WHEELCHAIR NUMBER 10 (Blog dated 26th November 2019)

Hello everyone!!
I am super excited for Vin today, I mean ever since his 10th wheelchair arrived yesterday 😁

I had my eyes on this one for quite a while ever since I discovered it on https://www.wheelchairindia.com/Folding-Power-Wheelchair

I had been on the lookout for a power cum manual wheelchair with thick polyurethane tyres ever since we encountered the cobbled streets of Italy and most of Europe.

1) Let's talk about the choice of tyres first.
So the new rubberized wheels of folding, manual wheelchair number 9 started getting worn off within the first 3 days of our trip in Europe in 2017. It was kind of worrying and intimidating and we were extra cautious with his wheelchair henceforth as without his wheels, Vineet would be severely handicapped. And we too...
Hence the choice of thick polyurethane tyres for travel

2) Next let's talk about the choice of manual cum power wheelchair.
So last time with the manual wheelchair, it was quite exhausting for Papa to push Vineet all the time as the folding wheelchair had very high hand rests and impossible for Vineet to push himself manually. Hence the choice of a power wheelchair which would also work manually, in case the motor got defective😬😬 In the website video, a person without disability was able to use this wheelchair manually as well without any problem.However , when Vineet tried it on yesterday, the hand rests seem a bit high and we have yet to try out with Vineet on a seat cushion if his hands reach the wheel rims..

3) Next we shall talk about the folding aspect.
Although Vineet's wheelchair number 8 (Karma KP 10.3 ) is also a power wheelchair, it is not easily foldable . We have to remove the battery, then fold the other parts as well .This new chair weighs 42 kgs which is actually heavier than wheelchair no 8 which weighs 37.5 kgs, but we needn't remove the batteries. Just 2 folds and it's ready to be tucked into the car's boot. So we can now go for a picnic and Vineet can enjoy on his own!! 😃

Karma wheelchairs are made in Taiwan and assembled locally so I'm told. But this wheelchair is not branded and has been directly imported from China I guess, which is why the costing too has come down to half of wheelchair number 8. And that counts. The cost. While searching for this particular type of wheelchair I stumbled upon the website alibaba.com which is the gateway to Chinese products directly from the mainland. Anyone who has visited this website will know how ridiculously cheap the stuff there are. Of course it's a wholesale market and there are MOQs (minimum order quantity). But if you order a sample piece, the price gets doubled with airshipping. And even then, it stands cheaper than on Amazon or any other similar online shopping site. I could more on this with examples, but this post will become too long. 😛☹️So basically , this was a good deal for us, as when you have a person with special needs in your home, expenses touch the sky...But God has been good to us and we are ever grateful that we can afford to buy stuff that Vineet needs all the time. My heart goes out to those parents or children who's special needs are not fulfilled...
Friends, if you support any kind of cause from your hard earned money, do give a thought to children and adults with #specialneeds . #AssistiveDevices can be ridiculously expensive for most...

And a word for those who work for changes in society for a good cause, kindly do something to bring down costs of assistive devices. Thanks🙏

And Finally, The part I LOVE the most!!
When this wheelchair moves back, it has a beep warning sound . This is very very necessary in all wheelchairs. It is dangerous for people standing behind a wheelchair if it suddenly starts to move back. Of course there is a beep horn for front on the joystick pad as well.

So here's hoping that this wheelchair comes in handy for us as we love to travel,but we don't get a chance easily😒. Lots of things to think about and loads of planning is exhausting!! 😣 But then, we might as well make the most of it while we are still able to! 😊 

Air India !! Please DO SOMETHING for YOURSELF!

September 01, 2018

Sorry everyone, this is going to be a rant post.

So we had booked #airindia flight tickets to the conference in Delhi as its getting difficult for Vineet to travel long distances in train especially due to #inaccessibility in the AC compartments of #IndianRailways. We have to carry Vin all the way to our berth, and the biggest worry? Will we find a good co-passenger who will not object to Vineet's folding wheelchair peeking out of the lower luggage place?

Will we get at least one co-passenger willing to exchange his lower berth for VINEET, in case we haven't managed to get any ? 

Or will we get some privacy while changing his diapers?
Yes, these are the kind of things we have to worry about when we travel by train 😒

I knew that #KaziNazrulIslamAirport at Andal, West Bengal is a relatively newly built airport and after it's inauguration 2 years back it was working in collaboration with #AirIndia as well as private airlines. However, due to very few passenger input it shut down last year and was re-inaugurated this year with only one Air India flight, that too once in a day, and to and fro only one destination - New Delhi . We couldn't have asked for more, it was a boon for us as well as many others who frequently visited the capital city New Delhi. It is performing very well with these clauses and there is a good crowd everyday as we discovered on our flight day later. I was worried only about one thing - whether they had #BoardingRamps or not. So I asked my friends on Facebook and also called up the Airport help desk. Friends were not so sure and the help desk person assured us that it would be no problem for a person on a wheelchair to board the airplane. So I rested assured and we got ready for our most awaited trip to New Delhi.

On 10th August we reached the Airport early morning as our flight was at 8:20 a.m. I was very impressed with the Airport building and wheelchair friendly paths. They had the #transferwheelchair which we use while the wheelchair which Vineet uses is scanned by X-ray by #armypersonnel . And they also had the #AircraftWheelchair which is used to transfer a person on a wheelchair from the entrance of the aircraft to his/her seat. Its narrow and can easily be used in the narrow aisle of an aircraft. The personal wheelchair of the #personwithdisability is taken away at the entrance and stowed at the back of the aircraft. It is brought back at the time of disembarking in a similar fashion. All this takes time and hence we are always the last to disembark from a flight. However during embarking we are first, so it's a balance 😁

Anyways, so coming back, we were the first to be taken when the flight landed from New Delhi, AND #THEREWASNOBOARDINGRAMP !! As we looked up the long flight of steps leading to the aircraft entrance where the flight steward and stewardess stood with their hands folded in typical Air India style Namaste, we wondered what to do next and so did the airport staff who had escorted Vineet's wheelchair from the building to the airplane. Here are the pics I clicked as temperature of my head soared.

Now the most important part. The attendants offered to lift Vineet up the stairs to the entrance to which he vehemently refused. To those who think it's not a big deal, TRY IT ONCE. Just try sitting on a wheelchair while 3 or 4 people take you up a flight of stairs. You feel you are in the air and if one man stumbles, the entire Entourage will get disbalanced and not only you, but all of them will get severely hurt.
IT  IS  DANGEROUS  NOT  ONLY  FOR  YOU  BUT  FOR  THE  ATTENDANTS  AS  WELL !!

So Vineet opted for his dad to take him up the stairs as he is comfortable in his arms. 

But my question to the #MinistryOfAviationIndia is this -
 What will Vineet do when his dad gets older and is no longer able to carry Vineet up the stairs? He will never be able to have confidence in being carried in his wheelchair by attendants, so will he stop travelling by air from the airports where boarding ramps are not available? It is my understanding that each airlines have their own set of boarding ramps according to the need of the place/airport.So in metropolitan cities they have plenty of boarding ramps all colored with the specific airline colors. Since this is a small airport so Air India cannot afford a Boarding ramp (as it is, it's running in huge losses and I sympathize with them. They have served us well all these years).

So I now turn to the Aviation Ministry with the suggestion that provide at least One Boarding Ramp at those airports where the Airline cannot afford. It is not for the airlines,. It is for people with disabilities like Vineet now, and for us, AND THEM, when we grow old and will need a wheelchair to visit our near and dear ones. Yes, Please Please understand that it's for Yourself as well. For your tomorrow. That time you may not be professionally capable of all that you can do today. So here's requesting those who are reading this to understand and come to our help. We are human beings. Which other species will help us if not you? I fail to understand how Air India is unable to provide a ramp when all other airlines have given up on the steep, massive, dangerously sharp-edged AND expensive stairs!!
Not to promote any airlines here, but this gentleman makes many points in this report -
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johngoglia/2013/06/16/indigo-airlines-eliminates-stairs-for-easy-airside-boarding-why-havent-other-airlines-caught-on/#208224ef2018

Thanks for going through..

Update - I shared this experience of mine upon returning from Delhi after the Conference on Facebook and tagged our Aviation Minister and our local MLA, but no response. Then I wrote an email to the Aviation Ministry, no response. 

I am not doing this for Vineet alone, it's for all who are like Vineet and also for you and me. As I mentioned in my FB post, one day we all are going to be old and some of us may need a wheelchair to visit our family in some other city or country. We may be caught in the same situation as Vineet today.  Think about it.....

Thank you 🙏