Archive for July, 2011

“Game Changer”

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

Carl Schaffner

Carl Schaffner used to climb trees for a living and mountains as a hobby. He was, and still is, a Licensed Certified Arborist having worked in states as varied as Colorado and Texas to Nebraska and Illinois, spending his days wandering amongst the trees in the great outdoors. His profession and hobby was all about enjoying nature in the extreme.

He also served in the military on Active duty then later as a reservist for the Marines. He was a SNCO (Staff non commissioned officer) who traveled the world. His last assignment away from home was in Aberdeen, Maryland where he attended welding school.  While he was there he trained with and helped lead all the younger Marines. Morning PT would clear out the barracks for challenging winter runs nearly every day. Being a Staff NCO, Carl relished the fact that the younger Marines looked up to him. He would run at the front of a long column of Marines, outpacing the new recruits, ensuring that, even as a 35-year old father of one with another on the way, he was setting a good example. But then things changed.

He had been experiencing physical challenges for a while – stumbling every now and then. Losing his balance. But during this time with the Marines he started to have increasingly noticeable problems.  He started collapsing and having what appeared to be seizures. The guys would try to help him – prop him back and get him going again. But soon his legs just wouldn’t work anymore.

It took forever to get a diagnosis. For months Carl would miss Welding classes to make the drive to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC. Once home and a dozen doctors later … finally an answer. Multiple Sclerosis. During all of the testing, Carl also had a “little bout with a brain tumor” which was nearly fatal. This is the way Carl talks about his plight. Matter of fact. MS is just something that came his way. And he’s been dealing with it pragmatically ever since.

He’s been using a wheelchair since before his diagnosis in 1998. Initially he didn’t really know what to look for so he borrowed a chair and tried to make a go of it. But it was “Mall Crawler” – totally unsuited for an active man with a career so he finally got a prescription from his doctors for a better wheelchair. And from that point on, he saw his wheels as a tool. He didn’t want them to be a symbol that he had given up on life. He wanted to remain active in life – not retreat from it.

He soon realized that he “needed the right tool for the job.” His wheelchair was too limited for his active lifestyle. He wanted to hunt and get out into the snow and enjoy his time with his sons. Luckily – he ended up being in the right place at the right time. He was at the Wheelchair Games in Omaha and MAGICWHEELS selected him to be a “test pilot” as he jokingly puts it. They asked him to put the wheels through their paces – to “go out and see if you can break them.”

After days of well planned torture testing Carl final did get one wheel to fail. The MAGICWHEELS engineers quizzed him and were stunned by the description of abuse the MAGICWHEELS survived.  Despite the fact that he finally caused a minor component failure while backing down a massive wet curb – the MAGICWHEELS still worked! This was back in 2008 and Carl has been using MAGICWHEELS ever since. Today he’s on his second set of tires and can’t imagine life without the wheels.

He can roll through wet mud or thick mulch, even 8-inch snow. He easily navigates over slippery rocks and up 45 degree slopes. Of course off roadin’ is slow going but he told us, “There’s no place I can’t go if I want to.” Carl does have a power chair that he uses as a second car in town; however, he rarely leaves home without his MAGICWHEELS. He calls them a “game changer.” He is so enthusiastic about them that he created several videos showing him navigating the thick snow near his home in Fremont, Nebraska.

Today Carl is living his “new normal.” He is as active as ever. He’s a Nebraska Certified Hunting Instructor, plays sled hockey and continues to enjoy spending time with his boys. In his words, “Life is a beautiful thing.”

Posted in What’s your mountain? (inspirational, what are your goals?) | 1 Comment »

Theater Breaking Through Barriers

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

We recently wrote about No Barriers USA – an organization that promotes all kinds of physical activities to encourage people with disabilities to live full and active lives. We were thrilled to learn that there is another amazing organization that empowers people with disabilities to develop and showcase their more artistic sides.

Theater Breaking Through Barriers, formerly Theater By The Blind, has been working for over 30 years to develop blind and low vision talent for the theater, television and film. The company has then changed its name to reflect its commitment to include all artists with disabilities.

As baby boomers age, more and more Americans will be dealing with disability. 52 million people, 18% of the population, already do. Yet only 2% of characters on television exhibit a disability and only 0.5% are allowed to speak. Theater Breaking Through Barriers is working to get the reality of the rich, independent lives lived by those with disabilities in front of audiences.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Theater Breaking Through Barriers has been working intensely to achieve this goal. In 2007, the first show of their season, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, featured an actress in a wheelchair, which The New York Times said added “a most delightful extra layer of meaning in the production.” The second production, The Rules of Charity, was written by John Belluso, a playwright with a disability. The play’s action centered on a man using a wheelchair; the company of six integrated a low vision actress and an actor with Cerebral Palsy as well as a stage manager working from a wheelchair. The Times called it a “dark, scalding play [in] a sharp New York premiere.”

Despite the amazing inroads Theater Breaking Through Barriers has made, the organization’s Director Ike Schambelan shared with us the challenges faced by actors with disabilities. For instance, the movie Blindness has an array of blind characters, none played by blind actors. Off Broadway, Beast had two one-armed soldiers and two blind prostitutes, none played by actors with disabilities.  Another show on Broadway, The Seafarer, had a blind role played by a sighted actor imported from England.  Mr. Schambelan’s goal is to address and change this skewed misrepresentation.

Oedipus

He and everyone else at Theater Breaking Through Barriers are doing this by giving opportunities to disabled actors, writers, directors and all the other individuals it takes to put on a stage production. Just as important, they are providing their audiences a new way to view people with disabilities. They are allowing theatergoers the opportunity to recognize that passion and talent know no bounds.

At their productions, one of the things that audiences like to do is to try and figure out which of the actors are blind or have low vision and which have normal vision. We’ve been told that it’s extremely difficult to tell – in fact most of their patrons tend to guess incorrectly! What a wonderful world this amazing organization has created onstage. One in which blind actors and actors in wheelchairs know no barriers. We can’t wait for their productions to expand beyond Broadway – and across the entire United States. Because we’ll be in the front row!

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Posted in What’s your mountain? (inspirational, what are your goals?) | No Comments »

Helping Reduce Shoulder Pain

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

We get a lot of questions about our claim that MAGICWHEELS dramatically reduces shoulder pain. So we thought we’d interview our National Sales Manager Scott Brown who was able to provide some insight into how the wheels can help out.

Q. How widespread is shoulder pain for wheelchair users?

A.  Independent studies indicate that 60-90% of users experience shoulder pain relative to using a manual wheelchair.

Q. What options are available to reduce shoulder pain?

A.  If the shoulder pain is propulsion related we can look at various clinical interventions.

There are essentially three options. We can try to change the configurations of the chair and/or seating to encourage more effective propulsion. We can evaluate the client’s push mechanics to determine if there is opportunity for improvement, focusing on long smooth push strokes. The third option would be to introduce some type of technological intervention such as a newly configured wheelchair or an add-on like Magic Wheels to their existing wheelchair.

Q.  MAGICWHEELS claims that your wheels dramatically reduce shoulder pain. Do you have any clinical testing to support your claims?

A. We do have research to back up our claims. The University of Maryland conducted a study on shoulder pain in manual wheelchair use and found that MAGICWHEELS provides users up to a 60% reduction in shoulder pain.

Q. What was the purpose of this study?

A. Researchers at the University of Maryland wanted to determine how the use of a 2-speed wheelchair impacts shoulder pain related to manual wheelchair propulsion.

Q. How was the study conducted?

A. The research team identified 17 participants – all manual wheelchair users with various disabilities including spinal cord injuries, stroke, spina bifida, etc. They first determined each individual’s baseline shoulder pain by using the Wheelchair Users Shoulder Pain Index (WUSPI).  This is essentially a questionnaire used to assess the level of pain a user encounters while performing each of the 15 different Mobility-Related Activities of Daily Living (MRADL).  For instance, on a scale of 1-10, how much pain might one experience after pushing their chair for 25 feet? Or dressing and undressing? The researchers documented the pain scale response associated with each activity and developed an average for each individual participant.

After this initial assessment, the participants were introduced to MAGICWHEELS.  It is important to note that this was the only change made in their daily routines – they did not change their posture or reconfigure their existing chairs in any other way.  The researchers then used the WUSPI scale after various intervals to assess shoulder pain levels.

Q.  What did the results indicate?

A. After the first two weeks, there was nearly 40% reduction in pain across all participants. Pain levels continued to drop over the course of the study. After five months the participants reported nearly 60% reduction in pain levels.

This indicated not only a rapid response to the intervention but a long term benefit from continual use.

Q. Did the researchers follow up with the participants after the study to see if pain level rose without MAGICWHEELS?

A. The participants were reintroduced to their conventional wheels at the end of the study and evaluated one month later. Unfortunately, after just one month their pain levels were back to where they began.

Q. How can I learn more about this study?

A. You can visit (http://www.magicwheels.com/learn-more/shoulder-pain-reduction). Or feel free to call me at (866) MAGICWH (624-4294).

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Helping Hands

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

Perhaps one of the best things about being in the mobility industry is knowing that we are helping people. And being surrounded by like-minded companies makes it all the better. There are countless organizations out there striving to make life easier for people with disabilities. From manufactures of wheelchairs and ramps to therapists and doctors. And we have long been fans of therapy dogs. So when we learned about Helping Hands – we knew we wanted to learn more.

Helping Hands

Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled is a national nonprofit serving quadriplegics and other people with severe spinal cord injuries or mobility-impairments by providing highly trained monkeys to assist with daily activities. They raise and train monkeys to act as live-in companions who, over the course of 20-30 years, will provide the gifts of independence, companionship, dignity and hope to the people they help. And, beyond the special services Helping Hands offers, they are also unique in the service animal community. They provide monkey helpers to those who need them at absolutely no cost to the recipients. The organization is supported by the generous donations of those who understand the importance of what they do.

The monkeys Helping Hands train are Capuchins, which are natural tool users in the wild and have an active curiosity and a natural enjoyment for manipulating objects. They use their hands to perform functional tasks that no other assistance animals can accomplish. Once a monkey has learned a repertoire of basic helping tasks and has been matched to an ideal candidate, the monkey is then custom trained in special skills that are important to that individual. The monkey can help a person to scratch an itch, reposition a hand or a foot after a muscle spasm, assist with use of a telephone and computer, or handle a DVD. The accomplishment of seemingly simple tasks establishes a foundation for a trusting relationship between a monkey and his companion.

They have a wonderful video that illustrates the amazing relationship that develops between the monkeys and their companions. It features Craig Cook and his helper monkey Minnie – his “best friend.” Craig is paralyzed from the chest down and with resilience and strength built a good life for himself after the accident. But something was missing. He had a great job, a new home, tons of friends. But he was in a funk. So he applied for a helper monkey and, after waiting for the laws in California to change, was finally introduced to Minnie in 2004.

Craig & Minnie

Helping Hands worked with Craig to build a nurturing, safe environment for Minnie and prepare her for the specific tasks he needed – picking up his phone or turning on the computer, his connection to the outside world. At the same time Craig learned how to understand Minnie’s moods and preferences. “She didn’t know what to make of me at first. She spent some pretty good time sizing me up,” he says, “but now, I couldn’t imagine life without her.”

Life is easier – and more enjoyable – for Craig and countless others who are aided by Helping Hands. They have found that the joy and emotional bond between a monkey and a person is equally strong and fulfilling for both. We’re sure grateful for this amazing organization – and the many monkeys who provide so much comfort and fulfillment to people with disabilities.

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