The hunkiest guy in a wheelchair to make it big in Hollywood – Mitch Longley.
He’s been a hearthrob fans adored in General Hospital and Another World, he was on NBC’s Las Vegas until 2010 and he’s in the new documentary CinemAbility. This guy really needs a website. Read this entry
I may be too burnt out on the genre, but if you’re a fan of gushy primetime soap operas, have a soft spot in your heart for 90210 AND are interested in characters with disabilities in the media (television and movies, etc)…
…then Riley (played by Riley Smith of ’24,’ ‘Motocrosser’ and ‘Freak & Geeks’ fame) is a character you need to get hip to. Read this entry
Brooke Ellison is am-aazing! First quad to graduate from Harvard (you’ve seen her on the “Hope. Pass It On” billboards), Christopher Reeve’s last film was on her life story and she ran for the New York State Senate in 2004.
What is she up to now? Read on!
Jess, 35, was a forward on the NY Rollin’ Knicks the last few yrs.
Now he’s teaching men & women in Afghanistan (he’s been doing it since 2009) how to play the game. I want to work for the Int’l Red Cross too! Read all about him
In episode 13, Mia swims her first meet (and it’s against all able-bodied swimmers), Auti and Eric finally get some deep conversations going on having kids and Tiphany rolls a 5k. And you gotta watch Tiph do her faux chair “run” in Angela’s kitchen.
And good news! Push Girls has been renewed for a second season! (look for it in 2013)
SPOILERS AHEAD ***
The episode begins by checking in with Mia at the pool, whose doing her last practice before her swim meet, and we get another melodramatic over dub of Mia’s story, and she talks about how hard it was to not be able to swim anymore (and now she’s worried about failing).
Her trainer Kevin, who trained several Paralympic athletes, has her doing different turns in the water. He tells the camera she needs to get over her emotional blocks if she wants to succeed.
After she gets out of the pool, she tells him how slow she feels when she’s swimming, which I’m sure is a big change from how it felt before. “I’m still so far from the level I used to be at,” she says. “The meet is only a few days away, but I really don’t feel ready.”
Are you a fan of Glee? If so, you may already be familiar with Zack Weinstein. He’s the only person with paralysis in real life to be on the hit TV show Glee yet, and he’s slowly been making a name for himself in Hollywood since.
Zack always knew he wanted to be an actor. We all know how a crazy accident can totally sent us off course, but Zach refused to let that happen.
Despite an injury that could’ve made him change his entire life, Zach couldn’t let his passion go.
Why he’s fearless
After only one year into his schooling at Skidmore college, studying theater arts, Zach found himself lying in a nearby river with a broken neck at the C4-6 level. He broke his neck canoeing in Maine with some friends.
Despite taking a one year break from college to figure out how to live as a quadriplegic, Zach went right back into college afterwards, and refused to change his major.
Zach said that some of his professors tried to get him to change his major after his accident. Read this entry
In episode 12, Mia and Tiphany go accessible apartment hunting so little miss Mia can get out of her grungy apartment and into a sexy “grown up” apartment she can be proud of. Not easy in LA, but is it anywhere really?
Watch the girls visit the Rose Bowl farmer’s market to find Mia some stylish new things for her place. Also, Chelsie’s back story with her dad gets spotlighted, with her beginning to feel some reluctance in doing her “don’t do what I did” speeches at high schools.
SPOILERS AHEAD ***
This episode begins with Mia in her apartment feeding her parakeet Chirpy. We get the back story on Mia’s apartment. It’s “grungy;” has stained carpets from living there for five years and she can’t shut the bathroom door when she goes to the bathroom. “It doesn’t feel very inviting. I don’t even like to be there,” she says.
Tiphany arrives to see Mia’s apartment for the first time. You get to tour Mia’s apartment as Tiph rolls through, and if you ask me it’s really not that bad (except for the Persian rug over the carpet of course).
Mia tells the camera she’s not had people over because her place, “it’s not something I want to share with people.”
In episode 11, the girls get to do one of the best adrenaline rushes you can still get when paralyzed – downhill skiing. They head to Big Bear, Cali for the classic weekend ski getaway.
Tiphany and Chelsie have fun rating hot men during the road trip there, Chelsie can’t calm her nerves before she skis and Angela has so much fun she can’t stop smiling. Also, watch Mia prove paraplegics can conquer the top bunk!
SPOILERS AHEAD ***
The episode begins with a flurry of activity at Angela’s house – all four girls are there, plus Chelsie, to pack for their trip to Big Bear (Auti’s idea. She’s the only one in the group who has gone adapted skiing before).
Both Chelsie and Tiphany have gone skiing before their injuries, but Chelsea is definitely the most scared to go. She tried snowboarding her first time a month before her injury, and talks about how she’s afraid it won’t be the same.
Angela thinks it’ll be scary. “Come on a quadriplegic skiing?” Mia says this is the first time she’s ever gone skiing, and I think she kind of likes it that way. We get a cute shot of Angela and her 25 year old boyfriend (she’s 37), and calls herself a “cougar kitty.”
Their relationship is definitely getting stronger. Cody says learning to be with Angela has been an amazing growth process. “I had to battle immaturity to be her boyfriend,” he says.
In episode 10, Auti’s overbearing nature is spotlighted. She and Eric mix words while recording tracks for their new CD, and the Colours ‘n Motion dance crew butt heads after Chelsie and Mia get sick of doing the same old routine. Tiphany also takes Chelsie mini-golfing!
SPOILERS AHEAD ****
This episode begins with Chelsie getting dropped off at Tiphany & Angela’s house. Chelsie is staying at the house because she’s in town for an upcoming performance with the Colors n’ Motion dance crew. The dance team is scheduled to perform at an “abilities event” at a nearby aquarium that weekend. Tiphany shows off her luggage pushing method with her footrests. Man that girl has some upper body strength.
Tiphany shares how much she values her relationship with Chelsie, hoping she can be a good mentor to her since Chelsie was injured only two years ago and is just 19. After Chelsie arrives, the show goes into the close relationship Tiphany and Chelsie have created since they’re so alike in personalities.
“She’s like my older sister that I never had,” says Chelsie. “You are so tan,” Tiphany says as she looks over Chelsie once they get into the house. “And you’re so hot. Why are you so hot?” she asks with a smile, and they laugh. A fashion side note, Tiphany sure
In episode 9, get ready for some fun ’cause it’s the dating episode. All four ladies attend an art gallery opening together (and get lots of stares), Tiphany reconnects with an ex-flame (a guy this time!), Angela dates a hunk 12 years her junior and Mia goes kayaking on a first date. The Bachelorette has nothing on this episode.
SPOILERS AHEAD ****
The episode begins checking in with Tiphany and Angela. Tiphany is on her computer in the living and checking her dating profile. Tiphany says most people assume you have no dating life if you use a chair, but admits that being in a chair can make you more vulnerable. “Trusting people can be tough.”
Angela rolls in asking her if she puts down she uses a wheelchair in her profile (while Tiphany points out an alternative-looking she thinks is hot who has ginormous gauged ears; Angela squirms and asks, “What in the heck is on his ears?” lol). And then Angela brings up one of the most creepy issues you’ll discover after being paralyzed – wheelchair fetishists (they have an attraction to people in wheelchairs).
