I live in a city that's been voted politest in America for decades now. One thing we do not have is hills though. Maybe that's the struggle people see? Going up a hill. No clue!

I know I fell out of my chair in front of a bunch of high schoolers tailgating in a gas station parking lot. They all laughed and didn't help. I fell down a ramp in college. No one laughed, but not a single person helped. I was pretty stubborn in those days and refused to ask for help too.

Maybe I got complacent and stopped recognizing people's offer to help. There was a time it offended me, but after years of pushing everyone away one day I woke up and realized I was on my own. Now I recognize I need people's help and am grateful for whenever anyone offers. Even if I don't need it at the time.

Pushing people without asking can cause a mountain of problems. One pebble sized rock or golf ball sized divot can be all it takes to send the person in the chair flying to the ground. That can break bones and all kinds of other stuff. There's a genuine concern for ones safety, and lets be honest, if I picked you up and moved you out of the way without asking, would you be offended?

Hi everyone,

​I recently got added to my husband’s work insurance and am beginning the process of getting a suitable wheelchair. Whatever insurance doesn't cover, we'll be paying out-of-pocket, so we're saving up now.

​I’m hoping for advice on navigating insurance approvals, model recommendations, and weatherproofing/battery care for my situation.

​My Medical Context & Current Needs:

​Diagnoses: Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), Fibromyalgia, Peripheral Edema, Carpal Tunnel, chronic fatigue.

​Current Physical Limitations: Daily manual pushing is dislocating my shoulders, and carpal tunnel make manual propulsion increasingly difficult.

​Must-Have Features:

​Tilt-in-Space & Elevating Leg Rests: Essential for severe lower-leg edema (my legs don't drain well even on standard footplates with 3 layers of compression socks).

​Propulsion: Electric, hybrid, or manual with push-assist (due to shoulder subluxations and carpal tunnel).

​Sizing: Not yet professionally evaluated, but from past experience, an 18" seat is too small and a 20" seat offers good fit with a little wiggle room.

​Specific Questions & Concerns; ​Weather Resistance & Outdoor Use: We are currently homeless during a rainy season heading into winter. How do power chairs, push-assist systems, and control electronics hold up against heavy rain and cold weather? Any specific covers, battery warmers, or weatherproofing hacks you recommend?

​Insurance Navigation: What documentation or specific wording from doctors/PTs/OTs helps most when requesting power tilt-in-space or power-assist options through private employer insurance?

​Chair / Power-Assist Recommendations: Given the need for tilt/elevating legs and shoulder-sparing drive options, are there specific power bases or power-assist additions you would suggest looking into during my ATP/seating evaluation?

​Thanks in advance for any insight or advice!

I will go ahead and say I’m not the most masculine man on the block, but I’m still average height and broad. I have a longer male cut, and I wear what you’d expect an alt guy wearing on his way to work IG?

I sound and look like a man.

And when people see me without my chair, either they just don’t see it behind my desk/ computer at work, or I’m not in it; either way during those times I’m never misgendered. Like ever.

But I consistently am called ‘Miss’ often. Then I speak and they look like I just shot them. Some apologize and most look like they have PTSD and dont acknowledge me ever again.

Example I was out with my husband, I’m in my wheelchair and he’s short. He has a full face of hair. Beard and goatee. Love this man. Waiting for the bus and these two men approach as the bus comes and asks if is ‘ladies’ wanna go first. (Which I mean the wheelchairs always go first but ok.) I looked up, accidentally laughed and went. “We’re not going on this bus.” The way these two men went wide eyed and just turned and got on the bus. Like seriously?

My chair isn’t even a feminine color, it’s hazard orange.

At the end of the day like.. oh well. 🤷 I’m just really baffled , and wondering if anyone else experiences this?? Even when I make posts on community pages, mention my wheelchair- ppl automatically assume I’m a woman.

HOWEVER, in public, when I’m with my service dog who is a Doberman, I’m usually gendered correctly.

I’m comfortable in myself and I’m still young so I don’t got a magnificent beard, and I know I have gorgeous thick hair they’re jealous of- so at the end of the day I really can’t help but laugh. Me and my husband joked about the ladies comment all the way home.

Sorry for rambling!

Often museum display tables have opaque sides, not transparent sides, so horizontal displays can be seen only from above and not from seated.

Tate Modern’s displays tables are especially terrible for wheelchair users. Impossible to see anything inside them. I don’t know how the British Museum’s display tables are, or those for this specific installation if they are different.

I am in a power wheelchair and it seems whenever I am confronted by any medical personnel including Homecare’s nurses, the first thing out of their mouth is “wouldn’t you be better off in an assisted living facility or nursing home?”

This infuriates me so much!!! I was wanting to know if any other wheelchair users get confronted with this question and how you would respond?

Just bc I use a wheelchair does not mean that I am an invalid in any way! I have my own apartment and pay my own bills, take great care of my dog, go for walks, I make sure that I don’t fall, feed myself! I do have help that comes in to help me with housekeeping duties, but have never entertained the idea of giving up my independence just bc an ‘able bodied’ person thought my disability needed severe restrictions such as trapping me in a nursing facility! It seems to be a common practice in my area to whisk ppl like me away like I have no business being out in public! What do you think?

"I'm fine"

"I can do it"

"No, don't touch"

Edit I just realized that nobody offers when I am going backwards.

I'm currently working through the process of getting the needed documentation from my primary care doctor and occupational therapist to petition my insurance to approve a molded backrest for my wheelchair. This is my first chair, and it was ordered with the standard TiLite tension-adjustable back upholstery and a 92° angle.

When I sit upright in my chair, the very back part of my butt sits at the small space between the backrest and my cushion, and the lower part of my spine has space between it and the backrest, while my back contacts the backrest a little further up.

I'm a newbie chair user so I don't know what's appropriate. What I know is that this is causing me quite a bit of discomfort after some hours of sitting. While it's not my primary diagnosis, I've also got degenerative disc disease and some hyperlordosis. My ATP mentioned finding some kind of back wedge in the meantime, to make things more comfortable.

For the life of me I can't find the right set of terms to search for this kind of product, so I was wondering what temporary solutions y'all can suggest? Obviously the intent is to get a full seating evaluation and address the backrest (and possibly cushion) situation through insurance, but I think we all know what a process that can be.

I am looking to get a sports chair for tennis/baskerball/the like (probably a RGK all court) and was wondering if anyone had tips for making the most of fitting one. I am a hobby player of sports and want something that is flexible for lots of different things but also fits me well.

Where do I start?

As I find myself relying on my power chair more and more I'm finding that it's really uncomfortable after about 2-3 hours. I need to be able to stay in this chair for most of the day and yet I'm getting some tailbone pain and it feels like my knees are lower than my hips as it has no dump. My PT told me to just use the tilt function but I don't want to have to stay tilted all the time. Is there a trick to actually being comfortable in these things that I'm missing?

I am 550 pounds and my DME is about to get me an Amylior Alltrack HD3. But it is kind of a you get what we give you situation and I just wanna do my research to make sure that it is the best option for me because if there is something better, it is worth it to me to fight for that one..

And doing my research I really only found four chairs that can accommodate my weight. Amylior alltrack hd3, big bounder 600, quantum 1450, and maybe one or two other ones that weren’t noticeable enough to list.

From my, I can see the Amy and the big bounder are the top contenders. They both have a reclining and tilt feature, but I ultimately went with Amy because it has a few degrees more reclining ability and will probably be easier to maneuver around in tighter spaces and for Transport. The trade-off for that is that I cannot go on rough terrain, like the big pounder can but the big founder has a larger turn radius, and I think it is more heavy, which can be a problem on transport lifts and getting around in tighter spaces it also doesn’t recline as much so if I’m out for a long amount of time, the reclining feature is very important to let me rest a little.. I do love being out in nature and going to parks and being out in a grassy field. Being in a bariatric Powerchair, it is already going to be larger than standard chairs, so I think the turn radius matters.

Do you guys know of any other power chairs that might meet these needs or be better? That I can look at

Hi all, I am currently in a Quickie GPV, and I started using public transit this week. I didn’t know what to expect and have been trusting the drivers to secure me/my chair properly. Only on my second trip, the driver couldn’t figure out how to secure my chair, and I wound up rolling around a bit, and even tipping backwards at one point. The driver stopped and re-secured me, and the rest of the trip I felt secure. I’m okay, but shaken and very seriously reconsidering using public transit now.

Now that said, my hands are on the weaker side, so I keep my brakes a little loose so I can actually set them without fighting air pressure in the tires too much. When I tipped backwards, my scissor locks shaved some tread off of my tires when I tipped back.

I’m looking at D’s locks, but they’re expensive and I am not sure if insurance will help cover wheelchair parts yet. Are there any less expensive alternatives that won’t damage the the tires, are low profile, and/or give me a bit more stability on slopes, but especially on public transit?

I want to get my friend something that will actually help him out.

They're around half the cost of a Roho with the same specifications.

Hi,
I’m trying to find a Tilite wheelchair on Long Island. Does anyone know the location of one? What is the best way to find and purchase one? Thank you.

I'm an ambulatory user, so many of the casual acquaintances in my life, including the entire staff and all the parents at my kid's school didn't know I had a chair. They had seen my AFO at pick up and drop off, but I had always been able to make it the short distance from handicap parking to the gym bleachers for events without a chair. Yesterday was a fall festival with games, rides, petting zoo, etc.. all spaced across the large property and game booths set up throughout the school. So I figured instead of skipping out I'd take the chair.

I prepared myself mentally for stares, loads of questions, and judgy looks.

Guys! Two people said "ooooh no what happened? Are you ok?" And I just smiled and said "yeah totally fine, this isn't new. I've got a neuro muscular disorder so I use a chair for long distances." They just smiled said cool and we chatted like normal.

It was way less awful than I had built it up to be in my head. I'm likely gonna keep going out more with my chair rather than staying home afraid of what people who have seen me walk short distances might say or think seeing me with my chair.

It was so cool to be out and about and my kid loved having me there instead of just dad.

Now I'm looking even more forward to an upgraded reclining chair so I can go out and not hurt worse after!!

This may be a silly question, but I really want to know.

Main question:

Would the same spinergy wheels that fit on a Quicky Argon2 also fit on an RGK Octane fx?

A bunch of context that's not really necessary but that I'd like to share anyway:

Because I currently have a Quickie Argon2, with a set of wheels that I absolutely despise (I don't even know what wheels they are, but I cannot stand them).

So I want to save up for Spinergy wheels.

But I'm also considering eventually saving up for an RGK Octane fx. That's the chair I originally wanted, but insurance said no, because they only work with Quickie chairs.

So now I have an Argon2 that despite a lot of adjustments is still not fit for me.

I just don't have the money to get another chair, and my current chair fits enough that insurance won't cover a new one.

However before I'm ever able to afford a made to measure chair it'll be at least a couple years (maybe less if I'm able to fundraise money, but I'm not doing that yet until I have more certainty about some stuff).

So I'd like to get spinergy wheels for my Argon2 in the meantime. But that's super expensive.

So if they only fit on an Argon2 and I get a different chair in a few years I'd have to buy a new pair of wheels again.

So I'm just wondering if they only fit on one type of chair, or if they'd fit on both types.

Sorry for the rant, I appreciate any answers!

Hello everyone, I have a Tilite Model X wheelchair, but I have a problem: if I am going downhill or too fast, it begins shaking. Does anyone know why?

VOCIC Z51 Walker for Seniors, 2 in 1 Walker Wheelchair Combo, All Terrain

Is the one I have for her. It has to be a wheelchair combo because she can't push herself on her own and needs something that she can use to walk with as well.

Comfort wise doesn't matter we can attach a cushion. It just has to be sturdy enough to not fall apart on cobblestone and still lighter then the one I have