After years of knowing that a wheelchair would be helpful but being too scared to use one, exactly one year ago I bought my first manual wheelchair. So, on my wheelchair anniversary this year, I want to challenge one of the most common things that people are told when they start thinking about mobility aids, and that is that using a mobility aid is giving up.
Somehow, the idea that using a wheelchair (or other mobility aids) is giving up plays a huge role in the way that many people think about wheelchairs and mobility aids. I see it time and time again across the different support groups I am in, for people with chronic illnesses. They have been told by family, friends, doctors, you name it, that they shouldn’t use a mobility aid because it means they are giving up. And, as someone who felt the same way for years, but then did start using a wheelchair, I feel like we’ve got it the wrong way round.
Without a wheelchair I gave up lots
Before I had my wheelchair, I basically stopped doing all sorts of things that I love: long walks, going to museums, walking around the city for the day, going to big shops, even doing groceries. I stopped doing these things because, although occasionally I could manage them, I would end up getting so sick afterwards, that it stopped being worth it. I gave up on them and only did things that fitted within my very small energy packet.
Now that I have a wheelchair, contrary to giving up, I am suddenly able to do a lot of these things again – and what’s better, with far less pay back for overdoing doing it. I still often end up using all the energy within my energy packet, but I do so achieving a lot more than before, because doing things takes less energy. I really can’t see this as giving up.
An illustration for non-disabled lives
There are so many situations in non-disabled lives where we choose energy conserving options, or options for convenience. In fact, a lot of the times we do things that are easier even though we could technically do the harder thing because it just makes more sense that way.
For example, when I was younger, all the children in my village would take a bus to the next village to go to secondary school. It was about a ten-minute bus journey. I have also walked to that village: it is about five miles away and takes about an hour and a half – which, for a healthy child, is very doable. However, I think most people agreed that using the bus was a much better option so that the school children had energy left over to focus, in school, so they don’t waste three hours a day walking to and from school when they don’t need to, and so that, in short, they can use their energy and time on something more useful, more interesting and better for them.
This works much the same for some disabled people when choosing to use a mobility aid. Sure, some of us can walk around the supermarket, but for me, that was all I could do in a day, and then I would need two days rest. Why on earth would I use that much energy, and go through that much pain, when I could use a wheelchair?
No-one frowns or tuts when you use a washing machine, hoover, food processor, dishwasher, lawn mower … the list goes on. If there is a quicker, easier way to do things, it makes no sense not to take advantage of those things, thereby giving yourself more time and freedom to do the things you would rather spend your time and energy doing.
Mobility aids are not bad
The idea that using a mobility aid is giving up suggests that using a mobility aid is a negative thing. And whilst I don’t love being sick, my mobility aid is not the cause of that, in fact it is one of the few things that helps me be less sick – alongside the many other mobility aids I use or aspire to own, including an electric pepper mill, a kitchen stool etc. Using mobility and assistive aids has dramatically increased the quality of my life.
There are so many mobility aids, and things that can be used as mobility aids for when disabled people need a little extra support. If this helps them to live, move around more independently, be more pain free, and waste less energy, then I really cannot see how using mobility aids would be a bad thing, or why we have this idea in society that it is shameful to use one. I actually think it’s wonderful that we live in a time where assistive devices are increasingly being developed, and I just wish they were more widely available and a good deal cheaper. We all deserve to have the things that will make our lives easier, and for many disabled people that is mobility aids.
If you are thinking of using a mobility aid
I wrote about this in my last wheelchair-related blog post, but it’s worth repeating here. If you keep thinking about using a wheelchair or another mobility aid, it probably means that you would benefit from using one, whatever other people might think or say about it – otherwise you probably wouldn’t be thinking about it. Often it can be a little scary starting to use one, and if other people are anything like me, I could think of a thousand excuses not to use one, so I put it off for years, because I was scared of the stigma and judgments of all kinds that come with using a wheelchair.
But, whilst it has been the beginning of a huge learning curve, and not always emotionally or physically easy, using a wheelchair has been the very opposite of giving up for me. It has been the chance to access a lot more freedom than I could have had without one.
So if anyone takes anything from this blog post, I really want it to be that people are not ‘wheelchair bound’; wheelchairs are not confining. In fact, using a wheelchair or other mobility aid often ends up giving disabled people much more freedom than they would have without it. I, for one, am very grateful that, one year ago, I took the big step of buying my first wheelchair. The next step is saving for an automatic wheelchair, so I can go out by myself …. but that’s a far-off goal for now!!!
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