Life on Wheels: The A to Z Guide to Living Fully with Mobility Issues

by Gary Karp

"There are 1.7 million regular wheelchair users in the United State. Like anyone else, they work, marry, have children, travel, play sports, and are full members of their community. Life on Wheels makes sure they take full advantage of every available opportunity. It is the A-Z guide for all you need to know about every aspect of living with mobility impairment. This unique book offers an initial road map to the lifelong, complex, and fascinating road of the disability experience. Life on Wheels is primarily a guidebook for those with a mobility disability, offering practical information on how

Genres: Nonfiction

477 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 1999

Reviews

[Richard Derus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5* of five

This is a deeply inspiring book. The author has revised this title into a second edition ten years after its first appearance. It's truly a resource book; I live with a mobility impairment, and with a 90-year-old whose mobility is decreasing; and this book, though not aimed at either of us, was so affirming of the value of life lived with far more severe impediments to mobility that I was cheered by it every time I picked it up.

Consider what I just said a moment. A book aimed at the newly paraplegic or quadriplegic, acknowledging their feelings and issues, is written in such a way as neither to depress or affront a fully abled person by its frankness and its positivity. Karp never cheerleads. That is a fatal flaw in a motivator. He does exhort, but he does so from the standpoint of a person who has traveled this road he's showing the reader since he was a vogorous 18-year-old changed by an injury into a paraplegic. He isn't anything different from anyone else you know; and that's his lesson to the newly wheeled: Neither are you. You're a person, act like one! I reduce his arguments to their absurdest simplicity for a review. His explanations and lessons are far more nuanced and absosrbing than I can convey to you in a review.

I like Gary Karp. I like his warmth and his humor and his intelligence. I'd like to have him and his second wife over for dinner. I can't imagine that a chair would make a difference to the wonderful evening I expect we'd have.

And that's exactly the message he's after sending. Read this book if someone you know has a spinal injury, BEFORE you say anything thoughtless. Read this book if someone you know is living on wheels. Read this book if you are at all interested in what the world looks like from waist height. You will not be sorry that you made the effort.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really terrific book that covers everything I wish we had known when my best friend's mom was in a car accident and became a quadraplegic. On top of the obvious horrible stuff, figuring out many of the basic logistics was unbelievably frustrating. We kept saying that there should be one person we could go to who could answer questions and point us in the direction of resources. Each person we encountered only knew their personal area. Even choosing a wheelchair was an ordeal. This book won't answer every question, but it's a terrific start. It addresses emotions of becoming disabled and continuing to live a full life with disability. Practicalities from choosing a chair to living arrangements and universal design are explored. It also includes a very helpful list of resources. If you know anyone dealing with mobility issues or disability, please read this book.

[Melanie Fair · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty handy book for those who have recently become disabled. I had no idea that there were so many components to a wheelchair that needed to be thought of.