Magazine Archive

2021 Issues

August 2021

The Expat Life

What is it like to give up the people and places you have known and start anew in a foreign land with different ideas on disability and access? Martin Heng talked with wheelchair users who have moved abroad to see how things are going and what their experiences have taught them.

Self-Worth, Shame and SCI

Rediscovering a sense of self-worth can be an uphill battle after spinal cord injury. This collection of short essays looks at how different people adjust and find their place post-SCI.

Fighting Insurance

Ali Ingersol shares her experience and talks with other wheelchair users to give you the tools and tactics to get the medical equipment you need, even when insurance denies your requests.

Accessible Fitness Apps

Online adaptive fitness apps and videos are booming as disabled people look to shed the “COVID 15.” John Loeppky surveys the options and reports on what you can expect.

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July 2021

Life on the Road

With a growing number of accessible RV and motorhome options, more wheelchair users are trying out a mobile existence. Fresh off his first extended road trip, Kenny Salvini checks in with Gabby Richards and other mobile homeowners to report on the appeal, options, benefits and drawbacks of the RV lifestyle.

Fear and Loathing in Vang Vieng

Seth McBride looks back on a drunken float down a lazy river in Laos that taught him an important lesson: Wheelchair users can be as stupid and reckless as people without disabilities.

Planning Your Dream Trip

After a year without travel, we could all use a fun vacation. Jenny Smith got the lowdown on some wheelchair users’ favorite trips and shares their advice so you can start prepping for your next adventure.

Home Remedies

Are you tired of designer drugs with names you can’t pronounce and never-ending warning lists? Pattu Kunze and Roberta Palmer — The Rollin RNs — have four easy home remedies for you to try.

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June 2021

Building a Better Rehab Hospital

Not too long ago, rehab hospitals were dark, uninviting facilities that looked and felt stuck in the ’70s — but times are finally changing. Aaron Broverman reports on a promising new trend of rehabs that incorporate wheelchair users’ input to build a better brand of facilities where accessibility is a feature and not an afterthought.

Service Dog Contest Winners

We put out a call for our readers’ best pooch pictures, and now it’s time to present the prize pup.

An Incomplete Dance

Living with an incomplete injury that sometimes lets you stand or even walk is like having a wild affair with a beautiful yet cruel seductress, writes Richard Holicky.

Isolation to Empowerment

As the executive director of Magic Wheelchair, Christine Getman enjoys being creative and helping children with disabilities. But a hellish hospital stay last spring showed she is not to be trifled with. Carole Zoom reports.

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May 2021

Enzo! Meet United Spinal’s New President

Vincenzo “Enzo” Piscopo’s resume raises the question, what do you get when you blend an impressive background in corporate America with a degree in creativity and a passion for disrupting the status quo? Josie Byzek answers that question and more in her profile of United Spinal Association’s new president and CEO.

Is Telemedicine for You?

Wheelchair users have fought for easier access to healthcare for years. Could the pandemic-hastened arrival of telemedicine be the breakthrough we’ve been looking for? Tim Gilmer reports.

Encounter With a Cheetah

While on vacation in South Africa, David Lowy’s wheelchair caught the attention of a cheetah. Nobody was prepared for what happened next.

Coping With COVID-19

While the world worried about the physical threat of COVID-19, the virus did its best to undermine our mental health and stability. Wheelchair users tell Bob Vogel how they are adapting.

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April 2021

Take Back the Outdoors

There’s more than one way to enjoy nature, and our writers have you covered no matter your preferences. Matt Tilford offers a number of accessible alternatives for the more adventurous, while Ashley Lyn Olson and Brook MCCall check out two new glamping destinations perfect for those who want to enjoy the beauty and relaxation of spending a night in nature without the hassle.

Adaptive Surfing

Bob Vogel delves into the joys of adaptive surfing with stories from recreational surfers and elite athletes with various levels of function.

Home/Work Balance

Many wheelchair users finally have the opportunity to work from home because of COVID-19. How are we balancing personal and professional lives? Are there unique obstacles — or benefits — for our community? Cory Lee reports

Opening Up Our World

United Spinal’s Accessibility Services division helps make the built environment more accessible to wheelchair users. Kristen Parisi looks at some of its most exciting projects

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March 2021

The Fight for the Right Chair

Obtaining a wheelchair that maximizes your independence and comfort is the result of a long and often complicated navigation that involves therapists, doctors, wheelchair providers and manufacturers, and of course, insurance. Getting lost along the way is all too easy, and sadly can have a direct impact on your quality of life and health. Seth McBride guides you through his personal chair odyssey and shares insider insights so your journey can go more smoothly.

Decking Out Your Garden

Tim Gilmer shares the keys to building and maintaining a rewarding, accessible garden in whatever space you do have.

Auti Angel’s Story

The Push Girls star and well-known wheelchair dancer opens up to Jerry McGill about the personal and professional challenges she’s faced.

Refocusing Research

Steve Wright finds that people living with SCI/D are more involved in guiding researchers than ever before and the results bode well for all of us.

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February 2021

Our IVF Journey

In this year’s Sex, Wheels & Relationships issue, we focus on the beginnings of two journeys affected by spinal cord injury. Kenny Salvini opens up about the long road he and his wife traveled in hopes of having a child together via in vitro fertilization, and he talks with others who’ve been down the same path. Ali Ingersoll documents the ups and downs of her first year of marriage and the added emotions and logistics that come with being a quad.

A Caregiver Lost

As the nation learned the dangers of COVID-19, one New York City quadriplegic and his longtime caregiver got a firsthand lesson in just how devastating the virus could be. Ian Ruder reports

James Weisman’s Legacy

Seth McBride chronicles James Weisman’s decades of service to the disability community and his reputation as one of the smartest and most passionate advocates for accessibility.

Hollywood Fails

Sylvia Longmire examines Hollywood’s all too common faux pas when portraying wheelchair users. Mat Barton and Adam Cooper’s comic skewers SCI “rehab” in the current Netflix hit Cobra Kai.

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January 2021

Person of the Year: Andrea Dalzell

All Andrea Dalzell ever wanted was to be a hospital nurse. It took a global pandemic to provide that opportunity, but Dalzell fearlessly seized it and blazed a trail for other wheelchair users to follow. For her tenacity, vision and passion, we are honored to introduce Dalzell as our 2020 New Mobility Person of the Year

The Last Bookstore

Josh Spencer is proprietor of one of the nation’s largest and most interesting new-and-used bookstores. David Radcliff chronicles Spencer’s path from beach bum to business owner.

Wheels on Campus

New Mobility surveyed America’s top universities to find out which were best for wheelchair users. Using that data, we compiled the most in-depth college guide ever written for our community.

Swollen Jewels

For Tim Gilmer and many other male wheelchair users, epididymitis — an infection affecting the testicles — is the uninvited guest.

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