“Who-o-o-o…ARE YOU? Who-who … ARE you?”
Those soul-searching words are sung, appropriately enough, by the rock band named Who and open every episode of the intriguing hit TV series “CSI.” The enigmatic query relates to cases for the fictionalized Las Vegas Crime Scene Investigation team, and it turns up in ardent discussion among those who use wheelchairs, walkers, and other mobility devices.
“Who-o-o-o…ARE YOU? Who-who … ARE you?”
Jack Gillrup gives you one answer; Mark Roesser issues a different reply; Gregory C. Doyle has a third view, and Sherman “West” Westmoreland will glare before returning to his six-day-a-week schedule. With respect to Bill Maher’s Politically Incorrect show, should Gillrup et al. be termed “disabled,” handicapped,” “impaired,” “impeded,” or “challenged”?
Don’t say “crippled” to Gillrup, who calls the term "offensive, inappropriate." He’d probably try to make you an IHOP pancake with his motorized wheelchair - the one he took on safari in South Africa. Gillrup trvels the political road and emphasizes the pertinent query is: “How do these affected members of society gain and maintain socio-economic access” supposedly afforded equally to “We, the People”?
The U.S. Department of Justice states: “The Americans with Disabilities Act (Public Law 336 of the 101st Congress, enacted July 26, 1990) “prohibits discrimination and ensures equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in employment; state and local government services; public accommodations; commercial facilities, and transportation. It also mandates the establishment of TDD/telephone relay services.”
Still, the problem is worldwide, says law professor Tobias van Reenen, of the Community Law Centre,[cq] a non-governmental organization at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa. He has written that disabled people “are one of the most marginalised groups in society … not only from prejudice and stereotyping but, more importantly, from socio-economic deprivation. …Poverty is rife among the disabled [and] their caregivers [and they are often effectively denied access to existing social services and economic support because of physical barriers.” Others are “denied access to information that would enable them to gain access to social services and economic support because the information isn’t available in a form they can use.”
In the U.S., Congress supposedly defined the issue, and the U.S. Supreme Court has redefined it with rulings on the ADA. Gillrup, Disabled Services Division chief and ADA coordinator for Jacksonville, FL, strives to improve life for the disabled and “make city programs, activities, and services as accessible as possible. His office monitors federal and state legislation and advises City Hall staff regarding city compliance. Football fans watching Jacksonville Jaguars home games may see Gillrup’s Alitel Stadium handiwork. He helped design the first National Football League stadium considered compliant with the ADA.
Gillrup’s friend Westmoreland rode his motorcycle and may have imagined himself “Wyatt” or “Billy” in the film Easy Rider. Eventually, the bikes were the characters' undoing, but after the film shooting they walked away. After Westmoreland's accident, he didn't walk. He still rolls - in his motorized wheelchair as a quadriplegic who founded, operates, ands presides over three companies, including Jaguar Builders, a commercial builder for which he won a lawsuit against the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars over use of “Jaguar.”
He gains access for himself and others by hard work and professional and community service. He is an active member of, among other organizations, the Northeast Florida Builders Association, which works with Habitat for Humanity of Jacksonville. For that and other deeds, The[cq] Able Trust (really the Florida Governor's Alliance for the Employment of Citizens With Disabilities) recognized Westmoreland's "ingenuity and innovative entrepreneurial achievements.”
Meanwhile, Roesser’s let-me-at-‘em medical approach underscores his own case management model developed with his case manager. "The model saved my insurance company hundreds of thousands of dollars, and over my lifetime will save them possibly millions of dollars," he claims. He’s vice president/investments for the Jacksonville Beach, FL office of Atlanta-based J.P. Turner Co., investment bankers, and has come a long way since a truck drove his car off a Carolina road and made him a paraplegic. He credits personal drive with getting him where he is, helping others through the Tallahassee, FL-based Florida Alliance for Assistive Systems and Technology (www.FAAST.com), of which he is immediate past chairman.
Doyle’s approach is philanthropic. He became a quadriplegic when he was poisoned. As an international fashion model, Doyle, now 42, modeled for designers such as Gianni Versace and Valentino. On March 6, 1985, a jealous rival model allegedly poisoned him, although Doyle couldn't prove it to police, while on a three-month photo shoot in Tokyo. Today, he’s a representative of Evergreen Sales and Marketing. Iin December, he rode his specially-built bike leading his Wheels of Hope Tour to "raise funds and awareness for Spinal Cord Injury and neurological disorders." Funds from the event went to the Gregory C. Doyle Neurological Foundation Inc., a 501 (c) (3) foundation to support research of SCI and neurological disorders. He is executive director and seeks access for others like him.
"We're not asking for special treatment, [only] equal treatment," says Roesser, now chairman of new Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton's disability council. Gillrup, also a council member, adds: “There are plenty of laws in place” to provide equal socio-economic access, “but they are enforced sporadically and meekly. I would like the U.S. Department of Justice to stop shuffling paper and be more aggressive enforcing the ADA.”