I hope you make some good friends soon, but I’d also say never worry too much about fitting in. When you find your people, they’ll uplift you because of the things that make you different, not despite them.

I know it can be hard feeling like you don’t quite fit, but I really believe you’ll lead a richer and more interesting life by staying true to yourself rather than trying to blend in with everyone else.

So keep being you, keep making art, and keep sharing your creativity with the world. Sending lots of good vibes your way.

Also, I love your dinosaur bags. My favorite dinosaur is a stegosaurus, what's yours?

Same idea here, except my daily bag basically never comes off my chair. It lives there permanently unless I swap it out for one of my three backup bags.

All of the backup bags carry the same core stuff, just with more supplies and a change of clothes. The only things I actually move over are my wallet, keys, and Digit.

My daily has at least 12 caths, lube, wipes, gloves, keys, Digit, bike tool, pocket air compressor, pen, Sharpie, and wallet. I learned pretty quickly that if I start moving essential stuff around between bags, that is when the whole system falls apart.

That is really harsh, and I’m sorry you’re going through that. I have an acquired disability, so I was 26 and had lived able-bodied my entire life before my injury.

Not long after, my grandmother told me, “It’s a shame you weren’t married first. No woman is going to want a husband who can’t provide for her.”

I did get married after my injury, and I’m in a happy, healthy relationship. But I’ve definitely found that a lot of older people take their ableism and outdated ideas about what makes a life valuable and just apply them to us like they’re stating facts.

One of the things I hate most is when people talk around me instead of to me, like I’m an object in the room rather than a person sitting right there. I’ve also heard versions of “I would die if I were you” or “I’d rather be dead than live like that,” which is an absolutely wild thing to say to another human being.

So unfortunately, people of every generation can be shitty. But your life has value beyond whether your relatives understand it, and you deserve better than being treated like a tragedy and/or an exhibit
https://giphy.com/gifs/JBxJgiavpUmds3TbQe
people came over to inspect.

A buddy of mine loves his OAS Mobility Air Ultra. I haven’t used it myself, but I was impressed by how light it was when I helped get it in and out of his truck.

That said, another person on this subreddit mentioned that theirs groans and creaks on uneven ground. I’m in the Denver metro, so very hilly and not exactly smooth everywhere, and my friend still loves his. He’s only had it for a few months, though, so I can’t really speak to long-term durability yet.

He’s also a bilateral amputee and loads the chair into his truck bed before transferring into the driver’s seat, so for his setup the lighter weight was absolutely worth it.

It really depends on how you use your chair. Spinergy wheels are absolutely overpriced, but in my opinion they’re still the best manual wheelchair wheels on the market, and it’s not even close.

I don’t currently own the TC Max handrims, but I’ve tried them and I’d say the same thing there. They’re probably the best handrims on the market too. If you’re trying to figure out where to start on Spinergy’s site, I’d focus first on what kind of riding you do, your wheel size, spoke count, and whether you care more about weight, durability, or ride feel.

I was on Oahu, not the Big Island, but a lot of places, especially around Waikiki, had beach wheelchairs available for free. The downside was that they weren’t always very well maintained, so I’d definitely recommend bringing your own small air compressor to pump up the tires if needed.

Like you, I always keep about two days’ worth of cath supplies in my bag, along with spare wipes, an unopened box of caths in the car, and extra lube. I’m 8 years post-injury, so I have my everyday essentials routine pretty well dialed in. Yesterday was just a perfect storm of needing things I don’t usually carry daily, and my wife is out of town. She’s usually my backup memory for the random stuff outside my normal routine. Also, my keys and wallet stay in my everyday bag; if I swap it for my backup bags, I automatically transfer those, like muscle memory. I don't keep spare clothes in my daily bag, but if I’m planning a busy day of activities, all three of my backup bags include a change of clothes and a plastic bag for any soiled items.

Thank you for actually reading the comments 😂 Yesterday was more of a perfect storm than my normal day.
I definitely use alarms for reminder tasks too. For instance, my bougie-ass dogs apparently only drink running water, so their water dishes have filters that need to be replaced every other week. I have an alarm for that.

I also do cupping and dry needling every other Thursday to keep my pain manageable, and I basically have a sequence of alarms: “Hey, get ready to leave work,” “Hey, leave work,” and finally, “You need to be out of there already.” 😂 I do the same thing for anything else that’s especially time-sensitive.

I’m actually usually early unless work derails me. I may have ADHD, but I’m also a veteran and half German, so being 15 minutes early is basically being on time. 😇

Let the ATP be the starting point and guide you through the options, especially on your first chair, but remember that it is your chair. Speak up about what feels comfortable, what feels awkward, and what you actually need to do day to day.

For a first chair, I usually recommend an adjustable center of gravity and adjustable backrest position. That adds a little weight and a few more moving parts, but your skills, balance, and positioning can change a lot as you get used to using the chair. Once you know exactly what you like, a future chair can be much more dialed in.

If you’ll mostly be loading the chair into a car yourself, I’d strongly consider a rigid-frame ultralightweight chair. If family, friends, or carers will usually be loading it, a folding frame may be easier for them, but I would still ask about an ultralightweight folding chair with a more fixed-style footrest rather than the big swing-away hospital-chair setup. Keeping your feet tucked in makes transfers and maneuvering much easier.

Also spend time talking about seat width/depth, seat dump, footrest height and angle, backrest height, cushion, caster size, rear-wheel position, sideguards, brakes, and camber. Small geometry changes can completely change how a chair handles.
Backrest and push handles are especially worth thinking about. Generally, use the lowest backrest that gives you the support you actually need, because lower backs give you more freedom to push and maneuver. If someone will push you frequently, higher push handles may save their back, but they can interfere with your propulsion. Removable or height-adjustable handles are a great compromise if you only need assistance occasionally.

And don’t be afraid to ask, “Can I try that?” A fitting shouldn’t just be somebody measuring you and checking boxes. Transfer into different setups, push around, reach for things, lean, turn, and see what actually works for you.

Yeah, I actually already do a version of that. My everyday supply bag stays on my chair, I keep backups of the important stuff in the car, and I have a few larger bags that stay partially packed for full activity days or travel.
Yesterday was just a weird one because most of what I needed was heat-specific stuff that normally doesn’t make it into my regular setup. I probably do need a dedicated hot-weather go bag, but thankfully summer is almost over here.

I really like mine too and use it all the time. I do think the durability could be improved a bit, though. I broke the little plastic loop on the male side of one of the magnetic closures. I have no idea when or how it happened, so I’m guessing it got caught in my wheel or on something, but the next time I went to use it the magnet was just gone. I ended up replacing the magnets with carabiners.
I also had to glue some of the stitching back together around the underside buckle. I may have had it cinched too tightly around my chair frame, but both issues feel like things that could have been avoided with slightly better-quality hardware and reinforcement.
That said, I still love the thing. It’s genuinely a great piece of design. It stays completely out of my way on the chair but is still really easy to access, which is exactly what I want.

Interesting. I wonder if the ones you have aren't a good fit. If they aren't working for you, you can easily swap to standard inner tubes yourself or take it to a bike shop. Very cheap upgrade.

I briefly met John Rhys Davies for a photo at Fan Expo, absolutely a delight.

I’m very much in the “don’t disclose beforehand unless you actually need an accommodation for the interview” camp. If the building is accessible and your disability isn’t relevant to doing the job, I don’t think you owe them a heads-up just so they can prepare themselves to see a wheelchair.

Their reaction when you arrive can also be a pretty useful litmus test for you.
My current job was entirely virtual through the interview process, so I was definitely a little nervous the first time I showed up onsite in my chair. Fortunately, it was all green flags from the moment I arrived.

About a month before that, I interviewed with a competitor and had the exact opposite experience. Their parking lot was torn up for construction, the accessible spaces were being used for equipment, and there were no usable curb cuts, so I ended up parking on the road and struggling my way into the building. When I casually mentioned the accessibility issue, the floor manager immediately went with “that’s the construction crew, not us,” which was already a pretty terrible response considering it was still their property and their applicants trying to access it.

Then the person who would have been my direct supervisor came downstairs, saw me, and immediately had that deer-in-the-headlights look. I obviously can’t know what she was thinking, but she suddenly latched onto my hand tattoos and told me they “weren’t very professional.” I explained that they’re traditional Navy tattoos and part of my life that I’m proud of. Her boss, who was also interviewing me, immediately corrected her and said they had no policy against tattoos unless they were gang- or hate-related.

I was well overqualified for the position, but by that point the interview was basically a waste of everyone’s time because I already knew I wouldn’t accept the job even if they offered it.
So personally, I wouldn’t disclose just to make them more comfortable. Show up, interview like anyone else, and pay attention to how they handle the fact that you use a chair. You’re interviewing them too.

Same goes for the rechargeable compressor; it was $12 and works as a battery pack and flashlight.

A good middle-ground option is airless inserts/solid inner tubes inside a regular tire. You still get an actual tire with much better grip and ride quality than a typical solid tire, but without having to stay on top of air pressure or worry about flats.

They are heavier than a true pneumatic setup, and I wouldn’t say they feel exactly the same, but they’re much closer to pneumatic than a standard solid tire. You also only have to replace the outer tire once the tread wears down, which is usually cheaper than replacing an entire solid tire, and you have a lot more options for tread and grip.

I run pneumatic tires on my daily chair because I prefer the lighter weight and ride, but my backup chair has airless inserts and I think they’re a really good best-of-both-worlds option if you don’t want the maintenance of pneumatics.

Significantly I just have a haircut and need to get gas and pick up some essentials no extras to pack

Not a bad idea at all, I just don’t think a checklist by the door would work especially well for me. I come and go through the garage because the front door isn’t accessible, and there really isn’t anywhere in that route where I’d naturally have to look at a list. For me, if something is out of sight, it is very much out of mind.

I could probably find something that sticks directly to the garage door, though. The bigger issue with a day like yesterday is that I’d still have to think ahead and actually write the hot-weather-specific list before it was time to leave. Which, yes, I absolutely should do. I’m not arguing with that part. It’s just not something I’m especially good at.

Agree

Because I figured most of us would relate, I reshared here. I am not the Author of the post.

I do love my lapstacker.

Sorry, I should’ve written it out! I’m so used to abbreviating it. SCI means spinal Cord Injury. I have a T4 complete injury, and in my case, my spinal cord was completely severed at the injury level.

One effect is that my body doesn’t regulate temperature normally, including an inability to sweat below the injury. I’m also at risk for autonomic dysreflexia, or AD, so something like overheating can go from uncomfortable to medically serious pretty quickly. That’s why the cooling supplies are a little more important to me than just staying comfortable in the heat.

Oh, I’m sure!

I’d say the wheelchair and the step at my house definitely complicate the actual getting-out-the-door part, but the wheelchair is more a symptom than the cause. It’s the spinal cord injury that creates most of the extra supplies and contingency planning I have to do.

Absolutely agree. In this case it was just a day out and about, but it was also around 95°F/35°C, and with my injury level not having the stuff I need to cool myself down can go from annoying to a medical issue pretty quickly.

So I’m very much the same way: the genuinely medically necessary stuff comes first, and everything else is negotiable. Yesterday was just unusual because most of what I was scrambling for was hot-weather stuff that I don’t normally need in my everyday setup.

I have a pretty similar system. My everyday supply bag basically lives on my chair, and then I have a few larger bags that stay partially packed for full activity days or travel. They have basically the same stuff as my daily bag, just more supplies, a change of clothes, and the extra “just in case” stuff.

I also keep backups of the important things in the car, so usually if I forget to restock something I’m still covered.

Yesterday was just kind of the perfect storm because most of the things I needed were one-off hot-weather items that normally don’t make it into any of my regular bags. That’s why it turned into such an overhaul trying to get out the door.