Spotlight: Keith L. "I'M POSSIBLE" Brown

Keith L. Brown, who likes to refer to himself as "Mr. I'M POSSIBLE," was considered a special education student because he was a very talkative and hyper child. This didn't stop him from being successful as a consultant and an author. Brown founded the I'M POSSIBLE Institute to teach people how to be effective communicators and leaders. He has made appearances on Showtime at the Apollo, Family Feud, Celebrity Name Game, and radio shows. Married with one son, Brown received the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award. He will be speaking on the Main Stage of the Simpkins Fine Arts Center at the Cocoa campus of Eastern Florida State College from 2:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. on Thursday, February 28. For more information about Brown, go to keithlbrown.com.

Keith L. "I'M POSSIBLE" Brown

(image via encouragementspeaker.wordpress.com)

Wheeling to the End of the World

To continue with the theme of travel for people with disabilities, this post is about a national park with hiking trails named Torres del Paine in southern Chile. The beauty of the 1,127-square-mile park draws people from all over the world. One of its trails, Base de las Torres (a leg of the W trek), ends with a rocky ascent. With assistance, Álvaro Silberstein became the first person in a wheelchair to make it to the end of the W trek in 2016. He was pushed in an all-terrain wheelchair called Jóelette, which can be used by anyone with reduced mobility for free, but it must be reserved in advance at EcoCamp Patagonia. Silberstein was featured in a short film entitled Adventure Is for All, which won first place in the Adventure in Motion film contest last year. He founded Wheel the World, a travel company for people with disabilities in Chile as well as Peru and Mexico. To read more about hiking in Torres del Paine, go to https://www.ozy.com/good-sht/where-you-can-hike-to-the-end-of-the-world-in-a-wheelchair/91062?fbclid=IwAR09T1bW9aXInyoJbbcZMWHbXBgoA1X_iF6CXFLiPnc7krTI0B5UnwAQWJ0.

Álvaro Silberstein and others during his trek

(image via sfchronicle.com)

Winnebago's New Handicap Accessible Motorhomes

If you don't like cruises, perhaps you prefer road trips. Winnebago displayed three new accessibility-enhanced motorhomes at the 2019 Florida RV SuperShow in Tampa last month. More comfortable for traveling wheelchair users, the RVs include a wheelchair lift; other features include roll-in showers, a ceiling track mobility system, and customized beds. Unfortunately, these RVs cost more than $200,000. (It's fun to dream, right?) For the occasional road trip, renting a handicap accessible RV would be more economical. For photos of and information about Winnebago's handicap accessible motorhomes, you can click on the following links: Intent 30R AE (https://winnebagoind.com/products/accessibility-enhanced/2019/intent-ae/overview), Adventurer 30T AE (https://winnebagoind.com/products/accessibility-enhanced/2019/adventurer-ae/overview), and Forza 34T AE (https://winnebagoind.com/products/accessibility-enhanced/2019/forza-ae/overview). Safe travels!

Winnebago's Intent 30R AE

(image via winnebagoind.com)

Note: Online registration for the 21st Annual Family Café at the Hyatt Regency Orlando taking place June 7-9 opens at 9:00 A.M. on Thursday, February 14. Go to familycafe.net to register for this event, which features disability-related workshops, vendors, guest speakers, and the Governor's Summit on Disabilities.

Nassau and Charlotte Amalie: Accessible Ports of Call?

Nassau and Charlotte Amalie on a map

(image via mackruizai.lt)

Last week, I went on a Royal Caribbean cruise with my family for the second year in a row. I was excited partly because the cruise included two ports of call to which I hadn't been before: Nassau (the capital of the Bahamas) on New Providence Island and Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas (the capital of the United States Virgin Islands). Getting off the ship wasn't difficult; the ports themselves were wheelchair accessible with no steps. While they looked aged, the sidewalks were flat enough with cracked curb cuts on street corners. Shopping for souvenirs was a little challenging for me because the aisles in stores were narrow. I didn't stray too far from the ship, so my awareness of the handicap accessibility of Nassau and Charlotte Amalie is limited. For more comprehensive reviews of these two locations, you can go to https://www.accessiblecaribbeanvacations.com/nassau-bahamas-disabled-access#.XFszhPlKh1s and https://www.accessiblecaribbeanvacations.com/st-thomas-usvi-disabled-access#.XFsz3PlKh1s. They make Nassau and Charlotte Amalie sound like good destinations for wheelchair users.

My dad and I in Nassau, Bahamas
(photo by Tracy Jensen-McGrath)