Greatest Days of My Life

I read the 25th Anniversary issue of NEW MOBILITY

[December 2014], and I can’t help think of the wonderful memories while owning and operating NM. You’re right, NM was run from my heart — and during my 12-year run, we changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities — something I will always be very proud of. And again, you are absolutely correct that NM was run from a modest wallet — so much so that during those 12 years it was a substantial financial burden to keep NM afloat. But together we produced the world’s greatest and most influential title for people living their life on wheels.

I can only hope you keep producing NEW MOBILITY to make the visions and dreams of wheelchair users come true. One thing I hope is never forgotten — working with the staff and engaging with the readers of NM during my tenure were without a doubt the greatest days of my life.
Jeffrey Leonard
NM Publisher, 1998-2010

Accessible Fitness Center
Regarding your Bully Pulpit [NM, December 2014] about lack of access to fitness club swimming pools, I’ve been a member of Snap Fitness for a few years. And I’ve always been frustrated by the gym’s failure (inability?) to see the money in the disabled and senior markets. Prime example: Last year, the Placerville Mobility Support Group offered to purchase, ship and install a high quality raised exercise mat for Snap. But their corporate offices in Michigan or Minnesota or Missouri didn’t like the idea.

Now, tell me: What corporate mogul turns his or her head at a $4,000 freebie; that, and a bunch of super ink? I even did their (nonexistent) market survey. El Dorado County’s growing “boomer” population, plus a growing disabilities population, combine for over 10,000. Say you get real lucky and sign up only 2 percent as new Snap members. That’s somewhere around $50,000 [at $250 per year].

Let’s say my calculations are only a quarter accurate. That’s still over $10K. Not a bad day’s work, huh?

So, discrimination comes in many colors. And I have a sneaking hunch that gimps are gonna have as tough a time changing the cultural mind of America as the Jews did Hitler’s. Just take a look at IHSS [In Home Support Services] in California. They’re culling the herd to save the budget.
Lynn Murray
Placerville, California

Smart Drive
This looks like a very cool device [Innovations: “Smart Drive — Taking the Push Out of Pushing,” December 2014]. Thanks for sharing. I just installed a lever-drive system, but find it too difficult for my limited arm strength. Two things your article doesn’t mention is the fact that this, apparently, is not for folding chairs, and thus not of any use for those of us who need to occasionally load our chairs into a car. Also, you say it is covered by Medicare, but they only pay a certain percentage of their valuation of the device. For instance, my pivot drive, which is priced at $3,000, was valued by Medicare at about half of that, of which they paid 70 percent. Maybe that’s a separate article.
Stephen Harris
North Yarmouth, Maine

Teacher Won’t Give Up
Day two of teaching new classes and I just can’t imagine my life without my teaching career. Being able to make a difference in a kid’s life is the most incredible feeling. But then I come home to more emails about the government saga I’m in the midst of [the writer, a teacher and quad, needs attendant care in order to continue working but her state-funded attendant care has been denied because the rules say her teaching salary disqualifies her.]

No, the agencies aren’t the villains. But yes, the laws these agencies are asked to work with are in my experience a tangled mess of outdated formulas, misinterpreted rules, and limits that make no sense in the end. I’ve somehow been able to navigate this tangled web my entire adult life, and I’m just not willing to give up the independence I’ve worked for. I will continue to search for the knowledgeable person, the agency, the politician who can make my situation right.

I saw the movie The Other Side of the Mountain the year before I was injured. As a teenager, I had such admiration for Jill Kinmont, but never in a million years thought I would become injured in a similar way or compared to her decades later. Thank you, NEW MOBILITY, for doing so [“Penalized for Working,” Bully Pulpit, January 2015]. I didn’t have to battle to get a college education as she did, but I am having to battle for the career I chose with my college education.
Jenny Weast (jennyweast@att.net)
Citrus Heights, California
[EDITOR: Jenny asks that readers put her in touch with anyone who is teaching and needs attendant care.]

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