Lori and Reba Schappell
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Lori and Reba Schappell, born September 18, 1961 in Reading, Pennsylvania, American entertainers.
[edit] Career
As conjoined twins, Lori and Reba have acted in an episode of Nip/Tuck, playing Rose and Raven Rosenburg. They have also appeared in a number of television documentaries about their lives and an episode of The Jerry Springer Show.
As a country singer, Reba Schappell has performed widely in the United States, and has also performed in Germany and Japan. In 1997, she won the L.A. Music Award for Best New Country Artist. Previously, Reba designed support equipment for people with physical handicaps, including her own specialized wheelchair, and a mobility aid for dogs. She is also a trophy-winning bowler.
Lori acts as Reba's facilitator. She works in a laundry, arranging her workload around Reba's singing commitments.
[edit] Lifestyle
Born as Lori and Dori Schappell, the sisters are craniopagus conjoined twins, joined at the head and sharing 30% of their brain matter, but having very different personalities and living, in so far as possible, individual lives. As a mark of individuality, and disliking the fact that their names rhymed, Dori changed her name to Reba.
While Lori is able-bodied, Reba has spina bifida which has caused growth retardation of her lower body and severe mobility impairment. The two women are therefore of very different heights. There was no wheel chair that suited Reba's unique condition, as to move around, she must be raised to her sister's height, to avoid undue strain upon Lori's neck and back. The only thing on wheels that was the right height was a bar stool. Using this as the foundation, Reba designed the wheelchair that she currently uses. One of the benefits of having a high wheel chair is that, unlike most people in conventional wheelchairs, the user is raised to about the height of a standing adult, which better facilitates normal communication.
Lori and Reba spent the first twenty-four years of their lives living in an institution in which the majority of inmates suffered severe intellectual disability. Although neither is intellectually disabled, Reba's condition required care, and in the 1960s there were few hospital institutions for those people who had special needs that were unusual.
