The following is the beginning of an article published by the Herald-Times of Bloomington, Indiana.
By Andrew Graham,
Herald-Times Staff Writer
April 6, 2004
Nick Melloan-Ruiz recalled the January day his dad, Steve Ruiz, asked if Nick knew what a "Segway" was.
"I said, 'You mean when you go from one topic of conversation to another?'" Nick said Monday. "And Dad said, 'Yeah, that, too, but …"
But instead of "segue," Nick's dad meant "Segway HT," an electric-powered human transport device. It's essentially a wheeled platform that emulates a human's ability to balance as it transports.
And it's just the thing for Nick, who has cerebral palsy and formerly got around on crutches.
Nick, a junior at Bloomington High School South, now tools around the school hallways standing on his Segway, which he controls with mechanisms on the handlebar. Indoors, he keeps the maximum speed at 6 mph, although it can go as fast as 12 mph outdoors. The device works so smoothly that to ride it feels like floating on air.
Which is basically how Nick's parents feel when they see what the device has done for Nick.
The complete article is available, for a fee.