My wheel chair-my friend.

[oneighty]

Yesterday as my arms propelled me through a giant store it occurred to me how thankful I am to have a WHEEL CHAIR and how fortunate I am to be able to use it.

FREEDOM I think. Freedom to move about and to be almost independent.

180

[UpsideDownFlag]

1. they are a great invention. nt

[whalerider55]

2. 180

made me smile. did my sped cert at SUC at Buffalo, worked for United Cerebral Palsy b/t 1974-79; in the residential programs.

lotta fond memories of buffalo and the community.

do you guys still have a silver wheels basketball team?

whalerider55

[oneighty]

4. Oh!

I was a research assistant SUNY Buffalo Department of Physiology, Sherman Hall (68-74) We did diving research for Office of Naval Research and others.

I live in Silver Creek. And no, I do not know of the Silver Wheels Basketball team.

180

[Stephanie]

3. Did you see these new ones from Toyota?

This one climbs stairs:



http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/robots/toyoto-ifoot-and-iunit-026866.php

[pop goes the weasel]

6. I love the Japanese tech

The Japanese are enamored of cyborgs. The tech they are coming up with for the use of people with disabilities is so sleek and powerful and fun-looking. Western equipment screams "medical," but the new Japanese stuff screams "ha ha! don't you wish you had a disability too!"

[DemBones DemBones]

13. They're like wonderful toys. Are the Japanese more

sensitive re: disabilities or do they just love toys?

[pop goes the weasel]

5. don't it make you mad

when people refer to wheelchair users as "confined to a wheelchair"? The alternative to a wheelchair is being stuck in one place--*real* confinement. A wheelchair is an instrument of freedom. When people say "confined to a wheelchair" they immediately signal that they have no clue regarding disability issues.

[KamaAina]

7. How about "wheelchair-bound"?

Or "afflicted with (insert condition here)"?

They ALL do it, from the NY Times on down. The Univ. of Kansas has a perfectly good guide to reporting on disability:

http://www.lsi.ukans.edu/lsi/internal/guidelines.html

but do the bozos ever use it? Nooooooooooooo!

EMPHASIZE ABILITIES, not limitations. For example: uses a wheelchair/braces, walks with crutches, rather than confined to a wheelchair, wheelchair-bound, differently-abled, birth difference, or crippled. Similarly, do not use emotional descriptors such as unfortunate, pitiful, and so forth.

[pop goes the weasel]

8. correct uses of "wheelchair-bound"

Jackie was wheelchair-bound but first, she would pause at the walkers. Should she get one with a basket and seat and little wheels? Maybe she could actually get some shopping done with one of those puppies. But in some number of years, the hips and knees will be too shot to walk more than a few feet, so then it would be on to the wheelchair. Maybe she should just get the chair now, and spare her hips and knees a bit. So many decisions to make, she thought.

or

Marvin wondered how his Quickie had come to be on the other side of the room. What wicked family member had done that? Probably Mom, having snuck in early to gather the laundry. Or maybe Louie. Yeah, Louie, the pest. He'd do that just as a joke. Well, no way would Marvin let Louie get his chuckles by complaining. It took some doing, but Marvin managed to lower himself from the bed to the floor, where he began pulling himself along with his arms. It was hard going, but Marvin was wheelchair-bound. A little more huffing and puffing and, hurrah! he was there. Now, how to get up into the chair? And how would he get Louie back later?

[KamaAina]

10. Or how about this one?

Mistress Xanthra had been here before. She deftly slipped the powder into the john's drink, and watched as he sipped.

"Felling okay, honey?" she asked. "Here, let me help you... There!", she said, as she lowered the man's bulky frame into the waiting wheelchair. Then after a few moments, the satisfying sound of snoring... time to head for the closet and get the rope and duct tape.
-----
"Huh"? thought Myron as he oozed back into consciousness. "Where am I? How did I end up all tied up like this, and in a wheelchair, no less?" For now, truly, Myron was wheelchair-bound.

:evilgrin:

[pop goes the weasel]

11. lol

love it!

[oneighty]

9. Yes!

FREEDOM!

180

[Sugarbleus]

14. What shall we use for a description when one is

totally dependent on a wheelchair? My hubby uses an electric WC (for freedom to travel about town--left-side hemiplegic) but he can ambulate in the house on his own and outside a little distance with a cane.

Three of our closest friends are completely dependent on their WC's all day long. They transfer with help to a bed at night. These magnificent friends of ours cannot walk at all.

I can walk--with pain--and I ocassionally use my elec. scooter. I am not dependent on it however--it's merely a convenience for shopping or playing.

There are some FANTASTIC new WC styles out today. Unfortunately they are extremely expensive. My hubby is a former Motorcycle rider, we saw a fun chair made to look like a motorcyle--he REALLY wanted it but it's about $4,000. Yikes!

We were at the Rehab facility the other day and saw some new manual chairs with a slight motorized "assist" thingy built into the hubs so the person could get more distance for each thrust by hand.

Another of the three closest friends of ours just got a new chair with specialized features to make his trips more convenient for him. He has aggressive MS; he can no longer use his hands nor keep his head up. His chair was configured to help him use the chair and all sorts of other functions w/less strain and without using his hands to operate everything. Hubby and he had to take it for a test drive whereupon hubby immediately got his foot ran over.. they are such fun guys to watch together..they just laugh it all off. I asked him if they had "medicated"(Med. MJ) before or after they test drove the new chair..LOL silly rabbits.

So, I know that some people with certain disabilities are sensitive to what or how they are addressed in terms of wheelchair use. I will be in here talking about disability issues frequently so, I ask you good folks what would be more appropriate to use when describing the two different types of wheel chair users? I don't want to offend.

Peace and freedom~~ SB :hi:

[pop goes the weasel]

16. why distinguish between the two?

I usually walk, gimpily, everywhere. But sometimes I use the shopping scooters, and I know that at some point in my future, I will need a scooter or power wheelchair most days. From my experience, the availability of wheels to get around day to day is no different for me, who rarely uses them right now, than from my friends with CP or spina bifida, who use them daily. When I need the wheels, I need the wheels. I don't need to be distinguished from my friends.

You talk about not being dependent on a scooter--that it is merely a convenience for shopping or playing. What if you can't ever use one? Would you never have days that you simply could not shop? That you simply could not play? Would your pain keep you home-bound? I have had such pain that I have been forced to stay home, to not do things I would like to have done. Why did I have to stay home? Because I do not currently own a powered mobility device, and it isn't economically sensible to have one yet, and I do not have the physical strength to use a manual chair.

Using powered mobility device is what will someday keep me from being bound. Your friends who use powered devices and need help to transfer to and from their chairs are not bound by their chairs. Their chairs are freeing to them. Right now in our country, there are tens of thousands of people who need, but do not have, powered chairs or scooters so that they too will be free. Right now, those people are bound--they are bound to beds, bound to stationary chairs, bound to single rooms where they must stay until someone else gets around to moving them. They are bound because Medicare won't pay for them to have the tool they need to be free.

Regardless of who uses them for what or for how long, wheelchairs are not a restrictive device--they don't bind you. They are a tool of mobility--for me, for you, for you husband, for your friend with MS. Wheelchairs symbolize freedom.

[Sugarbleus]

19. Great points...thank you so much

I wanted to do some writing--especially to my congress critters but also to the media--so I was concerned about "how" to describe a person who uses their chair (if indeed they can even afford one!) exclusively for the freedom to get around and live more fully, as opposed to someone who uses a cane, walker, or scooter but can still walk to some degree.

I was intrigued by your statement about "my scooter". I never thought of it that way, but I think your point is a really good one: "What if you can't ever use one? Would you never have days that you simply could not shop?" The answer is YES. I am mostly housebound because of pain. I've actually taken to ordering groceries (sometimes) over the internet. I can't get my scooter onto the city bus and it's not street worthy enough to take me as far as a grocery store so I depend on hubby in HIS Elec.chair (which he's souped up to go faster than a speeding bullet lol) to make smaller errand runs to the store for me.

If I take enough pain killers--WOOHOO--I can get out on my cane and do a wee bit of shopping; but I have to do it quickly before the meds wear off. It's NOT the joy it once was (as a female shopaholic). My pain causes me depression also which can also cause me to forego any treks outside the house...not fun.

I purchased my scooter myself. The reason for this is because, as you stated, MEDICARE/MEDICAID would not do it! They said they'd prefer me to use a four wheeled electric chair as opposed to a scooter AND that I could NOT order an electric wheelchair through them unless I used it INSIDE THE HOME! Wellllllll, as I posted in another thread, we live in a totally INACCESSIBLE unit...not fit for any humans at best, certainly not suited for persons with mobility issues.

I was able to purchase my scooter because of back disability pay owed from my first denial for SSDI. The problem now is: I can't lift the damn thing into the back of my van! If someone is with me, I can help them get it out and set it up. If I'm alone, I don't bother. I try to use the store scooters (though there are NEVER enough available, have you noticed that in your area?) Otherwise, it's pain killers, a shopping cart, me bent over the damn thing sweating like a pig for pain...and home again. (Grandson and I stole an abandoned shopping cart to use for when I have to GET MY GROCERIES OUT OF THE CAR & INTO THE HOUSE) Who knew it was all going to come to this.
..............................................................

Finally, I wanted to share something that bothers me...see what you think: My condition isn't life threatening. It is an old age disease that comes to many. It is Osteo Arthritis. I have it in BOTH hips, my spine, my tailbone is inflammed also. I have a disc problem in my upper back too. I have heel spurs/plantar fascitis in my feet, and swelling in my ankles. There are other condition I won't mention..they have nothing to do with pain.

In anycase, I feel guilty describing myself as disabled many times because of my own husband's condition, and because of the many friends we have who have much more severe diagnoses--most of which ARE life threatening. I mean there I stand at the bedside of a friend whose life is failing for MS or MD or some other serious condition and I feel like I just CANNOT complain about my aches and pains.

The flip side of that story is that these friends are so loving and inclusive as to ask: did she get her scooter yet? Is she coming with us to the boardwalk to listen to the music on friday? Will she join us on one of our excursions to a baseball game or play, is there anything WE can do for HER?..etc. etc.. I am truly humbled by their care for "Pop's" wife. (they call hubby Pop)

Michael was one of the three of hubby's BEST friends. What a guy. He was constantly encouraging ME to live life fully. He was taking a writing class most recently. He was writing a book. He had aggressive MS w/complications from throat cancer. He was approx. 62 yrs old. Had thee most beautiful baritone voice; coulda been a talk show host or whatever. Led an interesting life...including the life after his initial diagnosis. He went ANYWHERE he could afford to go with the use of his wheelchair. They made their lifelong dream of a cruise to Alaska two years ago. He wanted to take hubby on the underground tube (BART) to San Francisco. They went on a train instead to see "Beach Blanket Bingo" in the "city". I have wonderful photos of those two monkeys doing their thing, no matter what.

Michael died on Valentines day.

His wife called to say that Michael wanted my husband to know that he/"Pop" was the BEST friend Michael had ever had and thanked him for his friendship. Our hearts are broken, we will miss him immeasurably. We say our final farewells to him on Sunday............................

SB

[China_cat]

20. Other people's suffering

does not negate your own.

[Sugarbleus]

21. Thank you......

:hug:

[Banazir]

17. Part-time vs. full-time?

The terminology I hear used mostly is part-time vs. full-time wheelchair use. Or whatever other device is being discussed. I use certain assistive tech part-time and other assistive tech full-time, so I sometimes make the distinction that way.

[Sugarbleus]

18. Oh okay....cool. Terminology and sensitivities change over

time....I'm an older broad who can't seem to keep up. LOL

I want to write some articles, so that's why I asked. I needed to find out what the overall sense of these terminologies are or should be within the general population of mobility challenged persons.

Again, my family is aging. We are from the "old school"; old habits die hard. It's a challenge to keep up with some of the PC terms. Thanks much..:hi:

[DemBones DemBones]

12. I think those Rollator gadgets are wonderful and want to get one.

Right now, I normally use a cane. I can walk but I get very tired walking around much. Actually, it's all the standing that gets to me, not the walking so much. If I had a Rollator I could sit instead of stand and still walk, using the rollator for balance. I can't manage a manual wheelchair because of problems with my hands and arms and the electric chairs are so bulky, you have to have a chair lift on your car, etc. Obviously, I prefer something I could put in the car and get out by myself.

I like it when my husband or daughter push me in a chair in one of the big stores, though. Now I know why kids grab things off shelves when they're in a basket or stroller -- it's because they CAN!!! Things are at eye level, look attractive, and are within reach. Wow! (I have had to promise to warn my pusher when I'm going to grab something,though, LOL.)

Freedom for crips!!! :7

[BoogDoc7]

15. A HAH!!

I'm remembering the "wheelchair-bound" thing. Been doing a chunk of studying on the disability rights movement (esp. blindness) and come across new stuff like this every day.

Broadening horizons.