"I would like to get hold of the person who invented that divided toilet seat," the feisty advocate said, acknowledging that most people don't realize the problems that little gap presents for some users.

She sees ramps too steep to be negotiated safely in a wheelchair, and she says that some seem to think that putting up a sign denoting handicapped parking makes it compliant with ADA.

"When the parking space is normal size, there isn't room for a person to get a wheelchair out and get out of the car," she said, adding the parking space should be one and one-half times wider than the normal parking space.

By the time ADA became law, Fitzhugh had suffered a debilitating back injury in a car accident, an accident she recalled by saying "it took my career."

It also took her away from participating in her athletic passions, the Wheelchair Olympics. She competed in bowling, javelin, ping pong, precision javelin, discus, shot put and the 60-yard dash.

"I hold 21 gold medals, 12 silver medals and two bronze medals," she said.

And that's not all. She has 21 first place medals in bowling and holds the international record in wheelchair bowling with a 253 game. As a young woman she was Miss Handicapped Indiana and went on to win the Miss Handicapped America title. She sang lead soprano in two choirs, one a branch of the Metropolitan Opera. Always an active volunteer with Easter Seals, she was elected to the Easter Seals House of Delegates.

Twelve years ago she came to Norman to care for her parents, and is the fourth generation of the Whalen/Fitzhugh family to live in the home on Miller Avenue. Two days after her mother's death a year ago, Fitzhugh broke a leg and has been bed-ridden since then. She is confined to bed, but not confined to inactivity.

Fitzhugh is an artist, working in pencils, oils and acrylics, and makes ceramic pieces. She also is accomplished at paregamio, a 16th century French art of paper piercing, using sharp needles, from one to nine at a time, to make designs. Typically used to produce a decorative edge on paper, she said "I call it lace edging."

Reflecting on having played a significant role for men and women who, like her, have found barriers to living full lives, she said "I am proud of having given handicapped people the freedom they deserve, the right to live their own lives."