pro's & cons of the wheelchair!

[anonandlikeit]

ds2 has recently swapped from a major buggy to a wheelchair.

So the pro's!
He loves it! It is so much higher up, (so he can grab more off of the shelves in the shop) more comfortable for him & a better fit.
Its easier to manouvere (sp), to fold & unfold etc.
People are more helpful, hold doors open & smile at ds2.
I don't get so many tuts when using disabled bays.

The con's!
EVERYBODY STARES!!! OH & my back aches as the handles are a little lower..

But hoestly people really doi STARE!!

I found the stares were more understanding iynwim

Yeh people on the whole are more helpful & understanding, I suppose before he just looked like a very big kid in a pushchair.. But i'm sure someone is going to walk in to a lamp post staring

email me on mshadowsisfab@yahoo aND can re invite you to TTR(tommow when sober)

Will do, off to bed now!

i often feel like i'm ringing a bell and warning people of infection - it's like the parting of the sea round here - handy for getting about when you're in a hurry, none of that invisibility of the pushchair stuff lol.

mind you - i concur with the backache sage - it doesn't help that you have to walk two feet behing the wc or you kick the anti tips (and yes, i've tried switching them up lol...) i'm only 5'2", it must be a nightmare for anyone taller. ours was supposed to come with handles the same height as the major, as dh is 6'2" and anything lower renders him unable to push. hey ho. standard issue blade so i get to do the pushing...

I let ds1 do some of the pushing just to give my back a rest.. he's 9 so lots of bruised ankles I'm afraid..
They both thought it was great fun.

madwomanintheattic... we say it is the moses affect
doesn't work with the stupid foreign studets though, I just plough through them

BIG CON:
My uncle uses an electric wheelchair because he can't propel a manual one. They cost the same as a small car and depreciate like the clappers! Makes my blood boil because the people who make them have you over a barrel really.

Sorry for mini rant.

We've resorted to buying the same model really cheap when we see one, and my granddad can basically strip them for parts now

I would worry about getting a second hand wheelchair for a child, dd's chair has a lot of safety tests done on it.

Dd's chairs are crash-tested for the car, its like getting a second-hand car seat, how well has it been looked after?

everyone stares at ds2 in his chair but i dont see it as malicious , it doesnt bother either of us anymore

when we got his new chair almost a year ago, they were able to offer higher handles, which wasnt an option before, it is worth asking if they have the ability to give you a raised handle chair

i found life easier when he swapped from a major to a chair, in terms of people being able to tell he wasnt walking for a reason, and not just overindulged or lazy iyswim

lots of people are unaware that the major is a sn buggy, but everyone knows what a wheelchair is used for

still rofl ing about the 'moses effect'

yep i second that lot see majour as a pushchair we even been told to fold up on a bus so that another buggy user with younger baby can have wheelchair space, i refused was having a stubborn day but do admit if a adult wheelchair user needed t i would try and oblige folding up ,.
Ds is nearly 4 and would love it if we did not
need the buggy people must think im lazy mum.

I totally agree with you there phoenix. I had loads of problems with my local bus service and using the major. Put loads of complaints in and gotten nowhere. They are useless. There should be a ruling that says they are the same as wheelchairs, they are used for disibled children after all!

lol @ moses effect

i think a lot of people stare without meaning anything, as in when you hear a sudden noise in the vicinity and you automatically look, but once you have clocked what made you look, you think no more of it

of course there are always the few who stare for other reasons, but i think (or i like to think) that most people dont mean anything by it

TBH i didn't really think of the stares as mailcious but just stares, peoples curiousity I suppose. It just struck me that people never stared at the major (although i'm maybe guilty of it sometimes)

Perhaps they were just staring at ds2's stunning good looks

clearly we all have beautiful children, that goes without saying

Sorry have to disagree about the staring getting better, if I take dd to the supermaket kids just stand and gawp, and so do some grown ups(ds then has fun)