In fact, only 231 New York cabs (just 2 percent) are required by the city to be equipped with ramps for wheelchair accessibility, reports New Mobility. For urban dwellers and tourists who use power wheelchairs that don’t fold up, or for those who can’t transfer out of their chairs, this means that up to 100 cabs will pass by before an accessible one comes along.
Disability doesn’t preclude exceptional creativity, the eye-opening documentary Make shows. Four self-taught artists with various life-altering conditions—Down syndrome, schizophrenia, blindness, and psychological problems—channel their visions with pure purpose and no pretense. Keep reading …
![Engineer and tinkerer Lance Greathouse has worked on life support systems and dental lasers, and he has built fighting robots for the TV shows BattleBots and Robot Wars—all great background experience, it turns out, for building tricked-out custom wheelchairs modeled on military and sci-fi weaponry.
“I wanted to do something to make [wheelchair users] feel like they’re not just using medical equipment,” Greathouse tells Utne Reader, “to make chairs like custom cars so they could feel cool about them.”](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljyjugHLJM1qap6kyo1_500.jpg)
Engineer and tinkerer Lance Greathouse has worked on life support systems and dental lasers, and he has built fighting robots for the TV shows BattleBots and Robot Wars—all great background experience, it turns out, for building tricked-out custom wheelchairs modeled on military and sci-fi weaponry.
“I wanted to do something to make [wheelchair users] feel like they’re not just using medical equipment,” Greathouse tells Utne Reader, “to make chairs like custom cars so they could feel cool about them.”
Not right, not left, but forward thinking, Utne Reader combs the alternative, independent, and digital press for thoughtful journalism, artful storytelling, and emerging ideas.
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