subject: Electric Powerchair - Speed Daemon Or Socializing Tool? [print this page] I was leaning back in my seat on a hot and sunny spring afternoon, enjoying cup coffee. At the Ventura Starbucks patio, a woman on her electric powerchair moved about swiftly between the chairs and the tables. The people were waiting on the acoustic guitar performance. The woman in her electric powerchair was talking to the people who she stopped at. It really seems not to be difficult to strike a conversation when you have a mobility scooter. You simply drop by a table where someone else sits, usually by themselves, and start a conversation with "Excuse me, just wanted to catch a sun ray here..." You are bringing your own seat with you. Electric powerchair seems to be an impressive small talk starter!
I turned my head and noticed a man in a regular wheelchair being push-driven out of the bookstore. Somebody who seemed his relative or guardian was holding his wheelchair by the handles and steering the man's wheelchair to the exit. It has stricken me: Two mobility challenged people, two completely opposite experiences!
The driving the electric powerchair spoke with a smile in her voice. She seemed easy to strike a conversation with. The man in the wheelchair had a face that had just about no expression on it. He seemed quite lifeless when compared with the woman.
What was the difference between the two? Was it that the lady was powering around on her own and the man in the wheelchair had to be pushed? Is this why he seemed lifeless? This is what I thought anyways. I asked myself, what would I do if I couldn't move my legs for some reason? It would probably be difficult to adjust. I would probably purchase an electric powerchair. It appears so easy to move around. The acceleration is quick and the thing stops on a dime too.
I suddenly started noticing there were many people motoring around on their powerchairs everywhere. I checked online and I noticed a plethora of sites selling powerchairs and powerchair accessories such as powerchair carriers. The power wheelchairs, mobility scooter lifts and carriers industry seems to be booming online and putting millions of people on s, motoring around, taking care of their business. I noticed that our cities are fully ready for mobility scooters. The sidewalks have ramps enabling scooters to drive easily across the pedestrian crossings. Our buses have ramps that extend out of the bus and provide a bridge that can enable a mobility scooter driver to ride a bus easily and effortlessly.
I even found that, on flat land, electric powerchair can be much faster moving than the pedestrians. A noticeable speed advantage of the "mobility challenged" over regular pedestrians! A speed daemon and a socializing tool in one!
