The Heart of New Mobility

New Mobility has a beating heart. I’m not talking metaphorically. The heart is real, and it belongs to Jean Dobbs, a woman who has dedicated her life to nurturing the magazine from its earliest years. Now that NM is moving on from print, I decided to ask her about something that had been lingering in my mind.

TG: What drew you in the first place to a magazine about wheelchair users with spinal cord injuries?

JD: In 1985 or ’86, before New Mobility even existed, I was in college at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and was the co-chair of the Hunger Action Committee, working on local and global hunger issues. The committee received a letter from a man named Bernie Jorn, a C4-5 quad and graduate student, who asked for volunteers to help him eat lunch. As a committee we felt it was a disability issue, not a hunger issue, but two of us decided to help him anyway. 

TG: How long were you involved with him?

JD: What started as volunteer shifts evolved into a friendship. He was a few years older than me, studying rehabilitation counseling but ironically facing discrimination and a lack of accommodation from the school, like when he was penalized during a period of skin breakdown. He was laid up in his room a lot while he tried to heal, and we spent hours listening to Pat Metheny and talking. He taught me about the concept of independent living and let me see how he did it — with attendants, a mouthstick, an old ice cream truck that he had converted to a wheelchair van. I ended up doing a photo essay on him for a photojournalism class. Eventually he rejected the UNC program and enrolled in seminary in South Carolina. He went on to become a hospital chaplain, get married and raise three daughters.

TG: A “meant-to-be” story?  

JD: That’s not all. The next semester I took a class on the psychology of aging, which had a practicum at a local nursing home. Our assignment was to get to know someone there, visit them regularly, then interview them for a final class paper. As I wandered the depressing halls, a voice called out from a resident’s room: “Hey, can you turn this cassette tape over for me?” I said sure, and he invited me to sit down. His name was Thurman George, and he was a quad with no hand or arm function who had been living from a bed for close to a decade. He was there because his wife couldn’t handle his care anymore, and this was the only way that Medicaid would pay for his basic needs. To me, he seemed full of stories and life, but he was resigned to living out his days in an institution. He felt trapped, treated badly at times and saw no way out. I learned from both these guys about the most important aspect of the disability movement — the difference between independent living and being stuck in a nursing home.

The “tale of two quads” set the stage, so that when the opportunity at New Mobility arose, Jean was ready for it, not afraid. Since her first day in 1991, from behind the scenes, she has brought her journalism training to every issue — whether about independent living, body image, sexuality, healthcare equality, employment, accessible travel, disability art, civil rights, discrimination, relationships, parenting, recreation — the list goes on. Jean Dobbs’ leadership has been the most important ingredient in the NM mix for decades. We — the entire community — owe her a well-deserved thank you for her decades-long sense of purpose, determination and heartfelt dedication.

[Editor’s Note: Jean Dobbs retired as Publisher of New Mobility in May 2025, though she continues to consult as Publisher Emerita.]