Wheelchairs

Maria Hernandez guided her electric wheelchair along Dangler Avenue's gum-stained sidewalks, carefully going over bumps in the concrete and easing down the sidewalk's ramps. A few blocks away, on East Cesar Chavez Avenue, was a 20-foot-high inflatable wheelchair. Hernandez, 49, knew she was at the right place. She, and others with disabilities, traveled Saturday to East Los Angeles for the annual Familia Unida Wheelchair Wash.

Ben Carpenter got the ride of his life when his electric wheelchair became lodged in the grille of a big rig and was accidentally pushed down a highway for several miles at about 50 mph. Carpenter's father, Donald, was incredulous when police called to tell him his 21-year-old son was OK after the ride. "I said, 'What happened?' " Donald Carpenter recalled Thursday. He said his son, who has muscular dystrophy, had started to cross an intersection Wednesday afternoon in Paw Paw, Mich.

Renato Bernaldo Paulin, owner of a medical equipment supply company, was indicted Thursday on federal charges of seeking to defraud Medicare of more than $1 million with phony claims for motorized wheelchairs. The indictment says Paulin billed Medicare for motorized wheelchairs that were not medically needed. In some cases, the chairs were never provided.

Los Angeles police were searching Friday for the driver of a taxicab that struck and killed a 34-year-old man in a wheelchair. Jose Laboy, on his way home from classes at Santa Monica College, was hit about 8:45 p.m. Thursday while crossing Adams Boulevard at Palm Grove Avenue, police said. Witnesses told police that the driver of the taxi, described as a green and white car, possibly a mid-'90s Ford Crown Victoria, fled the scene after striking Laboy.

When John Lonberg travels the sidewalks outside his Riverside home, he is constantly reminded of the inequities of being in a wheelchair. Within sight of his home on Kloiber Street are at least a dozen possible violations of civil rights laws that grant the disabled equal access to public rights of way. Buckled sidewalks obstruct his path, street corners lack wheelchair ramps, and sloping driveways that cross sidewalks are difficult to navigate.

Not being paralyzed from the waist down, I never thought much about sidewalks. No reason to. Though often cracked, uneven and worn, the most basic of public rights of way always got me to my destination. That perspective changed recently after I spent five hours in an electric wheelchair navigating several miles of sidewalk on Pacific Coast Highway in central Long Beach. For the ambulatory, the stretch is an easy walk.

Re "Homes That Age Gracefully" [May 26]: Many of us will use wheelchairs as we age. His case is strengthened by two additional factors: It may also be our children or grandchildren who use wheelchairs, and we'll all benefit from inclusive home designs that reflect "visitability." Arthur W. Blaser Orange

Lena Reno knew the time had come to give her electric scooter a good scrub-down when she saw that someone had scrawled "wash me" into the dust. But months passed before the West Covina woman, who has multiple sclerosis, could do anything about it. "My range of ability is very limited," said Reno, 57, who lives alone. "I can't stretch -- I have to hold on to something. With MS, my balance is bad."

He's in a wheelchair, ducking behind a trash can. I step forward to see if he's OK and inadvertently scare him. Sorry, I say. "I wet myself," the bearded man tells me. There's a puddle under him on the pavement. Wheelchairs are everywhere on skid row streets. Shiny and new or old and battered. Motorized or manual. Sometimes, when darkness falls and downtown empties out, wheelchairs own the road. What kind of country treats its disabled and mentally ill this way?