VENTURING OUT WITH THIS MACHINE = FIRST TRAVEL



Within three months after applying for a wheelchair I got it. This amazing machine does ten kilometres an hour (people had to run to follow me), can do 30 kilometres before having to charge the batteries and has three elevators: back horizontal, seat adaptation and going up more than 30 centimetres which means that I can sit at the hight of a standing person, really great in the pub and a source of many jokes. After 4 years cruising around in this thing in my hometown Ghent I have not met any wheelchairuser with this last facility! A real shame because I feel a lot less silly when I can converse at eye height, get money out of the cashmachines in the street, pay with my banccard at the cashier without anyone looking over my shoulder......


mechanics of elevation chair / my grandsun loves this machine / high-low system they call it here

After taking a good INSURANCE I ventured out.
The man in the street (some totally unknown, some well known) can be painfully confrontational when one hears remarks such as:
-“so young and allready giving in to a wheelchair” a lady walking with a stick.
-“are you too lazy to walk?” a drunk with sadic grin on the face
-“great, you have a pension and a wheelchair and we have to work to pay for it with our taxes, in fact you are a social parasite”, an embittered unsuccessfull lawyer
-“quickly, get back in your chair, people will notice that you can walk” – a well meaning friend, when I got out of my wheelchair in a shop as to stretch my legs
- “How is that possible, you use a wheel chair and you can walk?” cried a healthy young unknown bloke with an expression of terror and disgust.
-"There is life after the wheelchair" said a break dancer with a grin on his face.


BUT, there are always these other ones: “Hi, having a good time? Lets have a swing”.... (I dance in my wheelchair to the horror and/or amazement and/or amusement of the public).
Or, my grandson of then four years old, “Let me drive granny, I will be very carefull not to drive on bubbles so that it does not hurt your back” beaming at me with his charming smile handling the joystick with expertise.

One thing is for sure, when I feel sad and low, having trouble to accept my condition I get humiliated more than when I feel strong and happy. It is as if ones own projection attracts indifference or care, humor or sadness, kindness or rudeness. In any case the stupid humiliating remarks are far less than in the first few months of venturing out with my machine on which I added many practical items. An easy little table, my cane, a grip instrument, a handtunnel etc....


little table/grip (when anything falls down I can pick it up) / cane (with this I can venture out of the wheelchair and do a few steps).....

handtunnel - protect battery charger connection from the rain and
stops people “pushing you around” whilst greeting you !!!!!