Why IOWA?

Iowa City, home of the University of Iowa, is an excellent demonstration of normal human vitality. It's in Iowa, after all, which is the definition of normal according to North American cultural standards. If you find it in Iowa, it's normal, and if it's normal, you'll find it in Iowa. Perhaps it's because everyone seems to have been through Iowa at one time or another and they inevitably have a conversation with an Iowan in the process. Iowans love to talk and they really do try to include everyone in the conversation. Unlike Las Vegas, where what goes on there is supposed to stay there, what goes on in Iowa gets mainstreamed to North America, meaning really spread around. While Iowans may not have witnessed something personally, they've heard about almost everything from "reliable sources." There are very few secrets in Iowa. That's why the US states grudgingly tolerate letting Iowa act first in the Presidential nomination process. The rest of the continent may not like the choices Iowans make but at least the conversation is out in the open and it is something we can normally trust. That open conversation is vital to individual achievement and mobility.

It is the nature of the Iowa City community to include people with disabilities in the health conversation mainstream and you can see it in the spontaneous interactions between strangers. In early June of 1995, I had been driving the standard thirty minute commute to Iowa City on a daily basis. Just after entering the city, I once again observed a fellow, our hero, moving along the sidewalk, controlling his motorized wheelchair's joystick with mouth and tongue. On this particularly pleasant late spring afternoon, he was headed south on the walk as normal. He picked his way through the obstacle course of broken concrete in typical fashion until an odd bounce of the chair dislodged the joystick from his mouth and knocked it out of reach, stopping him immediately. He needed a jump start at that moment, just as a graduate student type wandered toward him. Our hero made a quick request for assistance, the student moved the joystick back into its proper position as though he'd done it countless times before even though he hadn't, they exchanged pleasantries, and both proceeded on their way to forgetting the incident even happened at all. That simple yet powerful act of support was all that was necessary for our hero to achieve normal mobility. The abnormal nonchalance, the sophistication of the interaction made it extraordinarily memorable. It was an encounter between two individuals who were both in the mainstream of the community and interacting as peers. That's when I started looking for a place to live in Iowa City.

The ability to move around physically, socially, and intellectually with ease is the essence of our vitality. In Iowa City, people with the most serious mobility impairments achieve uncommon vitality because there is a tremendous amount of sophisticated support for doing so at all levels in the community. That provides a most excellent environment for Vitality In Action Foundation to take the action necessary to make our Mobility Laboratory successful and develop innovative recreational opportunities for everyone. That's why the path we've charted in "creating mobility for a lifetime," will go via Iowa. We're excited to be at work in Iowa and we have already been warmed by a hearty (normal) Iowa welcome.