Although my physical disabilities are limited to minor visual, coordination, and orthopedic impairments which do not interfere w/ daily living, as a humanitarian and as a technologist, I have long been interested in adaptive engineering, prosthetics, et al. I found the post about mirror treatment of phantom pain fascinating, having read about the benefits of music therapy for stroke victims. (Music stimulates the part of the brain directly opposite the speech center. There are folks who cannot talk, but who can sing; who cannot walk, but who can dance.)
I have encountered several AK and BK amputees, plus a few handcyclists, on the roads of San Diego County. Jim (CyclArt) Cunningham showed me a late 1940s advertisement which marketed the Sturmey-Archer 3-speed fixed gear hub to "the unfortunates," i.e., lower-limb amputees of WW II. As Sheldon Brown gradually succumbed to multiple sclerosis, the same disease which killed my mother at age 66, I read his posts about cruising around on a Tadpole trike, which enabled him to keep exercising as long as he could.
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"Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." --Theodore Roosevelt
Capo: 1959 Modell Campagnolo, S/N 40324; 1960 Sieger (2), S/N 42624, 42597
Carlton: 1962 Franco Suisse, S/N K7911
Peugeot: 1970 UO-8, S/N 0010468
Bianchi: 1982 Campione d'Italia, S/N 1.M9914
Schwinn: 1988 Project KOM-10, S/N F804069