Howard is a busy individual who balances full-time work as a jeweller with an active leisure lifestyle that revolves around his cottage, camping, fishing and travelling. In the 30 years since his injury, Howard has developed a practical approach to assistive technology. He prefers not to rely on “a lot of gadgets” because he doesn’t want to be dependent on anything that he can’t take with him when he travels. He says, “If I can’t use it out of the house, it’s no good.”
The high cost of assistive technology is also a concern. He does not have a large insurance settlement to work with, he’s reluctant to go through the process of requesting government assistance—“too much paperwork”—and he’s not willing to go into debt to buy equipment. As a result, Howard often takes matters into his own hands and does whatever’s needed himself. He was able to convert both his mobile home and his cottage for accessibility. He repairs his car in a friend’s garage when it needs it, and he installed its hand controls himself. As he puts it, “Got a problem? Fix it. That’s it. It works.”
Go directly to:
Howard has two major requirements for his wheelchairs: they must be durable enough to withstand his off-road treks and they must be easy to stow in his car. Cost is another consideration, which means that Howard often buys second-hand. He says that he is very hard on his chairs and he is more comfortable paying less for them in case they get wrecked at his cottage or some other location off the beaten path. Howard has had his current chair for four or five years, and he is in the process of buying a new one.
In Howard’s experience, the frame is one of the most critical choices because that’s what breaks most often. He is sure to get reinforced, double-bracing in his frames. At the same time, the frame needs to be foldable so he can get the chair into the car easily. Howard believes that he loses some durability with a folding frame, but he needs to be able to pack the chair into the car. “There are a lot of rigid-frame wheelchairs out there. They’re probably stronger but it’s no good for me, especially getting in and out of the car.” For the same reason, Howard is sure to get quick-release wheels. With these wheels and the folding frame, packing his chair into the car is easy for him. After transferring into the driver’s seat, he takes the wheels off and throws them in the back seat. Then he folds the chair up and puts it in the front seat beside him.
To make the chair suitable for his outdoor lifestyle, Howard uses fat tires on his wheels and casters. The caster wheels themselves are bigger as well, “because you try to go through grass and sand and crushed stone with those little bitty wheels—you sink right in.” Even with new tires he says, “They only last a season. Well, with me they do.”
Howard has a couple of other preferences for his chairs. He finds removable footrests are a must so that he can get close enough to toilets and bathtubs, especially in motels. He also prefers removable armrests because he can use them for picking things up. He explains that in his work, “I drop jewellery on the floor all the time, so the arms of his chair are “very handy for picking up stuff off the floor.”
Howard has found an economical approach to seating that works well for him. He buys an inner tube for a trailer tire at his local hardware store for $5.75. “Simple and cheap.” He’s been using an inner tube as a cushion for twenty years, and he has had a pressure sore only once in that time. He explains, “It’s got a nice hole in the middle.” He just fills it up with air if it starts to get too soft. He says, “I’ve got an air pump; I just put some more air in it and that’s it.” He can tinker with the amount of air he puts into until he gets it just right. He says, “It’s got to be soft enough so I can sink in a little bit,” but not so soft that he bottoms out. He knows when he has put too much air in it because he tilts when he sits on it. A friend used an old pair of jeans to sew a cover for it. He says the cover is “sturdy and lasts a long time.” He thinks he’ll probably continue with this kind of seating even after he gets his new chair because it has been so successful for him.
Howard has decided to try something different for his latest wheelchair purchase: a government subsidy toward a brand new chair. Howard normally stays away from government funding because he can’t be bothered going through the bureaucracy. He describes himself as “anti-government” in general, but after all this time, he has decided to approach them for a new chair. He figures, “I work for a living, I pay taxes…. I’ve never had a new wheelchair, so I deserve one.” As he suspected, however, it is taking a long time to get the funding. He says, “It’s been six months, seven months in the works.” He had a trial period of several days with the chair he ultimately chose, but it was too wide for him and as a result, he couldn’t really try it out. Also, Howard finds that he doesn’t have a great deal of spare time to shop around. “Most of these places are open business hours and I’m working,” he says. He is optimistic that his long-time wheelchair vendor has done a good job looking out for his interests, and he expects to take delivery soon.
Video:
See Howard demonstrate how he modified and accesses his bathroom. Choose a format: |
Howard took a straightforward approach to his mobile home’s accessibility modifications. For his bathroom, he just took the door off and put a curtain up. He made his own wheel-in shower after removing the bathtub. He found that he couldn’t build the shower at floor-level because of all the wiring and plumbing directly under the floor, so he put the shower six inches above the floor and built a portable ramp to get over the lip. Howard uses an old wheelchair as a shower chair. He just cut the armrests off and it was ready to go. He is quick to point out that he does not have grab bars or things like that in his bathroom because, “You go to a motel room or a friend’s place, there’s no help there. So you’ve got to be able to do it by yourself.”
His other renovations at home involved widening the doors, taking part of the bottom of a kitchen cupboard out and building a ramp to the front door. Howard values his independence in carrying out these modifications. He explains, “I mostly design it. Sometimes it’s hard for me to do stuff, but I still do it.” He prefers to do as much as possible by himself.
Howard has a second mobile home in the country that he uses as a cottage. He modified this mobile home himself too—as he was buying it! The owner didn’t want to sell it to him because he couldn’t get in, but he persuaded her, saying, “I’ve got my tools.” She went away for a couple of hours and by the time she came back Howard had built a ramp to get into the trailer and had torn out the bathroom wall and shower. She sold it to him, and he’s “had it working for two years now.”
He left the toilet and sink where they were but he tore the bathroom wall out because it was in the way. He also removed the shower to make the bathroom more accessible. It took him a few hours to fix the hole in the floor where the shower was. He admits, “It’s a little rough.” But he reasons that a cottage is supposed to be rough. The important thing is that he can use it. And he has no trouble persuading his friends to come and join him for weekends.
Fishing is one of Howard’s passions. When asked how he fishes from his chair, the answer is simple. “You take your fishing line and throw it in the water.” He does most of his fishing from shore. He explains, “During my holidays usually I select a spot on the map, and I go looking. And I find a spot.” To get to that spot, Howard drives. He says his car is his freedom. “One of the first reasons I got a car is because I want to go fishing when I want, whenever I want.” And he means whenever he wants. He even ice fishes from his chair.
Howard’s current car is an old model, but he really doesn’t mind because it means he can fix it himself. “At least it doesn’t have all this electronic stuff on there. At least I can fix it. I open the hood and I know what’s wrong because I’ve fixed it so many times before.” Howard has a friend who rents his auto garage to him, so Howard can put his car on a hoist and do all the work himself. He also installed the hand controls.
Howard has been a jewellery maker for about 25 years. He finishes and polishes custom-made jewellery for a small manufacturer. He says, “You bring us the design, we’ll make it. You’ve got to pay for it, but you’ll like it.” Howard says they have no lack of customers looking for this kind of work. He works from a desk that he says they just “built around him.” Jewellery finishing involves working with a fast-spinning motor, so they set his workbench at chest height where he needs it and cut a section out underneath for his chair.
To get into the building where he works, his company built a ramp in the back. Unfortunately, “It’s a little steep.” He explains that if they had built the ramp so that it wasn’t so steep, it would have to be about seventy feet long and there would be no room for anything else in the parking lot. Howard is not able to use the ramp by himself, unless he is willing to take a chance. And he says, “I ain’t going to take a chance.” So he has to get some help. Wintertime is especially difficult. But Howard says he can manage.
Not surprisingly, Howard’s advice to others is to learn to do without devices wherever possible. “If people were taught to do things without these things [assistive devices], they’d be better off.” He argues, “You get to depend on them and then when you leave the house or hospital you can’t do anything on your own.” He admits that he is probably an “exception” with his minimalist approach and “there are a lot of people that need these things.” But he has found that his approach has allowed him to maintain an active lifestyle for a long time. He says, “I work all day. And every two weekends, I’m gone to the cottage. And when I’m not going to the cottage, I’m going fishing.”
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
Home © 1999 - 2012 All Rights Reserved |
