vice LAWRENCE CARTER-LONG president for partnership expansion, chapter development and the RORY COOPER hospital membership program, and he also serves as a committee JASON DASILVA member on the Disability Advisory Board with Alaska Airlines and DEBORAH DAVIS a Community Advisory Board member for Kessler Institute. In his TOBIAS FORREST personal time Nick is active in working with charities to raise funds JENNIFER FRENCH for spinal cord Injury research.