My new wheelchair

Posted by John B. Kelly

I have a new wheelchair(mine is blue)! And I already love it. Usually it takes months to really "move in," because a new wheelchair, at least for us severely disabled types, functions as part of the body -- like a shell for a turtle or maybe a new skin for a snake. And you never know whether a new chair will really work out until you get in and try to live in it. I had originally ordered a Quickie wheelchair, but sent it back because I just hated it.

Every wheelchair sits a little different -- even a change from a slightly softer and more curved backrest to a new one can ruin one's balance. (Some people get new wheelchairs and then never use them, because their bodies have grown into their old chairs so completely that just about any new wheelchair would take away some precious ability or balance.)

And then there is learning to drive a new chair, which is especially challenging for me because I use a sip/puff drive: it operates on a "latched" system (like a light switch) rather than the "momentary" system of your typical wheelchair with a joystick, so I have to know exactly how hard to puff and sip to "go" and, especially, to "stop." My new wheelchair takes more pressure for both, so I keep crashing into things, thinking that I have stopped.

Like the last two chairs I had, my new one is an Invacare (yes, a combination of "invalid" and "care", but they make nice wheelchairs), but it is radically different because it has mid-wheel drive, along with an extra pair of wheels at the back for a total of six. All my previous three chairs had rearwheel drive (and a mere four wheels), which made turning a slow and space-consuming process. Seriously, I could not even get out of my own bedroom without crashing into the door frame, and had a lot of trouble getting into my living room from the front hallway (my apartment was renovated tack in 1980, before ADA standards were in place). It's kind of frustrating not to be able to get around in your own apartment.

The new wheelchair drives much more like a Bobcat, the little construction vehicle that turns from the center rather than rear. So now I go through a doorway as if I were walking, taking the center path, rather than the wide turn that a tractor trailer has to make.

Two other features of my new chair remind me of walking: I now have control over my general direction and speed, rather than being at the total mercy of inclines and cross slopes.

Although people who walk generally don't notice pitched sidewalks (usually sloping from a building towards the curb), they just wear out wheelchair users. In my old chairs, rolling along a pitched-left sidewalk consisted of puffing right about every two seconds. Makes it quite difficult to carry on a conversation. (I have actually crashed trying to finish a sentence in time). The new wheelchair stays almost completely straight, which makes for a nice, secure feeling. Lots of time to look around at the scenery rather than trying to survive.

This wheelchair also compulsively adds and subtracts power based on the incline of my surface. Going up a ramp, a little extra power; going down, a little bit of a drag on the motor. That means I don't have that out-of-control sensation of freewheeling down a hill, or the terrifying experience of slowing down so much going up a ramp that the chair starts to turn dangerously to one side.

Unfortunately, the chair also rides a bit stiffer than my old wheelchair, even with the pneumatic tires that I had switched in. But the six wheels make for quite a bit more safety, and I can take much more dangerous ramps than I used to.

It really would be a great solution to access issues if wheelchairs could easily and comfortably climb curbs, stairs, etc., but in the meantime it still means slogging away for that ramp promised three years ago, and trying to get rid of that damn brick under our wheels and canes.