Parish
Question Answered
RECEIVED Thu., July 28, 2005
Dear Editor,
In your article on Murderball [“Zupan on Impact,” Screens, July 22] you said, "Zupan, of course, is quadriplegic.” How is that possible? A quadriplegic has lost the use of all four limbs? Zupan is clearly using the phone in pictures in the article, and I would think he would need the use of his arms for rugby as well. Please help me understand.
In your article on Murderball [“Zupan on Impact,” Screens, July 22] you said, "Zupan, of course, is quadriplegic.” How is that possible? A quadriplegic has lost the use of all four limbs? Zupan is clearly using the phone in pictures in the article, and I would think he would need the use of his arms for rugby as well. Please help me understand.
Chad Potier
[Screens Editor Shawn Badgley responds: Sorry for the confusion, which is common when discussing the effects of spinal injury: In so many words, quadriplegia means varying impairment in all four limbs. Yes, Mark Zupan can use the phone. He can even drive, using a hand lever. He can push his wheelchair and he can throw a ball. As mentioned in the story, Zupan is a 3.0 in quad rugby, the second-highest assignation, indicating that he has better-than-average range of use. He does not, however, have complete use of his arms. His hands possess little grip or strength. As explained in the film, for instance, many quad rugby players use a light glue to aid in maintaining control of the ball. Zupan himself straps weights to his hands in order to lift them. It should also be said that, as with elite able-bodied athletes as compared to maybe you or me, Zupan, as an elite disabled athlete, is hard to physically compare to his quadriplegic peers in terms of his being in better shape.]
