r/wheelchairs

My forever fiance (if we officiate our marriage she will lose Medicaid) is going to get air tires put on her chair to help with the sidewalk bumps. She does a LOT of outside stuff, she is incredibly independent.

Only thing is I need a jack to change the tire. I'm buying spare tires and tubes and I'm getting trained in how to change it (I've changed car tires before, and I'm confident I can learn this).

I don't need a fancy jack. I heard Permobil sells their own custom one for 400 or so. I need one I can take in a car to wherever she is at and change the tire there.

I know about air tires and how its way more maintenance (weekly air refills) and you need to be immediately ready to go wherever said tire is and fix it. I can do that. I've even plugged tires myself when I worked at a tire shop (it's stupid easy, probably why they had a teenager doing it).

I think I can do it guys, just want to jump the gun on the "don't do it" comments I'm expecting.

My appointment is next week! Based on my previous consult it will probably be a tilite z.

I have spinergy lx wheels with white spokes already that I plan on moving to my new chair once it arrives.

I’m looking for something to go for that polished and professional look because I have an office job where the dress code is business professional. I also want something that will hide scratches over time, but I’m not particularly rough on my chair since I mostly take public transportation instead of driving and therefore do not put the frame on the ground to take it apart.

The colors I am trying to decide between are white, matte black, gloss black, or silver streak.

If you have a photo of the silver streak color on your chair please post because I haven’t seen that one actually on a chair yet!

I've never flown with my wheelchair but I know you can check a medical bag for free when traveling. If I want to check my front mount and tiller for my Klaxon Twist, a clasped stool for the shower, a package of briefs, meds, and a forearm crutch, can I put clothes around things to pad them or can it only be medical items?

However I will also have thing I want to take off my wheelchair before I gate check it like my pouches, Klaxon Twist, cushion, armrests, and backrest. The twist has its own bag, but do I need to have a separate bag for the other items and would that count against me if I already checked a medical bag?

Do you get special tags for medical bags and will I need to be ready to prove why something is medically relevant to my diagnoses?

Sorry for all the questions. It's been 15 years since I have flown and never with my own personal items. My CP is worse and I want to be independent and enjoy the trip.

My wife just got a Jazzy Carbon Ultra Light (32 lbs) and our first use was in a vacation in Vienna. She has some mobility, but can't walk more than a few feet without support, or more than 300 m with a walker, so using an electric wheelchair has been a game changer for our vacations.

Some notes about the particulars of using this wheelchair in this part of the world:

• There is no way she could use this chair solo without my attendance. The curb-cuts always have a slight bump, ranging from 5 mm to 40 mm. The Jazzy can take the small ones with no problem, but with the larger ones it ranges from bucking (both front wheels going high in the air) to just stopping. Reversing to go over the curb-cut backwards doesn't help—the drive wheels don't have enough grip, and there are small wheels in the back (to keep the chair from flipping!) which bump into the curb. So one needs to manually lift the chair over the curb.
• While public transport is supposedly barrier-free, in practice it is not. In the downtown trolley stations sometimes a platform extends from the train to allow direct transfer to the platform, but sometimes it doesn't (at the same station!) At suburban stations we were told that someone would come to help us with a ramp, but we never saw that person. Luckily, the chair is light enough to carry and easily folds up, so we (usually a fellow passenger would help) would help my wife walk off the train, and then I would carry the chair (folded if for more than a few meters of distance).
• Busses also have a wheelchair ramp, but the two times we used that, the driver put the ramp right up against a 100 mm curb, so we couldn't roll off. The driver couldn't give a *$*@ about this problem.
• The chair tends to become uncontrollable on uneven surfaces and jumps and bucks. This is mostly just uncomfortable, but once my wife ran completely off the sidewalk without intending to do so. For this reason she was very wary of driving on narrow paths with a drop-off on one side (like narrow passages near train tracks in the station), so I would disconnect the drive and just push.
• Lots of sites have gravel paths. The chair works about 50% of the time in gravel—when it is well-compressed or not too deep. Otherwise it bogs down and stops.
• Pushing the chair for long distances is uncomfortable. The back is too low and too narrow compared to non-electric models.
• It is really easy to turn the electric drive on and off, so I would push when we entered narrow elevators, and then turn it back on once we had backed out.
• Folding the chair is really easy, once you have figured it out. But you need to push here, and press there, and lift in a particular way. It takes about 5 minutes of learning before you can fold and unfold it quickly.
• Getting in and out of Ubers and taxis is a breeze. Again, my wife can walk enough to get into the car. Then I fold up the chair and it fits in the trunk (even a small trunk). And, again, there is no way she could do this solo, as it would be very tedious trying to instruct the driver how to fold and unfold the chair, especially because neither of us speaks German.
• The battery is adequate for long days. One day we toured the town and I walked 14,000 steps, or about 6 miles/10 km. The battery was near empty at the end of the day (20%?), but recharged quickly once plugged in.
• The knurled screws that hold in the controller and the cup holder loosen spontaneously, and we left one in the trunk of a taxi the first day in town. Hopefully it will be easy to replace when we get home.
• The chair is really robust, and shows no signs of wear after a week of heavy use. Top speed is slightly above my comfortable walking speed, and she could probably keep up with even a young, fit person.
• We had amazingly incompetent service at Air France trying to check the wheelchair and bring the removable battery in our carry-on luggage. We needed 4 hours to check into the flight: we got there 3 hours before the flight, and AF delayed the flight one hour while they did completely pointless checks. So give yourself lots of time at the airport; the lithium battery freaks out the staff (and the pilot!)
• Finally, when we bought this chair we also had a chance to try out a Jazzy X 27, which is slightly lighter than the Carbon Ultra Light. The X 27 has a less robust wheel arrangement, and is nearly impossible to use unless the ground is completely flat. The 5 pound difference in weight (larger wheels and springs in the front wheels) are worth it unless you can't lift 37 lbs (32 lbs + battery).

So, in all, a complete game changer for our travels. Next we will try it out in smaller cities in Mexico, where the idea of a sidewalk is only that — an idea.

I am an ambulatory wheelchair user who was kept away from certain mobility aids as a kid because my mom wanted me to look injured rather than dissabled. She tried to hide my disabilities and was really ashamed of them and i have a lot of trauma from that.

One of the things i was not allowed to use was the motorized grocery carts at stores. I was allowed to use one once as a kid and people gave us a lot of looks and were less than kind because i was young, happy, and "don't look dissabled" so they thought i was messing around on it. People were not very kjnd and my mom never let me use one again.

I have moved out now and i use whatever aids i need and try to respect what my body needs, but I have still never used a motorized shoping cart until last night. I had to get groceries and had no one able to help me load and unload my chair, so I used one in the store for the first time. I was nervous about it but I knew i needed it, so I took it. All of the employees were so kind. They helped me when i needed it and told me to take the cart all the way out to my car and not worry about putting it away. I was so touched and grateful that i cried. I filmed a little video of me in the parking lot and posted it online talking about how happy it made me. It was all really sweet.

But today i woke up to an able bodied person commenting "when i was on crutches i felt the same way 🥹"

I probably shouldnt be as frustrated as i am but it really rubs me the wrong way when people talk about my disabilities like they understand it completely when they can walk without any pain or struggle every day. You having foot surgery or a sprained ankle is not the same as my permanent disability.

How do other people handle these types of comments? Am i being to harsh or too sensitive? Why am i so upset? I know they mean well.

Hi! I'm Emi, I'm 18 and I have moderate/severe ME/CFS that means that I am currently mostly housebound. My only chance of leaving my house currently is in a wheelchair- and my mum managed to borrow one off a friend. She is hesitant to buy one because she thinks that my current health setback will be really temporary, but it is likely I will require a wheelchair for any outing for the next few months to a year- and I will likely need it for longer outings for the foreseeable future.

It is not a self propelled- its a cheap little one that doesnt do curbs very well, but its something. I was taken to the beach in it, though that was a bad idea as it was far too big an outing and I was incredibly unwell. I am being taken to the dentists on Tuesday, a festival for maybe an hour to do face painting on Sunday, and I am going to my girlfriends house monday-friday.

I hate relying on someone to push me, but I know that even if I had a self propelled one, I would be too weak to push it. I am terrified whenever it has to be tipped to go up a curb, and I'm trying to get used to relying on people like my mum and my girlfriend to get around.

Are there any tips for me to get used to that feeling of being tipped to go up a curb? And for the people pushing me to help give me a good experience? I also found that even with a cushion I had that was my nans, my tailbone and bum in general hurt a lot after a while- any way to minimise that? General advice is also welcome- I have no idea what I am doing

i’ve had the folding quickie 2 for about a year and a half and i absolutely hate it. i can’t go anywhere by myself bc i can’t lift it and it’s causing me immense back pain. i cant use the foot rests in my house bc they stick out so far j can’t turn around. when they guy came for measurements i thought maybe he would give me options to look at bc this was my first ever chair ( progress disease that causes muscle loss and bad balance). that did not happen and he basically told me i get what i get and i don’t get upset. with that being said i went to an abilities expo and tried out some chairs! my moms job is going to help push insurance to cover a new chair, and ive chosen the rgk octane fx! i travel by plane quite often so the fact that it fit in the overhead really sold me lol. if anyone knows about this chair or uses one personally please let me know hoe you feel about it!! thanks !

hi!
i am a partially ambulatory powerchair user. i just moved to a new house where i can use my chair inside almost everywhere (except for a couple rooms and bathrooms) but im really struggling with opening doors and closing doors behind me.

the doors have round knobs if that matters for any hacks.

any ideas? being in my chair almost all the time has helped my energy and symptoms so much since i moved here and i’d love to solve this issue.

Hello all,

My mother is getting to the point where she needs a wheelchair for travelling. she's five feet and just over 100 lbs, so I'm pretty sure any decent-quality folding/travel wheelchair will suit her. The problem is I'll be pushing her most of the time and I'm 6'2. When I push her in courtesy wheelchairs, the handles are always too short and I end up straining my back. I've tried searching for wheelchairs with adjustable handles but all that comes up are wheelchairs with adjustable height seats. Same problem when I search for tall wheelchairs. Any and all search term tips or model recommendations would be much appreciated. Many thanks!

Thoughts on these brands?

Comparing their foldable chairs. The OAS Air Pro vs the Paiseec Q3.

Both about the same price. One goes a little further on a charge, different turning radiuses. Seem to fold the same way.

hii!! so, I'm a full-time wheelchair user, and I cannot stand or walk. I've previously had very negative experiences with medical professionals around my inability to stand, ranging from forcing me to stand assisted even though it causes extreme pain, to fake-claiming me and accusing me of factitcous disorder (munchausens). I have diagnosed Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Functional Neurological Disorder. I have gait issues, severe pain, and numbness, and functional paralysis from my FND, as well as POTS and severe pain and instability from my EDS. because of this, I've used a wheelchair for around a year now, and using mobility aids for almost 4. currently, I use a second-hand chair (ki mobility little wave clik), and it does suit my needs well enough for me to live a full life. the problem is, since it's second-hand it's very worn, and it doesn't fit me very well anymore (I'm too tall, which causes my legs to be at a bit of a weird angle). the backrest is also too high for my level of activity, the cushions too thin, and the center of balance too far forward. my physical therapist has been trying to get my insurance to approve a fitting for almost a year now, and she finally has! I know I probably want the same brand and model, just actually made for me. sorry for the rambling 😭. anyways, I have a fitting next month, and I'm really nervous about what will happen. I don't have a spinal cord injury, so a lot of medical professionals have tried to put me back in a hospital chair. I'm also scared that they'll make me try walk to, yk, prove I can't. It's so so painful and uncomfortable for me to stand, let alone try to take a step, so there's no way I will agree to that, but when I've refused before I've had doctors get mad at me and think I'm faking and stuff. people who've been to fittings, what should I expect? do they make you like prove you can't walk? also, how do I advocate for myself to get the chair I want and the upgrades I need?

Is there a reason why it's so difficult for the disabled to acquire a custom manual wheelchair?

I got Medicare approval, all the paperwork required, measured twice, but every DME place I tried was a failure. They're all incredibly slow, unprofessional, disorganized, & can't get their stories straight. WTF?!??