The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "wheelchair" ...
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Access Denied
When reviewing how well the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) was fulfilling the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), it failed to fulfill in many cases. Many stations are designated as fully accessible, but in reality lack many of the general necessities. These include, “broken doors, turnstiles and elevators, and lacking automatic doors, which make it fully accessible”. Furthermore, the CTA declined to discuss these problems, but one employee did answer some questions, which lacked any substantial feedback.
Tags: public transportation; violation; handicap; public transit system; wheelchair; commuters; disabled
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Bus Stop ADA
The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Agency thumbed its nose at the Americans with Disabilities Act, until we found a wheelchair bound bus rider putting his life on the line to flag down a bus. County commissioners were appalled and demanded change.
Tags: Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Agency; HARTline; Americans with disabilities Act; Federal law violations; bus services; bus stops
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Wheelchair Users Feel Locked Out
This article discusses the debate about accessible housing. Many disabled people say it's nearly impossible to find a home that is accommodating to a wheelchair (the doors need to be wider, the home can't have stairs, etc.) Some people say there should be laws to force builders to construct more accessible homes, but builders say there isn't a big enough market to do that.
Tags: disability; disabled; wheel-chair; wheelchair; homes; accessibility; accessible homes; builders; construction; handicapped
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Rolling Revolution: The Wheelchair Turns Hip as New Generation of User Demands Style
The Journal reports that "an epidemic of urban violence has created a whole new class of wheelchair user, which in turn is driving the fastest growing niche in the nation's $475 million-a-year wheelchair industry. Many of the buyers are young African American men not content with the heavy, chrome prototypical wheelchair of old."
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The Rascal
Inside Edition uses hidden camera to reveal deceit and high pressure employed in the sales of the nationally advertised "Rascal" scooter. The report shows how elderly, disabled consumers and their families have been victimized by Electric Mobility, a New Jersey company that produces the electric wheelchairs. The deceptive sale tactics have been taught by the company executives, one of whom was a twice convicted felon, the investigation reports.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; ethics; sales; business; direct marketing; medical devices; patients; salesmen; commercials; advertising; consumer affairs
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When Hope Fails.
Once again, the St. Louis Housing Authority puts people with disabilities at the bottom of the list -- and may have to answer for it in court.
Tags: disability; handicap; elderly; housing; wheelchair.
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The Double Life of a Hometown hero.
The inspiring story of a young boy who triumphed over adversity and became a cold-blooded killer. A successful wheelchair athlete, and how he fired seven bullets into a stranger's body. leaving him dead in the snow.
Tags: murder; disability; wheelchair; robbery; small town
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Access Denied
WAGA-TV found newly built apartment complexes throughout the city are failing to meet federal Fair Housing standards for disabled renters. Testers who were wheelchair users found apartments with limited or no access, bathrooms and kitchens that were too small, doorways they couldn't pass through, and in some cases, outright discrimination. WAGA-TV also found dozens of buildings, including Georgia's capitol, that failed to meet federal ADA guidelines that were supposed to be met by 1991. (May 20, 21, 22, June 8, 22 and December 17, 1996)
Tags: Russell Larcom Carlin Shields et al Access denied Contest entry Handicap 42 pgs Tape
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Bashing the Disabled
Kathi Wolfe presents a first person account of being disabled and how the treatment she's encountered in Washington, D.C., is a new kind of hate crime against people with disabilities. Her's is not unique--there's a frightening backlash against not only disabled people, but minorities, gays and all those whose civil rights need protection. (November, 1995)
Tags: Wolfe Bashing the Disabled Americans with Disabilities Act ADA wheelchairs
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Silicone City
Texas Monthly reports about "The rise and fall of the implant - or how Houston went from an oil-based economy to a breast-based economy...Healthy women purchased a product they believed would enhance their vitality; now they believed it was making them wheelchair-bound crones..."
Tags: silicone breast implants lawsuits litigation FDA Food and Drug Administration Dow Corning