[Blind-rollers] Blind-rollers Digest, Vol 42, Issue 2, To Jevel S.
qubit
lauraeaves at yahoo.com
Thu Feb 3 22:06:00 UTC 2011
Hello Marcy --
Thank you for your comments and kudos for getting out there with the chair!
I am a blind roller who went the other direction and stuck with manual
chairs for at least 3 reasons:
1. A manual chair is easier to travel with without getting a van. It
collapses and goes in the trunk of anyone's car, and I am able to transfer
into a car seat. I also am able to scoot forward and use my feet to stear
and feel out the ground in front of me. This also frees up one hand to use
the cane, but admittedly it is awkward.
2. A manual chair is cheaper, especially when you work in the cost of a van
and a driver for that van.
3. I am in a wheelchair because of OI, the brittle bone condition that makes
me fracture very easily. I know from experience that when I'm in an
unfamiliar place with someone else taking me around, we invariably encounter
nasty things like poor wheelchair ramps that are hardly wide enough to get
a standard sized chair onto, and dropoffs on either side. I am terrified at
the thought of getting dumped out of my chair, which has happened more than
once and I have had some nasty fractures. I therefore prefer to stay with a
sighted and ambulatory companion whenever I'm not in a flat and familiar
place. Now as for home: inside the house, I have found that the times I have
tried the power chairs, I have left nice gouges and scrapes in walls and
furniture as I try to get accustomed to the controls. I do love the ability
to raise up to counter height in the kitchen, and do other things with the
power chair that otherwise are difficult, and I think with practice I could
stear successfully and use the cane, but it seems extravagant to get a pricy
power chair just for inside.
Another point of #3 is that I am using a companion to take me around anyway,
so I have no need to get a power chair, which would give some kind of
impression that I am independent enough to travel on my own. I know, I
should be brave, but I was brave while I was ambulatory and I broke bones
regularly, and the thought of continuing these episodes scares me out of
travelling myself any more.
So we're not all the same. I agree 100% about the perceptions people have
of the chair. I have known many persons with new or progressive
disabilities who resist using a chair, but you know, for some situations, it
is more liberating that it is confining.
Happy season all! It appears the groundhog saw his shadow, so we're in for
a long winter, but hey, do something you like indoors every day, whether it
fits well in your schedule or not...
Keep rolling!
--le
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marcy Ryan" <waywardwheelsinc at hotmail.com>
To: <blind-rollers at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2011 2:41 PM
Subject: Re: [Blind-rollers] Blind-rollers Digest, Vol 42, Issue 2,To Jevel
S.
To Jewel S.,
I am a used of an electric wheelchair and blind, I have found that a manual
wheelchair is
too difficult to use and get around safely. An electric can go slowly and
manipulate areas that a manual cannot due to its size and weight. I am in a
Permobile and I love it, I can go slowly and safely or faster if I have a
guide who walks quickly. If I am using a can I am able to manipulate the
environment more easily with one hand free.
I recycle medical equipment and work with many of our peers with multiple
challenges, we all enter into the world of wheelchairs with a sense of
concern and fear. I have found one you get one you never go back to a
manual. The independence you get is so awesome and the ability to use the
clicking of the controls to listen to the sound bouncing off the walls for a
guide. I think people fear what they will look like to others in a chair and
try to avoid it, because our culture is so judgmental about disability. And
a wheelchair puts you disability right out there for the world to see. I
gave up subtle years ago, to get my and others needs met. Its hard for
others to understand our world, they do try, but until you are here I think
its something you can't really understand.
If you need information of equipment and how to work things our to meet your
needs, please contact me at my email, its the same as my company one.
waywardwheelsinc at hotmail.com
My company is all persons with disabilities, all the office's are run by and
for us, and the board of directors is also made up only of the disabled
persons. I have found over the years we have been able to meet the needs of
many because we are so diverse.
Hang in there, roll on,
Marcy & Sadie (my work dog)
Marcella Ryan, ED
Wayward Wheels, Inc
181 Franklin St. #1
Winooski, Vt. 05404
waywardwheelsinc at hotmail.com
1-802-655-2936
> From: blind-rollers-request at nfbnet.org
> Subject: Blind-rollers Digest, Vol 42, Issue 2
> To: blind-rollers at nfbnet.org
> Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2011 12:00:21 -0600
>
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: hello (Jewel S.)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2011 08:38:19 -0500
> From: "Jewel S." <herekittykat2 at gmail.com>
> To: Blind wheelchair users list <blind-rollers at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [Blind-rollers] hello
> Message-ID:
> <AANLkTinOmk3xC=D8N9KYUnJqdbaR5e3aSLBDqhX_hnxy at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Thank you much for the ideas! I used the messenger bag only because
> that's all I have at the moment. I just made it a lighter load than
> usual. I'll be trying a two-shoulder backpack next time, borrowing it
> from a friend. I'm not supposed to have a lot of weight on my back,
> though, so I'll still have to keep the load light. I'll definitely try
> the dog leash idea@ That sounds interesting.
>
> On 2/1/11, Becky Frankeberger <b.butterfly at comcast.net> wrote:
> > Making the bag sit evenly on both shoulders will help. My husband has
> > neck
> > and back problems from a severe car accident, so he is super fussy about
> > what kind of backpack he uses. He could never do a messenger bag as I
> > think
> > it sits only on one shoulder. Practice with perhaps tying the roling
> > bag on
> > a belt. You have to practice as you might have to change how you walk a
> > bit. Or perhaps a super long strap you can pull the bag where the strap
> > goes across your body, thus I should think you are pulling it more with
> > your
> > torso, not just your waste and not just with your shoulder. Around here
> > I
> > would try with dog leashes, smile. I would hook one end of the leash
> > clip
> > to one end of the short handle metal thing, not the actual grip. Then
> > the
> > other clip end to the other side of the metal handle, thus the two sides
> > are
> > like eight inches apart. This should add stability as you pull the bag,
> > thus
> > reducing tipping, which trust me you do not want, grown. Been there done
> > that, this works better. For your pull bag you want the biggest wheels
> > you
> > can find. That might just one of those old laby carts you buy at Wal
> > Mart,
> > also called a luggage cart. The wheels have rubber like little tires.
> >
> > Give it a think. We are here to brainstorm with each other.
> >
> > Becky and guide dog Jake
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: blind-rollers-bounces at nfbnet.org
> > [mailto:blind-rollers-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jewel S.
> > Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 6:10 AM
> > To: Blind wheelchair users list
> > Subject: Re: [Blind-rollers] hello
> >
> > I am doing all right. Really miffed because the bus took off without
> > me again today, so I missed another class and another quiz. I'm so
> > irritated. It was supposed to wait for me for the two extra minutes it
> > would have taken me to get there, but it was gone by the time I
> > arrived at the bus stop. So now I'm sitting out in the cold at the bus
> > stop for another h alf an hour (been here half an hour already).
> >
> > I am still having trouble figuring out how to use both my support cane
> > and my rolling backpack. Today I'm using a messenger bag which is
> > already hurting my shoulder, but I have to in order to use my support
> > cane and my white cane simultaneously. Any new suggestions on how to
> > use two canes and carry stuff without having it on one's back?
> >
> > What do you all do when there is snow and ice ont he ground? Is there
> > anything special to put on a wheelchair to help it keep traction?
> >
> > Oh, another question. I'll be using an electric wheelchair at
> > Disneyworld this summer to get around. Anyone have suggestions or tips
> > on this? I'm using an electric so I can use my white cane in my other
> > hand. I've used a white cane with a manual (not easy!), but not with
> > an electric and am wondernig if there are any tips on techniques?
> >
> > Later,
> > Jewel
> >
> > On 2/1/11, Jackie <jpentland at hay.net> wrote:
> >> Hi how is every one doing? I am doing ok. Here there is a lot of
> >> snow.
> >> When there is a lot of snow it makes it hard to go out. What does
> >> every
> > one
> >> do when there is a lot of snow out.
> >> take care jackie
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >>
> >
> >
> > --
> > ~Jewel
> > Check out my blog about accessibility for the blind!
> > Treasure Chest for the Blind: http://blindtreasurechest.blogspot.com
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
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>
>
> --
> ~Jewel
> Check out my blog about accessibility for the blind!
> Treasure Chest for the Blind: http://blindtreasurechest.blogspot.com
>
>
>
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> End of Blind-rollers Digest, Vol 42, Issue 2
> ********************************************
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