My daughter who has MS applied for a power chair recently. She was assessed and then a few weeks later a nice man came back with a chair for her to try. This was a huge, heavy clunking thing. ( my daughter is 5’3" ) She asked if she could get a voucher towards a light weight folding power chair which we could put in our boot.
Could not believe that she was told that they don’t do a voucher scheme but we should get a larger car with a ramp !!! So instead of giving her £500 towards a power chair she can use everywhere we would have to fork out a huge amount on a new car or if she comes to us has to use a manual chair and be pushed which she hates. . Can anyone make sense of this Needless to say we helped her out and she now has an amazing nippy power chair.
Apparently in my area (Coastal West Sussex) the voucher scheme has also been stopped. So the powerchairs available are those hulking great things. I had an appointment with Wheelchair Services, had a go in one of those chairs, hated it, knew it would never go in the car, and would make life around the house so much harder. I decided to stick with my bog standard manual chair. I don’t object to being pushed by my husband outside and can manage the manual indoors. Yes, my arms are severely knackered and sooner or later the time may come when a powered chair is necessary, but there’s no way one of those big beasts is coming into my life.
Sorry to year this. It is so unfair. Being disabled can work out expensively. I dont like being pushed either. I would prefer a light one. What model did you buy Rosebud? Able bodied people cant understand how flexible their legs are. They take them wherever they want to go. Anne
sorry to hear that you had to fork out its so unfair i know its a bit late but your daughter could have applied for a MS society grant on here for her w/c
Can’t remember the actual model will look when I visit next week. It was expensive but worth it. Folds up and fits in the boot although naturally not as light as a manual chair . It has a really tight turning circle and my daughter hasn’t done too much damage to door frames.