Do You Feel At One With Your Wheelchair?

Thats a great perspective and advice wavewolf...absolutely!

Doctors and Spinal Units do not give enough service to the emotional and psychological effects of this injury and yet the effects are almost as disabling as the physical aspect of SCI.

Thanks for sharing wavewolf,he is one crazy guy but oh my he fell out! oops

I'm pretty comfortable self-image-wise and whatnot with my chair, but my chair is not that comfortable. I accept that it is part of who I am now and is my legs. I do feel like it is part of me sometimes, but I can't wait for that TiLite TRA...

You have two choices and two results to choose from.

1. See a wheelchair as a tool that allows you to get out and about and engage in life.

2. Hate your wheelchair and be miserable.

You can only pick one. I chose option 1.

I personally have no hate toward my assisting devices. They are not responsible for my health issues. They are tools to help me cope with my disabilities and have a life with some measure of quality.

Just think where you would be with the same physical disabilities 150 or more years ago. You would be left in bed waiting possibly for several years to die.

kilg0retr0ut, My apologies for the late reply, and I wasn't going to write anything, but I feel so sad that you were criticised after expressing how you felt. The question asked was are you comfortable in your chair or do you hate it? You answered honestly. Obviously you are sad and frustrated with your situation and no-one on this forum knows what issues contribute to your sense of sadness. It's so easy for someone to say be positive. Wouldn't life be easy if we could just choose that option? It's not that easy and I think it's only right that you can express honestly how you're feeling without the fear of being judged. I would say that every person contributing to this forum is unique in their struggles. Not just physically, but mentally as well. Not to mention other factors adding to the mix - e.g. family life and finances. I struggle every day with my situation. I get tired of people making judgement on my state of mind when they haven't walked (joke) in my shoes. I do understand that people want you to be positive and, believe me, I try very hard. I just felt really sad when I read your post, probably because I could relate to it so much. Lαrα, I'm not having a go at your response. I truly admire your optimism. This was more a show of support for kilg0retr0ut,

ange63, so true. It doesn't matter if your a parra a quad, complete or incomplete, if your injury is worse than mine or mine is not as bad as the guy down the road, we all walk different paths in life and until someone has walked down your path they will never know the issues that affect you. Each and every one of us has different coping mechanisms, some cope well some not so well, personally I think I'm in the middle. So I just think we should support each other and respect each other's privacy.