I’ve had four power wheelchairs over the course of my years of using power wheelchairs: The original (95-98 – donated to another kid), The Tank (98-ongoing – now my backup), The Sportscar (2007-2012 RIP), and the Cadillac (2013-ongoing).
I started using my first power wheelchair in 1995. I was in 5th grade and my parents and doctors, fearing that I wouldn’t be able to keep pace when pushing my manual wheelchair to my classes in middleschool, prescribed that I start using a power wheelchair. At first I hated the chair. I wanted to continue using my manual chair. But as I found I could go farther and faster, without getting worn out, I soon became accustomed to it. I could roll over hills and ramps without tiring.
But this is not the tale of The Original, nor of the ever faithful Tank, which has done two European tours. No, The Sportscar is a whole nother beast.
I received the Sports Car after returning from my first trip to London in 2007. It was new, shiny, and faster than ever, going up to 8.5 MPH. This chair could run circles around any of its predecessors. This new chair came in quite handy when I moved to Madison in 2008. I could get around downtown Madison quickly and effectively. There was even that bus-chasing incident. I took the Sports Car everywhere. However, one cold December night in 2012, I was making my way home from work on the Capitol Square in Madison. As I rolled up onto the sidewalk the chair lurched forward. I was thrust upon the joystick. The chair careened forward cruising down the sidewalk full steam. As I shot down the sidewalk out of control, I noticed the bus turnoff ahead. Unable to lift myself off the joystick nor reach the power switch to turn it off, I aimed for the nearest wall, attempting to bring the chair to a stop before it would spill off into the street.
The chair collided with the wall of a restaurant, the Old Fashioned. Students from the ESL Academy rushed over trying to help, but the chair was precariously tipsy. As I later found out several of the main support screws, anchoring the frame to the chassis, had snapped, which had caused the chair to tip forward. Some of the staff of the Old Fashioned, as well as the owner, stopped out and helped me call my brother Ethan, a student at the University of Wisconsin as well as my roommate. They invited me inside, and the owner offered dinner on the house.
Pictured below are the remains of the Sports Car, gone out in a Blaze of Gloy
Leave a Reply