Adventures in an Electric Wheelchair - Part 6

My first ablist comment whilst in the chair.

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Hello Red Cabbage Heads

How is the world with my fellow chronics? For the new people I have ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis) often know as CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) a name I disagree with and dislike greatly as it doesn’t encompass in any way all that ME is. I include it purely as that’s what a lot of people know. I’ve been living with this disease for 15+ years and I’ve tried an awful lot of things, to help, 99% of which haven’t.

If you have not been following my journey this is the story of my persuading myself that I deserve to spend an extortionate amount of money on an electric wheelchair so that I can experience the wide world again having been sat on the sofa wishing I could go outside and experience all I could rather than live through Rs stories.

I tested a couple of chairs and chose the Mountain Trike, an off-road chair, as I wanted to go on decent dog walks. We found a second hand one up near Durham and after going to see it, bought it. We needed to get the electric kit added, so ordered it and waited. It was ready just before Xmas and we picked it up just after New Year.

Yesterday we set out again to find a flatter non deep water near place for me to practise. And R chose Cliffs Castle in Keighley.

It was a fabulous idea and the sun was shining and I was looking forward to it. However, the trike had other ideas and on the way from the car park it became almost impossible to steer. I was having to put all my considerable weight behind the steering to even begin to get it to turn. It took enormous effort. Now due to my ME/CFS I can’t use that amount of energy, even just in my wrists, and not get worse. We stopped and R started to diagnose the problem.

A young lady stopped and asked if we were okay etc. and then her dad came up and started helping, as men are wont to do. The lady was nice in her own way but slightly ableist, she had already made comments about being lucky my arms worked unlike some old people, and that my wrists would become really strong using the broken steering (she didn’t know my condition so I didn’t say anything.) Then R asked me to stand up. And I did … carefully.

And the next word out of her mouth was ‘Fraud’. I think she was joking.

I smiled and said. ‘I am an ambulatory wheelchair user who can walk small distances but not long ones so I use a wheelchair.’ I smiled again.

But it stung. People aren’t called frauds for using a car instead of legs to go places. For talking a boat instead of swimming. For cooking their food instead of eating it raw. If I’d been on a bike instead of in a wheelchair nothing would have been said. It’s an aid to travel just as much as a wheelchair is.

Anyhow, we had to abandon the walk in order to fix the problem with the steering at home. I think we’ve done it and it was quick and simple. But I burned through my pace points in that time we were out so we will have to go another day now.

Anyways, till next time. Tx

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