[Blind-rollers] Mobility for wheelchair users

[Becky Frankeberger]

Hi Tammy, welcome over here.  I was in a manual wheelchair for five or so
months from a fall I had.  Not much keeps me down, smile.  I went from the
hospital to rehab.  I wanted to learn how to be safe in my own home, then
got out of there as my home is pretty wheelchair accessible by design.
Physical Therapy at the nursing home put me in a manual wheelchair.  My
husband brought my white cane and off I went to figure out this puzzle of
how to move safely in the wheelchair.  The further out I held my cane the
safer I was to the rebound of hitting something with the cane and it coming
up and hitting me.  Fortunately, I thought about this obvious problem, so
did not hurt myself with the rebound, giggle. I know the books tell you to
make the cane super long, but practically it does not work well as I first
tried with my husband's cane.  It would get mixed up into so many things, I
began to hate moving anywhere.  So my shorter cane came out and suddenly I
could move.  The cane did not get trapped under wheelchairs of other
patience hide under tables never to be seen again.  My reactions were faster
with the shorter cane is what I am trying to say so badly.   . 

Now I did not try a power chair, but most certainly wanted to. So maybe
reactions are different, I don't know.  All I know is my arm doing the left
wheel, my right foot propelling me and my right hand holding the cane just
did not work for me with a sixty inch white cane.  My forty eight inch cane
was fine as I pushed my shorter (Hemi) chair in that nursing home, in my
driveway, and on the streets of Seattle Washington, Disney World, my home
town, you get the picture, smile. I thought my arms were going to fall off
at Disney World and my husband's arms.  Not one person told us there were
power chairs to rent and we went to the business office three times, growl. 

What an eye opener sitting in a wheelchair is.I would strongly recommend you
and your colleagues do this.    How rude people can be.  How afraid people
are of you.  I keep a smile on my face so I seem more approachable.  I had
people grabbing my handles to push me out of the way.  Fortunately for me I
thought about this ahead of time and locked my breaks, snort.  So I could
talk to the person trying to move me, and in both circumstances I was fine.
A gard at one of the stores took the lady aside. I am not sure what he said
as I have a hearing loss, but giggle.  I did thank the gard as she was over
the top rude. I kept my peace and would not yell back at her.  I make sure I
pulled close to a wall or display so people could get around me.  One lady
was standing next to me.  I asked her if she wanted to look at something.
She got all flustered.  I just moved and she did indeed want to look at
something where I had been sitting waiting for my husband.

My husband has helped me in the bathrooms.  Men are far nicer then women
about the other sex coming in.  So I saw lots of men's rooms, lol.  One gard
kicked us both out of the bathroom and opened up one family friendly she
said anyway.  It was at a closed section of the Convention Center in
Seattle.  Now you all thought we were progressive out here, giggle. Every
time we passed that gard we would tell her no bathrooms today.  We got a
kick out of making fun of her.  Well hey you have to laugh about the trouble
you get into in a wheelchair. 

Make sure she puts a flag on her chair.  When she is on the streets that
flag should be up alerting truck drivers she is there.  The flag should be
able to lower so she can get into transit vans easier.

Anyway, I know there are several out here with far more experience then I do
traveling around, being trapped on lifts, getting stuck all those fun
things, smile.

I am totally serious when I tell you take several days and just go places in
a power or manual wheelchair.  If you blindfold yourself make sure you have
a back up person as it will be new to you to do both skills.  I know they
blindfold you all where you get your O and M training, but both blindfolded
and in a wheelchair, I doubt it.  Safety first for you also.  Make sure the
person with you only interferrrs if you are going to get hurt.  Otherwise
you figure it out. 

Becky and guide dog Jake fluffing his tail at you      
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-rollers-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:blind-rollers-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Tammy Cantrell
Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2011 7:35 PM
To: blind-rollers at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Blind-rollers] Mobility for wheelchair users

Hello!
My name is Tammy.  I am not a wheelchair user but wanted to learn from those
with more experience and knowledge than me.  I work in Travel and have a
student in an electric wheelchair.   I am interested in learning about any
techniques, considerations, tips, etc that will benefit my student.  I want
to teach what this student needs and make sure she doesn't get hurt during
the process.  If you know of any resources for reading materials, this would
be appreciated too.  I look forward to learning from you.
Thanks! 
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