DISABILITIES

By Daniel J. Vance

In the past I've featured quadriplegic Steven Fletcher of Winnipeg, Manitoba, who serves as a Conservative Party member in Canada's House of Commons.

Today you'll read about U.S. Rep. Jim Langevin of Rhode Island, also a quadriplegic, yet he's a Democrat, in many respects the polar opposite politically of Fletcher.

Which proves that disability touches people from every political persuasion.

“I've been paralyzed for more than 25 years,” said Rep. Langevin in a telephone interview from Capitol Hill. “In August 1980, I was a young police cadet in Warwick, Rhode Island, part of the Boy Scout Explorer program. I was enthralled with law enforcement and wanted to become a police office before going on to the FBI. Unfortunately, life didn't turn out that way. I had an accident that changed the course of my life.”

Langevin remembered a police officer showing another officer a weapon. The second officer didn't realize the weapon was loaded. He squeezed the trigger and the bullet ricocheted into Langevin's neck, severing his spinal cord. He was only 16.

“I was in and out of consciousness,” he said. “I didn't realize the extent of damage until weeks later. I spent five months of my life in University Hospital in Boston.”

He claimed a “wonderful family” and “very good” parents helped him through. And he had an entire community strengthening him.

“People encouraged me and my family when I needed it the most, many of whom I haven't met to this day,” he said. “That (encouragement) had a profound impact on me. They gave to me so much when I needed it. I saw what good came when a community cared enough to make a difference. This has made me want to devote my life to public service.”

Langevin said he was the only person currently in the House or Senate regularly using a wheelchair. Rep. Lane Evans is another House member with a disability, Parkinson's disease, and he uses a scooter for mobility.

Only 41, Langevin already has been a Rhode Island state representative and secretary of state, and in 2000 was elected to the U.S. Congress.

As a quadriplegic, he is paralyzed in all four limbs. The National Spinal Cord Injury Association website claims that more than 250,000 Americans have a spinal cord injury. Of those injured, 82 percent are male, and 44 percent were in motor vehicle accidents.

For more, see www.danieljvance.com or www.spinalcord.org