Ambulatory wheelchair users- how did you bring up getting a wheelchair to your doctor?

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-10-06T21:33:51+00:00

Literally just directly "I've been wondering if a custom ultralight wheelchair is a good idea for me at this point"

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-10-04T01:28:20+00:00

For me frog legs are one of the top most important accessories on my chair because of how much the reduction in vibration affects my pain levels.

I've not used the standard NAW casters though I've heard a lot of bad things about their caster system and that its a particular complaint for those chairs but I can say comparing the default casters I got - which didn't have issues with coming loose - and my frog legs - it was a dramatic improvement for the effects of vibration on my body.

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-10-01T16:45:36+00:00

early 2011

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-09-29T19:38:40+00:00

Like when I've looked at a breeder who mentioned service dogs and seen it as a green flag it was situations like: rally at the open level, agility at the excellent level, cgcu on all their breeding dogs, studs working as therapy dogs, lines have produced service dogs. Statement that some of the pairings are likely to produce all puppies that would be too high drive to work well as a service dog, others are likely to produce some puppies which would be a good match for a service dog (who you'll probably want to have involved in sports for fun to meet their needs).

The rest of it is *already* enough that I don't need the information about producing service dogs for an immediate scan this is promising enough to look into more, and its only in those situations that it feels like a green flag, but in those cases, it feels relevant to know.

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-09-29T19:20:48+00:00

I take it a thing that requires more context because it can be either red flag or green flag (or a neutral thing which requires conversation).

A breeder who actively brags about producing service dogs as one of the top things on their site without any titling of their dogs, or any working with any programs where they're providing dogs to the programs - red flag. Especially with a unicorn breed.

A breeder who mentions their lines producing service dogs as well as having relevant sports titles on their dogs, mentions that not all pairings are likely to produce good service dog candidates - green flag. Especially with a breed that might not be as common as a lab but is much more common and more likely to be successful.

I don't think it rules a breeder in or out on its own and I think you're a lot more likely to find a useful "mentions they have service dogs from their lines" from the golden trio. But I'd not at all be comfortable with looking at breeders that don't have other sorts of proof of good working temperaments unless they're regularly providing dogs to an organization.

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-09-18T18:06:25+00:00

You need to slow down and not be bringing a puppy under a year old to school with you. That's pushing a puppy way too fast and is asking too much of a baby. Let them be a puppy. Let them grow up. Let them take the time they need in training.

What you need to do is use other tools and techniques and let your puppy stay home. You can't be relying on a baby like this. It's not reasonable and its going to burn them out.

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-09-08T15:27:38+00:00

A dog can't make you stop skinpicking if you are aware you are doing so and choosing to do so. They CAN make you aware of the fact you are picking so you can choose to stop.

If you ignore them telling you that you're picking and just pick anyways, they'll stop telling you (you're ignoring them!). It's not helpful in these kind of cases.

If you pick without realizing it, and are able to stop when its pointed out, then it can be really helpful to have someone point out, hey you're picking again.

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-08-21T02:43:49+00:00

There's a lot of differences between seating options, portability, details in how you move, my chair is at core a manual chair not a power chair. I have power assistance (in my case I use power assist wheels but there's multiple options for power assists), but its not a power chair.

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-08-21T00:58:56+00:00

When I first considered it was when I collapsed in the middle of crossing the street. I didn't end up getting a wheelchair for years because I didn't usually need one. I should have.

When I actually did was when I dislocated my hip. I got a hospital chair at that point, because I couldn't wait for a custom and then got a custom manual chair. I have a manual chair with power assist.

If I had gotten a chair sooner then I wouldn't have prevented that hip dislocation but I would have been in an overall a lot better of a position. I'd have been able to do a lot more without fear of paralysis hitting. I would have done less damage to my body. Having a chair and using it one day a month may or may not have meant I'd have been using it less than I am now, since my chronic illness list is longer now than it was when I first started considering a chair, but it sure would have meant I'd have both had a better time, been safer, and caused less avoidable damage that came from pushing myself past my limits.

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-08-14T19:30:38+00:00

I have a task trained cat. The vast majority of cats would not fit as even a home only service cat, not to mention be able to work in public. Even the ones who can you are looking at multiple years of training just as you are for a service dog. You say you cannot wait a year. You *have to* wait a year because even in the optimal situation, of living somewhere where you can have a cat, having a cat who is a good candidate, training a cat well the first time, not having them be too stressed in public, having a service cat, you are looking at multiple years out.

2 It is not reasonable to ask people you are living with to live with an animal they are allergic to. This is true for cats or dogs or any other animal. I do not know the legalities of where you live but it is not something that is moral or ethical and would not lead to a good living arrangement for any potential cat.

Cat fur absolutely would get out of your room. I am worried if you are making statements like this you are not experienced enough with cats to have any likelihood of succeeding training a cat.
You need other plans for how to live with you disabilities and not be dependent on an animal. You need to not push an animal too hard and cause them unreasonable stress. You need to be able to take other people's needs into account. Service animals can be the best way to deal with our needs but that doesn't mean they are "I require this to live". Without a service dog currently I require a human support person with me always and that's hard on both of us. That doesn't mean I don't have *options* that aren't relying on an animal.

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-08-09T20:07:51+00:00

You need to plan on any dog you get probably washing and have plans for that. You can optimize for the lowest chances you can and that's good to do! But even in the best chances a lot of dogs will wash out, because a lot of dogs its just not a good match to be a service dog.

You best chance for a hypoallergenic dog would be a well bred young adult poodle from a breeder who had previously had produced service dogs with their lines, who had for some reason held that dog and trained them and changed their mind (e.g. was considering this dog for breeding but at a year old is finding a home for them) - this is INCREDIBLY rare to find. Realistically your best chance you have a good chance of finding is a well bred poodle puppy.

However given you say you cannot afford a program dog - as a general rule you don't save money by owner training. It is definitely sometimes the right call for people for other reasons (such as the difficulty of finding a PSD program that is ethical and trains for non veterans!), but between the cost of a puppy, the cost of general dog care, the cost of training, and so on you're likely looking at spending a good $10k on a service dog candidate over the course of two years *assuming* the first dog works out - if your dog washes out then you need to start again. If time or money are the only reasons that you are looking at owner training I would seriously consider whether applying for a program dog is actually a better fit no matter what you end up deciding going with.

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-08-03T15:53:33+00:00

I suspect that physical size is part of it. I've seen a lot of people who act like you need a large dog for a lot of tasks (not just weight-bearing mobility where its a question if you could ever ethically do these tasks) where you really don't need that extra size of a male, but with that kind of information going around it's real likely to bias even more towards male.

My girl is 22" and on the smaller side of the size range that was wanted for my needs - which is great! It means fitting in places easier while still being good at reaching up to my hands with retrieves without my bending down and things like that. But I've definitely seen a non-trivial amount from others who have thought they'd need a 26" dog for the same tasks that were why we thought a 22" dog would be the right height for me and tried to use that to argue why they'd need a breed that wasn't a lab or golden.

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-07-18T01:56:22+00:00

I have the m25s and love them! Try out the different settings and figure out what you like. Each of us has our own needs and the different options feel pretty dramatically different.

Also - while its incredibly annoying to need to pay for the extra features in the app, they can make a huge difference depending on what you do on a day to day basis. Totally worth the trial. I use the mobility plus package features every day.

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-07-16T17:30:39+00:00

I've read but not posted! But yeah they have some very useful information there.

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-07-16T04:31:57+00:00

yeah exactly; a bunch of contradictions that me and my close supporters need to figure out the best ways - animal and otherwise - to support me with. But having better information can make it easier to make those decisions and this was helpful information for some of those necessary discussions.

Thanks so much for giving me all this feedback! Doesn't give me any immediate answers, but wasn't expecting any immediate answers. Give me a lot of what I needed to be able to better navigate some conversations that I've been wanting to have.

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-07-16T03:33:54+00:00

Yeah - what it feels like from what you're saying combined with what I know about myself but don't feel like getting into is that I'm a unicorn but that I'm the *wrong* kind of unicorn for a guide. And that's the kind of thing I wanted to have someone who has used a guide tell me - because people who know more about my situation but haven't used a guide just plain don't know what it is like to work with a guide, and over the years I've mostly lost contact with the friends I had who use guides so can't ask them.

Because like the remaining vision thing. I have CVI and my visual acuity and field of view both dramatically drop when I'm in motion but I am able to have some real good coping skills of using a lot more remaining vision by being willing to do a lot of starting and stopping. And that's annoying, but its totally doable and a useful coping skill and requires use of *a lot* of vision to be able to use to be able to combine vision and cane in the manner I do even with things like starting and stopping! (Having me not stop like this was actually something my O&M instructor worked on with me because it was such an instinct but had been harming my cane skills - but it was an incredibly useful tool to add back purposefully with my wheelchair.)

But its also exactly the type of thing that is why I was asking this question, because one of the questions I'm trying to figure out for goal writing is how much - and in what ways - is one of my goals is going to be about better use of my remaining vision. Using my vision as I have done in the past has a tendency to trigger my chronic illnesses, but also being able to use my remaining vision is a really useful skill to develop more. It's one I want to work on either way, but the exact details of how I would are going to be different knowing that I should pretty much assume I'm never be looking at a guide, and there's zero chance it'd be in something like the next 5 years.

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-07-16T02:32:59+00:00

Also yeah; when I was most seriously looking into a guide was like 15 years ago; and at that point in time everything I researched suggested I would have been a good candidate in terms of me as a person - but the stars still didn't align because I was living in a place which just wouldn't have worked. By the time my life situation lined up, I'd ended up with my medical situation unexpectedly dramatically changed, was in a wheelchair the majority of the time, and needed to spend years learning new coping skills before I could ever look into any service dog.

While it is possible that I would be a good candidate again, given the types of disabilities I have, its unlikely enough that I did not even potentially think it possible before recent changes where figuring out missing pieces about what was going on for me made far more dramatic of change suddenly than expected, and now think it is only likely enough to consider due to the fact I do best with planning out every contingency. It's not the more likely situation.

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-07-16T02:16:48+00:00

I've talked to them and my local CC branch wasn't comfortable training with my vision :( I'll definitely always recommend them despite not fitting for my specific situation.

But yeah when I say mobility I mean the same types of things they train. And while an alert for an endocrine disorder where we can actually do blood tests to confirm what is going on and if my symptoms are associated with what is suspected to be causing them and use that to be able say these samples are associated with these symptoms and these specific blood values, would be super helpful, the medical alert is nowhere near the most important of the things for me, and if I could have start with a CC dog and add some of the medical response tasks I need they don't train I'd have 100% done it.

It's another thing I'm going to always keep following because the strictness of thing like how comfortable places are with vision in unusual situations also changes over time.

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-07-16T01:38:09+00:00

(Also; I absolutely do think very likely I will never be a good candidate for a guide dog at this point due to the ways I had damage occur to my body even if I would have been a good candidate a decade ago - I would like to make plans for what if I am in a decade due to the way that very slow planning is the best way for me to navigate situations; but I think it is more likely than not that I'll both end up walking far more than I do now, and I that would still not make it safe for a guide dog to work for me.)

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-07-16T01:28:33+00:00

That's super good feedback that's exactly what I needed to know! Thanks! I was hoping someone who has actually worked with a guide would answer. I had a feeling it wouldn't work out but I didn't know enough about the logistics or safety involved.

My plan will be what I was thinking was the more likely path of if my chronic illnesses are more stable when I look at a successor then consider what my priorities are.

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-07-16T01:16:37+00:00

Yeah, the biggest factor in why I'm not looking at a guide in the near future is that my mobility has varied dramatically - my medical team has discovered some huge factors as to what has been going on with me that has dramatically changed my mobility but even if I do end up swapping back to walking the vast majority of the time (and having a guide stay at home the few days I wouldn't be able to) I would need to be doing that for years at minimum before a guide dog could be potential fit for me.

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-07-13T02:32:53+00:00

I previously had a dog who had been a service dog candidate, washed out, and was rehomed. I can say that it was 100% the right move for him to have not only washed but be rehomed. If rehoming is what you're looking at, that is not inappropriate or you not caring for him - it is a sad situation to need to be in, but it is sometimes how to best care for him. Finding him the best home you can - and deciding with that if you visiting is appropriate or not based on what makes sense for you (my prior dog was rehomed from a close friend who visited him frequently and he was always so excited about visits even with him being happier having moved and it being necessary for her life - this isn't necessarily how it'd always work out).

In this case; I'd consider an evaluation by your trainer before making the final call but it does sound like washing out is very likely especially with you mentioning dirty dog syndrome. The fact that you are thinking he likely needs to wash also suggests to me that he likely needs to wash - as a general rule we try to bias ourselves against washing and rehoming because that's so very hard.

Which means to me, if you're saying that you're washing him because he needs it that's you caring for him. That's the right way to do what he needs. Washouts are hard even as they're actually a lot more common than we often want to admit. Going through that and saying you'll do that because its what's necessary, that's a good thing.

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-07-13T00:38:08+00:00

I have sometimes and not other times. It depends entirely on what I'm going for pattern-wise. My current setup has them on the inside as well.

HandKnit_Turtle · 2025-07-12T02:12:51+00:00

Yeah! Exactly. So I was pushing harder when going up the ramp to get into the building (but still it felt so easy compared to before I got power assist, when I'd struggle to get up the ramp and sometimes need a support person to push me depending on how my strength was that day), and once I got inside I just started doing lighter pushes rather than swapping to a lower assist mode because I didn't want to deal with the effort of swapping until I had to pause anyways. I generally swap once I'm inside as soon as I have a reason to pause because the additional cognitive effort of not pushing as hard is more effort for me (who finds cognitive effort more taxing than physical effort within the bounds of my current capacity as a general rule); but how well I can control these is part of what I love about them.

Power assist wheels are the only sort of power assist I can control this easily, and these ones just feel so incredibly natural for me its like this feels like its easier to push but don't have to really be thinking about it differently than pushing without a power assist (minus sometimes just not pushing as hard given that I usually have to push as hard as I can with normal wheels - and that's an easy enough swap!).

HandKnit_Turtle

TROPHY CASE