Double Dose of Trouble: Homeless and in a Wheelchair

Managing each is hard enough: being homeless and living with a disability. Combine the two and there are the hurdles are even higher. For Kim Perkins, life in a wheelchair began 13 years ago with a car accident. But her life on the streets began six months ago. "I`ve slept in a truck...under the bridge," Perkins explains. "At first I was in the chair, but I woke up the next morning next to the river...They took me out of my chair." Perkins charges her wheelchair battery at electrical outlets on the sidewalk. "I would set and plug in until the police run me off," she said. When Keith Lognion found her, that battery was dead. Lognion spent hours helping Kim find a homeless shelter, but kept hearing the same words. "We`re not handicapped accessible," he repeated. "There`s a lot of them that will tell you they`re not handicapped accessible," said Rev. William Holloway at the Little Rock Compassion Center. Holloway says their women`s shelter is as accessible as it can be. A ramp leads to the doorway and anyone in a chair wouldn`t have many obstacles getting around inside, except when it comes to the bathroom. "We need to change our bathrooms around, we need to change our showers around," he explained. Perkins finally has shelter at the Salvation Army, one of few places that take people in wheelchairs. She uses a ramp on the side of the building to get in. While she still needs a little help "like helping (me) carry a tray of food to the table," she at least has one problem temporarily solved: getting a roof over her head. Many homeless shelters are in older buildings, they`ve been grandfathered inot the Americans with Disabilities Act. Those that receive federal dollars are only required to make some changes to be handicapped accessible depending on the age of the building.