Wheelchair Diffusion blog

A new entry to further shear the already tattered nerves of the American wheelchair and electric scooter industry. This one is from Honda, the auto makers. Well, they can relax. This is available only in Japan, for now.

It packs in nebulous terms, a high-output, brushless motor and newly developed, high-efficiency control system. The manufacturer states that it can do 25km on each charge-up. It is being made in a four wheel model only and most of the hype is in auto terms not wheelchair lingo.

Regardless, it should be a welcomed addition if it works its way across the waters. If it holds up as well as their auto, lawnmower, and recreational vehicle technology it might just set the benchmark on what a scooter should be.

I’m having a bad case of depression which really should be a bad case of anger over something my daughter told me about. She goes to school out of town but stays in regular touch with the family. She is somewhat hard of hearing. You know, if you are behind her and talking to her then good luck. One of the the first things she did after getting up to school was to join an all girls club for students who are deaf or have diminished hearing. The club does all kinds of neat things both on campus and in the community. Some are for fun and some are community service.

The other night about 25 of the girls went out to have a chicken wing feast at a local bar/restaurant. I’m sure that they entered the place signing and talking and being wonderfully animated. At the bar was a man having a beer. With the man was an 11 or 12 year old boy who was probably his son. As my daughter walked past she heard him say to the boy, “I guess the freaks have arrived”. Of course she didn’t say anything to the man, or to her friends. No sense ruining everyones night out.

This should have freaked me out. It should have brought out my South Bronx upbringing and talk of kicking-A, swollen lips, and blacked out eyes. But it didn’t. It just depressed me.

I was hanging at Gimpy Mumpy’s blog and comment-ranting on her recent post which included the following statement.

“Why is there the misperception that if someone is disabled to the point where they cannot hold a job outside the home that they must be sitting around the house bored to tears and eating bon bons?”

Of course this triggered a rant which I just had to continue on my own bandwidth.

Hey, no problem with bon-bons. I like bon-bons as much as anyone. What I have a problem with is all of the perception junk related to disability, home, house, and wheelchair. To hell with perceptions. Perceptions are engineered, fostered, perpetuated, and they damned sure are not an accurate reflection of the reality.

Remember “housewives”? Stay at home, coffee clutching, nail filing, soap opera watching and TV dinner fixing people who made for nice window dressing and were ranked on a par with a wind up toy. That was perception. Enter the reality- The professional homemaker, non gender. Master of countless skills. A veritable staffing agency in a single package. Able to function and get the job done anywhere, in or out of the home. A perceptual make-over. How? Take it out of the home where the world can see it and the public can rate it. Show it for what it is, a revolving dynamo of activity.

People can better understand things that are visible and tangible. Home is perceived as being sedentary, slow paced, relaxed. Someplace you hide to relax and get away from it all. People who work from home have it made. Ask those that don’t work from home. They’ll tell you all about how easy the other half has it. Bottom line- Home is not considered dynamic. Therefore, those who choose to stay at home or those who must stay at home are also not dynamic. Blame Newton and his apple if you like but dynamic is cosidered to be better than static. Ask any movie producer or public relations person.

General perceptions on disability? Housebound, bed bound, wheelchair bound, sedentary, and lots more you can probably come up with. Not real dynamic and sure as hell not as glamorous as corporate America. Say “disability” and a good portion of the population thinks housebound. So, we have come back to that again.

What people do and where they do it is there business. How productive someone wants to be inside of their home is up to them. How productive a person with a disability can be outside of the home, and the perception of that productivity level, is often beyond their control. Like it or not life is a spectator sport and we are all measured by some public scoring system that gives extra points for things like level of physical activity, public visibility, perceived intellectual acuity, physical attractiveness, and ability to “get out there and get the job done”. It’s the American way!

That’s the bon-bon that’s giving me the tooth ache, the “getting out there” part of this. C’mon, let’s see what it takes for a spinal cord injured quadriplegic to get out there, get the job done, and alter the perception. Better bring along an accountant, or a homemaker who is good with numbers.

• •A few assumptions- Desire, determination, fortitude, training, schooling, opportunity
• •A good support system of family, friends, care providers, and caregivers.
• •Almost forgot- A willing employer.

A large truckload of very expensive equipment and other stuff that may include-

• •An accessible home that you can get in and out of.
• •A transfer device, high end wheelchair, communication device, portable ventilator and suction equipment, onboard environmental control unit.
• •Reachers, holders, feeders, medications, in all shapes, types, and sizes.
• •One hell of a good accessible public transportation system or one damn reliable and inexpensive special mode transportation service or one very expensive adapted vehicle with a driver if needed.

Okay, we got to the place where our quad can get the job done and the perceptions changed, now-

• •Some genuine respect for the ADA and some sincere enforcement of it.
• •An accessible building to work in
• •An accessible workplace that includes enough space for the wheelchair, quad friendly equipment, a desk you can get under, shelves that can be reached, adapted tools of the trade
• •An understanding boss who won’t try to fire you every time you need to take time off because of health reasons, broken down wheelchairs, and unreliable public transportation.
• •Co-workers who won’t stare, aren’t patronizing, and who will treat you like a professional.
• •A paycheck that will earn you more than what it costs for all of the caregivers, personal equipment, transportation costs, business attire, and other work related expenses. Remember, you are now a working stiff so any assistance benefits you were getting probably took a hike.
• •Right, a decent health plan wouldn’t hurt either.

There are some of your perception changers. As we all know, there are very few people who can manage this complex and expensive a perceptual make-over, and that’s the reality.

To hell with perceptions. I would rather change the realities and let the perceptions die on their own.

“Here Rover”. Well, not quite, but almost. A robotically-augmented walker for older adults- This walker is armed with guidance software and sensors. It can park itself and come running when the user signals for it.

“Users sometimes park their walkers out of the way, forcing them to rely on others to retrieve the walker or to walk unaided….

Out of 41 walkers observed during two periods of observation, 18 (44%) were parked out of reach or outside of the room where the user was located. Eight users (20%) were observed parking their own walkers out of immediate reach, and 10 staff caretakers or other residents (24%) placed walkers out of reach. We inferred from these observations that users (or staff, in a communal facility) often attempt to park their walkers unobtrusively and by doing so, put these
walkers out of reach.”

The walker was designed by the School of Computer Science, at Carnegie Melon University in Pittsburgh, and has some rather unique and exciting attributes. Aside from being at ones beck and call, the walker also has a guidance and mapping system that can help users get to indoor pre-programmed locations. It can guide a user to such places as a cafeteria or other location thus avoiding hazardous areas and wandering.

“The sensors and mapping software used for remote parking and retrieval also can be used to provide navigational assistance and distance feedback, increasing the walker’s appeal and usability in large indoor environments. In the prototype, navigational assistance was provided to the user in the form of a continuously updated map and large arrow displayed on a screen attached to the walker, making it easy for users to discreetly reorient themselves and arrive independently at their destination.”

Gerard Kelly, Executive Director of United Spinal Association puts it on the money in this piece from their Orbit Journal.

“It is sad but true that 15 years after passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) some 70% of individuals with SCI are unemployed. This statistic becomes even more significant when you consider that the majority of the injuries are incurred by people in their 20s and 30s, which is also the age at which people who have multiple sclerosis are first diagnosed. That so many people are marginalized at such a young age, is truly a national tragedy.”

The Wheelchair Recycler is a non-profit organization that refurbishes and distributes pre-owned power wheelchairs and electric scooters at a very low cost to people that either do not have health insurance or do not qualify for equipment.

They are always looking for donations of wheelchairs and scooters. Give them a call if you live up in the New England area and would like to donate a powered wheelchair or scooter.

Another neat thing they do is custom modify used Invacare wheelchairs and transform them into the rugged recreation/work Trail Boss wheelchair. If you look closely at the images you might recognize the Invacare Arrow being used in reverse and the old favorite workhorse Invacare XT pushing a plow.

The Wheelchair Recycler
60 Carver Hill Road
Marlborough, MA 01752
(508) 460-6328