Word: wheelchairs
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Being in a wheelchair, I am occasionally asked whether there is any distinction between the terms "disability" and "handicap." The former refers specifically to a condition of physical impairment such as paraplegia (paralysis of the lower limbs), deafness or blindess. The term handicap, however, can be defined more generally as anything that substantially impedes normal activity. The two concepts need not be synonymous. A person in a wheelchair, when provided with a barrier-free environment (e.g., curb cuts, ramps, accessible toilet facilities, lowered telephones, drinking fountains and elevator buttons) may experience no handicap whatsoever. In contrast, a shopper wearing elevator...
...inaccessible, presenting us with difficulties not only in entering them but in using them as well. As one might expect, the University's numerous old buildings, the uneven brick sidewalks and the maniacal automobile traffic in the Square are a nightmare-come-true for a person in a wheelchair...
...administrative coordinator of disabled students' services was appointed and a task force of administrators and students was created to supervise Harvard's compliance with the new regulation. Together they have been responsible for introducing many important improvement such as ramps, curb cuts, wheelchair lifting devices, an accessible microbus providing on-campus transportation for the ambulatory impaired and, soon, a tactile map for the blind. Numerous modifications have been planned for all the faculties over the next two years...
...find it very aggravating when a person grabs my wheelchair and starts pushing without first asking whether or not I need assistance. He does not realize that whatever brief benefit I might gain in terms of saving time or energy is quickly negated by less conspicuous effects: loss of a sense of independence and self-esteem. Because the disabled might do things more slowly or in a different way than able-bodied people does not mean that we cannot do them well or that we require help. On the contrary, some of us take a great deal of pride...
...paralyzed from the waist down. He had won Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina and went on to win in the Maryland and Michigan primaries, but his drive for the nomination was halted. So was his career. He tried yet again in 1976, with male nurses carrying him in his wheelchair, but the old enthusiasm had faded. The question of race, which overtly or covertly was a key part of his message, no longer dominated American or even Southern politics. And many others, including Jimmy Carter, had usurped some of his populist themes. Still, up until the March 1976 Florida primary...