In the 12 years since his injury, Jerry has made a point of keeping very active. “You know, I made a vow to myself that once I finally decided to live my life in a wheelchair and accepted that this is the way my life is going to be, I decided, well, I’m going to be happy … and one thing I’ve found that’s making me happy is doing sports and trying different sports and different activities.” Jerry points out that he has had to learn new ways of getting out and participating, but with the right combination of assistive technology and “trial and error” he’s been successful at power soccer, water-skiing, jet-skiing, snow-skiing, scuba diving, bowling and other sports. “You basically learn how to do the same things that you’ve done before that give you enjoyment, and you just had to learn a different way of doing it. And when you have adaptive equipment that works right, it makes all the difference in the world.”
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Some of Jerry’s earliest experiences in the community showed him just how different the real world is from the rehab setting. “[Rehab] is a controlled environment…. They show you how to use this, this and this. But once you go home it’s totally different. I mean you’re forced to deal with things … take two hours to figure something out. But then once you figure out how to do it, it just takes you five minutes … it’s trial and error.” Jerry believes that in those early days he learned a great deal from watching other people with similar injuries. An example Jerry gives is learning to use a pen again. In rehab he had received “a big apparatus” that he would wear on his wrist to help with his handwriting. “I’d have to use my whole arm and my whole wrist to write my name … and it wasn’t until probably a year and a half after I had my accident that I saw somebody using his pen and he was a quad like me and just wrapping in between his fingers and it was a lot easier.”
Besides watching the ways other people accomplished everyday tasks, Jerry found that getting together with peers offered him opportunities to get back involved in his community. He became friends with an occupational therapist and with one of her friends who had had a similar injury ten years earlier. Through these relationships, Jerry began to explore possibilities for sports and recreation. “She basically showed me there’s a whole new world … hooked me up with all the different programs like water skiing, snow skiing, scuba diving … and saying, you know, ‘It’s out there if you want to do it.’ And I started doing it and I’m more active now almost than I was before my accident.”
For the first two years after his injury, Jerry used a manual wheelchair. “I wanted to see if I could get stronger and strengthen up my arms … and I finally realized that it’s good that I’m strengthening my arms and everything, but if there’s any uphill or downhill I’m screwed…. So I thought about getting a power chair and once I got it, it was unbelievable how much independence it gave me…. When I used to go outside my apartment, I’d start to go across the street and go to a bookstore and it would take I don’t know three or four hours…. You know, me sitting at the crosswalk going, ‘OK, I’m going to wait for somebody to help me across the street because I know I’m not going to make it by the time the light turns.’” Getting the power chair “was just a whole new way of looking at things.” In terms of opportunities to get out in the world, the power chair has “opened up 20 more doors.”
Video:
See Jerry demonstrate wheelchair maneuvers for power soccer.
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One of the “20 doors” that the power wheelchair opened up was the world of power soccer—a sport played on teams with a ball that’s 18 inches in diameter. The ball, which is imported from Japan, is manipulated by plastic formed soccer guards mounted on the front of each player’s wheelchair. “Power soccer is the love of my life … because it’s basically the only team sport for power chairs that there is…. If you’re in a power chair, there is really nothing else out there that I know of that you can play as a team…. And you have team camaraderie.”
Jerry found out about power soccer from the recreation therapist at the rehab centre. He remembers one of the first times he tried the game, he was introduced to some of its subtleties by someone with a very high-level injury who drove his wheelchair with a chin joystick. “He stuck me over in the sideline and he was like, ‘Well this is what I’m doing and try to get it away from me.’ For ten minutes I was stuck over on the sideline and I couldn’t get away from him…. This guy’s got a ventilator and he drives with his chin…. It was unbelievable how he was able to stick me over in the corner and you know, show me…. And there’s a lot to power soccer, not just four on four with a ball in the middle…. It’s all about blocking and technique.”
Along with the challenge and the team camaraderie, Jerry finds real social opportunities with the power soccer league. “Meeting different people. Every year we usually do tournaments…. We all get together and we have a great time for a weekend, seeing all these new people … and actually turning little kids on to power soccer—it’s really cool.” Jerry remembers one child in particular with muscular dystrophy who got into power soccer, which was very gratifying for him to see. “You know he goes to school and he has something to talk to all his friends about, because everyone else plays sports and stuff but he didn’t play any sports and it’s opened up a whole new world being able to play.”
Because of power soccer and other sports, Jerry has developed very clear opinions about what makes a good power wheelchair. He remembers developing these opinions right from the beginning of the process of buying his first power chair. “They wanted to give me some rinky dink thing that looked like it would fall apart if I hit a curb.” Jerry tried a few different models and eventually made his decision. One serious problem with the chair he purchased was that the wheels were belt-driven. As a result, Jerry sometimes found the steering unreliable. “I would go up a curb and if I would move my hand right and try to go back, the belt would be slipping and I would still be turned to the right and end up going off the curb.”
When this wheelchair started getting older, Jerry began the research process for buying a new one. He took his time with this purchase so that he could be sure he was getting something he could live with. “I waited for about a year or so. I looked at what all my friends were getting … to see which ones were better and which ones weren’t.” He switched from the belt-drive to a direct-drive, and as a result, he’s much more satisfied with the chair’s ability to negotiate obstacles. “I can go off road, I can do thresholds and just go places I couldn’t get before in a power chair.” Although he finds that the gears in a direct-drive chair make a lot of noise, Jerry says that this noise can be a benefit when he’s going along a sidewalk. “Everybody gets out of my way when I’m going down the street. I don’t have to slow down and wait for them.”
Not surprisingly given his love of power soccer, manoeuvrability and durability are qualities that also matter to Jerry in a power chair. The wheels are positioned so that he can turn in very tight circles. “You can turn and pivot. The centre of gravity is right underneath me so I’m basically pivoting on myself.” He contrasts this ability with that of other chairs that have their wheels set farther back. “You’re basically turning more than, you know, pivoting.” From a durability standpoint, Jerry’s current chair has a lifetime warranty on the frame, which gives him peace of mind.
One final consideration was the batteries. Jerry opted for gel cell batteries because they can stay on the wheelchair when he travels by air. (Other kinds of batteries have to be taken off the chair and stored in a sealed box.) “By the time you get to your destination, and they bring you your chair and your batteries are in a box and you’re trying to get your chair back together, it’s just unreal.”
Like his switch from the manual wheelchair to the power chair, Jerry found that getting a van gave him a surprising amount of freedom. “I could go anywhere … travel anywhere I want.” The van also supports Jerry’s participation in sports. “Having transportation to drive to all these locations and try all these different things: tennis and you know, skiing, water skiing, everything … you jump in your van and go.” Finally, the van has been very important for staying in touch with people. “I was able to go see friends that I haven’t seen in years, and it was basically, ‘Oh yeah I heard you got hurt,’ but you know they didn’t know where I was at…. Now I just drive over to their houses.”
Jerry’s van is a minivan with a lowered floor, very sensitive power steering and a ramp. He chose a minivan over a full-size van for gas mileage and also because he prefers a ramp to get in and out instead of a lift. Jerry feels less secure on a lift. “Just going up and being suspended up in the air, and the way some of the lifts are, I’m afraid to fall off or if it just breaks … I’ve been on them before, I’ve used them … it’s just spooky to me.”
Jerry and a friend decided that they wanted to try bowling. They were familiar with the ramps that wheelchair users usually bowl with. They thought, “It’s all right, but it’s not very competitive.” Instead, they decided to put a small Y-shaped fork on the front of their chairs at floor level so that they could aim and shoot by driving their chairs and pushing the ball. “So, you’re actually having to drive the chair and try and stop your chair and sort of aim the ball right down the middle of the lane.” Once they found this better way to bowl, they set about finding a way to compete. “There’s a disabled bowling league but we wanted to join the regular one. And it was hilarious … we had a great time.”
Jerry first found out about scuba diving while he was at the rehab centre. His recreation therapist connected him with an instructor so he could get lessons and be certified in a nearby community on the coast. Jerry really enjoys diving. “It was the first time I experienced being in a chair and being without the chair, you know what I mean? Because you’re weightless underwater.” He found that the only real modification he needs is some weights, which he places in pockets on his wetsuit around his knees and ankles. These weights keep him in a stable, upright position so that he doesn’t turn end-over-end in the water.
There’s a recreation program where Jerry lives that is very well set up for adapted water sports like water skiing. They have all kinds of accessibility equipment such as adapted skis and outriggers to help with balance. The water skiing is particularly well organized. The equipment includes “a single ski with a cage for your butt to sit down in and your feet locked into it.” The skier starts in the water with someone behind, “and once you ride up out of the water, they drop off and they get picked up by one of the jet skis…. Another jet ski follows so in case you crash, there’s somebody right there.” Jerry says that skiing with outriggers makes it easier to learn. “Once you get up out of the water, you’re basically stable … if you lean all the way you’re just going to lean over like training wheels…. The following year, I did it without the outriggers.” The skis themselves are set up for different levels of physical ability. “If you don’t have enough arm strength, the rope will lock right into the front of the skis.”
Jerry has also tried an adapted jet ski. The seat is replaced by something that looks a little like a bar stool—built up on the sides and back with padding. The only other aspect of driving the jet ski that needed work was the throttle. Jerry found that pulling on the throttle was physically too difficult, but pushing it was manageable. They flipped the entire throttle around so that he could speed up by pushing instead of pulling.
Jerry first tried snow skiing about nine years ago. Most of the time, he would use a bi-ski, which as the name implies, involves two skis and a bucket seat. He also uses two poles, called outriggers, with smaller skis attached; they help him keep his balance and steer. An instructor stays behind the whole time, attached by a tether so that if something goes wrong, “like you get stuck in a turn or something,” the instructor can pull and stop the ski. Because of his level of injury, Jerry found this type of skiing difficult. “The outriggers were on my arms there so I could put down in the snow but I don’t have any triceps so it would just fold up and I didn’t have any balance so I wasn’t very good at it.” He tried skiing again this past winter and he was pleasantly surprised at how much the equipment had improved. “I mean the outriggers were no longer hooked to my arms. They’re hooked to the ski. And by the second day, we were moving them in—once you get better you move them in so you have a little bit more balance.… And by moving your weight the skis automatically pivot, they’ll both turn and one drops and pivots.”
Jerry strongly recommends getting involved in sports and recreational activities. He believes that they provide excellent opportunities for developing friendships, peer networking, engaging in physical activities and, most importantly for Jerry, there is a sense of accomplishment and immense satisfaction associated with his involvement in sports. In particular, he is a huge supporter of power soccer. From his viewpoint, it is one of the most competitive team sports currently available for anyone who uses a power wheelchair. Jerry considers it important to always be looking for your own ways of doing things—do not just accept what the rehab centre has taught. Jerry has seen that for some wheelchair users, “sometimes it’s hard to change. Once they do rehab, it’s like the way it is … they showed me how to do it and it’s the only way … but when you get out in the world you find out there’s different ways of doing things.” One excellent source of this real-world information is your peers. “Go into different people’s houses and see how they work things” or “talk things over with your friends at sporting events.” Finally, Jerry has a simple overall piece of advice for people with a recent spinal cord injury: “Be willing to try new things.”
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