Eric grew up around bikes. He was a bike mechanic and a bike racer. He was really into bikes in the past, and still likes to ride them and read about them. When he came across an assisted-motor tricycle built for people with disabilities, he immediately thought of me. The company, Utah Trikes, is small. They import parts from Germany and build them according to customers’ needs. He contacted the owners, and bought it thanks to the aid of generous friends. After the brain was no longer exposed, I started trying it. Eric thinks that once I get the hang of it, I’ll be able to visit friends in the neighborhood and go for rides on Madam Brett and Beacon’s rail trails with him and Nathan. Still, the trike is too wide to cross doors, and if I got in I’d have to transfer to a chair, which isn’t that safe. This means that I’d feel uncomfortable going to stores or coffee shops. So, I couldn’t go anywhere by myself – I still need help to move around.
But when Kelly came, she said something that totally surprised me: wheelchairs could be changed every five years, and my wheelchair (manual, and therefore hard to maneuver with just one good arm and hand) was getting close to five years of use. So, it could be changed to an electric wheelchair, and the health insurance company would take charge of the cost. I envisioned all the things I could do with an electric wheelchair and was overjoyed. Imagine that! It was small enough to cross the threshold of coffee shops and friends’ houses; small enough to let me move around the aisles of stores; and I wouldn’t need to transfer to a chair: it was a chair itself!
When I eventually have the two vehicles, I’ll be able to do lots of things. Not only will I go visit friends in their backyards and bike trails with Eric and Nathan; I will also meet with friends at coffee shops and go to stores to buy medicines or other things I may need. By myself!
The two vehicles will give me a sense of independence. They will make me feel free. But I will need to overcome the fear that independence will cause: the protection that dependence offers (the boundaries it draws that I’m unable to cross) will be gone. I will be able to go everywhere I don’t want to go…
But when Kelly came, she said something that totally surprised me: wheelchairs could be changed every five years, and my wheelchair (manual, and therefore hard to maneuver with just one good arm and hand) was getting close to five years of use. So, it could be changed to an electric wheelchair, and the health insurance company would take charge of the cost. I envisioned all the things I could do with an electric wheelchair and was overjoyed. Imagine that! It was small enough to cross the threshold of coffee shops and friends’ houses; small enough to let me move around the aisles of stores; and I wouldn’t need to transfer to a chair: it was a chair itself!
When I eventually have the two vehicles, I’ll be able to do lots of things. Not only will I go visit friends in their backyards and bike trails with Eric and Nathan; I will also meet with friends at coffee shops and go to stores to buy medicines or other things I may need. By myself!
The two vehicles will give me a sense of independence. They will make me feel free. But I will need to overcome the fear that independence will cause: the protection that dependence offers (the boundaries it draws that I’m unable to cross) will be gone. I will be able to go everywhere I don’t want to go…
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