Don’s daily life includes managing a household, which he shares with his two young sons, visiting friends and being generally active in his community. He goes on hunting trips to his native reserve with his brother from time to time, and he is exploring a return to school. In the three years since his injury, Don has managed to set up an accessible house for his family, and in the process, develop his own straightforward philosophy about life with a spinal cord injury.
Don has an interesting approach to assistive technology. In most areas of life he could be described as a technology minimalist, preferring to find independent ways to accomplish tasks rather than rely on devices. The one exception to this rule is the sophisticated muscle stimulation equipment that he uses to keep his body in shape.
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About a year ago, Don enrolled in a unique exercise program at an outpatient therapy clinic at his rehabilitation centre. He pedals an exercise bike with the help of functional electrical stimulation (FES) three times a week. The sessions typically last 45 minutes and Don works out in ten-minute bursts with rests between. He starts by getting himself wired up with 18 electrodes over various muscles in his legs. Then he sets the stimulation level on each muscle by turning a dial until he sees a contraction. When everything is ready, he starts the machine and starts pedaling. But the machine doesn’t do all the work: “You have to constantly try to push your legs too. It's pretty hard actually, you get sweaty.”
Don speaks enthusiastically about the effects of the exercise. “When you're pedaling and you're actually moving, when you get off it you feel great. It makes you loose.” Don has had pressure sores recently but he believes that having bigger gluteus muscles will reduce his chances of getting sores in the future. “I have muscles there on my butt too, and that prevents your bones from sitting right against your skin.” Don also notices that the exercise helps reduce fluid buildup (edema) in his lower legs because the pumping of the muscles improves his blood circulation. Besides these immediate benefits, Don is interested in maintaining his body to be ready for a possible treatment for spinal cord injury: “If there's something that comes up in the future, I'll have a better chance of recovering faster because I still have the muscles.” Finally, Don gets a psychological boost from the exercise itself. “It just makes your quality of life a lot better I think … mentally, self-esteem and stuff like that. When you're actually riding a bike and you see your legs moving you know, that's pretty good because you're not used to it. They don't do anything usually.”
Don remembers that when he was getting his first wheelchair back in rehab he didn’t want anything special. “Just a regular wheelchair, just one that I can fold up and throw in the car.” Choosing the tires was a little bit more complicated. Don tried several types before settling on the puncture-proof, air-filled variety. The standard pneumatic tires that he had at first made him nervous. “I was worried about getting a flat tire all the time.” He tried a solid tire next but he found those slowed him down. When he tried the puncture-proof tires, Don knew he had a solution. He doesn’t have to think about flats, “and I don’t have to push as hard either,” he says. Despite his desire to save energy, Don was not willing to use a power chair. “They wanted to give me an electric there but I told them no because it's too lazy…. I don't want to be lazy and pushing around is pretty good exercise.” Don hasn’t had any real problems with the chair so far, except for needing to replace the front casters because they were seizing up. Mostly, Don finds the chair performs the way he needs it to and he is generally satisfied. He expects it to last a long time.
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See Don transfer to and from his shower bench. Choose a format: |
Don recently moved into a house built by Habitat for Humanity. What he likes best about his house is the space. “It just makes my life a lot easier, just moving around, eh? Because in my other places … once I went in I couldn't turn around—I had to back out.” Don found the planners were very interested in what he thought about accessibility. They consulted him at the blueprint stage and made sure his ideas influenced the design. “They've got like three or four guys that are retired … draw up a plan and they call you in and take a look, see if you need anything that they could change around and make it better for you.” They also took some measurements from Don (like his knee height to make sure he could get under the sinks) before they started building. The result is a comfortable home for Don and his boys, and a significant improvement in accessibility. “In my other place I had to squeeze in the doors and I was ripping the paint off the wall and everything. All my doors are nice and wide, and my bathroom's just huge so I don't have any problems there.” Don has a ten-year mortgage, geared to his income. He feels fortunate that he had access to this program. “I try to tell people that are in a wheelchair, ‘You should sign up for that, because it’s just by chance.’”
Don is not a big fan of assistive technology in general. He would rather find ways to do things without relying on devices. “I don't have too much. The less the better, actually, I think…. Because I don't have to carry stuff around…. I'm not depending on so much stuff.” Don finds he can manage very nicely by improvising as he goes. For example, he would much rather knock something off a high shelf with a broom handle than have to keep a reacher close by. “They asked me about [a reacher]. I told them no. I don't want to carry that stick around all the time. It's too much. I'll be losing it. I just try to do everything just like everybody else pretty well.” This includes climbing up the washing machine to get the clothes out and a number of other simple solutions that he has come up with. Don’s definition of independence doesn’t include homemaking services, although he does recognize that homemakers play an essential role for some. “Privacy is mostly what I like—I don't want a stranger coming in every day and cleaning out my stuff … that's how I am anyway. I know people might need the help.” Don’s straightforward approach is the result of three years of learning through trial and error. “I just kind of went into it blindly eh? Whatever came up I just had to figure out at the time…. I just winged it pretty well. There's not too many people that come around and tell you what to do—you've got to figure out stuff on your own.”
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