Just a rant about wheelchairs
A wheelchair is not just a wheelchair. It is a part of the user and is to be constructed for the user.
I paid $1700.00 + for a ’chair in 1999. Surprisingly it lasted 6 years in place of the expected 5 years.
I bought a new one last summer, $2080.00 (my expense)
I use the folding manual, so I can put it in the car. (You wouldn’t believe the # of people who say, ”You should get a motorized one”. SHOULD!! That word ought to be abolished from the language. It is such a controlling word. I smile sweetly and respond with, ”Yes, but it wouldn’t fold up to go into my car!”.)
My special requirement is an extension on the seat, 2½” as I am 5’10”….whether standing up or sitting down.
Denise was my sales woman. She measured my old chair and said I would have mine in a couple of weeks (It took 3 months)
She delivered it, with the invoice, for which I wrote a cheque, and she installed the footrests and left.
I got into it and could scarcely move. I felt as though I was accordionned.
I telephoned the “fix-it” guys there to come and lower the back and adjust the footrests.
I then checked the invoice. I had been charged for Quick-Release wheels, which I do not have. I telephoned Denise and she said they were standard equipment. What a dunce! THEN I noticed I was charged for the back.
Now tell me! Can you see a ‘chair, any chair, without a back? That would be a stool!
I told Denise I would not pay for the back, that I wanted her to come and remove the back from my old chair put it on my new chair. (I knew she was incompetent and lazy) She left a message one day I was out that I could keep this new bacl n/c. (I had been bluffing--I wanted a back on both chairs, old and new.)
When all was said and done, my back was lowered, giving me shoulder range, Denise had installed the footrests backward, the accordion unfolded, and I was refunded over $300.00 for the back and no QR Wheels.
I use 2 ‘chairs: the old one for going out in winter so I can switch to a dry one as soon as I come home. Winter is next to over and I took the old one out today on clear, dry sidewalks and I sailed along like a breeze. I felt 60 again.
The new one is like pushing a wheelbarrow with one hand and it veers to the right. As well, I don’t function as well in it. I have figured out what adjustments have to be made, so in the meantime, I will use the ‘old one, which is held together in 2 places with elastic bands.
Whew!
iZzY
