My greatest fear… I travel a lot for work, Recently we had a family holiday overseas. We decided that we would go to Italy and France and take my daughter to Paris Disneyland.
So they get me on the plane using a narrow “Aisle Chair” and I transfer into my seat. They then take my wheelchair and put it in the hold with the luggage.
One of my greatest fears is that my chair will get lost or damaged during the flight.
My chair is built for me, I fill out a form with my height, weight, length of my legs angle of my backrest, camber angle of the wheels, offset of the pushrims etc….
It actually “FITS” me and I will often spend 14,16,18 hours a day in it.
So if I get to my destination and it is damaged or lost I’m stuffed.
I have had a couple of chairs damaged over the years and the airline said “We will give you one of ours to use.”
That doesn’t work!….. It’s a bit like putting your grandmother’s undies on…. It just doesn’t fit.
Most people that read this don’t use a wheelchair, if your thongs pop out or if a shoe breaks a heel you can just go to your nearest shop and buy a new one.
If my wheelchair breaks or is lost there is a 10-12 week wait to get a new one built and a $5-8K cost.
So think about that next time your thong has a blowout.
