Good news

[Lynne K]

Kayleigh, I love all seasons. Summer sun lifts spirits but as you say autumn colours are often gorgeous. We are going away for a week in October to an purpose built adapted cabin in an out of the way forest in the Lake District. It has 2 built in cookers and hobs
One is a regular height and the other wheelchair height. It has a riser/recliner, wet-room and an open plan that's large so wheelchair friendly. That'll be fun. Lynne

[Kayleigh]

Hi Lynne,

Hopefully you and your husband can have a great day out in the countryside very soon.

This Summer seems to be going quickly, but I always enjoy the cooler weather and beautiful colours of Autumn too.

Love Kayleigh x

[Lynne K]

That's great Ellie. I asked for a wheelchair that would go on tracks in the countryside so that we could still get out despite me no longer being able to walk up hills and on mountain ridges. Oh the joys, lovely memories. Different memories being created now x

[Ellie]

We've the same chair Lynne.

It's a workhorse of a wheelchair and even gets me into our paddock and manages quite rough terrain, though it doesn't like deep gravel I was telling Terry I got stuck in some recently but now know where to avoid

Our house is open plan, thankfully, so no issues there.

Love Ellie.

[Lynne K]

Hi Terry. As I said to Ellie just now. I have anti-tip bars with little wheels on my wheelchair. They did not stop me getting up 4 inch kerbs. I guess that it depends on how low wheelchair services set them. I also have kerb climbers on the front which most likely helped me get up forwards a 4 inch kerb with a constant brisk walking pace speed. Lynne

[Lynne K]

Thanks for the info Ellie. My wheelchair is an Invacare Spectra XR2, rear wheels drive. It is heavy. We sold our couch for buttons to allow me to get into and out of our front room. My hubby bought himself a new modern recliner twisting chair and footstool. I have a riser/recliner (wow, that cost me an arm and a leg) and we had another small armchair. So there's now 3 armchairs and my wheelchair in our front room. Luckily
I can still get around indoors with my walker but when I'm wheelchair bound I won't be able to move much in this small flat. I couldn't get into our kitchen with my wheelchair. We'll have to re-think our flat layout and our big fridge-freezer that blocks my route into our kitchen.

I forgot to say earlier that I have anti-tip bars on the back of my wheelchair. These have very small, castor sized wheels on them.
Lynne

[Ellie]

As Terry said, there are different types of wheelchairs - mid wheel drive, rear wheel drive and front wheel drive wheelchairs, all with their own pros and cons.

The most popular neuro chair seems to be the Salsa Mini, which has mid wheel drive, so is great for indoors as it can turn in very small spaces but may not be the best for kerb assaults nor soft grass.

The other popular neuro chair is an Invacare, which is rear wheel drive and has a larger turning circle than a mid wheel drive, so may require furniture moving in the house if a room is small, or a 5-point turn in a tight hallway They can be better at obstacles but, Lynne you're spot on, steps etc need a bit of speed to get over. Rear wheel drives tend to have a higher max speed than mid wheels, but they're rear heavy and it can be unnerving going up a steep slope!! My chair is rear wheel drive.

Best of all for climbing kerbs/steps is a front wheel drive but these seem to be rarely provided and are expensive - I'd love to hear if anyone has one??

Keep practising Lynne, you've a great attitude and knowledge of how to drive from your career.

Love Ellie.

[Terry]

Hi Lynne;

Don't worry about offending me, I will always PM you if I think something is wrong before I bite your head off. LOL

The wheelchair that I normally use has the big wheels at the front but they are not huge. I have another chair with bigger rear wheels and smaller front ones but that has anti tip, wheelie wheels out the back stopping you going up anything higher than a inch.

Most wheelchairs supplied today seem to have their big wheels in the middle with smaller wheels at the front and back.

So there are many different types of chairs, which is why I said that anyone should speak to the wheelchair services about instruction before trying anything like that.

Also you like me have a good prospective on how things are and angles etc. Not all people are built that way, some can even spell.

My original wheelchair services chair did have the big wheels at the back and they said that they could fit a curb climber on the front of it if I needed it. I think that it's a rocker thing that lifts the front wheels and goes between the foot rests but this only fits certain wheelchairs.

Like your idea about speed, riding a motor bike, if your accelerate it gets more stable, only trouble with that is you can't keep accelerating.

Love Terry

[Lynne K]

Hi Terry, I agree to not go down forwards some dropped kerbs but I'm not sure that I'd even manage a 2 inch kerb forwards. It may be wheelchairs design dependant how they manage to go up forwards or down backwards various height kerbs. I have big fixed position back wheels and much smaller revolving front wheels. But doesn't everybody's wheelchair have this set up? When I first tried forwards down one inch dropped kerbs it was hard until I cottoned on that going a bit faster sorted it. Similarly it took practice going up forwards 4 inch kerbs. I did ground a couple of times. One time was a lack of enough speed issue and the other time I wasn't square on to the kerb. I was lucky not to tip over sideways. I practiced with the wheelchair services lady and got it eventually. When going up a 4 inch kerb getting a brisk walking pace in your chair after you line up square to the kerb a couple of feet away from it. Keep the speed constant as you bump up the kerb. Once all wheels are on the kerb take off the speed so you don't bang into the wall or fence in front of you, and drive on your way at the appropriate speed. Terry, is the difficulties you describe the result of a lack of guided practice, or our different wheelchair designs? Please don't be offended. I hope that our discussion helps other wheelchair users . Lynne

[Terry]

A word of extreme caution, everyone,

Don't concider going down drops of more than two inches unless you have been showed how to by wheelchair services in that specific wheelchair. Mine would ground out going backwards even on a two inch drop. Also as Lynne says, the importantance of being absolutely square to the curb can't be over enthersised.

Love Terry

[Lynne K]

Thanks Debbie x

[Deb]

Thank you so much for your useful tips, Lynne.

I never had any lessons when I got my powerchair so I have been ultra cautious around kerbs and drop downs.

Happy shopping .. it's so good to do things independently, where possible. I do find supermarket shopping in my powerchair funny, however. I send hubby off and then well meaning and helpful people reach things down for me that I don't really want so we end up putting everything back discreetly!

Thanks Lynne and good luck everyone,
Love Debbie x

[Kayleigh]

Thanks Lynne. Your advice is very useful. Love Kayleigh x

[Lynne K]

Kayleigh, you have to go backwards down a 2, 3 or 4 inch kerb. The big back wheels do the job safely so long as you are perfectly square on to the kerb and go as slow as you can, just about moving. Forwards only for dropped kerbs and lots of those are about 1inch. I was warned, and pass on to all to never attempt a dropped kerb that is not made correctly or is faulty ie one side higher than the other else we could tip over. It'd be better to find the next, go back to the previous or come off a nearby straight kerb backwards (never a curved one up or down) so long as it's 4 inches or less. Good luck everyone. Lynne

[Kayleigh]

That's great Lynne - well done! Its wonderful that you can tackle all those kerbs confidently.

I only use low dropdowns rather than attempting kerbs - but I am impressed that you have the ability to go backwards down kerbs.

I hope you enjoy getting out and about in your powerchair and you enjoy your retail therapy in Asda.

Love
Kayleigh x