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FA & I: Celebrating 25 years together
 
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Last updated: October 2018

My powerchair

 

My powerchair

My powerchair was supplied on a 5-year Motability lease contract. Every 4 weeks payment will be taken directly from the Higher Rate Mobility component of my DLA (and eventually the Enhanced Rate of the Mobility component of my PIP) over the next 5 years.

Included in my lease:

  • Breakdown recovery 24/7
  • Insurance
  • Replacement tyres and batteries
  • Servicing, maintenance and repairs
  • Loss and damage protection

The Motability approved dealer carried out an assessment of my needs to ensure the powerchair fully met them. Indeed I would highly recommend Midshires Powerchairs.

My powerchair is a very customised Invicare TDX SP2. It allows me to change my seating position in lots of ways and as has the fullowing functions:

 

Tilt Recline Leg Elevation
Tilt Backrest recline Leg elevation (each leg individually or both together)

This means I can adjust my seating position in a massive number of ways. It’s especially useful for relieving any pressure or achiness caused by my Scoliosis. Being able to tilt the chair means that my carers can sit me inCyprus 07 a better position when hoisting me into my chair, and using all three functions at once means I can lie in a flat-ish position enabling them to use the chair as a turning table when helping me to get dressed (pictured left).

I can also adjust the seat height (pictured right) enabling me to reach new heights (especially good at getting shocked looks from kids in the supermarket).

Lights are something I wouldn't be without when driving at night, if only because they warn other people that I'm coming! As well as light at the front and built in at the rear, my powerchair has indicators and hazard lights!

Ankle huggers (pictured left) - something I wouldn't be without now - are straps that go around my ankles which are then fastened to the back of the footplate. These stop my ankle sitting in a bad position and my feet slipping off the side of the footplate The strapsCyprus 07 have a bit of slack on them which is good as I like to move them around when the position they're in beckmes uncomfortable.

Lateral supports (pictured right) are something I wish I’d discovered years ago. These are stiff cushions which are attached to both sides of the chair. For me they solve two major issues: firstly I lean to one side really badly, and secondly I have a really unsteady / ataxic trunk. For the first time in years I don’t loose balance when riding over uneven ground and I can use two hands to do something without falling to one side.

A headrest (pictured left) is something I psychologically struggled with until a few years ago - they were something severely disabled people used and I didn’t want to be one. But my head started to wobble which I found affected my speech and swallowing and I was getting a lot of neck/shoulder pain. All this was cured by using a headrest - the one on this chair is perfect.

All in all I am so pleased with this chair and very pleased with the worry-free package I got from Motorbility.

 

This website has been around sinse 1998, and although it's changed a lot over the years it's always been about me and my disability. Over the years I have used many different hosts and website design packages. For the past ten years or so I have used 1&1 as my host and I have always been very happy with it. I have always wanted to learn how to build a website from scratch using Adobe Dreamweaver, so about three years ago I got in touch with Polar Solutions and arranged for a trainer to come out to my home to teach me at my own pace. So I now design this website using Adobe Dreamweaver and the skills I learned on that course.