Lifelong Health by Dr. David Lipschitz

For the last eight weeks, I have been given a tiny glimpse into the world of the disabled, with a broken ankle forcing me to bypass stairs, seek out ramps and navigate life without the physical ease so easily taken for granted. Frankly, it was an eye-opening experience.

Without the amazing work of Sen. John McCain and the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, who championed the Americans with Disabilities Act, I am not sure how I would have made it. The entire experience has given me an unparalleled respect for the 43 million disabled Americans who every day face an often inhospitable society.

One-half of disabled Americans are over the age of 65, and for the past two months, I have added to that statistic. Since fracturing and having surgery on my ankle, I quickly realized that navigating the world on one leg was not going to be easy. I have been unable to bear weight, walk or drive. With the help of a "Turning Leg Caddy," a four-wheeled cycle with two soft pads on which I can rest my bad leg, I wheeled myself around and maintained some modicum of mobility and independence. But to get where I need to go, I relied on someone else to carry the caddy down the stairs, into the car and over any difficult surfaces.

For a person with a disability, my three-story house was a veritable death trap. To get up to my bedroom, I climbed 20 steps on my backside (at least my arms got stronger). And once in the room, my trips outside were minimal. Weight loss was easy because access to food was impossible. And while I used an electric wheelchair in the clinic, a full day's work was difficult.

Going from one place to another, the ramps and wheelchair-accessible entryways were often too steep, frequently blocked by bicycles or mopeds, and difficult to navigate even with help. The access was inconvenient, the surfaces uneven, the path not lighted, and I fell twice simply trying to enter a building.

And then there is dealing with a wheelchair. Some doors were wide enough to navigate easily, but unfortunately those seemed to be the anomaly rather than the norm.

I constantly banged doors, dinged my wheelchair and struggled to weave in and out of restaurant tables. At one establishment, I chastised the owners for not ensuring a clear path to the door, and my complaints were met with disdain.

While my plight is simply temporary and a rude wake-up call, there are millions of Americans who must overcome disability every day and, despite the great advances in our "politically correct" and "accommodating" world, the challenges can still be daunting.

Soon I will be "back to normal," able to drive, live, exercise and engage in life with physical ease, but this brief stint with disability has left an indelible mark. I have new insight into how difficult life can be for disabled Americans, how much work remains to be done, and how easy it is to overlook the obstacles that face anyone with physical or cognitive disabilities.

In recent decades, the advances to help people deal with disabilities have been exceptional. Every day, it seems that new devices are making the impossible possible, and thanks to cutting-edge research, we may see a day when physical disabilities, including blindness and deafness, are completely eradicated. Though it seems fantastical, stem cell research offers promises of growing new limbs, restoring function and making physical disability a relic of the past.

In the meantime, we must all open our eyes to the reality of living life with a disability. Millions of disabled Americans overcome great challenges to be "like the rest of us." But, in many cases, they do so despite the roadblocks placed by modern society.

For those of you with whom my thoughts resonate, please understand that I will forever be a passionate and never-ending advocate for the needs of the disabled. I sincerely hope that my limited and eye-opening experience can inspire others to become advocates as well. With the number of 85-year-olds tripling in the next 30 years, the number of disabled Americans may skyrocket as well. Therefore, it is vitally important that we do everything possible to help Americans prepare for and manage disability.

Dr. David Lipschitz is the author of the book "Breaking the Rules of Aging." To find out more about Dr. David Lipschitz and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com. More information is available at www.DrDavidHealth.com.

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