Word: wheelchaired
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...sixth-grader Michael Gaudiello wants is his independence. Using a wheelchair because of muscular dystrophy, he does not care to rely on others to open the doors, carry his books or help him get to the bathroom. Last spring freedom came in the form of a collie named Ashley, specially trained to help Michael through his day. When school officials in Delaware County, Pa., banned the dog from classes at his special school, Michael appealed to state officials. "It was my choice to fight for this," Gaudiello says. "I thought I was right and they were wrong...
...state department of education ruled that Michael should be "mainstreamed" into a school in his home district of Chichester. The new school promised to accept Ashley, install wheelchair ramps and assign attendants to help him use the bathroom twice a day. But all Michael wants is to take Ashley to his old school. His parents have challenged the dog ban as discriminatory against the disabled...
Norma Westfield eases her wheelchair out of the elevator of her apartment, through the front door and to the Handi-Van waiting in front of her building. It is a vehicle with hydraulic lifts that the city of Fond du Lac offers to disabled residents. Westfield, 43, who has used a wheelchair since she was stricken with polio as a child, relies on the Handi-Van to reach her doctor's office and a local hospital where she does volunteer work. She is not strong enough to push herself to the bus stop a block away, and during the winter...
Though finding accessible housing remains a problem for Fond du Lac's disabled, the city has made progress in opening some public accommodations. Movie theaters have removed rows of seats to make room for people in wheelchairs. Several service stations offer to pump gas at no extra charge for disabled drivers, and grocery stores provide electric carts for shoppers who cannot navigate the long aisles. Parking spaces marked with the blue-and-white symbol of a wheelchair are vigilantly guarded; anyone who illegally slips into one is subject to a $30 fine. Rather than rely on police to enforce...
...rush-hour ticket line at New York City's Port Authority Bus Terminal wove through the customary wretched carnival of mendicants. One beggar twirled like a crazed ballerina from commuter to commuter, caressing people's shoulders and prodding their bellies with a beseeching hand. Another rolled his wheelchair up against the commuters' feet and tugged at their sleeves. A third stretched across a counter in a weirdly feline gesture, trying to intercept the change coming back to Mike Farrell, 50, of Ringwood, N.J. "No!" howled Farrell, loud enough to make heads turn. "It's the only...