NM Turns 25: Our Journey, 2010-2014


25Years_Logo72010-2014: Our Journey

Our final installment of NEW MOBILITY’s 25th anniversary “Legacy” section brings us to the present. We have tried to give readers a sampling of the themes and issues that have shaped our mission over the years, and of course, the voices that articulate our viewpoints. In the following stories we focus on how, intertwined with these issues, we live our individual lives. We begin with the onset of disability, whether at birth, by accident or disease. In “One Room, Two Worlds,” a mature Cindy Ranii Hall finds herself sharing a room in a rehab ward with a young woman, both at the beginning of a new journey. Trisha Stevenson, in “The 33rd Chair,” narrates a frustrating, yet humorous account of her quest for accessibility on an Amtrak train. Seth McBride, journeying abroad, expects to encounter difficulties while traveling in other cultures, in “Stir Frying My Pants.” And Bob Vogel comes full circle in his “Dad and Daughter: Epic Road Trip,” bringing our focus, and our hearts, back home.


New Mobility, January 2012

One Room, Two Worlds

Illustration by Doug Davis

by Cindy Hall Ranii
Being transferred from Stanford Hospital to the Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Center at Valley Medical Center in San Jose marked the beginning of the realization that there was nothing the doctors could do for my paralysis, but it also marked the beginning of my recovery.

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New Mobility, June 2011

The 33rd Chair

Illustration by Doug Davis

by Trisha Stevenson
When it came time to bring my daughter to college to start her freshman year, I called Amtrak to buy tickets for my family. We have been regulars on the train, and I thought I knew the routine.

“Hi, there,” I said brightly to the agent who answered. I explained which train and date we needed. “And one more thing — I use a wheelchair, and I need to reserve a wheelchair space.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but there are no wheelchair spaces available on that train.” …

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New Mobility, February 2012

Stir-Frying My Pants

StirFry1by Seth McBride
During my junior year of college I spent three months living in El Salvador, and it was often an adventure just pushing down the sidewalk. I was there teaching English and taking Spanish classes at a small language school in the capital of San Salvador. I found a relatively accessible place to live (only single steps that I could pull myself up) just five or six blocks from the school.

The sidewalks in San Salvador are wonderfully wide. Unfortunately, because they are so wide and there is no on-street parking, the sidewalks are turned into impromptu parking lots. Every morning the short route to school was filled with a different arrangement of obstacles: cars, motorcycles, trash, bicycles, and an occasional homeless man sleeping in their midst.

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New Mobility, March 2012

Dad and Daughter: Epic Road Trip

Bob-and-Sarah25yrby Bob Vogel
This past summer I was able to re-live one of my favorite childhood memories — a family car-camping trip to ride a steam train in Colorado — when I took my 10-year-old daughter Sarah and my German shepherd service dog Schatzie on a 21-day 3,000-mile road trip from California to Colorado. The goal of the trip was to explore the open road and visit as many sights as possible and share the experience with Sarah in this fleeting time when she is still young enough that “traveling and hanging out with Daddy is fun!”

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BEST COVERS

Above are your favorites from the sets you voted on over the past six months. On the bottom is the final set, which brings us up to the present. This time, you can vote for any of the previous winners or for one of these candidates from the last five years. This is your final chance to choose the best cover of New Mobility in 25 years! Click here to vote.

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Wait! Before you wander off to other parts of the internet, please consider supporting New Mobility. For more than three decades, New Mobility has published groundbreaking content for active wheelchair users. We share practical advice from wheelchair users across the country, review life-changing technology and demand equity in healthcare, travel and all facets of life. But none of this is cheap, easy or profitable. Your support helps us give wheelchair users the resources to build a fulfilling life.

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