[Blind-Rollers] getting a custom wheelchair

Sat Sep 11 14:42:52 UTC 2021

Jane,
I wonder if you have considered doing a video and putting it up on YouTube you teaching a student who uses a wheelchair and a cane? I think this could be helpful to other orientation and mobility instructors. Just a thought.
Thank you.

Marsha drenth  
Sent with my IPhone  
Please note that this email communication has been sent using my iPhone. As such, I may have used dictation and had made attempts to mitigate errors. Please do not be hesitant to ask for clarification as necessary. 

> On Aug 21, 2021, at 4:46 PM, Jane Lansaw via Blind-Rollers <blind-rollers at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi Rayette,
> I am an orientation and mobility instructor in Oklahoma. I always enjoy working with clients to use wheelchairs because they always make me work to problem solve with different abilities, disabilities, and adaptive cane techniques.
> It sounds like once you give a good roll, your chair will continue going and you can scan with your dominant hand by sweeping your cane left to right across your body.  In a manual chair, people need to bring their cane hands back to the wheel.  Once they have cleared their path with the cane , they take the wheel and cane in the same hand and roll forward. Depending on the terrain and their familiarity, they may roll once or twice between sweeping the cane across the path.  This is always hard for people in the beginning and they complain about it but once they have done it a lot, they develop the skills and can move faster than they think they can.  if your power assist will keep you rolling forward, there is no reason you cannot scan with your cane in your dominant hand as your cheer continues forward. Just keep moving left and right and pay attention to what your cane finds. 
> Do you have a speed control even with your power assist?  Power chair users often need to turn their speed down with what we call the governor. Well that’s what they told me to call it.  They turn the governor all the way down and then when they throttle as fast as they can, it only goes a certain speed. This gives them time to practice with their canes and get used to reacting to curbs and drop offs.  These are the most important things for a wheelchair user as your foot rest will often  protect you from higher obstacles. The biggest concern is not to drive off of a curb or the wrong way on a wheelchair ramp.  Eventually, they develop better reaction times and can turn the governor back up. It’s just like walking, you start out slow and with confidence and skill you develop speed.
> The biggest concern is not to drive off of a curb or the wrong way on a wheelchair ramp. LOL. I laugh because I was demonstrating in front of a client who used a wheelchair. She had some vision so I was modeling the behavior in a manual wheelchair. There was a rehabilitation counselor watching and I went sideways off of a wheelchair ramp.  I didn’t get hurt and everybody had a good laugh at my expense but I learned to pay more attention and not be so cocky. Orientation and mobility instructors, especially those of us who are certified NOMC can get pretty cocky about our cane skills.  
> Also I want to say a word about length. Yes, those of us from Louisiana Tech prefer longer Keynes but with wheelchairs, you need to be able to reach behind your wheelchair and clear the path of your off back wheel. This means if you’re right handed, you need to be able to detect a drop off behind your back left wheel in time to stop. I like to stand behind my clients and put my toe on their back left wheel.  Then I take three steps back. If they can hit my ankles with their canes, they can be safe backing it up with a wheelchair.
> The next complaint I hear from my clients is when they need to make a tight term. If you have gotten too close to your wall, left or right, and you need to turn the direction of the wall, if you can bring the corner even with the spoke  of your back wheel, you should have room enough to turn. If you still don’t, it means you’re too close to your wall and you probably are not sweeping wide enough left to right.  Remember, people who walk sweep their canes left and right just a little bit outside the width of their bodies. My body is widest at the hips. Your body is widest at your back wheels.  For purposes of cane  use, we consider the chair part of your body because we need to protect it the same way I protect my feet with my cane.  The same thing applies to a person who is walking and pulling a grocery cart or baby carriage. That device is part of their bodies and they need to clear for it.
> 
> Please feel free to email me on this list if you have any questions but if you have an orientation and mobility instructor handy in your home area, and you just don’t feel confident on your own, don’t be afraid to reach out to them.  Also as you know, there are many blind wheelchair users who are great cane  users. Most of them can be found on this list. I’m sure they will weigh in. Bear in mind that even though I get paid for teaching cane travel, most of these folks on the list do it every day from a wheelchair.
> 
>  Hang in there and keep practicing with your cane,
> 
> Jane Lansaw
> NOMC
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Aug 21, 2021, at 1:26 PM, RAy via Blind-Rollers <blind-rollers at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 
>> I am getting a custom wheelchair for my connective tissue disorder. 
>> 
>> I'm getting a manual one with a power assist. I will be wearing a bracelet
>> on my right wrist that I use to start and stop the chair by tapping the rim
>> of the wheel. Any tips on using a chair like this totally blind? I have to
>> use my hands to steer the chair. The chair rolls by itself until I stop it
>> with the bracelet. Any tips for using my cane with this chair?
>> 
>> Thanks for any advice.
>> 
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