Page 24 - Mobility Management, November 2017

ATP Series
An Ultralight for All Seasons
Aging & the Ultralight User’s State of Mind
While preparing for an article on transitioning wheelchair users from manual, self-propelled mobility to powered mobility, Angie Kiger, M.Ed., CTRS, ATP/SMS, clinical strategy and education manager at Sunrise Medical, wanted the opinion of a friend who has used an ultralightweight manual chair for roughly 40 years.
What would you think, Kiger asked, if I said you needed to switch to a power chair?
“He had a very visceral response,” Kiger said, “which didn’t surprise me at all. He said, ‘It freaks me out, quite frankly.”
Is Age Just a Number?
While popular wisdom would have us believe that age doesn’t define our abilities, the human body does change as we get older, no matter how we feel emotionally.
And while it’s understandable for the “manual to power” discussion to cause strong reactions, Kiger said that suggesting changes to an ultralightweight manual chair can also be difficult for a long-time user to hear.
“I think the biggest obstacle is that the clinician may see that something has changed [with the user], but it’s the accep- tance from the end user, who will say, ‘Whoa, I have to change
something?’ The big question is going to be why. Because for example, they get used to propelling a certain way, even if they aren’t propelling efficiently. It’s the way they’ve always propelled.
“There’s a huge stigma about moving to a power chair, or even switching anything out on a manual chair. Oh, you needed to add that to your manual chair? You look more disabled now.”
That could explain why middle-aged clients who’ve self-pro- pelled for decades can resist a clinician’s suggestions, even if those clients are noticeably struggling.
Kiger said of her friend, “Every time we talk about propelling his chair, he cringes a little bit, because he says he knows.” Not long ago, her friend had to install a lift to make transfers easier.
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