New Issue

2022 Person of the Year: David Ortiz

Recently reelected Colorado state Rep. David Ortiz proved himself a dedicated public servant in his first term by sponsoring or co-sponsoring an astounding 40 bills, several of which aim to improve the lives of people with disabilities. One of his biggest achievements, a Right to Repair law, could eventually change the face of wheelchair repair across the nation.

Products

Gear Guide: Power-Assist Devices

Manual wheelchair users now have a variety of options for adding power. In our latest Gear Guide, we catalog all the manual wheelchair power-assist attachments currently available in the U.S. — from rear-wheel units to handcycle-style attachments with an extra boost, to power-assist wheels with advanced features, to a tank tread platform that will let you traverse soft sand with ease. 

Bully Pulpit

An SCI SOS

New Mobility Editor-in-Chief Ian Ruder recently went to the urologist to get help with what he thought would be a simple issue: sediment that was clogging his suprapubic catheter. He found out that his doctor’s office wasn’t any more capable of investigating the cause of his issues than he was. “Lots — if not the majority — of us are suffering from the same thing: a medical system that, at best, is ill-prepared to respond to our needs. At worst, it simply doesn’t care about us,” he writes.  

Reading List

Disability Pride: Dispatches from a Post-ADA World

Longtime NM contributor Ben Mattlin’s new book, Disability Pride: Dispatches from a Post-ADA World, explores a wide range of topics, including how attitudes toward disability have changed, the rise of disability activism and the movement’s shortcomings. We share an excerpt that examines the evolution of the disability pride movement. Plus, he and Teal Sherer discuss the book, Mattlin’s approach and his advice for aspiring writers.  

Pro Tip

Self-Defense for Wheelchair Users

Popular portrayals of self-defense often focus on martial arts-style moves. We get pro tips from wheelchair-using self-defense experts who argue that situational awareness, confidence, and control of breathing and voice are just as important as confrontational techniques, if not more so. And if things do get unavoidably physical? Make sure you fight dirty.