In addition to sharing 30% of their brain tissue and their non-functional left eye, Reba suffers from spina bifida and is unable to walk, so she uses a customized wheeled stool for locomotion. The twins are facing in opposite directions and use a mirror to watch television, and the sisters have never seen each other's faces without the aid of a mirror. Since leaving the institution, Lori and Reba have made successful careers for themselves as individuals. Reba is a country singer who won the L.A. Music Award for Best New Country Artist in 1997. She has performed in Germany and Japan, as well as multiple places in the U.S., and sung the National Anthem at the Cabbie vs. Stuttering John fight in May, 2002. Previously she designed support equipment for people with physical handicaps and is credited with coining the term "handi-capable". She is also an trophy-winning bowler.

Lori works part-time as a nurse's assistant, taking only positions that allow her to take time off for her sister's concert dates. Lori is very witty and is the more outspoken of the sisters. Responding to a stranger on the street who ran up and snapped a photo of the twins (with Lori facing them), she said, "You can't take my picture without asking." Then she pointed to Reba and said "Take her picture, she's in show business!"

The twins frequently appear on talk shows and in documentaries, including the 1998 A&E documentary Face to Face: The Schappell Sisters and The Learning Channell's Separate Lives, a two-hour special about the medical and social history of conjoined twins. They live in an apartment in Reading, Pennsylvania.

"We would never do it. (If one of us were to die) we'd be separated ... Then and only then. And then the only reason is because the other one is not there." - Lori Schappell

"Don't assume [our life] is difficult, until we tell you it is." -Lori Schappell