Category: Health and Wellness
I, %n am not only blind, but need a power wheelchair most of the time. I have severe, forgive my speling, Virdago, and fall frequently. With my seizures, and lower back problems, walking is difficult. I refuse to lose my independance, so when this method of mobility was suggested to me, I went for it! It sure beat the crud out of getting sent to the Emergency Room on a weekly basis, at times. And, it keeps me from causing more head trama. I can't count the times that my head has paid the price for my falls.
Anyway, I want to know if anyone else on the Zone requires a wheelchair? And if you do, how much trouble did you go through with insurance, since you can't see. How many times, I've heard people say: "They wouldn't give me a power chair with me being blind."
The fact is: you can't even get a Dog Guide, unless your chair is motorized.
Ok, done for now. My hands hurt... Another injury inflicted by an Ex-neighbor. Hope to hear from someone out there, even if you just have a word to say about people in this situation.
I have cerebral palsy. I can walk, but not for really long distances, such as a huge mall, a theme park, something over a mile... If I do, I fall more, and I get very tired. I chose to get a manual chair because a: I don't use a wheelchair o-ften enough for my insurance to pay for a motorized ode, b. I actually prefer a manual over a motorized one, espeially because I just feel less vulnerable to falling over something my cane missed, stuff like that.
I hear you sarah. I was born withSpina Bifida, sp, which as it's a slight case means I can walk, but not for long distances, and so need a chair after that. They flat out refuse to give me a motorized chair as I've had two heart attacks, so it's manual all the way for me. They won't even give me a self-propelled one. So the chair gets used in air ports, hospitals where long distances must be walked, other than that I take cabs everywhere, or catch rides with relatives and friends etc. While I can understand the decisions they made, it does't mean I like them. Somewhat ironic too as the heart specialist I see recommends excercise, grin. Ah well, them's the breaks, I suppose. Back to you though, good on you for keeping as much of your independance as you can, adn doing what you do. That's certainly the right way to go about it. Keep it up.
In addition to my blindness, I have cerebral palsy and a heart condition. the cp is mild so I can walk, although it limits some of my fine motor skills such as cutting or carrying heavy objects. I cant use my cane in my right hand.
I am blind, and when I walk long distances, my feet hurt. Because of that, When I have to do accessive walking, I use a wheel chair some times.
good for all of you folks for doing the best you can with what you have. Any of you have a caregiver come in and help you out? I just hired one from an organization and am lucky enough to be able to pay for her services 2 hours a month right now. I have read that caregiving is one of the biggest businesses in America right now because I guess baby boomers like me are getting older and need help. Just thought of posting here though in case a caregiver is a suggestion for someone out there.
Wow, i never realized, how many people on this site have other disibilities. I dont have really any other conditions besides my visually impairredness, but i do end up getting sick a lot and i have a hard time breathing. I also have a very hard time walking sometimes especially up stairs.
I'm totally blind, my right leg quads are weak and if it keeps getting worse because of a tumor in my spine I'll have to be in a chair. I am also deaf in rig ht ear, on my way to being deaf in the left as well.
How do yall in manual chairs work it with a cane in one hand?
Hmmm1 Heaven knows how anybody can work a manual chair with a cane in one hand unless that is, they use a lever drive chair. I myself have an almost totally deformed face which only looks kind of normal now after around 20 corrective surgeries on my eyes (they didn't work though) I have a cleft lip and palette, affecting the whole of my face. My brain is actually inside my nose as oppose to further back inside my skull, so I have this kind of funny spot in the middle of my nose which another specialist didn't dare remove as there was brain tissue involved there, so my nose is just slightly bigger than average as my brain's basically right underneath it. When I was born, I had a hare lip plus a massive, massive hole in the roof of my mouth going right up in to my nose and right back in to my airway, so I couldn't breathe or feed properly, hence my very first op at 6 days old, where the surgeon basically stitched up and repaired as much of the hole as he could and further surgery was carried out on that when I was about six, but I still have quite a substancial hole, around the size of a button cell battery though kind of square, in the roof of my mouth which can seem somewhat odd to some people when they see liquid foods or drink dribbling out of my nose where it's comethrough the hole. After that first op, it still didn't enable me to suck so poor mum had to feed me off a teaspoon for two months till our cousin Mandy recommended this special bottle with a spoon in place of a teat so I'd basically be able to take in a lot more milk.
My fontanelle (baby's soft spot on the top of their head) never fused properly, so the doctors thought they'd have to fracture my skull to correct it, scaring the shit out of mum, but that thankfully, never came to pass.
The doctors thought I wouldn't make it through my very first op as I also had a heart murmur. I've also had to wear 5 different braces, 3 retainers, 1 fixed and tramlines over the years, plus I have weak wrists and totally flat feet which is a bit of a bind if I need to walk long distances, I don't have a right eye, I just have a tiny right eyelid, known as an Ophthalmea. and I'm partially deaf so I wear a digital phonac hearing aid in my right ear, but all this ya know, is the norm for me, so I don't really consider any of it, with the acception of being totally blind, to be disabilities.
Jen.
Jen.
I tried using a wheelchair that had a eandle for you to steer while you used a cane, and it was hard for me to coordinate. Sometime my cane wouldn't notice things that the wheelchair hit, and it always scared the crap out of me. I just use my manual chair for really long distances, and in that case, sighted people push me. I used it a lot when I was nearing the end of my pregnancy because I had some issues with pressure on my sciatic nerve, and the pain would make it harder for me to walk, plus I got tired more easily just foom the CP and being pregnant.
I had a friend in high school who was both blind, and had cerebral palsy. However, at the time, her family was very sheltering and overprotective. She wasn't really allowed to do a lot independently, or to figure out what she could do on her own and what she needed help with. At the time she had an assistant who pushed her wheelchair from class to class. I taught her to use a Braile and speak, in one-handed key mode, if you guys remember that feature. I always wondered how she'd manage a chair and a cane as she got older, because she did express a desire for more independence than she was being allowed. Your posts have given me some ideas as to how she might have gained it. Thanks.
I m blind and have mild epilepsy. The epilepsy is a result of some rain damage and the blindness to. All though the epilepsy cme when I was 3 years old and the blindness when I was 1 year old. The epilepsy started with small sizures then they got bigger in to grand mals unti I was 9 years old. Then they went small again and now hardly anything at all happens.
I use a manual chair sometimes if my back and leg pain is particularly bad, though if I'm not being pushed I take the footrests off and pull with my feet. Good exercise too, and I can use the cane in one hand and push on the other wheel with the other hand.
These days I either use a walking frame which people steer mostly if I'm following or I sometimes use one-handedly with a cane in the other, but actually what is happening more lately is I am stuck with crutches.
Ah ;yeah and I'm totally blind except for light perception, and I have auditory processing disorder to boot!!
grrr!
How does one go about using crutches with a cane? Is that possible?
Joanne, you dump the cane completely. I use my light perception a lot to avoic large obstacles, and don't go anywhere new. If I am with someone they go in front of me. Does that help?
Most crutches these days come with those plastic things designed to stop them rattling. I find by taking thoses off or pulling them out of the way I hear the clunk and have a bit of audio feedback. Sounds mad but it works.
Erica.
Wow, thanks for the feedback. I had asked that question before, you know, just in case I would ever have to use crutches.
I have sprained my ankles and done various things to warrant the need for crutches, but because of my balance being affected by the cerebral, I've never had to use them. I just have my manual wheelchair all the time instead of part of the time, and as time goes by, I just wean myself from it as I feel comfortable. I have seen blind people use these cane-like things where you have them actually attached to your arms with these plastic arm-folder deals and then the bottom is like a crutch. I don't know what they're called, but I considered ordering me a pair in case something happened and I couldn't use my legs to bear weight.
They are called gutter crutches in the UK. They are apparently very unwieldy and hard to control. Have you seen poeple use these and a cane at the same time?
I have never been on crutches either but was wondering how blind people use a cane and crutches at the same time.
I have a friend who has both CP and is totally blind. He doesn't use a wheelchair. His speech is affected though.