Comments for Obstructed Technology

Comment on I Just Want A Wheelchair I Can Use! by Jo

Jo — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:24:23 +0000

Sorry, as a fellow South Australian, I am also caught up in a system designed to not provide adequate equipment unless you have the correct diagnosis (of which I haven’t) instead, I am in the market searching for a wheelchair that fits my needs and budget complete with hen’s teeth!
Although the economics makes little sense, that fits the political logic doesn’t it?
All I can suggest is that you push and access as many services as you can to help you. Not knowing why you need a wheelchair, maybe the (sorry, can’t think what they are called) amputee association at Hampstead Hospital might be able to help you, or offer you some ideas. While you scream and shout, you might find starting an account for a chair. Yes, I also am on a DSP and continue to search for those coordinating hen’s teeth!
Good Luck.

Comment on I Just Want A Wheelchair I Can Use! by Colin Johanson

Colin Johanson — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 10:33:28 +0000

The first two parameters for determining a suitable chair are ability of person to propell a manual/power chair and SEAT WIDTH. If a seat is too narrow, bums don’t fit, if too wide, the person is not supprted properly and the overall chair width (wheel to wheel) is too wide, making negotiating architectural areas harder.

Next is seat depth, back height, seat angle, front of seat height, footrest type and length, and need for armrests/type/depth. It then continues on a selection path determined by many parameters.

Dear Erin, what you have described seems to be a classic example of not just poor prescription, but incompetence by the supposedly trained Physios and OTs. It is crazy that they supply an ill fitted chair worth (from the look of it) $600 but can aford a Wymo which new costs $2,800 plus fitting !!! Cost of treating a pressure area is huge, so a quality cushion is paramount and MUST suit your chair seat width, bum width, leg length and pressure relief needs most importantly. I have ex demo cushions that may be the right size but without knowing your pressure needs would be incorrect for me to suggest as suitable.

Sounds like you get the cast-offs from when their clients die! It sounds horrible but, I hope someone with a 16″ bum andlight chair dies so you can inherit their chair!

I’m a C5-6 quad in Victoria and I buy my own chairs rather than get Govt funded wait listing and limited funding. I’m a qualified Ergonomist (Post Grad Dip in Ergonomics for the Heath Sciences) and wheelchair designer but I find Ebay to be a great source of cheap, quality gear. You do need to know what you need and what you are buying though. I use a chair that new from Aussie suppliers would cost $6,000 for a light manual (10.5kg) but I paid about $2,000 from USA for a titanium frame (including freight). If funded, I’d get $1,200 and have to find the other $3,800 – not hard sums to decide best path. Profits made by Autalian agencies are obscene which is why I sell some w/c parts at reasonable prices.

Not understanding SA processes, I can’t really advise you but you really need some good technical advice and that requires seeing you, so can’t help. Perhaps there is someone in SA reading this who could set out a proper chir prescription set for you at least. Come on South Australians – help out Erin…

Comment on What Do Average Doctors Know About Wheelchairs? by Kelly

Kelly — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 23:02:23 +0000

Sorry to hear of your troubles.
When buying a car, it might be a person is unfit to drive but well enough to buy one.
One has to be medically fit to drive a car; self certification.
If an accident happens because of unfit you’d be uninsured and in court.
From that point who is going to insure you?

Comment on I Just Want A Wheelchair I Can Use! by PHIL ALBERTS

PHIL ALBERTS — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 11:44:30 +0000

sorry ta hear about this problem hope ya get it fixed soon or ya will not need the help if ya know what i mean im going through the same stuff but different things hope ya are all right well im a gona go for now nice tAlking to ya p.S. all i can say is KICK BUTT AND KEEP GOING BYE FOR NOW ALL I CAN DO FOR YA BYE PHIL. talk at ya later ..

Comment on What Do Average Doctors Know About Wheelchairs? by Hugo

Hugo — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 03:28:00 +0000

I’m glad that I’ve found this obstructedtech.org site. You sure can write and teach and inspire. Keep writing – I’ll keep reading.

Comment on Practitioner Frustrations by Ricky Buchanan

Ricky Buchanan — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 11:51:28 +0000

This makes perfect sense to me – you must study and learn all about the best way to do things, then suddenly discover you can’t actually DO things that way because nobody can afford it. When I used the OTs at my local health center the average time they stayed was less than a year, because they had to cut SO many corners and see clients so briefly and provide such inadequate service that everybody hated the job

It seems to me that proper funding of visits to the appropriate prescriber (OTs, speech therapists, physiotherapists, or whoever applies depending on the disability and the equipment) – and however many visits the prescriber deems necessary, not just one – should be a standard part of an aids and equipment program.

Comment on What’s Assistive Technology? by admin

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:48:16 +0000

Do you have a different definition of assistive technology that you like to use?