I receive a post starting out this way on my Facebook timeline at least once a week. It’s always accompanied by either news about some miraculous multiple sclerosis study, or more frequently, some super-cool high-tech Iron Man-looking electronic contraption that is supposedly going to revolutionize my life as a person who can’t walk. The short videos showing paraplegics standing and wounded veterans walking look pretty amazing, but I have just one thing to say to my well-meaning friends: STOP.
Technology is a wonderful thing, and there is no question that I wouldn’t have the freedom of movement I enjoy today without my power wheelchair, electric scooter, or accessible SUV. The tools available now to quadriplegics to help them drive and individuals who have cerebral palsy to help them communicate are pretty amazing. But I want to explain why sending someone like me a video of a person riding in a wheelchair with Caterpillar treads, rolling into a modified motorcycle, or using an off-road chair that goes over rocks and tree branches isn’t likely to induce much enthusiasm.
It seems obvious that people who are nondisabled view the world differently than those of us who use mobility aids. What isn’t obvious to the nondisabled, however, are the practicalities (or lack thereof) associated with some new high-tech devices designed to either help us get around more easily, or encourage us to have more fun. Because nondisabled people don’t use mobility aids, they don’t think about things like their size, weight, maneuverability, ease of use, or transport. They just look at a few seconds of video and think, Hey, I bet Jane would get a real kick out of this! without thinking that Jane has no practical use for it, or the thousands of dollars needed to pay for it.