[Blind-Rollers] Manual Wheelchairs and Cane Use

Fri Jun 7 16:29:02 UTC 2024

Ellana, Can you have the power drive adjusted so you mainly use your left hand, or non dominant cane hand, so the, in my case right hand is free to use the long white cane freely. They have wheelchairs that one hand is used to propel. Then when you turn both hands can go down to the wheels. I hope you are doing miner obstacle work with this new system, like a chair in a hallway you have to go around. 

I like the wheel also. It would be less touchy then the system I have. Also you go straight? Miracle. Yes you have a much better system then mine. But you need that obstacle work with the OT helping you. But they need to get to the point you have to figure it out yourself. I walked down my driveway and my cane tip went off the cement, like a step down. The wheelchair stopped as ai evaluated how to move a bit more to one side without losing the shoreline.

Becky .  
-----Original Message-----
From: Blind-Rollers <blind-rollers-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Ellana Crew via Blind-Rollers
Sent: Thursday, June 6, 2024 12:31 PM
To: Blind wheelchair users list <blind-rollers at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Ellana Crew <eemcrew at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Blind-Rollers] Manual Wheelchairs and Cane Use

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for your helpful responses! I am glad to see that there are definitely still some folks watching this list, and I appreciate all of your information and shared experiences.

I am glad to know that I am not the only one who gets by mostly with foot propelling. Occupational therapist also does not really want me to be using my feet at the same time as the power assist, but, well, it certainly wouldn’t be the first time that an abled person wanted us not to do something that we do anyway. (Smile) In light of what you all have shared, I suspect I will continue using my feet at least part of the time.

Since a couple of folks were asking about it, the power assist I am receiving will be a smart drive. It is one of the ones that is attached to the back of the chair between the two rear wheels but I have so far found it to suit my needs pretty well during the appointments I’ve had trialing it With the occupational therapist. It does not turn for me unfortunately like some other power assist attachments do, so that’s why I have still largely been using my feet and my left arm turns, but it has been making a big difference in fatigue levels and my legs not tiring out  so quickly even on the tiniest slope. Luckily because it doesn’t replace any of the actual wheels on my chair and just add an extra to the back, I still get full control over my casters and my rear wheels.

The smart drive, for anyone who is interested, has a couple of different control methods as well. It seems the most popular one is to be controlled by a smart watch like an Apple Watch, but given that I will need my right hand for my cane and will not be able to be reaching over to my left wrist to tap it constantly, we did not opt for that Root. Instead, we chose one of the alternative control methods which is a dial mounted to the front of the chair. The dial is pretty straightforward and very tactile, clicking with every speed increment change. At its lowest setting, it is not moving, and as you turn the dial up, speed increases and it maintains the speed you set it to.

The third attachment style which I did not like was a button also mounted to the chair frame in the front. The way it worked is that you press and hold the button, and the longer you hold it, the more the chair speeds up. You let go when it reaches a speed you like, and then press it again to turn it off. I did not find this as amenable because the button was very difficult to push and I felt like I was injuring my fingers when doing so, but also partly because there was no way to slow down, only to stop completely or speed up further. The dial felt much more intuitive, especially with the tactile clicks  that made it easy to tell how fast I was setting it.

Anyways, I am still hoping at some point to find more tips for using my hands on my push rims to turn with my white cane still in my hand, because right now holding both at the same time feels challenging and cumbersome and I’ve yet to work out a good rhythm. But I appreciate all of the tips and experiences shared so far!

Thanks,
Ellana

> On Jun 6, 2024, at 1:08 PM, Erica Cole via Blind-Rollers <blind-rollers at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi All
> 
> I am so glad this list is active again!
> Granted these messages could have been waiting in my inbox for weeks, but here I am.
> Welcome to the list, Ellana
> 
> I primarily use a powerchair with my cane (lefthanded), but when I need to go somewhere without it I use a manual chair and foot propel. I'm afraid I can't suggest any other tips that you don't already know. I am ok with foot propelling as I have had carpal tunnel syndrome in the past and don't want it to return, so me and my feet against the world!
> I've tried the type of power assist that is controlled from the back of the chair in the past and I hated it. It was so heavy and hard to put together it just stayed at home and we went without it.
> Thanks for nudging me in the direction of other power assist options. I need to look into these again as I am rather heavy and people find pushing my NHS wheelchair to be an absolute nightmare.
> If you know what brand / model your power assist is please  let me know and I can do some research.
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Blind-Rollers <blind-rollers-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Debbie Yuille via Blind-Rollers
> Sent: Wednesday, June 5, 2024 11:37 AM
> To: 'Blind wheelchair users list' <blind-rollers at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: debbiey1982 at optusnet.com.au
> Subject: Re: [Blind-Rollers] Manual Wheelchairs and Cane Use
> 
> Hi Ellana
> 
> I don't have any helpful tips as such, other than just swinging the cane like you would when walking. I do, however had a question for you What smart drive system did you get approval for? I'm using a light drive, but would like to change.
> 
> Cheers
> Debbie
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Blind-Rollers <blind-rollers-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Ellana Crew via Blind-Rollers
> Sent: Tuesday, June 4, 2024 6:55 AM
> To: blind-rollers at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Ellana Crew <eemcrew at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Blind-Rollers] Manual Wheelchairs and Cane Use
> 
> Good afternoon everyone,
> 
> It seems as though this list has been dormant for a while so I’m not too sure if I’ll get any responses, but I wanted to reach out here just in case there were still a few folks keeping an eye on it here and there.
> 
> I have just started using a wheelchair around a year ago due to severe dysautonomia, and I am looking for tips on using a manual wheelchair with a white cane at the same time. While I do have some residual vision, I do need my white cane full-time outside of the house, so relying on residual vision  in familiar places is not an option for me most of the time. I have been using a manual wheelchair throughout this time, initially a too big hospital wheelchair but currently have a custom built lightweight chair on the way as we speak. I would much prefer to keep using a manual wheelchair rather than a power chair for a variety of reasons if at all possible, so at the moment I’m not looking for suggestions on switching to a power chair.
> 
> Because I still have at least partial use of my legs, I have mostly been scraping by in my current wheelchair by foot propelling. This has certainly made it easy from a white cane standpoint since I can use my left hand to aid myself in pushing and my right hand is always free to use my cane relatively as I did when walking and using other mobility aids, but it is much more tiring than using my arms. I have just gotten approval for a smart drive power assist attachment, which will certainly make a big difference, but my biggest struggle has been learning how to steer without my feet involved so much.
> 
> For those of you who do not foot propel, as I know I am probably in the minority for doing so, what techniques have you found to use your white cane and a manual wheelchair at the same time? I have read articles here and there of folks holding their push rim and their cane handle in the same hand by splitting up their fingers between the two, But I have not yet figured out how to make this work myself and have not seen anyone go into very much detail on how it works. I’ve also met some folks online who sweep the cane in between pushes, but have also not yet gotten a feel for how this  Works in my own hands or any very detailed explanations.
> 
> Does anyone happen to have more detailed tips on how to make these strategies work, or alternative strategies I haven’t found yet? Any amount of information you could provide would be very helpful. I am making do with my current set up and I suspect I may never fully get away from using my feet to help me  steer and turn at the very least, but I would like to become less dependent on that method if possible and get better at relying on my arms, which have a much easier time of it than my legs do.  Tips for turning in particular would be especially useful, since the smart drive will at least help me significantly with forward momentum in a straight line.
> 
> Thanks,
> Ellana
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