Special Wheels Give Disabled New Spin

With the “Afterburner” attached to his wheelchair, Jesus Cardenas tore across an Oxnard parking lot, relishing a heady new sensation of speed.

“Excellent,” said the grinning 22-year-old, using a voice device on his wheelchair that enables him to communicate with the rider on the vehicle behind him. “A little faster, please.”

The Afterburner, as it is formally named, is actually a special, $550 bicycle--or half a bicycle attached to the rear of a wheelchair. Pedaled on this particular day by disabilities aide James Robinson, the contraption puts wheelchair users in the fast lane. Cardenas and Robinson were showing off the equipment on a recent weekday at a Buckaroo Avenue facility that serves adults with developmental disabilities.

“It gives them a different feeling than just being pushed around,” said Robinson, a behavior specialist with the nonprofit Assn. for Retarded Citizens-Ventura County. “We can take [our clients] out for a ride and get fresh air. It is like being in a convertible.”

Thanks to a grant of more than $2,000 from a private foundation called A Helping Hand, Arc-Ventura County recently purchased the Afterburner and another bike--a special tricycle that clients can pedal using their hands. Arc staff members said the custom-made bicycles have been a hit with many of the 96 adults they serve at the Oxnard center.

“She doesn’t like to exercise,” said Carolyn Whalen, program manager, pointing to 38-year-old Linda Dunham riding the $1,600 modified tricycle. “But she’s been on the bike for an hour and a half today, easy.”

Dunham agreed the bike puts the fun back into working out.

“It makes me feel better,” Dunham said. “I get to exercise my arms.”

The two bikes arrived shortly after Arc-Ventura County moved on Feb. 1 into a new, 22,000-square-foot facility behind the Wagon Wheel bowling alley. There, adults with developmental disabilities receive help in a variety of areas including increasing self-esteem and coordination as well as developing job and computer skills.

Countywide, the agency has more than 200 staff members working with about 700 adults on a mainly state-funded annual budget of $7.8 million.

Built by hand by a Santa Barbara-based company called The Outlet, the bikes give disabled cyclists a chance to hit the bike paths like those with full use of their legs. Although most Arc-Ventura County clients have developmental disabilities, a sales representative for The Outlet said many cyclists buying his bikes have suffered paralyzing injuries.

“They are trying to get back that freedom feeling of doing whatever and being wherever they want,” said Dirk Lov Vorn, 29, who is a paraplegic and rides the specialtricycle, called the “Brookes Tryke” all over Santa Barbara.