Inconvenience reconsidered

Pat Broderick is an accomplished traveler. On a recent trip, she showed a friend, Julia Malone, how traveling is done in a wheelchair. The pair wheeled/walked, taxied and flew their way across a South America tour. "Inconvenience is adventure wrongly considered, and adventure is inconvenience rightly considered," Pat announced to Julia early in the journey. The most frustrating and humiliating part of the whole trip? The air travel of course. Seems like a big industry like the airlines ought to -- as a group -- have their act together better. Those folks need a big old dose of universal design. Don't miss the tips for wheelchair travelers and their companions at the end of this article.