Wheelchair Users

Wheelchair users can measure the quality of life with a yardstick.That's only 36 inches, but they need every one to pass through doorways or aisles and make U-turns whenever paths to life's pleasures and necessities are blocked.For some wheelchair users, such as Marilynn Phillips of Hampstead, life is a continuing struggle to circumvent obstacles and gain access to dress racks and restrooms, bookshelves and knickknacks.Phillips, 55, is a retired associate professor of English from Morgan State University and an accessibility activist.

Wheelchair users can measure the quality of life with a yardstick.That's only 36 inches, but they need every one to pass through doorways or aisles and make U-turns whenever paths to life's pleasures and necessities are blocked.For some wheelchair users, such as Marilynn Phillips of Hampstead, life is a continuing struggle to circumvent obstacles and gain access to dress racks and restrooms, bookshelves and knickknacks.Phillips, 55, is a retired associate professor of English from Morgan State University and an accessibility activist.

As Marilynn J. Phillips sees it, the party of inclusion is excluding her -- and other wheelchair users -- from its county campaign headquarters in Westminster.For the second election year in a row, the county's Democratic Central Committee has leased a Main Street site that is inaccessible to wheelchair users, the Hampstead disabilities-rights activist claimed in complaints filed this week with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Maryland Human Relations Commission."I believe I have been discriminated against," Ms. Phillips said in the complaints.

Wheelchair users will be able to attend Westminster City Council's meeting tomorrow night in the new first-floor council chambers of City Hall -- if they can get into the building.City officials say wheelchair users should be able to enter through the door that faces City Hall Drive -- with help.But they wouldn't want to try to use a restroom during the evening.Council meetings return to City Hall tomorrow night despite one council member's misgivings about resuming the sessions in a building where renovations to meet new accessibility standards for the disabled have not yet begun.

Q: My wife is confined to a wheelchair. We would like to take a cruise in the Caribbean. Which lines can accommodate us?A: A score of ships that will be calling at Caribbean and the Bahamian ports this season have cabins especially designed for the wheelchair user. But just how equipped can vary markedly from ship to ship, and even vessels with such cabins have only a handful of them.It's a good idea to check with your local travel agency or a cruise line to be sure that your needs can be met. Cabins known in the industry as "dedicated," meaning they are specially designed, are best suited for wheelchair users.

Q: Of the chateaux in the Loire Valley, are some accessible for wheelchair users?A: Here are five chateaux that provide entry to the ground floor for visitors using wheelchairs. In all of them, access to upper floors is only by stairway.* Chateau de Chenonceau has a ramp that allows wheelchair access to the ground floor. If a wheelchair user arrives by car, the staff will allow the vehicle through the gate to park closer to the chateau than is normally allowed and may provide someone to push the wheelchair.

Q: I am interested in a trip to Alaska by land and cruise ship. I use a wheelchair and am interested in finding a travel agent who could help me make appropriate arrangements.A: When seeking a cruise to Alaska, the main thing you will have to consider is the accessibility of the ship you will sail on. Reservation agents will tell callers if a ship has cabins that may be used by wheelchair users. However, those familiar with the travel requirements of the disabled say that there are many important details that cruise line employees may not know about, such as width of bathroom entrances or whether lifeboats can be reached on wheelchair.

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -- Mix a little sun-tan lotion with a little ingenuity, and summer no longer has to mean endless frustration for people in wheelchairs.A new invention -- the first of its kind on the West Coast -- is hitting Santa Cruz beaches this summer, allowing wheelchair users to roll across sands that once stopped them in their tracks.The Surf Chair is no run-of-the-mill wheelchair. With its inflatable orange wheels, white plastic frame and sun umbrella, the contraption looks more a giant Fisher-Price toy than the hippest new development in disabled-access equipment.

It's been four months since Morgan State University Professor Marilynn J. Phillips told the Maryland Human Relations Commission that the County Arts Council discriminated against people who use wheelchairs.And in those four months, Phillips says, the complaint has amounted to nothing."These things always seem to get bogged down in a lot of foot dragging," said the 46-year-old Harvey Gummel Road resident.Phillipsfiled her complaint -- which says 87 percent of all events scheduledby the County Arts Council between April and December of last year were inaccessible to wheelchair users -- on Aug. 23.In the complaint, Phillips said only four of the 30 Arts Council events scheduled between April and December were accessible to wheelchair users.

The Maryland Commission on Human Relations has found that Western Maryland College, Westminster High School and a Westminster health clubdiscriminate against wheelchair users.In response to complaints filed over the last year by Hampstead professor Marilyn J. Phillips, the commission issued five separate findings against the college, high school and Leisure Health Spa. Those findings say MCHR has probablecause to believe discrimination against wheelchair users exists."I want to have anti-discrimination laws enforced," Phillips, 47,said from her Harvey Gummell Road log home.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is about to propose far-reaching new rules that would give people with disabilities greater access to tens of thousands of courtrooms, swimming pools, golf courses, stadiums, theaters, hotels and retail stores. The proposal would substantially update and rewrite federal standards for enforcement of the Americans With Disabilities Act, a landmark civil rights law passed with bipartisan support in 1990. The new rules would set more stringent requirements in many areas and address some issues for the first time, in an effort to meet the needs of an aging population and growing numbers of disabled war veterans.

I am in my 80s, and am limited as to how much walking I am able to do. Are there any tours geared to people with limitations? People who are mobile but have trouble walking fast or for long distances, often referred to as slow walkers, have many alternatives in and out of the United States. Access-Able Travel Source, accessable.com, provides practical information about travel for people with all types of disabilities. Carol Randall, who uses a wheelchair or scooter because of multiple sclerosis, organized the Web site with her husband, Bill, as a place to store what they have discovered either from their own journeys or from other travelers.

Aspiring law students knew they would get to study in a brand new building this fall if they got into the University of Maryland School of Law. That's one reason applications to the downtown Baltimore school increased 85 percent last year - the largest jump in the country. But no one expected this. The building that opened to students this month is a $54 million palace wired with enough technology to run a small movie studio. The floor is made of slate from Norwegian fjords, and everything else, it seems, is made of cherry wood, right down to the London-style telephone booths in the lounge.

A Baltimore woman sued the sleek, new Redwood Trust nightclub yesterday, saying the three-floor dance club and sushi bar discriminates against wheelchair users because there is no elevator and the one handicapped-accessible entrance is locked during business hours. In her lawsuit, Carolee Laird noted that the Redwood's owners spent more than $2.5 million to turn a former bank building at the corner of Calvert and Redwood streets into an ornate, modern club. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, argued the renovated building should fully comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. "I was definitely impressed with what they had done with the nightclub," said Laird, 27, who has spina bifida and is unable to walk.

Wheelchair users can measure the quality of life with a yardstick.That's only 36 inches, but they need every one to pass through doorways or aisles and make U-turns whenever paths to life's pleasures and necessities are blocked.For some wheelchair users, such as Marilynn Phillips of Hampstead, life is a continuing struggle to circumvent obstacles and gain access to dress racks and restrooms, bookshelves and knickknacks.Phillips, 55, is a retired associate professor of English from Morgan State University and an accessibility activist.

Wheelchair users can measure the quality of life with a yardstick.That's only 36 inches, but they need every one to pass through doorways or aisles and make U-turns whenever paths to life's pleasures and necessities are blocked.For some wheelchair users, such as Marilynn Phillips of Hampstead, life is a continuing struggle to circumvent obstacles and gain access to dress racks and restrooms, bookshelves and knickknacks.Phillips, 55, is a retired associate professor of English from Morgan State University and an accessibility activist.

As Marilynn J. Phillips sees it, the party of inclusion is excluding her -- and other wheelchair users -- from its county campaign headquarters in Westminster.For the second election year in a row, the county's Democratic Central Committee has leased a Main Street site that is inaccessible to wheelchair users, the Hampstead disabilities-rights activist claimed in complaints filed this week with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Maryland Human Relations Commission."I believe I have been discriminated against," Ms. Phillips said in the complaints.

Q: My wife is confined to a wheelchair. We would like to take a cruise in the Caribbean. Which lines can accommodate us?A: A score of ships that will be calling at Caribbean and the Bahamian ports this season have cabins especially designed for the wheelchair user. But just how equipped can vary markedly from ship to ship, and even vessels with such cabins have only a handful of them.It's a good idea to check with your local travel agency or a cruise line to be sure that your needs can be met. Cabins known in the industry as "dedicated," meaning they are specially designed, are best suited for wheelchair users.

Q: Of the chateaux in the Loire Valley, are some accessible for wheelchair users?A: Here are five chateaux that provide entry to the ground floor for visitors using wheelchairs. In all of them, access to upper floors is only by stairway.* Chateau de Chenonceau has a ramp that allows wheelchair access to the ground floor. If a wheelchair user arrives by car, the staff will allow the vehicle through the gate to park closer to the chateau than is normally allowed and may provide someone to push the wheelchair.

Wheelchair users will be able to attend Westminster City Council's meeting tomorrow night in the new first-floor council chambers of City Hall -- if they can get into the building.City officials say wheelchair users should be able to enter through the door that faces City Hall Drive -- with help.But they wouldn't want to try to use a restroom during the evening.Council meetings return to City Hall tomorrow night despite one council member's misgivings about resuming the sessions in a building where renovations to meet new accessibility standards for the disabled have not yet begun.