Wheelchair thief on tape

Wednesday, Dec 19, 2007 - 06:48 AM




By NBC News Channel
E-mail
Police in Hagerstown, Maryland are investigating a crime that left a paraplegic man with no way to get around.

Tony Faison was shopping at Wal-Mart early Friday morning when his wheelchair was stolen right from the lobby

The whole thing was caught on tape.

Faison had done it many times before; transferred into an electric shopping cart, then left his wheelchair in the Wal-Mart entrance under the greeter's care.

This time when he came back with his grocery bags, his wheelchair was gone.

"I was shocked to tell you the truth, I was shocked and then I got mad and I started to worry," Faison said.

"I couldn't believe it because I'm thinking, 'Who would take our wheelchair with all these millions of Wal-Mart wheelchairs around here?' and I just couldn't believe someone would do something like that," added his mother, Linda.

Tony was at Wal-Mart until 4 a.m. filing a police report, and because his chair was gone, police had to follow him home and carried him inside.

A surveillance video shows a white man with a white cap in the act of stealing Tony's wheelchair.

Tony says it will take him months to get the $6,000 chair replaced through MedicAid.

Until then, he has no way to get around.

"I slide on the floor to get around. I have to get on the floor and slide everywhere," he explained.

"He can't get to work, he can't get any fresh air, he can't go outside, he can't do anything in the kitchen, he's got to crawl on the floor and it hurts his back," Linda added.

Hagerstown City Police are still investigating the matter.

Tony's mother says she wishes Wal-Mart would take some responsibility since the chair was placed under their greeter's care.

This is an official statement given by Wal-Mart:

"It's a sad turn of events when a disabled customer cannot leave a wheelchair unattended. However, the role of a people greeter is to greet and assist customers as they come through the doors, whether that be with directing them to a certain area of the store or to help with a return or exchange. They can not be responsible for a customer's personal items. We are working closely with the local authorities to assist them in catching the persons responsible. We would refer you to them for any additional information."

http://www.wcbd.com/midatlantic/cbd/...2-19-0004.html

Portland blocks state law for wheelchair-bound drivers

03:59 PM PST on Wednesday, December 19, 2007

By RANDY NEVES, kgw.com

The City of Portland is temporarily bucking a new state law some think takes parking privileges away from some disabled drivers.


The law going into effect January 1 is designed to free up more disabled parking spots for those who use wheelchairs. The law creates a special class of permit for disabled drivers who do not need wheelchairs.



KING graphic



It essentially reduces their privileges by placing time limits for on-street parking meters and requiring payment.


Wheelchair users will still get to park for free anytime, anywhere.


On Wednesday, disabled people on crutches were among those who urged city commissioners to buck the new state law.


Portland city commissioners agreed hold off enforcing the new rules for six months -- that's allowed under the state's new law. It will also give them time to figure out how to interpret the law.


One lingering issue in all this -- is fraud. So far this year, city meter officers have busted 140 parkers for using someone else's disabled permit.


In some cases, the permits belonged to the deceased.


”I'm sure police officers have better things to do with their time than to drag handicapped people out of parking spaces,” driver Bernie Lowenthal said. “It's just crazy, it serves no purpose whatsoever.”


Commissioners are putting together a task force to study the issue with a report due in May.

http://www.kgw.com/news-local/storie....3122a2f5.html

Trapped - but why?
by Elaine Bowers


HOUSEBOUND: Andrew Napier has been unable to get to Cappielow to see his beloved Morton play because his carer-controlled, electric wheelchair has been taken away by the West of Scotland Mobility and Rehabilitation Centre who say they cannot fund a suitable replacement.

Photo Credit: George Munro

LIKE many young people in their 20s, Donna McKeown and Andrew Napier enjoy going out to socialise with friends and attend day centres and art classes. Unlike other people their age, they have been housebound for long periods due to a shortage of funding to provide them with electronically-powered, carer-controlled wheelchairs. Now their relatives and carers at Quarriers, Bridge of Weir, have enlisted the help of MSP Trish Godman who is lobbying the Scottish Executive in a bid to get more cash to ensure others like Donna and Andrew do not also find their freedom suddenly curtailed.



DONNA McKeown has been housebound for much of this year — and all because of a lack of funding to replace her carer-controlled, electric wheelchair worth around £3,000.

Until early last year the 26-year old, who has complex physical and learning disabilities, had a wheelchair perfect for her needs. It was electronically powered and designed so it could be controlled by her family and carers.

But when the special wheelchair she had used for 11 years broke down, the West of Scotland Mobility and Rehabilitation Centre (Westmarc) replaced it with a manual wheelchair that is unsuitable.

Donna, who has giantism, is too heavy for her mum, Christine, to push in a normal wheelchair. The ordinary chair is also too wide to fit into her mobility vehicle.

Now, instead of getting out to meet friends in Greenock and Port Glasgow, or to attend her much-loved art classes, Donna has to stay at her home in Quarrier’s Village, where she is looked after along with five other young people who also have a range of disabilities.

Christine said: “If Donna hasn’t got her chair, she hasn’t got a life. Donna is very sociable and likes to see her family, who live all around Glasgow, and to visit her friends in Greenock and Port Glasgow. She loves shopping and attends art classes, but she couldn’t get to them.”

Donna’s plight has frustrated her mum, who feels her daughter is being discriminated against. Christine said: “She has a right to get out just as everyone of us has. When I push her in a normal wheelchair and go up and down the pavements I can see Donna tensing up. With the electric chair, as I call it, she is not as frightened, shaky or anxious. I feel this is an abuse of her rights. If she doesn’t have a wheelchair, her rights to go out have been taken away.”

Christine’s views are shared by staff at Quarriers, who have looked after Donna for eight years.

Project manager Helen Stewart acknowledged Westmarc was prepared to provide Donna with a regular wheelchair but said because of her size and frustrations she has now broken several, which she argues is not cost effective

Helen said: “They will provide wheelchairs that are manual and electronically-powered but they will not provide electronically-powered wheelchairs operated by carers.

“They are discriminating against people who are not able to control the chair themselves. The wheel fell off Donna’s electronic chair and Westmarc took it, we thought, for repair, but they said it was condemned and couldn’t be repaired and they don’t have the funding for another carer-controlled wheelchair.”

Donna receives a mobility allowance of £155 a month to enable her to use a vehicle to get out and about. Without a suitable wheelchair, she has been unable to use her van for a-year-and-a-half, although it still has to be paid for.

And Donna’s problem is not unique.

Andrew Napier, 23, is in a similar situation. He lives in the same house in Quarriers and had a carer-controlled powered chair until it was removed by Westmarc early in 2006.

Now he has been housebound for much of the last 11 months, unable to go to the McPherson Day Centre in Gourock as normal, or to Cappielow to watch Morton play football.

The manual wheelchair he was given to replace his carer-controlled chair is not stable enough for his needs, as he has a tendency to rock. It has been fitted with anti-tip leavers but these are said to be hazardous for other people and have not stopped the chair tipping, or Andrew falling out.

Andrew’s family can no longer take him out for walks, as they are not strong enough to push him up hills.

Kate Sanford, policy manager for Quarriers, said: “We were advised by the assessors at Westmarc that funding restrictions prohibit the provision of a carer-controlled, electrically-powered chair, even though this had been previously provided and appeared to be the most appropriate for his needs.”

Quarriers staff say disabled people who can control electronic wheelchairs themselves are not affected by the problems being faced by Donna and Andrew. Kate told the Tele there was a review of NHS wheelchair and seating services in March last year that states ‘service delivery should be based on holistic requirements and not coloured by available funding for equipment’. However, as Kate points out, Donna and Andrew’s situation ‘clearly shows a gap in this service’.

Kate has lodged a complaint with NHS bosses at Westmarc but said NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde was adamant it could not reinstate the carer-controlled electric wheelchairs Andrew and Donna used because of funding constraints.

Now Kate has contacted Trish Godman MSP for support. Kate said: “I am going to work with Trish to see how we can best try to get funding. We want the Scottish Government to provide funding.”

It would cost just £4,000 to provide Andrew with the chair he needs, while the style required by Donna is just £3,000.

As they can see no other way of resolving the problem, staff at Quarriers have decided to buy Donna and Andrew the chairs they need from their own funds.

Kate said: “This obviously means a voluntary organisation is yet again having to prop up under-funded public services.”

MSP Trish said: “I have met Donna and Andrew in Quarriers. It is a disgrace they find themselves confined to Quarriers because they cannot get the proper carer-controlled, electronic wheelchairs.

“I have taken the matter up with ministers and I will continue to do so. I have also asked for the matter to be put on the agenda at the next meeting of the Cross Party Group for Disability. I am sure I will receive cross party support.

“I intend to put down some parliamentary questions and get some publicity on the matter in the parliament as I am sure there must be other members with constituents in this situation. I will continue to pursue the matter until it is resolved.”

A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “No attendant controlled, powered wheelchair has been removed from any patient for reasons of cost.

“These are replaced whenever another type of chair is found to be equally, or more, suitable for the patient, or when they are no longer fit for use and become beyond repair.

“It has been agreed by the six West of Scotland health boards that make up Westmarc, that Westmarc should no longer issue new attendant-controlled, powered wheelchairs.”

http://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/a...sec=1&id=17987

Discuss: UPS Truck Drags Person In Wheelchair

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


UPS Truck Drags Person In Wheelchair - CBS2
A wheelchair-bound person was dragged approximately one block by an 18-wheel big rig in Lakewood before the driver realized there was a collision, authorities said.



http://www.browncafe.com/forum/lates...heelchair.html

Wheelchair dancing is hot!
http://walkingisoverrated.com/2007/1...ancing-is-hot/