Wheelchair

From Bishop, Calif. Jill Kinmont Boothe is not one to sit idle. Though the former ski champion, Olympic hopeful and subject of two weepy Hollywood biopics has spent most of her adult life in a wheelchair, she has hardly let it slow her. A painter and retired schoolteacher, she recently staged her 13th annual in-home Spring Art Show and continues to oversee the Jill Kinmont Indian Education Fund, which provides scholarships to Native American...

Cyclist Anthony Zahn of Riverside, winner of a bronze medal in the individual time trial road event at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, is accustomed to racing the clock. But he's also engaged in a bigger and unwinnable race, a battle he's facing with humor and courage. Zahn, 37, has Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a hereditary disorder that affects the nerves in the arms and legs and leads to loss of sensation and atrophied muscles. It has no cure and Zahn said Friday there are correlations between high-intensity activity — such as cycling — and an acceleration of the disease.

Based on our experiences with a wheelchair on several cruises, we were glad to see Karin Esterhammer's "Sailing on Four Wheels" (Weekend Escape, Feb. 6). Our recent experiences matched the Esterhammers' in that the ships we sailed on were accessible and the crews very helpful. The article raises several points it is important to think about when booking a cruise, including the features of a wheelchair-accessible cabin, elevators between decks, ramps over raised doorsills and which shore excursions are accessible.

Question: I am wheelchair-bound, so I was excited to be able to rent an apartment in a rental community built in 2010. I assumed that a nearly new complex would be built to the latest design specifications and include buildings and common areas where I could live comfortably. But now that I have moved in, I am running into a number of limitations because I cannot easily maneuver my wheelchair. For example, many of the doors on the property are too narrow for my chair. A friend who works in property management told me that newly constructed housing should be accessible to wheelchair users.

I was angered when I read one reader's attack (March 22) on Sam Hall Kaplan for his March 1 article, "Viewing Downtown in Wheelchair." No, Mr. Kaplan was not being "mushy and condescending." He was referring to a very real problem for thousands of people in Los Angeles alone. The barriers Mr. Kaplan referred to prevent many of us from fully participating in our responsibilities, rights and freedoms as citizens. The reader who attacked Mr. Kaplan was upset by the Title 24 "Disabled Access Regulations," saying they "lack a strong sense of common sense."

Our kudos to Amtrak. My wife and I just returned from a four-day trek to Santa Barbara via Amtrak. We needed a short break to celebrate our 51st wedding anniversary. Since I was in a wheelchair and my wife was using a cane and a walker, we lacked the stamina to drive. At the Santa Ana Station the station agent saw that I was in a wheelchair and asked if we needed assistance in boarding. When the northbound train came in, he wheeled out a portable lift, lowered a ramp and pushed me backward onto the level platform.

I got misty reading "In Solvang, Have Drama With Your Danish," [Weekend Escape, July 18]. It used to be one of our favorite weekend escapes too, until my husband lost the ability to walk. Recently, we decided the town would be a lovely, nostalgic place to celebrate a special wedding anniversary. We made a hotel reservation, loaded our compact electric scooter and wheelchair in the car and set off up U.S. 101 in high spirits. Our mood was soon deflated. To our surprise and dismay, we discovered the Solvang we'd loved so much is one of the least-accessible cities we've ever visited -- in fact, much worse than many centuries-old tourist towns in Europe.

Dawn Blodgett sits poised in her wheelchair, trying to explain what it is like to be disabled. There was a time when she was scared to be alone. The thought of driving a car, taking a shower or baby-sitting terrified her. "It was all the 'what ifs.' I just thought I couldn't do it," she said. Three weeks ago, the Orange Coast College student was crowned Ms. California Wheelchair. And already, the 19-year-old relishes the opportunity to talk about prejudice and the rights of those like herself.

I do not remember a time when my mom was not in a wheelchair. It was always there, but not like some horrible piece of glittering steel machinery. It is a part of her that serves as a background, the palette to her enduring strength and glorious smile. Whenever my mom returns to her car, be it from a shopping trip, dinner at a restaurant or even work, she likes to pretend she's on a ride.

Thoughts on Linda Feldman's "Wheelchair Hostess Says: 'Let the Good Times Roll!' " (Sept. 25). Your article about Sue's Socialites irked me to no end. I am a severely physically disabled person who uses a power wheelchair. "Severely" is the census' definition for people like me who cannot do a central function, walking in my case. In the past I have attended Ms. Gordon's gatherings for the disabled. Let me make it clear I hold no animosity for Ms. Gordon. But I do hold a great deal of animosity for what she is doing.

A 66-year-old Frenchwoman who was abducted by a band of Somali gunmen at the beginning of the month has died in captivity, French authorities announced Wednesday. Marie Dedieu, who used a wheelchair, lived in a modest beachfront house on Manda Island in the Lamu resort archipelago on Kenya's northern coast. She was seized by gunmen, thrown into a speedboat and taken to Somalia, a war-torn country that has become a base for piracy. Kenyan authorities unsuccessfully pursued the kidnappers.

Walter Molo wouldn't go. "Go, Molo, go!" his friends yelled. The once-avid motorcycle rider is not one to shy from adventure. But to dive 4 feet down a steep concrete embankment — in a wheelchair, while paralyzed from the waist down? "Yeah," Molo said, gripping his wheels a few feet from the edge. "I'm gonna have to take a moment to think this one over. " A skateboarding park on Venice Beach transformed into a training ground Saturday morning as several dozen paraplegics and quadriplegics learned to drop, roll and dive on curved walls as tall as school buses.

As I charged forward to pick up a drop shot during a heated tennis match, a "pop" went off like a gunshot in my right heel and dropped me to my knees. My Achilles tendon had snapped. After surgery to repair the tendon, I was sidelined with an array of casts, crutches and "moon" boots. Finally, after three months, I could walk unassisted. I gradually returned to my normal routine — except I gave up tennis, the game through which I had met my husband, Jim, 20 years earlier. For the next few years, I turned to gentler sports — yoga, Pilates, biking, hiking, walking around the Rose Bowl.

From Bishop, Calif. Jill Kinmont Boothe is not one to sit idle. Though the former ski champion, Olympic hopeful and subject of two weepy Hollywood biopics has spent most of her adult life in a wheelchair, she has hardly let it slow her. A painter and retired schoolteacher, she recently staged her 13th annual in-home Spring Art Show and continues to oversee the Jill Kinmont Indian Education Fund, which provides scholarships to Native American...

Wheelchair users never know when they may encounter steps. Now they can travel with their own lightweight ramp system, the Mabis 5 Telescoping Adjustable Wheelchair Ramp ($173). Packed inside a nylon bag are two sturdy aluminum tracks with non-skid treads. Placed parallel to each other, the three-section tracks telescope from 3  to 5  feet, creating a ramp that can support up to 660 pounds. Getting the knack may take some practice, so experiment at home first. Info: JustHomeMedical , (800)

????????????Here is a roundup of alleged cons, frauds and schemes: Discount appliances ? Two people who advertised discount, high-end appliances on the Internet but failed to ship them after receiving payment have been convicted of fraud and money laundering. Darin Jerome French and Jennifer Lynn French were accused of stealing $1.5 million from customers of their business, Look What We Got, in 2003 and 2004. They advertised Sub Zero, Viking and Wolf kitchen appliances on EBay at greatly discounted prices but did not ship the products.

Chris Honicky sat in the middle of Pierce College and watched as the world passed him by. He was in a wheelchair. A sign hanging on the chair asked passers-by to stop and chat and not be scared off by the fact that Honicky talks by pointing with his nose to letters of the alphabet. As he has done most school days for the last 15 years, Honicky had laboriously maneuvered himself onto the Woodland Hills campus looking for someone to talk to. And as usual, most of the students hurrying along the school's central mall seemed to pass him by. Honicky, 38, has cerebral palsy, which prevents him from walking or talking normally.

An auction to raise funds for Richard Pfost, a quadriplegic who lost his Irvine apartment and possessions in an arson fire Sept. 9, brought in about $3,500 Tuesday at Irvine Valley College, where he attends computer classes. In addition, according to college spokeswoman Susan Clark, contributions totaling almost $9,000 have been received from students and people who read newspaper accounts of his plight.

Abbie Dorn sat in her high-backed wheelchair, a white board resting across her lap, head tilted a little to the left. Arrayed on the board in front of the silent 34-year-old on this Thursday afternoon in early December were small sheets of paper, each printed with a single word. Happy. Sad. Scared. Anxious. Excited. "Abbie," prompted speech-language pathologist Sarah Gerace, "how do you feel about your children coming to visit?" The motionless woman cast her eyes to the word "happy.

The Balboa Island Ferry and the shops along Marine Avenue are some of the most charming places in Southern California. Unless you're disabled, according to Arnie Pike. Pike and a co-plaintiff are suing the city of Newport Beach to make Balboa Island more accessible. They say that there aren't enough disabled parking spaces along the main shopping street, that the sidewalks are too crowded with benches and signs, and that the Balboa Island Ferry is inaccessible. After two years of negotiations and court proceedings, the parties are going to trial.