Comments on: Becoming A Power-Chair User: FAQs, One Year On [AD]

By: A Cardy

A Cardy — Sat, 19 Oct 2019 22:06:22 +0000

Hi reading this has been very interesting and essentially followed my own recent journey in buying …. “Zippy”, my own (new to me) Rascal 321 powered chair. Previously I needed to use a NHS wheelchair, which was actually stolen from outside our front door, whilst my husband did something in the car !!! I was given a lightweight one, which hubby needed to push but prior to attending granddaughters graduation, a friend suggested we borrow her ‘spare’ powered chair ….. I took a lot of persuading but eventually reluctantly agreed and my life was changed ! I explained to my friend my concern was to help husband as wanted to save him pushing me but the response was ‘wait until you get your independence.’
we had a few days in hotel to ease the journey to graduation and the freedom given was indescribable. my husband never complained but to me it was like a weight lifted and I was like an excited child. I did have an awareness that people may look but the joy it gave usurped that. my husband kept loosing me in shops (which I rarely visit) as could look where wanted and for how long …. life changing, is not too powerful an expression. we returned from this rare few days away, after lending friend’s but failed to buy from disabled aids as, not only did we struggle with price but also choice. we eventually bought one from eBay, as it was a fraction of new price but it took a while as, wanted to actually try it. we still have to take the ‘normal’ wheelchair but I find that is more painful, due to the back support and suspension – or lack of it. Instead, “zippy” is nifty so, we often get people asking about it (similar to yours in that, it is an actual chair & not a scooter) so, it is neat. Also it breaks into three and can be put into the boot of car. Again similar to yourself, with incidents of cobbles in York, we went to Manchester and the backstreets were cobbled. I had two ‘events’ – one when the right arm came loose and was waving in the air and I drove into a table in restaurant and the second when zippy simply came to a stop and hubby kept walking ahead oblivious. the cobbles had shaken a connection to the battery loose and without assistance, I would have been stuck, it would not move !!! so, a few experiences but despite that we are very grateful our friend persuaded us to try. we learnt as went along regarding storage and battery etc so, it pays to research but worth it. thank you for sharing, take care xxx

By: MusicalTurtle

MusicalTurtle — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 15:52:35 +0000

I’m also a relatively young powerchair user, though mine was off ebay after extensive research over a couple of years, although overlooking this particular model because I didn’t realise the base separated into parts (thank you brainfog for casting doubt on how extensive my research REALLy was), then finally stumbling over the specs again and realising it might be possible. A couple of days later I found one in my price range for sale locally and was able to try it out, and usually between us Mum and I can lift the base into the car without dismantling it (but seat off and battery out, of course).

For me, it’s been amazing to have freedom and independence on the rare occasion I’m well enough to go out, and actually I can last longer than being pushed because I don’t have to find the energy to communicate with someone pushing me. I can just have the vague concept/thought of where I want to go and just go, instead of having to identify the thought, find words for it and express it in an understandable way. I also don’t have to worry about if it’s ‘worth’ stopping to look at something, or going back to work out what something was, or just viewing something from a different angle because I’m not using anyone else’s energy, just my chair battery! And when I’m with someone it’s a lot easier to hear them from the side than from behind.

Before my powerchair I had a self-propelled chair which I bought myself (but of course couldn’t move it more than a couple of metres) and prior to that had hired wheelchairs for going on holiday (never abroad, we can’t afford that) or checked there were wheelchairs to borrow on days out. I had embraced the idea of mobility aids long before it was practical to own my own. The specialist Chronic Fatigue service who eventually diagnosed me have offered zero mobility help and I don’t meet our local wheelchair service’s criteria for any help as I don’t need it in the house so I’ve had to do this all myself. Ironically, if I DId have to do any normal household daily activities I probably would be ill enough to qualify, but I’ll take some quality of what life I have over what would only be minimal NHS ‘support’.

I don’t know where I was going with this ramble. Anyway, yay powerchairs! Yay freedom!

(This comes up in all caps As I’m typing so I hope it doesn’t show that way when I submit the comment.)