Handicapped

Lingering fog shrouds the Venice boardwalk midday as Thomas Mundy rolls past ice cream vendors, T-shirt shacks and falafel stands, a discerning eye trained on the warrens of beach-themed kitsch and quick nibbles. He's not looking for leather thong pendants or Jamaican trinkets in memory of Bob Marley, or to commune with the manic crowd of in-line skaters and street artists.

When Mohammed Malek left home to collect firewood, his mother warned him never to stray from the road. He promised he wouldn't. But as the 15-year-old wandered through Kabul, Afghanistan, he spied some dried brush, ideal kindling, in a field. He gingerly stepped off the road and headed for it. There was an explosion, then another.

Vicki Stevens can't stop staring at the dot. She hops online first thing in the morning, and four more times a day to check on the little green circle, creeping with agonizing slowness across the digital map toward the Americas. "Everybody's always asking -- 'How far has the dot gone?' " Stevens said. The dot shows the plodding progress of a plywood vessel, akin to an oversized bathtub, that Stevens' friend Angela Madsen and a partner are rowing across the Atlantic.

The Office for Civil Rights from the U.S. Department of Education has begun an investigation of the William S. Hart Union High District following a complaint by a parent alleging that the district is discriminating against students on the basis of sex and disability within its sports programs.

Arnie Pike's never met a curb he didn't want to have cut. Pike, 68, began using a wheelchair after suffering a stroke 12 years ago. The Placentia resident has become a voice for disabled people, arguing before city councils and transit authorities throughout Orange County for smoother sidewalks, wheelchair ramps and better access. "We never ask for more than any other person, just what is fair," he said during a recent interview with his service dog, Fort, at his side.

For several hours, as he waited to get booked for petty theft at the Los Angeles County Jail in October, Peter Johnson told deputies he needed to go to the restroom. Although other inmates were free to use the facilities, Johnson -- a paraplegic -- was told there were none in the area equipped to accommodate the physically disabled. Guards, he said, seemed indifferent to his plight, telling him he simply had to wait.

For the first time in more than half a century, the Odell residence is quiet. There are no squeaks and pops from the electric motor that powered an "iron lung" pumping air in and out of Dianne Odell's body. A thunderstorm knocked out the power to her home Wednesday, shutting off the massive metal machine that had helped her breathe for nearly 60 years. It was about 3 a.m. when the electricity went out at Odell's home in Jackson, a small Tennessee town about 90 miles northeast of Memphis.

Dr. Diana Zschaschel leaned over Boogie's wheelchair to check his teeth with a mirror and probe. Boogie wailed. "It's OK, Boogie," said his father, Vergery Grubbs Sr. He reached over to take his son's curled hand. "Keep your mouth open. You're doing a good job." For the elder Grubbs, this was the easy part. The challenge had been finding a dentist willing to treat his namesake, who is 13 but looks half that age. Dubbed "Boogie" because music makes him laugh, Vergery Grubbs Jr.

The Internal Revenue Service is going after about 5 million retirees and disabled people. But don't worry -- the tax agency is only trying to help. Really. The people in the targeted group may be entitled to economic stimulus payments of $300 or more but haven't yet claimed them, said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. If they want a check this year, they have to file a simplified tax form by Oct. 15. The IRS is mailing information packets encouraging these individuals to file.

Former Marine Sgt. Shawn James has found moving from the military world to the business world a difficult journey. Add a disability, and potential partners shy away in droves, said the 33-year-old San Diego resident, who dreams of starting a company involving hybrid vehicles.