Journal of IiME Volume 2 Issue 2 www.investinme.org Wheelchair Use and Attitudes By Sue Pearkes There is a message which needs to be publicised about wheelchairs, to the three groups of people involved: the medical professions, the disabled community, and the able-bodied population at large. Emotional Overtones For some extraordinary reason (historical, perhaps?) there is an emotional subtext attached to wheelchairs. The able-bodied population tend to avoid or ignore them, possibly motivated by fear that they might “catch” disability; wheelchairs make the ablebodied uncomfortable, and they fear the possibility of ending up “in-a-wheelchair” (all one word). There is also the feeling that if one starts using a wheelchair, one has “given up”—one should fight to the utmost to keep out of the wheelchair, regardless of the pain, discomfort and curtailing of activities that one experiences as a result. The disabled community is also affected by this attitude—those who have been able-bodied will tend to have the same fears as ablebodied people, and those who have always been disabled will be influenced subconsciously by the existing negative attitudes of the able-bodied population. There is also the feeling that if one starts using a wheelchair, one has “given up”—one should fight to the utmost to keep out of the wheelchair, regardless of the pain, discomfort and curtailing of activities that one experiences Invest in ME (Charity Nr. 1114035) Sue Pearkes has had Myalgic Encephalomyelitis since January 2007 and has been using a wheelchair for about a year. as a result. (I consider “giving up” and “acceptance” to be two totally different concepts, incidentally.) I have a friend with cerebral palsy who, with advancing years, started to suffer badly with arthritis, and when he finally “gave in” and started using a wheelchair, found that it transformed his life, and he wished he had started using it years ago. These attitudes are not helped by the medical professionals who, being human beings, will also often be influenced by these negative attitudes, having lived in the ablebodied community all their lives, before, during and after qualifying in their professions (I am including nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists etc. in “medical professions”). As professionals, they might be expected to help to improve the situation, but in actual fact they perpetuate and reinforce it. They may be conditioned to see wheelchairs as a symbol of failure to achieve “healing” in their patients, and would therefore be very reluctant to promote something which they subconsciously believe shows them in a negative light. While they may need to warn people of the dangers of over-use of a wheelchair (muscle atrophy etc.), they should credit their patients with enough commonsense to use the wheelchair in a responsible way. They should ensure the right balance between general health and increased mobility; not indulging in a blanket rejection of wheelchairs, but considering the (continued on page 49) Page 48/74
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