Oops! Re[3]: [at-l] Wow! My original intro and ADA

[tmcginnis@ucclan.state.in.us (Thomas McGinnis)]

     I would like to apologize to OrangeBug for mis-addressing what was 
     supposed to be my private reply to him -- obviously I didn't clean out 
     the addressing-to-all before I hit "send". What was supposed to be a 
     minor "rebuke" to lighten up and to see the similar VALIDITY of the 
     other side of the issue...ended up as a public doink I did not intend 
     -- and did not intend because I didn't want to feed this thread. Or 
     rather feed the sniping tone starting to inject itself into this 
     thread. And speaking of injections, I also put in what was supposed to 
     be a private doink at the ATML, and by making it public, I also 
     contributed to the thought on the ATML that the AT-L has some sort of 
     institutional bias against it. That is unfortunate, too, and I 
     apologize for that, as well, to both the AT-L and to the ATML, for 
     those who "are members" of both.
     
     For the record, I would recommend we all take a breath and do two 
     things: 1) observe the reality of the gross distortion of the sense of 
     the ADA -- a distortion oblivious to common sense or fiscal prudency, 
     for dollars public or private; and 2) observe that Max Rice (who, as 
     Felix quickly noted, needs no new trail name) asked for no quarter in 
     his original post other than the ability to go where he was able -- no 
     different than any other hiker worth his Lekis.
     
     For myself, I recognize the problems with the ADA, and recognize the 
     abuses of so-called "handicapped access" by the able-bodied. Also, I 
     do not think it practically possible for a wheelchair-bound person to 
     complete a throughroll of the AT. Nor do I believe it possible for a 
     totally blind person to throughhike the AT, no matter how smart the 
     seeing-eye dog. Been wrong on that one! And if someone had told me 
     that a MS-sufferer legally blind with cataracts would multiple-hike 
     the AT, or an eighty-year old dude (no matter that he done some hiking 
     beforehand), I would have laughed and been wrong there, too.
     
     No, I don't think it's possible for a wheelchair to roll the AT. Not 
     practically, anyway. But in a foot race in my (well, for Indianapolis) 
     "hilly" neighborhood last fall, I caught up to one of the wheelchair 
     racers in a quarter mile of the course where it went uphill 
     cross-country through a golf course. It was (by running/racing 
     standards) a pretty steep go, and most of us where huffing and puffing 
     pretty bad, but the "wheels" guy was grunting and huffing and howling 
     with every rotation, going REALLY slow, sweat flowing and shaking off 
     him with every jerk forward of the chair over the ruff of the course. 
     But everybody yelled as they went by "Keep it up, Wheels!" "Good job, 
     Wheels!" "Way to go, Wheels!" and we all knew not to listen for a 
     reply, cause this guy needed every molecule of air just to inch 
     forward. When we hit pavement again, the wheelchair guy took off, and 
     got the same cheers again from the same runners who'd passed him on 
     the grass. He passed me perhaps a quarter mile from the (uphill) 
     finish line, just as I was starting my warp-drive kick for the end. We 
     raced for a couple of hundred yards, and I was able to pass and stay 
     ahead of him (barely) with 200 yards to go. We were in different 
     divisions and were way out of any "award" contentions anyway, but most 
     "pedestrian" races are this way: "fun runs" till the finish line is 
     within mental grasp, then all out battles occur. And so he and I 
     battled, stride for stride, thrust for thrust, both of us battling 
     fatigue and the uphill finish..... (Thoughtful pause.)
     No, I don't think it's possible for "wheels" to do the AT, but I have 
     to scratch my head when I think about Bob Barker, Bill Irwin, Earl 
     Schaffer, and for that matter, Emma Gatewood and others. Ruff-Tuff 
     throughhikers, them. And I have to further qualify my thoughts when I 
     think (now) about doing it with two motivated sons: Holy Cow. And the 
     wild, excellent possibilities of the home-school/throughhike thing... 
     
     As Max stated, he's only investigating what the problems are, and how 
     they might be addressed. To paraphrase Thoreau, Don't scoff at them as 
     build their castles in the air; rather, work then to build the 
     foundations underneath them.
     
     Sorry to prattle on so...This started out as an apology.
     
     Sorry, OrangeBug.
     
     da Ol' absent-minded Sloetoe
     
     
     
     
     


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re[2]: [at-l] Wow! My original intro and ADA
Author:  Thomas McGinnis at UCCLAN
Date:    5/10/99 9:29 AM


     Sorry, OrangeBug, but the pot seems unrelenting in calling the kettle 
     black.
     (Humor Injection:)
     Seems like discussion and attitude much more at home on the ATML, 
     where they truly know right from righteous.
     
     
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: [at-l] Wow! My original intro and ADA
Author:  "W F Thorneloe; MD" <thornel@ibm.net> at ima 
Date:    5/9/99 10:43 AM
     
     
I hope that other hikers aren't a significant obstacle. Often people assume 
the worse of others, particularly when there is something different about 
the situation. Your note elicited that response.
     
OrangeBug
Atlanta, GA
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