Wheelchairs - Tumblr Posts
If you can't stand up- Stand out (Izzy Wheels) by Ailbhe Keane
Image ID: Six GIF's of the the same wheelchair with a different cover on the sides- All designed by Izzy Wheels.
GIF one: The same person spins their wheelchair around, one wheel in pink with a cute animal pattern and the other has the same pattern but in yellow
GIF two: A person does a small dance on their wheelchair, but drops their arm to the side. Their wheelchair has a green, blue, yellow and purple leaf pattern on it
GIF three: The person tils their wheelchair which now has a blue cover on it.
GIF four: The person is dancing, their wheelchair cover is now a redish pink flower with multimple other colors behind it
GIF five: The person moves their wheelchair across the screen, a blue dog now as their wheel cover
GIF six: The person is dancing, their wheel cover now abstract rainbow art
It’s here !! The guide for two-legged people who don’t know how to draw wheelchairs !!! 7 pages of infodump ! Disclaimer : I don’t know everything, I have one (1) experience of wheelchair user who used both bad and good chairs, and I share what I learned.
Image description :
1) Calvin in his wheelchair saying “yo” under a huge title “how to draw manual wheelchairs properly by Calvin Arium, a wheelchair user comic artist”.
2) A character says “my character self propels in a chair that was outdated in 1970 lol” Calvin says “so it looks like you two legged people don’t know the difference between an hospital chair and a chair made to be independant” an arrow point the crapppy chair, saying “we never want to see this again”
a bubble says “the hospital chair is extremely unpractical, tough considering it’s cheaper than a good custom chair a lot of us have only this”
3) a character hurt himself trying to reach the wheels of the hospital chair. Several arrows point why the chair is unpractical : “high backrest restrain shoulders movement” “huge armrest restrains wheel access” “separated footrest : amovible, cheap, bulky” “x structure, foldable but heavy” “huge front casters for stability” “heavy wheels”
4) Several arrows point an active wheelchair (the KSL by Küshall) : “usually no armrest” “a low backrest allow more movement” “light, design, ferning expersive” “special cushion to avoind injuries” “knee angle is usually 90°” “one single piece of frame, sometimes entirely welded” “weight : from 4 to 10kg” “often rigid” “center of the wheel is the center of gravity” “higher quality wheels : less spikes”
5) A hand grab different parts of the wheel, pushing harder in the second half. Bubbles says “some have gloves, some don’t. The hand must grab the biggest area possible. Less movement = more energy. This is a common but not only way to push.Calvin is on his back wheels, rolling on grass and dirt bubble says “popping a wheelie is when a wheelchair user rolls on their back wheels to roll on every complicated surface.
6) several drawings illustrate the folding frame, the ergonomic but rigid and expensive backrest, the separated footrest (only for folding frame), the handles, the folding handles, athe amovibles handles, or no handles, the cool fancy loopwheels, the pretty custom colors
7) More Features ! The fancy rigid-foldable frame, the anti tippers (sometimes used by beginners), the motorization (wheels, smart drive) when propelling yourself is difficult Calvin says “and now vroom vroom motherfuckers”
It’s here !! The guide for two-legged people who don’t know how to draw wheelchairs !!! 7 pages of infodump ! Disclaimer : I don’t know everything, I have one (1) experience of wheelchair user who used both bad and good chairs, and I share what I learned.
Image description :
1) Calvin in his wheelchair saying “yo” under a huge title “how to draw manual wheelchairs properly by Calvin Arium, a wheelchair user comic artist”.
2) A character says “my character self propels in a chair that was outdated in 1970 lol” Calvin says “so it looks like you two legged people don’t know the difference between an hospital chair and a chair made to be independant” an arrow point the crapppy chair, saying “we never want to see this again”
a bubble says “the hospital chair is extremely unpractical, tough considering it’s cheaper than a good custom chair a lot of us have only this”
3) a character hurt himself trying to reach the wheels of the hospital chair. Several arrows point why the chair is unpractical : “high backrest restrain shoulders movement” “huge armrest restrains wheel access” “separated footrest : amovible, cheap, bulky” “x structure, foldable but heavy” “huge front casters for stability” “heavy wheels”
4) Several arrows point an active wheelchair (the KSL by Küshall) : “usually no armrest” “a low backrest allow more movement” “light, design, ferning expersive” “special cushion to avoind injuries” “knee angle is usually 90°” “one single piece of frame, sometimes entirely welded” “weight : from 4 to 10kg” “often rigid” “center of the wheel is the center of gravity” “higher quality wheels : less spikes”
5) A hand grab different parts of the wheel, pushing harder in the second half. Bubbles says “some have gloves, some don’t. The hand must grab the biggest area possible. Less movement = more energy. This is a common but not only way to push.Calvin is on his back wheels, rolling on grass and dirt bubble says “popping a wheelie is when a wheelchair user rolls on their back wheels to roll on every complicated surface.
6) several drawings illustrate the folding frame, the ergonomic but rigid and expensive backrest, the separated footrest (only for folding frame), the handles, the folding handles, athe amovibles handles, or no handles, the cool fancy loopwheels, the pretty custom colors
7) More Features ! The fancy rigid-foldable frame, the anti tippers (sometimes used by beginners), the motorization (wheels, smart drive) when propelling yourself is difficult Calvin says “and now vroom vroom motherfuckers”
A man has built Ogo, a hands-free wheelchair for his paraplegic friend (video)
https://twitter.com/tommysantelli
Ok so at this point I've had two people roll up to me in manual wheelchairs, well, one of them was somebody pushing somebody who was nonverbal at the time, but it still counts. They asked me why I had zip ties around my tires.
It's winter where I'm living and we have really bad snow. And the snow plow people are really bad at their jobs probably because there aren't snow plow people who clean sidewalks. As a solution I got to thinking about how I could increase the traction on my wheels. And the most redneck thing I could think of was taking a bunch of zip ties and tying them around my wheels. They last surprisingly long, and work surprisingly well. It's basically the same premise as chains for your tires during the winter.
I chose to space them out pretty evenly so there's about one for every spoke. You could probably do more or less depending on how many you want and how much traction you get but I wouldn't go more than three per spoke. I realize that it's a bit later in the winter, and I probably should have made a post about this sooner, but I came up with it about a week ago. So please share this, even if you're not disabled, because there are tons of people I know who are stuck in their houses because they can't get around in the snow. A pack of zip ties costs about $5, which compared to $200 knobby snow tires is a big save, and if you want to invest you could get colored zip ties.
See, the problem with people who aren’t in wheelchairs writing about and/or drawing people who are in (manual) wheelchairs is that the people who aren’t in wheelchairs tend to think that there’s only like four movements that you do in a wheelchair. You can either push forward, push backwards, turn left, or turn right. And the characters do it all while sitting up straight or bending forward so that their noses touch their knees.
But the amount of motions that I go through on a daily basis are actually amazing. And the body language…you could write an entire book on the body language of someone in a wheelchair.
Like right now, I’m more relaxed, so I’m slouching slightly. I’ve got my right foot on its footrest and the left foot on the ground. Every so often, as I stop to think of something to say, I’ll push with my left foot to rock the chair slightly.
But usually, I sit mostly upright with my upper-half slightly leaned forward. When I’m wheeling across the campus, especially if I have somewhere that I need to be, I’ll lean and shift my weight in whichever direction it is that I’m going. It helps make the wheelchair glide that much more smoothly. How far/dramatically I lean depends on how fast I’m going, the terrain, if there’s a turn, etc.
Plus people who don’t use wheelchairs don’t understand the relationship between grabbing the wheels, pushing, and the chair moving. Like I’ve seen things written or have seen people try to use a chair where the character/that person grabs the wheel every single second and never lets go to save their lives. Which isn’t right. The key is to do long, strong, pushes that allow you to move several feet before repeating. I can usually get about ten feet in before I have to push again. It’s kind of like riding a scooter. You don’t always need to push. You push, then ride, then push, then ride, etc.
And because of this, despite what many people think, people in wheelchairs can actually multitask. I’ve carried Starbucks drinks across the campus without spilling a single drop. Because it’s possible to wheel one-handed (despite what most people think), especially when you shift your weight. And if I need to alternate between pushing both wheels, I’ll just swap hands during the ‘glide’ time.
I’ve also noticed that people who don’t use wheelchairs, for some reason, have no idea how to turn a wheelchair. It’s the funniest thing. Like I see it written or, again, have seen people ‘try’ a wheelchair where they’re reaching across their bodies to try to grab one wheel and push or they try to push both wheels at the same time and don’t understand. (For the record, you pull back a wheel and push a wheel. The direction that you’re going is the side that you pull back.)
Back to body language. Again, no idea why most people think that we always sit upright and nothing else. Maybe when I’m in meetings or other formal settings, but most of the time, I do slightly slouch/lean. As for the hands…A lot of writers put the wheelchair user’s hands on the armrests but the truth is, most armrests sit too far back to actually put your hands on. There are times when I’ll put my elbows on the edges of the armrests and will put my hands between my legs. Note: Not on my lap. That’s another thing that writers do but putting your hands in your lap is actually not a natural thing to do when you’re in a wheelchair, due to the angle that you’re sitting and the armrests. Most of the time, I’ll just sort of let my arms loosely fall on either side of the chair, so that my hands are next to my wheels but not grabbing them. That’s another form of body language. I’ve talked to a few people who have done it and I do it myself. If I’m ever anxious or in a situation where I want to leave for one reason or another, I will usually grip my handrims - one hand near the front , one hand near the back. And if I’m really nervous, you’ll find me leaning further and further into the chair, running my hands along the handrims.
Also, on a related subject - a character’s legs should usually be at 90 degree angles, the cushion should come to about their knees, and the armrests should come to about their elbows. You can always tell that an actor is not a wheelchair user when their wheelchair isn’t designed to their dimensions. (Their knees are usually inches away from the seats and are up at an angle, the armrests are too high, etc.) Plus they don’t know how to drive the chair.
Let’s see, what else? Only certain bags can go on the back of the chair without scraping against the wheels, so, no, your teenagers in wheelchairs can’t put their big, stylish, purses on the back. We don’t always use gloves since most gloves actually aren’t that helpful (as stated above, wheeling is a very fluid motion and gloves tend to constrict movements). Height differences are always a thing to remember. If you’re going for the “oh no, my wheelchair is broken” trope, nobody really has ‘flat’ tires anymore thanks to the new material for the wheels but it is possible to have things break off. We use the environment a lot. I always push off of walls or grab onto corners or kick off of the floor etc. Wheelchair parkour should really become a thing.
This is all of the physical things to think about. I could write a thesis on the emotional treatment of your characters with disabilities. But for now, I think that I’ll stop here. For my followers in wheelchairs, is there anything that I left out?
Also why isn’t wheelchair parkour a thing? Somebody make wheelchair parkour a thing.
A guide to designing wheelchair using characters!
I hope this helps anyone who's trying to design their oc using a wheelchair, it's not a complete guide but I tried my best! deffo do more research if you're writing them as a character
Hey! So I’m a fairly new ambulatory wheelchair user with EDS writing about a character who is also an ambulatory wheelchair user. I feel like I keep using the same words over and over to portray movement though (rolled, propelled, “pushed themself,” etc) so I would love to hear if you have any more ideas for alternatives! I’ll take as many as you’ve got!
Thank you!!!
Hello dearest asker!
This is the list that we have provided over time plus others:
Moved/Moves
Went
Wheeled
Rolled
Pushed
Sped/Spun
Propelled
Pulled (by a service animal etc)
Maneuvered
Turn/Turned
Scoot/scooted
Travel/traveled
Rock/rocked
Drove
Crossed
Cut
Stroll/Strolled
Navigated
Drift/Drifted
Swung/swinged
Popped ("Popped up their wheels/chair" to get over a surface etc)
Tip/tipped (Tipped themselves over something etc)
Advanced
Migrate/migrated
Inched
Zoomed
Rushed
Hurried
Raced
Skid
Ram/Rammed
Roamed
Shift/Shifted
Slid (In rainy or icy weather)
Followed
Circled
And a lot of many other verbs that would take me a long time to list! Consider what type of wheelchair the person has, as mention Here. And also how the person moves or places their hands can be another detail to include.
If the actual definition of the verb doesn't involve the specific actions of one or two lower extremities (ex. walk, run, stepped, trot, stride) then it's otherwise good to use! Other words like Moseyed, sauntered, paced, I think depends on the writer. A particularly mischievous character may saunter of a manner in their wheelchair. And a character who is nervous would pace—although possibly tiring—back and forth. And Moseyed, well, I just particularly like this word—but, a character could mosey on by in a certain fashion. Happy writing!
(last ask about verb terminology on wheelchairs per this post we made about it)
~ Mod Virus 🌸
Wheel-talk
I'm flaring, severely. Everything hurts, the world is spinning, nausea is overwhelming, and I'm dizzy from blood loss, along with a myriad of other things: it's not fun. But I went to a museum with mum today, and instead of being stubborn and walking it on a cane, asked if they had a wheelchair that I could borrow.
It was amazing.
As embarrassing as it is to be a teen in a wheelchair (I got some stares and commentary from strangers), it was so freeing. Instead of hobbling around, leaning on things and trying not to faint, I could explore. Look at things. Read. Do wheelies (much to my mother's horror). Spin around and move at a speed I hadn't in years, as my body usually wouldn't let me, and I wasn't tied to leaning against walls and feeling sick.
and I had energy left over to complete chores.
I wouldn't be able to visit a museum, or for that matter.. anywhere, during a flare. But today? Because I had wheels? It was amazing.
It was nice having that freedom. So much so I talked to my mother and asked if we could discuss getting a wheelchair for when the pain is bad…
That went less well.
// slight ableist talk //
She doesn't want me relying on it to get around. She doesn't want me to rely on wheels to get around because she doesn't want me being bed bound, to lose muscle or something like that.
I understand where she's coming from, but… it's so frustrating when that was the first time I felt good in weeks… and having that option might actually give me more time to do things I enjoy.
but she doesn't want me being “that disabled”
a cane is bad enough in her eyes
(and don't get me started on how my father would react if he knew I'd used a wheelchair)
and I don't know what to do...
help?
"Your first set of four wheels should've been a car, not a wheelchair" ~ our mother she's not wrong, and that's the shit bit
sending love to my fellow disabled teens... it's hard
Why do people think it's tragic when you use mobility aids? Can't you see that this is giving me freedom, that it's giving me my life back, that without it, I wouldn't be present? Let alone functional???
how can't you see this
it's giving me my life back.
Even when it's short term mobility aids like crutches for a broken bone, it's still giving freedom... it's allowing the bone to heal and for you to live as usual...
let alone people with chronic pain, paralysis, and long term injuries!
without them, I wouldn't be here!
how can't you see that is a good thing!?!? 😭😭
Social experiment: at some point in their lives every single able-bodied person should be put in a wheelchair, challenged to do the groceries and travel on a bus to do so (including sloped footpaths, busy places, and throw some looks in etc)
It'd make everyone so much more sympathetic to disability and to those who have to use chairs on the daily.
Sincerely,
I've been in a chair in public for 20 minutes and I've already had several inappropriate comments and many uncomfortable and sympathetic stares, people grabbing my handlebars...and a "fucking cripples" from a 13 (ish) year old when the bus driver asked him to move from the disabled seating..
yeah, shoutout to wheelchair users, y'all are awesome and underappreciated...but seriously everyone should have to try this at least once.
ah, welcome, calluses on my hands from using a wheelchair
feeling particularly disabled today
the spoon drawer is empty
the forks are gone too
i have sporks.. kinda bad at being a fork, and kinda bad at being a spoon, but good for impaling ableism
Does anyone have any suggestions for flying with a wheelchair, disabilities and a severe disassociative disorder (possibly flying international).
Literally anything welcome, if we're going I'm planning on taking noise cancelling headphones and my hidden disabilities lanyard, and making sure it's all in my booking info, but man am I scareddd
I keep hearing hell stories of people's wheelchairs getting absolutely battered, and broken in transit and I'm a little worried about mine 🫠 it's a folding manual model if that changes anything :)
Thanks in advance!
BOO hey girlypops, I'm back
