Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Chair

I bought a wheelchair to use at work.

I purchased it mail order, so I don't actually have it yet. It should arrive mid-week or early next. I'm having it delivered directly to my workplace. Ordinarily work frowns upon getting stuff delivered there but I've slready gotten the OK (and really they were overjoyed that I asked, but more on that later).

The model is an IVC 9000 XT. I pretty much stuck with standard features. The major customization is the frame color - Electric Purple. I'm pretty sure I got the seat size mostly correct, but I guess I'll find out. Seat size is important because too small and the chair is uncomfortable; too large and the chair is difficult to operate.

Why? Well, a few reasons actually. First, it is a major hassle to keep my break schedule when it takes 20+ minutes to use the bathroom (most of that time spent walking there and back). Second, I was beginning to feel that my mobility issues were preventing me from being as successful at work as I want to be. No one was holding me back maliciously or anything, I just feel the easier it is for me to take advantage of oportunities the more opportunity I'll have. Just one of those things.

Third, I think this'll be fun. That's one reason I picked an electric purple frame. Bit more festive than chrome or black. A big factor in choosing the company I did to order from was the customizable frame color options.

Fourth, they are pretty insistant at work that I deal better with my mobility issues than I have been. Partly this is paranoia (I can be a little bit of a liability issue :) ), partly genuine concern that I could overextend myself and get hurt. Strangely enough, the very morning I asked my boss if I could have the chair delivered to work he pulled me aside to voice such concerns. I beat him to the punch though and told him of my plans first. Kind of invalidated most of what he intended to say, but I think he was happy that he didn't need to convince me of anything I had already decided for myself.

That last bit is really important: decided for myself. No one is putting me in a chair. The decision - the entire process - was mine.

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