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STILETTO – a high pointed HEEL on a woman’s shoe or a small dagger. WHEELS – a medieval instrument of torture or a vehicle for personal mobility. |
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I found all this pretty shocking. I was expecting advice, options. The best these ‘experts’ could do was to give me a £2000 voucher for a completely unsuitable wheelchair – a voucher that I was not allowed to apply to a, more appropriate, electric wheelchair which, from my own research I knew, would cost somewhere between £5,000 - £15,000. Assessment over, I was left to source my own wheelchair. What a waste of time and resource. Maybe I was unlucky, maybe others have dealt with some brilliant therapists who have given invaluable advice and help. Not me…so, I hit the ultimate rule of disability – sadly not available to everyone: do your own research; use your own money. What’s not to love about the internet? I used the voucher I had been given on a self-propelling manual wheelchair that was of very limited use to me. With EaZyD pushing me, I fell out of it after two weeks and broke my leg, fantastic! I spent just enough time in it to discover that I hate those big wheels – they get so dirty and are just not friendly! EaZyD found it a real pain popping them on and off to travel with. My fingers got painfully entangled with the spokes and my clothes kept brushing and catching on them. ‘You’ll need to change the way you dress,’ said one therapist. Funny therapist! Would anyone let a wheelchair dictate style? Obviously, it’s the wheelchair that needs to change! Duh! I got a Sunrise Medical fold-up for travelling (sold on zillions of websites). Cheap and easy, just like my old chair that had served me so well. For daily use, I got a Balder electric wheelchair. It’s huge, comfortable, quite sleek in a shiny kind of way and, as much as I can, I love it. All its’ parts move – up, down, back, forward and round and round. I am as comfortable in it as I ever can be. It is at the upper end of the price bracket and worth every pound to me. Try it yourself. |
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