Wheel Lock problems 1

It’s late and I’m tired, but I have to write about what happened today related to my new wheelchair. The fact that it’s late and I’m tired is, of course, my own fault and totally unrelated to the new chair! I had a busy day, only about 45 minutes of which was connected to this topic. Generally I had a good day – lunch with one friend, dinner with another (Jim is out of town), a haircut, some shopping for clothes and wall paint, and from a sports shop I bought a few rolls of tape and underwrap for my wrist. I thought maybe taping my wrist would be more comfortable than splinting it. I’m just tired because I was out all day (8:30 till 8:30), in and out of the car 7 times, and came home to hungry needy cats and a pile of mail and packages to sort out.

Now I want to take a few minutes to document what happened today. Where did I leave off? I believe on Monday I noted that my new chair was in the trunk of my car because it didn’t fit into the ChairTopper, and I had an appointment for this morning.

9 AM found me at the Ability Center talking to a man named Greg who is in charge of car service. We took the chair out, played with it, assessed the problem – and his conclusion is that he doesn’t even want to try to adjust the ChairTopper until we can solve the wheel lock problem. His concern is that not only will the chair not fold enough, but that the piston of the locking pins on each side have a cable that runs over to the control lever, and when the chair folds these cable ends crash into each other – and in time will break at that point. He even thought that perhaps they were damaged already. So, if I have to change the locks anyway, might as well wait till the chair folds thinner. Greg seemed to think that if we position the locking pin higher than the axle it would work, and that makes sense to me.

So, I put in a call and left a message for the man who I’ve been in touch with at the D’s Locks shop. He called me back while I was at lunch. However Steve at D’s Locks seems to think Greg’s idea will not work, and if it was to work it would mean a specifically machined part. He made it sound like the locks won’t work on my kind of chair – so why didn’t he say so in the first place before I ordered it? I suspect he didn’t know the chair was a folding chair (that Mobility didn’t mention it because Tilite has both rigid and folding options on all models – so only one name), and the locks will work with a rigid frame. He suggested I pull out the cables each time I fold the chair, but that will only give me ½ an inch tighter fold, and I don’t really think I can do this physically easily anyway, nor do I want to. He said he might have smaller pistons, but that still would have them hitting.

I have an appointment to go see him on Friday morning to see if we can work this out. I still don’t see why they have to be installed at the same height. Off setting them would make them slide past each other, and not damage the cable.

Meanwhile the chair is staying in the trunk of my car, and I’ve been able to show it off to 3 people anyway! Consensus is that the red orange color is great. No verdict on the yellow spokes yet.



3 other items of note.

My friend at dinner gave me the name of an ADA lawyer who I might contact if I want to file a complaint about the back row seating (formerly standing room only) at the Civic Theater. So, I need to get my letter written to the San Diego Opera, and the city public works department first. That’s the process – did direct contact with the annoying facility not generate any result?

Another friend volunteered to be my regular dance partner at classes. I am so touched that she offered, and excited too. There are 3 more classes in this session, and I hope we get to all of them. I hope I’ll have my new chair too, but that may be too optimistic. After 3 classes we’ll know if this is a good idea. She says she has 2 left feet, and no idea how to dance, but I don’t care. All I need is someone willing to try, who will listen to my instructions so that I don’t get hurt, and is strong enough to do the maneuvers where she moves my chair around.

My wrist is once again feeling ok, though I do notice that if I just bump it wrong I feel a sharp pain. Imagine a very bad case of funny bone in your elbow.