Just call him Wheels
We had an opportunity to try Gareth in a power wheelchair yesterday. It was incredibly short notice, but we couldn’t pass it up.
It was a Quantum 1107 Dynamo chair in a green very similar to Gare’s bike. We got him strapped him, gave him the basic info on how the joystick works, and then watched him lose all control as he locked his arms in excitement. After a bit of work, he was wheeling around under his own direction, though we had to help hold his elbow still so he could keep his hand on the stick.
The specialist who brought the chair wants to set us up with two more test drives so that she can bring along some accessories that will help with Gare’s arm placement. We’re pretty optimistic that this will work for Gareth in the long term. Which means that we’ll have to garner a similar level of optimism for acquiring a wheelchair accessible van.
Power wheelchairs are heavy.