| If I Could Walk Tomorrow - A Reflection of all the Things We Take ...
How many times have you heard a television personality on a telethon or even your own doctor tell you the unexpected could happen to you? You hear it all the time as non-profit organizations try to raise money. Cancer can strike anyone at any time. Diabetes, stroke, heart disease, Parkinson’s, muscular dystrophy, the list goes on and on. It does not matter who you are, how much money you have, how old you are, or where you are from. Any of these ailments could strike you or a loved one and change your life in an instant.One day you could wake up and have some sort of life limitation. For all intents and purposes, you could wake up tomorrow, get in a car accident, and become a paraplegic or quadriplegic. The truth is we do not know what the future holds because we do not have a crystal ball that we can peer into on a regular basis.
All sides feel anxiety over Dial-A-Ride
With a low, hydraulic whir, a Dial-A-Ride van extends a black steel welcome mat to Vivian Armendariz outside her apartment in northeast Fort Collins. A push of a joystick later, the 34-year-old Armendariz, who has spina bifida, backs her wheelchair onto the ramp, which lifts her into the van for an afternoon shopping trip to Target. .
Travel Buddies help get John moving
JOHN Wilson never had the confidence to travel far from home-always worried he would get stuck in his wheelchair and wouldn't be able to get back to the East End because of inaccessible buses and Tube. So he kept to his Poplar neighbourhood, never venturing much further than a few blocks form his home in North Street. It wasn't much of a life. At 58, John has spent the last 18 years stuck in his wheelchair. Now City Hall has taken a 'step' further with its 'buddy squad' of travel assistants to advise those like John on how to get around. "It has changed my life because it's given me the confidence to get out and about," he points out. "Until I got tips from my travel assistant, I never knew exactly which areas were safe to use, so I stayed close to home. "But now there's no stopping me-it's a dream getting on the DLR.
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