Vietnam: Wheels of Change (Frontline/World)

[eppur_se_muova]

Vietnam is a country in constant motion. Without a good set of wheels, it’s easy to get left behind. That’s especially true for Vietnamese wheelchair riders like Quan Dien. He lost his legs in the war with Cambodia in the early 1980s.

“I fell once, because the ramp to the sidewalk was blocked,” he tells FRONTLINE/World reporter Marjorie McAfee. “I was going too fast, and the wheelchair hit and I flew forward.”

Because the streets of his neighborhood aren’t wheelchair friendly, Quan mostly stays home in his small apartment. To make ends meet, he rents his back room workshop to another wheelchair rider, Thanh Giang, who contracted polio as a child.
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After becoming paralyzed in a motorcycle accident 30 years ago, Hotchkiss started out just trying to make a better wheelchair for his own use. But he ended up making a bigger breakthrough with something he calls the RoughRider.

“It was necessary to come up with the RoughRider because there was no other wheelchair that worked well enough in all of the difficult situations in developing countries,” he explains. “Everything you do you have to go long distances over rocky or sandy or muddy roads.”
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more (synopsis, interviews, video): http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/vietnam804/video/video_index.html

http://www.whirlwindwheelchair.org/ see pics of the chair in action!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralf_Hotchkiss

[BuddyBoy]

1. Maynard's best, in my opinion

"Hey There"

[eppur_se_muova]

2. ?? I don't have that one! Did he record it on his last CD?

Thanks for any info.

[Name removed]

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