Power Chair, Etc...
On Monday Motion Specialties called me to say that my controller was fixed and that a technician could come on Thursday to replace the demo controller that they had put in previously. I was really excited to get it back because it affects how I play PowerChair Football. The controller I have now will only go 45% backing up because it is a really old. I am used to it being able to go 75-80%. So Thursday rolls by and they came at 12 and tried to install it 3 or 4 times and every single time the battery indicator on my joystick kept flashing and so the technician told me that they would have to send it in to the manufacture which could take up to a month or more because they are back east. I didn't understand why it wasn't working in the first place because they told me that they tested it in the shop with another chair and it worked perfectly fine. So I am disappointed that it didn't work because I am an aggressive player and when I try backing up and rotating on the ball I'm missing it all the time now because I'm not used to the backing up speed at the moment.
August 21, 2011
This is a really weird post for me to make but thought I needed to.
My perception of my disability is that I don't really have one. Now I understand that some may be wondering "Well, how is that possible?". Well it's really complicated to explain but it's how I see my life. If I chose to look at my life as being "disabled" or "handicapped" (I hate that word) then I wouldn't be as positive as I am today.
It really gets to me and that is how people treat me because of my disability. For one reason or another some see people with disabilities as being un comprehensible and it's not like that at all. When I go on the bus by myself some stare at me for 5-10 minutes at a time and I wish I knew why that is. It could be because I look ab normal and people aren't used to seeing people in chairs on buses or in public. I have not had the guts to say anything but I hope that can change by making everyone aware of what I go through on a day to day basis and that is why I have created this blog in the first place.
My perception of my disability is that I don't really have one. Now I understand that some may be wondering "Well, how is that possible?". Well it's really complicated to explain but it's how I see my life. If I chose to look at my life as being "disabled" or "handicapped" (I hate that word) then I wouldn't be as positive as I am today.
It really gets to me and that is how people treat me because of my disability. For one reason or another some see people with disabilities as being un comprehensible and it's not like that at all. When I go on the bus by myself some stare at me for 5-10 minutes at a time and I wish I knew why that is. It could be because I look ab normal and people aren't used to seeing people in chairs on buses or in public. I have not had the guts to say anything but I hope that can change by making everyone aware of what I go through on a day to day basis and that is why I have created this blog in the first place.
Late night of August 17th
I was having a little bite in the Cove earlier tonight around 7 or so and my friend and I ware talking about how the corner store across the street isn't wheelchair accessible and it's the only one near by. Legally they don't have to do anything about it because it's a privately owned house but I as a Deep Cove resident would like to do something to change that somehow. I am a little bit shocked that privately owned buildings don't have the same building code as say Safeway for instance. It's one thing I have noticed when traveling around Vancouver and I would like to push for that too be changed in the future. The same thing happened at Tom Lee music and I had to ask one of the staff members who was outside at the time luckily to go and find a microphone for my computer and to bring it outside to show me what it's like and what features it has and I have never been back since
August 14th, 2011
Today I went to PowerChair Football practice and put my foot guard on my wheelchair which enables me to kick the ball and I was working on my aiming by kicking the ball between two posts. Since my chair wasn't programmed properly, my forward speed and my turning speed was to the max almost. I backed up and spun kick and tipped sideways. I was perfectly good except my right elbow is a little sore and red. I am lucky that I don't keep my arm on the outside of my arm rest otherwise I may of suffered a broken arm by now. The people I play with and the parents came straight to help me get back up. When I got back up I said "I need to program my chair to make it more safe". The forward speed in PowerChair Football is 6.2 MPH but the turning and backing up speed is completely up to the user. So I got someone to help adjust the speed and it turns out that with this old controller I have back up speed that can only go up to 45% so I am now having trouble controlling my chair in my Football speed. When I was at Motion Specialties who service all my equipment they told me that they are going to order me a new controller but it's likely to take 2 maybe 3 weeks but it has taken 3-4 weeks for them to get my tires and joystick in so I am using demo parts right now
Saturday August 13th, 2011
So I went to the Sade concert at Rogers Arena tonight. I got tickets for the three hundred level with two of my friends and usually they don't allow two people who are "abled bodied" and a wheelchair and usually it's one to one there which I'm sorry but I think that is dumb. So what they are trying to say is that people with disabilities don't have any friends but this time that wasn't the case. It turned out that we ended up asking them if we could move down which was slightly better. Then my friend asked if we could go to the main stage level but the guy who worked there didn't recommend it because people would be standing in front of us and that would suck. So the concert was awesome and that was my first one too.
On the way home we dropped our friend off at home and needed gas in my van badly but we needed to get blank DVD's from my buddies house so we took a risk and drove to get those. Turned out we made it to the gas station and filled up almost all the way (expensive) and came home
On the way home we dropped our friend off at home and needed gas in my van badly but we needed to get blank DVD's from my buddies house so we took a risk and drove to get those. Turned out we made it to the gas station and filled up almost all the way (expensive) and came home
Friday August 12th 2011
This is my first blog post and I am looking to do this every couple of days. I have a disability called Cerebral palsy which is caused by not having enough oxygen in the brain at birth. Cerebral Palsy is non life threatening and is not contagious in any way and so when and if I have kids they may not have it. Even though I do have a disability I live life to the full potential and can do anything i put my mind to
Moving on. the reason I have created a blog is to share my day to day life and how hard it is to do a lot of stuff that most would take for granted. Since I am in an electric wheelchair and play PowerChair Football I feel that I have the responsibility of taking the initiative to talk to the community about how I and some people in manual and power wheelchairs .
Today I had to get my power chair fixed because it died on me yesturday afternoon and I couldn't get it fixed that day since Motion Specialties closes at 5 and so I had to crawl around my place for the night which is so hard since my body is all dead weight and I have to use my arms only. It was tough but I did it. Anyways one of the technicians came to my house to inspect what what going on. When he got here he told me that I could only drive for half an hour and let it rest for 2 hours. Well it turned out that the computer module in my chair was dead and needed to be replaced and it had to go in to the shop. So I did just that with my personal support worker (PSW). What I didn't know after replacing the computer module was that I would loose all my speed settings and so the lead technician in the shop helped me to get close to what I had before but it's still not quite right. I now have to ask my coach to adjust and speed test me at the next practice which won't be a problem but it will take a little time out of my practice.
My mom is leaving for Europe today and a friend of mine is staying with me for about 3 weeks. As much as I love my mom it's good to have time apart sometimes. My friend and I are going to have a couple of video's that I will post at a later date and it's going to be a wicked time
Moving on. the reason I have created a blog is to share my day to day life and how hard it is to do a lot of stuff that most would take for granted. Since I am in an electric wheelchair and play PowerChair Football I feel that I have the responsibility of taking the initiative to talk to the community about how I and some people in manual and power wheelchairs .
Today I had to get my power chair fixed because it died on me yesturday afternoon and I couldn't get it fixed that day since Motion Specialties closes at 5 and so I had to crawl around my place for the night which is so hard since my body is all dead weight and I have to use my arms only. It was tough but I did it. Anyways one of the technicians came to my house to inspect what what going on. When he got here he told me that I could only drive for half an hour and let it rest for 2 hours. Well it turned out that the computer module in my chair was dead and needed to be replaced and it had to go in to the shop. So I did just that with my personal support worker (PSW). What I didn't know after replacing the computer module was that I would loose all my speed settings and so the lead technician in the shop helped me to get close to what I had before but it's still not quite right. I now have to ask my coach to adjust and speed test me at the next practice which won't be a problem but it will take a little time out of my practice.
My mom is leaving for Europe today and a friend of mine is staying with me for about 3 weeks. As much as I love my mom it's good to have time apart sometimes. My friend and I are going to have a couple of video's that I will post at a later date and it's going to be a wicked time
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