Just for Laffs wrote on Mar 13, 2006 2:37 AM:While reengineering of wheelchairs is a great idea, William Louis seems to be making victims out of landlords and villians out of those disabled with he asks and then answers, "Who uses wheelchairs? People with physical limitations, handicaps and injuries ---- the very kind of people prone to accidents, and who are encouraged to sue by aggressive litigating attorneys."

Just for Laffs wrote on Mar 13, 2006 10:03 AM:How about making a proposal to fix the afflicted, and not property owners...Bill, do you support stem cell research, or just enjoy making property owners as victims and the disabled as villians?

Horrified wrote on Mar 13, 2006 10:15 PM:What callous writing. Wow... Bill, have you ever been with anyone needing a wheelchair? Who uses them? People with brain trauma, people like Christopher Reeve, people trying to live a less restrictive life...a very painful and difficult one. People with courage! Maybe you don't think they should be out in public places? Maybe you just don't think or feel.

Wheelchair villian wrote on Mar 13, 2006 10:43 PM:Bill, have you ever priced a wheelchair?I can imagine what a super wheelchair like you think all should have would cost. Would only the elite be able to afford one? The well insured? The best one's today are way out of reach for many, many , wheelchair bound, sue-happy, accident prone, disabled citizens. Buildings are much more fixable than people. The ADA laws have been around for a long time. Long overdue in Julian. Granted, it shouldn't take a lawsuit to force compliance. Why haven't they done it on their own? They just don't want to see us in their town? Hard to face sometimes, that people have differences; some needing just a little help to live just a little of that "quality of life" everyone would like. Not everyone is in a chair because they are accident prone. Some of us are born this way. Get it?

Bill wrote on Mar 16, 2006 10:54 AM:The author of the piece to whom you are reacting (me) spent years passionately developing wheelchair designs that would better serve users. I have forced myself to spend days using wheelchairs at home and work, and have had close friends confined to wheelchairs with whom I have spent much time; I know and sympathize with them for the unnecessary challenges they encounter. I have campaigned vocally, directly challenging theater owners, churches, etc. to provide REASONABLE access and accommodation with very little success. I never said that wheelchair users are naive and easily manipulated. I am sad that people are "dumfounded" by the truth that wheelchair users (taken as a group) ARE accident prone. They are so, in large part, because many of them are elderly and/or physically ill. From my experience as a professional designer, working on contract with a major company (Herman Miller) the performance and appearance of wheelchairs can be radically improved without significant increase in cost, and they can even be made lighter! (The company cancelled their foray into wheelchairs when their lawyers realized the liability exposure they would be facing.) It’s just like with schoolbuses; General Motors and Ford have never, will never, make a schoolbus, only small companies do -- those with shallow pockets -- and will continue to do until our laws regarding liability are changed. Meanwhile, no major manufacturer dares make the kind of quality mobility products we need and deserve. Wheelchair users are doing themselves a disservice by attacking and calling "ignorant" the very people who are working to make things better for them! To the best of my knowledge, there are no decent "modern" wheelchair offerings available in this country at any price. However, there are a number of ugly, complicated pieces of junk that are extremely costly.

KaraSwims wrote on Mar 21, 2006 12:08 PM:Obviously your very language reflects you have NO sense of what those who are proud wheelchair users want, feel, need, and deserve. It's EXTREMELY insulting to say you "forced yourself" to sit in a wheelchair whenever it was convenient for you to research for YOUR profession....I don't care if you did it for three weeks straight..you didn't do it when it mattered. Were you in a wheelchair the day you and your wife went out for dinner only to be inconvenienced by inequality? Do you use a wheelchair when you apply for a job? When you go to vote? When it's important that you make a professional impression? Your attitudes are the true barriers we face. Your "friends" in wheelchairs have done you a diservice...no friends of mine would make the mistake that I'm "Confined" to my wheelchair...YOUR attitudes are the only thing that is confining. My wheelchair is extremely compact, light, quick, and tailored to me..it's MY choice..I don't tell you that your car is too large or ugly or your shoes make too much noise...As a person of short stature-I think you average people sometimes take up an enormous amount of space but I never demand that you squeeze into my parameters..I'm really disgusted by your piece and more so by your comment.

On a Roll wrote on Mar 22, 2006 5:36 PM:I subscribe to Don Krebs' excellent catalog. Sure the technology exists, for a few very expensive motorized wheelchairs that are not covered by insurance and only lawsuit winners can afford. Also its one or another thing and not all. The wheelchairs that do the most for the users are the heavyest and take the most space to maneuver. Besides that, for an average parapelegic your doctor does not want you to use a motorized chair so your arms wither away.