Handcycling into the sunset

You got to love the handcycle. Bikes are no longer monopolized by bi-peds thanks to this awesome invention. As long as you have some arm movement, heck even if you don’t have any, you can use a handcycle.

Full-power, power-assist, traditional – handcycles work with any SCI level. Here are three videos showcasing the awesomeness of these bad boys, including one with built-in FES.

In our first video, watch a compilation of three different handcycles from Berkel Bike, a nouveau handcycle company from the Netherlands. They’ve gone and created a super unique handcycle that’s a fusion between a traditional handcycle and a tricycle.

Yup a tricycle, and it works quite well for people with spinal cord injuries. What I really love about this design is that your legs move passively as you pedal with your arms, enabling your legs to get in on the exercise-action too. And since it’s a trike, it sits a bit higher from the ground making transfers much, much easier. Read the rest of this entry

SCI Superstar: Darius Glover

Darius Glover is one of those tough as nails paraplegics we keep seeing more and more of. Why is he awesome? He’s the first paralyzed motocross racer to ride in a AMA (American Motorcyclists Association) sanctioned race, proving that yes – you can be paralyzed and still be competitive on a bike. So incredibly rad.

But racing from the waist up (he’s a T5 – T9 paraplegic) definitely weren’t in his original plans. Everything changed when at the age of 15 (while practicing for an upcoming race at the MX track “Field of dreams” in 2006), Darius crashed his bike on a slick double jump.

But even though his parents were hesitant at first (and even he wasn’t sure he could do it), Darius decided to not give up on his love and was back on a bike again within a few months of his injury. Read this entry

Video review of the Jamies Camisole

Time again for a video review! Just in time for Spring, I decided to give a Summery touch to the Jamies Camisole, a great top made by Ag Apparel, adding a belt and a grey skirt.

I really love this top in the ivory cotton pin-stripe. Such a subtle, classy pattern and it goes great with so many looks. Great top with two distinct looks – with cap sleeves or remove them for a sexy strappy look.

And the top is chock full of adaptive elements – a built-in bamboo layer so you don’t have to wear a breat, big button holes for people with limited hand movement and no zippers or Velcro.

Watch the video review

Buy the Jamies Camisole

SCI Superstar: Tiphany Adams

A wild child in her teens – now a zen TV star, Tiphany Adams is a drop-dead gorgeous paraplegic who’s been aiming to change the world since being injured in a car accident at the age of 17.

She wants to change the way the way the world looks at people with disabilities and she wants to use media to make that happen. Read this entry

My Top 5 Wheely Favorite Things

Check out my new monthly column for Push Living!

I’ll be profiling some of my top ‘Wheely Favorite Things’ each month – items, media, products and services for wc-users.

And here’s my first installment! #1 – The Wheel Comfort cushioney footrest (for going barefoot), #2 – ‘Manufactured 1987’ awesome high-fashion blog from a NYC woman w/ CP and #3 – The Sessions w/ Helen Hunt (a movie about a sex worker for disabled people). Read my other picks here

Dating, and finding it’s possible

Fear is the number one feeling most of us feel when it comes to dating. And it’s especially no surprise that lots of people in wheelchairs are afraid to date. We can be afraid; afraid of rejection, explaining our disability, of being seen as a burden.

And then we just don’t even try to date. Don’t let that happen to you!  A wheelchair may make it trickier to find someone, but it’s never a roadblock. Just watch these three videos below about people’s positive dating with a disability experiences.

The first video is all about finding out the world is better than you thought. It features a beautiful Latina woman who was injured when she was just 11 years old. At the time of her injury, she of course wasn’t worried about boys or what her prospects in dating might lead to.

That kind of stuff wasn’t on her radar yet. But now, she’s a strong young woman who’s been dating, and she’s discovered some important things about dating from a wheelchair. Read this entry

Podcast 95: Scott Rains, inclusive travel expert

In podcast 95, Tiffiny is joined by inclusive travel expert, Scott Rains, a quadriplegic who’s been hired by tourism businesses and governments all around the world to teach them how they can become more universally accessible.

In this fascinating interview, Tiffiny and Scott talk about everything, from his injury in 1972 from a tumor on his spinal cord to how he retooled his career to become an inclusive travel expert. They also discuss accessibility in places he’s visited (and he’s been on every continent, except Antarctica), including a country he’s visiting often right now, Brazil.

Listen below. Run time is 50 minutes.

No Free Rides is brought to you by Easystand

Links:

– Visit Scott’s blog: Rolling Rains
[powerpress]

SCI Superstar: Rick Hansen

There are a lot of awesome things about Canada, and Rick Hansen is one of the coolest things about this beautiful place. This positive man’s journey post-injury may have began in athletics (and boy did he kick butt there), but that’s not where his resume ends; it’s where it begins.

To millions of Canadians, Rick is known as the “Man in motion” for an amazing 40,000 mile journey that took two years to complete, wearing out 117 tires and 11 pairs of gloves in the process. Read this entry

Vacay time yet?

Planning an epic tropical vacation…or dreaming of getting away? There are some insanely cool accessible vacation options out there, and the wheelchair-friendly resorts, places and activities only keep getting better. They’re so sweet in fact you may just forget the whole “not being able to walk” thing. Check ‘em out!

The first video comes from John “J2″ Mryczko, a C5-6 quad from Chicago, IL. He and his girlfriend went on an diving vacation to Cozumel, Mexico (considered one of the best diving spots in the world) and they went with the adapted SCUBA group, Diveheart (a really cool organization founded in 2001). And while he was not at all a scuba diver before this trip, he got the hang of it right away (even if it took 4 people to get him in his wet suit). Read this entry