An odd request, probably...

[sami]

... but a few days ago, I broke my leg in three places. Unstable ankle fracture means I can't put any weight on it for months; chronic shoulder injury means I can't use crutches, either, so moving around is a struggle and I'm going to be in a wheelchair if I want to leave the house before April.

So what I want to ask is: Does anyone have any warnings or advice on things I might not have thought of about living with a wheelchair? After all the accessibility fails I've read of and seen, I'm a little nervous about what I might run into.

Comments

[lauredhel]

I don't know about wheelchairs, but I am a scooter user, so if you end up there for some/all of your meanderings, I might be able to help.

Toilets, as synecdochic mentions. If you can crutch for very short distances, get yourself a crutch carrier for your chair/scooter, so that you can transfer or get into inaccessible toilet spaces.

I have one of these Smartie Pak caddy things for my scooter arm. They're made of awesome. I don't worry about people grabbing my bag and running off anymore, and everything is easily at hand (wallet, comb, keys, dog treats, etc). Great build quality. Unpaid/unrelated/etc, just a happy customer - I couldn't find anything like this in Australia. They do walker bags and bed caddies and stuff also.

[lilysea]

Ooh, thanks for the heads up about the Smartie Paks, they look very useful! ^_^

[sami]

The only down side of a mobility scooter is that I can't think where in my house I'd keep it when I wasn't using it, and I'm not likely to be going out *that* much in the next couple of months, since most general tasks etc are likely to be undertaken by my housemates. (Whereas a wheelchair should fit down the corridors of the house, and be a safer, better alternative to the wheeled desk chair I'm currently using to ease the trip to and from the toilet.)