September 1999

Reflections of Wheeled Mobility

by
Pete Moore

When I first started going to school in the 1950's, I used one of those big oversized wooden wheelchairs. I can't begin to tell you how many splinters I got sitting in that thing.

That wheelchair I used when I first started school was pretty big and made of wood with steel wheels; two in front and two small wheels in the back. It just never occurred to me that wheelchairs would go through evolutional changes much like the automobiles that were once called horseless carriages when they first came out in the 1890's and ran on electricity.

Before man invented the wheelchairs, people who had normal balance would sit in a "straight chair" all day long and in one place like sitting at the table. Those that couldn't sit in a chair without support would just lie in bed all day long.

When I got older I became interested in the Civil War, because it was history and my family fought in that horrible battle with conflicts on both sides. I saw photographs taken by Matthew Brady during the war and saw the wounded soldiers sitting in wheelchairs made of wood just like the one I sat in as a kid. The chair then had a high back made of wood as well as the arm and leg rests. Two big wheels in front and one small wheel in the back to act like a rudder. That wheelchair had no brakes and was the same as my first wheelchair back in the 1950's.

Wheelchairs and scooters have given people with limited mobility greater opportunity to get around and some are custom made to meet the need of the individual. Gone are two sizes - adult and junior adults.

I had the junior adult because I was still too short for an adult size, but too big for anything smaller. Today, wheelchairs are better and at times faster than the old "Dinosaurs".

My wheelchair is electrically motorized, with a push on the joystick I can go anywhere I want to go. A person measures me the same way a tailor measures you for a suit. Someone back at the shop made me my chair according to the measurements given.

Now they use what they call the "clay chair". The person moves the clay around to get it comfortable on the bottom and back. After the person sits in it and is finished making adjustments, plaster is put on it and later the chair is made.

They have a bigger more powerful wheelchair that's called "scooter" because it looks like a scooter you see people drive.

Now they make vans for people in wheelchairs. I've seen vans where the seat moves away allowing the wheelchair to get to the steering wheel. It can be driven with the use of hand controls. President Roosevelt drove his personal car with hand controls since he contracted Polio in 1921 when he was just 49 years old.

Have you seen people in wheelchairs race on the track, basketball, or even ice hockey? Those chairs were designed and built for those sports and are extremely expensive for those that use them. When I got my first wheelchair it only cost me $200. Now they start at about $1,500 to more than $14,000. Again, one must remember that these chairs are custom built to meet the individual's needs.

What will wheelchairs be like in the future? Who's to say, but one thing is clear - technology will advance beyond what we know today giving even greater mobility than what we have now.

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