tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post4412538638320926610..comments2024-03-16T16:44:18.220-07:00Comments on Bad Cripple: An Ode to My Wheelchairwilliam Peacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00223601480542461802noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-81508923844165516922014-09-16T16:36:58.060-07:002014-09-16T16:36:58.060-07:00My grandma loved her wheelchair! That might sound ...My grandma loved her wheelchair! That might sound crazy, but she absolutely loved it! She got so attached to it and she had so much fun it. It's a good thing it was a sturdy old thing. She put it under a lot of pressure.<br /><br />Gerald Vonberger | <a href="http://www.southwestmedical.com/category/Wheelchair-Parts/517" rel="nofollow"> http://www.southwestmedical.com/category/Wheelchair-Parts/517</a>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06500700087368270847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-11169580053305402972013-10-25T14:04:19.536-07:002013-10-25T14:04:19.536-07:00You always touch my heart with your essays. After ...You always touch my heart with your essays. After Don was killed it was easy for me to get rid of the air mattress, a few tears when i wheeled the commode into the van - but it took me two years before I could part with his wheelchair - till one day i realised how selfish I was beng, and that someone with need could use it and this would give them independence. It was old and unreliable - we'd bought it second hand and it had a habbit of jerkily stopping which we had fixed - that meant two spills out of the chair which were very upsetting for us both. But you explain exactly how don felt - he didn't hate the chair as people may have assumed - it was his independence and we too had a doggie who loved to be with Don as he travelled about. Six months spent in bed at home made that chair look pretty good to us both. Sometimes I don't know how Don kept his humour through it all - although it was pretty black humour most of the time - which suited me... One day i ran into a freind of ours, Tom Kennedy, who as well became a Quadriplegic just after don. he knew a lady who needed a chair and Tom had most of the use of his hands and was able to tweak certain parts of the chair to suit her. I admit it broke my heart to see it going down the driveway, and I still have the big green sheepskin that used to sit behind him - I just couldn't part with that... one day maybe as it is in pretty good order.Middle Childhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09962830669606760640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-11079382323163156692013-10-25T12:16:48.502-07:002013-10-25T12:16:48.502-07:00Great post, Bill -
I was appalled to hear recent...Great post, Bill - <br /><br />I was appalled to hear recently that Medicare is talking about changing to a rental-only reimbursement model for power wheelchairs. What's next - rental prostheses? "Sir, we'll need your signature on this month-to-month lease agreement for your leg"...? Most people would recoil at how ludicrous such a statement sounds; yet somehow for a wheelchair, it's OK?<br /><br />I wish there were a way to get the idea of a wheelchair as just another type of prosthetic device into the public consciousness. There was, of course, a time when prosthetic limbs carried the same kind of stigma that still clings to wheelchairs today. But they now seem to have transcended that history to a great degree, and people are entranced by the "coolness" of both the cutting-edge technology and the evolving design aesthetics that go into the various designs that are now available (for a breathtaking price, of course). I hope a similar transformation of perception is possible with wheelchairs. Our rather narcissistic species' undue attachment to having our devices mimic the form-factor of our own bodies must be the stumbling block. Just a *little* less cognitive rigidity in the shared narrative would go a long way!Lynnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03274978908688510739noreply@blogger.com