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1:33pm April 2, 2014
quietbang: youneedacat: I ordered my manual wheelchair today, using my renter’s rebate which was for exactly the amount of money the chair costs.  If everything goes well, it should be here by Monday.  I couldn’t afford anything fancy, so I got a Blue Streak with elevating leg rests.  I’ll provide the seat and back cushions myself.  I like that I found something affordable that doesn’t look exactly like a hospital wheelchair (which tend to have lots and lots of chrome and different seat upholstery). I wish they made affordable lightweight sport wheelchairs that didn’t assume that you had perfect upper body balance and no need for armrests or backrests. I don’t know if Medicaid covers them (I’m Canadian) but have you looked into TiLites or Matrix ? My TiLite has a full back with extra lip t the sides to keep the torso in the middle and add balance… It was covered under the Canadian assitive devices program, so I hope it might be on the list as well for Medicaid? I don’t want to get anything through Medicaid or Medicare, because I already have a main power wheelchair that they would stop maintaining if they switched to buying me a manual wheelchair.  So if I do switch to a manual wheelchair, I want to have a long time of practice in a lot of situations, before I make any sort of switch that affects my other assistive tech long-term.

quietbang:

youneedacat:

I ordered my manual wheelchair today, using my renter’s rebate which was for exactly the amount of money the chair costs.  If everything goes well, it should be here by Monday.  I couldn’t afford anything fancy, so I got a Blue Streak with elevating leg rests.  I’ll provide the seat and back cushions myself.  I like that I found something affordable that doesn’t look exactly like a hospital wheelchair (which tend to have lots and lots of chrome and different seat upholstery).

I wish they made affordable lightweight sport wheelchairs that didn’t assume that you had perfect upper body balance and no need for armrests or backrests.

I don’t know if Medicaid covers them (I’m Canadian) but have you looked into TiLites or Matrix ? My TiLite has a full back with extra lip t the sides to keep the torso in the middle and add balance… It was covered under the Canadian assitive devices program, so I hope it might be on the list as well for Medicaid?

I don’t want to get anything through Medicaid or Medicare, because I already have a main power wheelchair that they would stop maintaining if they switched to buying me a manual wheelchair.  So if I do switch to a manual wheelchair, I want to have a long time of practice in a lot of situations, before I make any sort of switch that affects my other assistive tech long-term.