Although Ted had his accident in 1993, his condition was not diagnosed as a spinal cord injury until 1997, at which point he had to have surgery. Until then, he had been walking short distances, although he had a lot of pain and couldn’t sit or lay down for very long. Ted hadn’t really considered using a wheelchair or other assistive technology. He recalls that when he was in rehab, “It was mind-boggling for me to use this stuff.” But he had been dealing with limited mobility for quite a while, so he just made up his mind to “get over the next hurdle.”
Ted still doesn’t use a lot of assistive technology, partly because he finds it too costly. For example, he has his wheelchair and a porch lift, but he has not installed hand controls in his car because “the price to put hand controls in, it is too expensive.” He had to make only minor modifications to his home because it had already been modified for his wife who also has a disability.
Ted believes in staying active. He enjoys working around the house, gardening and woodworking. He also likes to be out and about, visiting with neighbours, watching a ball game in the park and going to the gym. He is involved with a mentoring program at a local school. In fact, he says that without these activities, “I’d have to find something to do, because you’d go crazy sitting in the house,” especially in the winter.
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By far the most important consideration for Ted in choosing a chair is comfort. He reasons, “If you’re in it for nine or ten hours a day, you want it as comfortable as possible.” For Ted, one aspect of his comfort is that his chair has a high back. He is aware that he could probably go faster with a chair that has a lower back, but he finds his chair suits his needs. After all, he says, “I’m up in the morning at six sometimes, and I use it most of the day. Sometimes I don’t get out of it till it’s after supper.” He recommends that everyone who uses a chair make sure that the back and cushion fit properly.
Ted had his first wheelchair for four years. When it came time to get a new one, he made sure he got a different cushion. He used to have an inflatable cushion, but he found it developed leaks a lot, especially with cats in the house. He kept “patching and patching” until he got to the point where he just used duct tape. Not that it was very expensive to patch the cushion, but it was labour-intensive. He had to hold the cushion under water in his laundry tub to detect where the holes were. Then he would put a toothpick in the hole so that he would know where to patch. In short, “it was a pain in the butt.” Now he has a combination cushion: it has air pockets at the back where he sits and foam at the front. He has had no leaks with this cushion, so he finds it a better arrangement. And he doesn’t have any skin problems.
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Ted credits the comfort of his chair with helping him keep his skin healthy. He thinks that his daily showers help to prevent skin problems. He also argues, “I think if you feel comfortable in [your chair] that you’re not going to end up with skin sores … and breakdowns in your body and, and your tissue and all that.” Because his chair is sturdy and has armrests, Ted feels secure to shift his weight anytime he needs to. “I’m always moving all the time…. Even if I’m in the chair, I’m always picking myself up.”
Ted’s chair is sturdy and dependable even though it has a lot of removable parts, like the cushion. “It pops off easy,” he says. It also has “quick-release wheels” that were recommended by his wheelchair vendor, so that he can take them off when he puts his chair into the trunk of his car and for easy cleaning. He also has removable footrests for the same reason. Ted finds that having the removable parts cuts down the time it takes to clean the chair by half. He says that cleaning his new chair “only takes me an hour and a half. The other one takes me almost three hours.”
Ted likes another feature on the back of his new chair, which he calls an “exterior strength bar.” The bar provides some extra stability to the chair’s frame so that “when you’re going on grass or whatever, you’re not flopping all the time.”
Ted’s home already had a wheel-in shower and a whirlpool bath because of his wife’s disability. Inside the house, he really only had to widen their bedroom door for his chair. He would do more to the house if he had the means though. He would like to widen other doors, such as the one to his spare room where he keeps his clothes. He is also looking for money for a lift that would allow him to use their whirlpool bath more easily. He finds that the whirlpool bath “loosens up your muscles … so if you’re aching or whatever you can just sit there and relax.” But he finds it very difficult to get in and out of it.
When Ted first came home from rehab, he had a wooden ramp out in the back of his house. Besides the frequent maintenance the ramp required, there were problems getting around to the front of the house to catch the paratransit bus at the curb. For these reasons, Ted decided he would be better off with a porch lift at the front of the house. He was able to get one second-hand from a friend's grandparents' house. His friend's grandfather had passed away, and “they were wanting to get rid” of their lift. Ted remembers that it cost him only a “few bucks” to get someone to install it. He painted it the same colour as the rest of his house, “so it just blends right in.” Then he approached a local service club for funding to have a concrete pad put down for the lift so that when he comes off it he can wheel over to where the van picks him up. He and his wife and an uncle finished the job by getting rid of the lip between the porch and the front doorstep, so Ted could wheel into the house directly from the lift.
Ted definitely prefers the lift to the ramp. He points out that it is more compact than a ramp, and he feels it gives him more freedom to get out independently. He trusts the lift more than the ramp, explaining, “I feel more secure because … you’re always looking after it…. As long as you keep the maintenance up on them. But with your wood … you never know.” The lift broke down once but Ted’s wife fixed the problem with a grease gun, and it hasn’t given them any problems since. The only thing that would make Ted even more independent is a paved driveway. His gravel driveway puts a lot of “wear and tear” on his chair. Ted has applied for government funding to make this change and is waiting to hear back from them.
Ted doesn’t drive because the price of hand controls is too high. A modified van is out of the question for the same reason. However, he is able to get around in his car when someone else drives. He just transfers into the car, takes the wheels off his chair and stores the pieces in the car. Ultimately, Ted finds the local paratransit gives him the most independence and he has had good experiences with it. He says, “It just depends how busy they are. If you needed a ride the same day they probably could, but generally you call a day or two ahead of time…. But other than that it’s pretty much easy access.” The paratransit in his area will even take him to neighbouring cities, which is a good thing because Ted lives in a rural area and his doctors are in the next city.
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See Ted demonstrate devices that make his working in the kitchen safer and easier. Choose a format: |
Ted sums up his attitude toward assistive technology: “If I had the money I’d get certain stuff, so I’d do a lot more…. [But] I don’t worry about it because financially I ain’t going to get it…. So I’m making do with what I got.” He says, “You can’t stop living because you’re in a wheelchair. Whatever you can find to do, you do.”
Just the same, Ted thinks it shouldn’t be so difficult to get assistive devices, especially considering that “I think they’re getting more technology out there to help us.” He doesn’t understand the economics of making things so expensive and difficult to get when the pay-off is that “a person [will] be more independent where you don’t have to fight all the time to get this stuff…. [I]f the person needs it, you know, why have a big buck on it?…. They shouldn’t have to pay a high dollar for it.” Because some technology is so important to people’s well-being, and because a disability can be financially devastating, Ted thinks there should be flexible payment plans for assistive technology. “Let’s say if a person needed a shower chair…. If a person could be on a payment plan where you could only afford twenty bucks this month, or the next month, and if you couldn’t afford it the following month, that’s still all right … because there’s people out there, you lose everything.”
Ted is quick to point out, however, that the lack of financial help would be a lot worse if he “didn’t have good neighbours…. I figure good neighbours and friends will help you out. That helps you get through being disabled.” Ted’s neighbours shovel his driveway in the winter and take him places. He is only too happy to return the favour when he can. One neighbour had a heart attack, so he has to avoid working outside in the heat of the summer. Ted was able to help him out by cutting his lawn because this neighbour has a hydrostatic lawn tractor that doesn’t require your feet to drive. He says, “So I can get myself up onto the tractor. [My neighbour] showed me how to run it, so I cut the grass. So we’re helping out one another. Because, actually, we’re both disabled, … and it made me feel like I’m alive, you know, because you’re cutting the grass. You’re helping him out…. So if you’ve got one another working together, and if you guys can think of things to help one another, that’s the best thing to have.”
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