Big Wheels

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Four Term President of the United States

Assuming the Presidency at the depth of the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt helped the American people regain faith in themselves. He brought hope as he promised prompt, vigorous action, and asserted in his Inaugural Address, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Read More!

Stephen Hawking, "Most Brilliant Physicists Since Einstein"

Once asked how he felt about being labeled the world's smartest person, he responded: "It is very embarrassing. It is rubbish, just media hype. They just want a hero, and I fill the role model of a disabled genius. At least I am disabled, but I am no genius." Hawking has ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) or Lou Gehrig's disease, a neuromuscular disease that progressively weakens muscle control. As a 21-year-old graduate student in cosmology at Cambridge University, doctors predicted an early death for him. Today, he's 56 and married with three children...Read More!

Writer, Pulitzer Prize winner, Charles Krauthammer

Charles Krauthammer, winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary, began writing a weekly column for The Washington Post in 1985. He was born in New York City, raised in Montreal, and educated at McGill University, Oxford University, and Harvard (M.D. in 1975). He practiced medicine for three years and in 1978, he left to direct planning in psychiatric research for the Carter administration, and began contributing articles to the New Republic. During the presidential campaign of 1980, he served as a speech writer to Vice President Walter Mondale. He joined the New Republic as a writer and editor in 1980. In 1997, the Washingtonian magazine named him among the top 50 most influential journalists in the national press corps. Krauthammer uses a wheelchair. It is hard to find this information because it is usually not included in any description of his work, but he remains a man who has succeeded in reaching the pinnacle of his profession without using his feet. Read More!

Teddy Pendergras: Recording Artist with 5 Platinum albums and Grammy nods

In his own words: As a world-renowned entertainer I enjoyed an exciting, productive and active life as well as all the trappings of success. I’ve had five consecutive multi-platinum albums, Grammy nominations, numerous awards, keys to cities, movie appearances, TV specials, sold out national and international concerts, and endorsements. I had nothing but success everywhere I turned, everything I touched, everything I did, I was showered with success, and there was more to come. I was on top of the world and felt utterly invincible. Until, one tragic evening in March, 1982 when an automobile accident caused my life to change drastically. I became one of over 250,000 Americans suffering from a spinal cord injury (SCI). Fortunately, I am blessed to be able to continue to work and be productive in my chosen profession.  In May 2001,1 returned to the stage after 19 years. Read More!

Randy Snow: Paralympic Champion, Businessman, Author

At the peak of a blossoming tennis career while just a junior in high school, Randy Snow was injured in a farming accident, which left him without the use of his legs. Since then he has become a business owner and nationally recognized sales associate, a Fortune 500 speaker and one of the most successful gold medal wheelchair athletes in history. Because of his achievements, he received the Paralympic torch from President Clinton in Washington, kicking off the Atlanta Paralympic Games in 1996. In 2004, he was the first Paralympian inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame. Read More!

John Hockenberry: Three-time Peabody Award winner, four-time Emmy award winner and Dateline NBC correspondent,

Three-time Peabody Award winner, four-time Emmy award winner and Dateline NBC correspondent, John Hockenberry's weekly public radio commentaries have been heard on The Infinite Mind since its first broadcast in March 1998. John, whose spinal cord was injured in a car accident when he was 19 paralyzing him from the chest down, has broad experience as a journalist and commentator. He has reported from all over the world, in virtually every medium. He has authored three books and has anchored programs for network, cable and radio. Read More!

John Belluso, award winning playwright

John Belluso was born in Warwick, RI and died at the age of 36 in 2006 in Los Angeles. A wheelchair-user since the age of 13, Belluso’s work as a playwright focused on the experience of disability. He sought to understand this experience through humor and by placing disability within its proper historical context.Recipient of too many major awards to list here, Belluse said that being disabled aided his understanding of what it took to be a playwright. “Finding the balance between participating and observing is really the key to being a good writer and a happy person,” he told the San Francisco Observer in 2005. “My disability has done nothing but help me understand that process.” In his play, "Henry Flamethrowa", a teenager reveals his plans to disconnect his comatose younger sister Lilja from her breathing ventilator and allow her to die. Another play concerned an unlikely love affair between a young man in a wheelchair and a middle-aged single mom. Read More! Check out his plays!

Marilyn Hamilton: Paralympic Medalist, Inventor, Businesswoman

Born in Dinuba, California, 1949, she is the recipient of California's Minerva Award, 2006, Silver Medalist, Paralympic Ski Championship of 1982, National Wheelchair Tennis Singles and Doubles Champion, 1982, the National Wheelchair Tennis Singles Champion of 1983, The founder of Winner on Wheels program for children in wheelchairs, 1991  and co-founder of Quickie Wheel Chair Company, 1980. After a hang-gliding accident in 1979, Marilyn Hamilton turned her disability into an opportunity for thousands of athletes who use wheelchairs and play sports. Two ingenious friends made her a lightweight, maneuverable chair out of hang-gliding material. The versatile chair perfectly suited Hamilton's athletic lifestyle. She knew that increased mobility could benefit others, so the trio of friends founded the Quickie Wheelchair Company...Read More!  Or click here to see a movie about Marilyn's many achievements from the Minerva Awards. http://marketing.sunrisemedical.com/Minerva_video/minerva.wmv

Skip Wilkins: Paralympic Gold Medalist, Speaker, Author, Businessman

"Doing your best is a lifetime job." With his contagious attitude of victory, Skip Wilkins, who passed away in 2005, challenged his audiences to grasp this concept fully -- not tomorrow, not next week, but now. He did this for CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, churches, rehabilitation facilities, NFL athletes, sales professionals, students and even Presidents of the United States. Skip's message still resonates. He leads by example -- never to compare, but always to compete with life. By ordinary standards, Skip Wilkins is a success. He held a degree in psychology, a strong and rewarding marriage and thriving businesses...Read More!

Sam Schmidt, Race Car Driver, Foundation Head, Race Team Owner

Sam Schmidt is a former Indy Racing League driver and now owner of Sam Schmidt Motorsports. Born August 15, 1964 in Lincoln, Nebraska. Sam's father was a drag racing competitor and the family spent much of their free time working on racecars and attending events. Sam quickly caught the bug and began racing at age five. Sam's dream was to compete in the Indy 500, and in 1997 he embarked on his first year of Indy Racing League (IRL) competition. He quickly emerged as an IRL star, making 27 career starts and earning a victory and a pole, but while practicing at the Walt Disney World Speedway...Read More!

Rick Hansen, Foundation CEO, World-Class Athlete, Author

Rick Hansen epitomizes “determination”. In the summer of 1973, Rick was a free-spirited, athletic fifteen year old who had a life altering automobile crash that left him a paraplegic. Although he could no longer walk, Rick could dream and he became a world-class athlete, winning 19 international wheelchair marathons, including three world championships and competed for Canada in the 1984 Olympic Games. In the spring of 1985, he embarked on a bigger dream and wheeled the circumference of the earth to raise awareness and funds for spinal cord injury. Two years and 40,000km later, Rick and his team returned to Vancouver, B.C., having raised over $26M. Read More!

Don Schoendorfer, founder of Free Wheelchair Mission

The sight of a crippled Moroccan woman crawling across a dirt road planted a seed that germinated in 1999 when Don Schoendorfer, founder of Free Wheelchair Mission, invested his education and professional expertise as a PhD Mechanical Engineer to create a simple, rugged, and inexpensive wheelchair that could be donated to the thousands of those in need. There are over 100,000,000 disabled adults and children for whom the dream of a wheelchair is worlds beyond their expectations. They live without this basic form of mobility by crawling through life or waiting for a loved one to carry them. Schoendorger's goal is to donate 20 million chairs by 2010. He is well on his way. The chairs cost about $44. Donations needed! Read More!
 

Robert Hensel: Writer, poet and big time wheelie performer

Robert Hensel was born with spina bifida. A disability that has not stopped him from achieving success in his life. Robert is an advocate for the disabled, a poet and writer and most recently was nominated for the Pushcart Prize, an award given to outstanding poets and writers. If that's not enough, Robert is also a Guinness and Ripley's World Record Holder for the longest non-stop wheelie in a wheelchair, covering a total distance of 6.178 miles. Read More!