One of the most helpful products I have ever used is a reacher tool. Also called a reacher or reacher grabber this tool was helpful when I was walking and is helpful now that I use a wheelchair.
Once I had trouble standing back up after bending over, a relative of mine got me a golden retriever reacher. This was so helpful for picking up things I would drop or picking up clothes off the floor or getting things out of the dryer. It made life so much easier.
I’ve used several different types of reachers and reacher tools and many of them are great. Some, not so much. So check out the links above to find some reacher reviews and recommendations.
In any case a great reacher can make independent living much more pleasant and definitely possible.
I didn’t start using a wheelchair until I was about 30. A the time I was still walking and the chair I was getting had a vertical seat lift that could lift me up so I could stand up more easily and still walk at home. Around the house I was walking fine. It was a comfortable environment. But when I was outside my house it was very difficult to get around with things like uneven terrain and steps. I had a manual chair that I would take with me outside the house but I always needed someone to help me and push me because if there was any sort of incline, I couldn’t push myself in the manual chair.
So I arranged to buy a demo power wheelchair at a discount with the help of vocational rehab and MDA and it was delivered to my house. Inside the house it was great — easy to move around and fun, like a video game. But I was scared to go outside. There was traffic and other people and dogs and dog poop. It seemed scary.
To get over this, I called one of my friends on the phone and I said, “Please ride along with me!” and I went outside my door. I rolled down the sidewalk to the street corner where the stop light was. My friend kept telling me there was nothing to worry about, and that helped. Finally I said goodbye to my friend and crossed the street.
Then I crossed the next street and the next and the next. Pretty soon I was at the grocery store and doing shopping. I was in and out in 15 minutes. I rolled back with 2 bags of groceries. I was there and back within an hour. I didn’t need anybody’s help and I didn’t worry once about falling or getting tired. It was great.
As I write this section I am sitting in my cabin on a cruise ship anchored in the harbor of Sydney, Australia. I just had a quick dinner while overlooking the famous Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge – probably the best view I’ve had while munching on salad. I can’t believe I used to get scared, nervous, and otherwise frightened into not traveling just a few years ago.
Prior to using an electric wheelchair fulltime, I wanted to travel but felt like I couldn’t do it unless someone else came along. I would struggle to walk through airports, get in and out of my seat on the plane, and then worry that the rental car I booked online would be configured well enough for me to be able to drive it.
I remember one trip I took to California just a few years after graduating from college. I was still walking – even without a cane – and flew into the San Francisco airport where I was going to rent a car and go visit some friends at my former campus. The plan was to sleep on beds or floors and save money whenever possible because I had to spend most of my money on a more expensive SUV rental so I could actually get in and out of the vehicle on my own. I remember it was a silver Isuzu Rodeo.
The entire flight out to San Francisco I was worried about how I would get to the car rental counter which was in a separate facility a few minutes from the airport. I knew they had a shuttle but I was not sure whether it had a lift or a ramp so I could get in and out of it. I also felt nervous because I hated explaining why I needed a special van or accommodations when I was standing there, apparently normal and healthy. If I wasn’t walking or trying to get up from a chair, you never knew I had anything physically wrong with me.
I arrived and got my rolling luggage and proceeded to the pickup area for the car rental facility. Once there, I was greeted by a rather robust lady with a walkie-talkie who was sitting half in and half out of her patrol vehicle. I went up to her and asked if there was a shuttle that was wheelchair accessible because I figured that would make it clear what sort of arrangement I was looking for. She proceeded to quiz me on who the shuttle was for and when I told her it was for me, it took a few minutes of explaining that I could not physically board the bus they had sitting there because there were steps in it.
Of course the act of pushing the button on her walkie-talkie and requesting the special van was probably the most strenuous thing she did that day – or at least she made it appear as such. But the van arrived a few minutes later and I was on my way. The rest of the trip after that was fine.
The point of this story is that there really wasn’t too much to worry about. But also, I have noticed that it is actually much less stressful traveling since I started using a wheelchair full time. There’s no need for explanation. It’s almost as if when I approach a counter and need assistance, the people behind the counter are already thinking about what they will have to do to help me out. In hindsight it may have helped to use a cane back when I was starting to have trouble walking, just so people knew I might need a little assistance.
Now, even as I boarded the cruise ship I am on today, I didn’t need to do anything special – the crew had it all figured out. I was clearly not the first person in a wheelchair to ever try and board a ferry boat that would take me to the cruise ship anchored in the middle of the harbor. Granted – it was a sketchy maneuver rolling over the thirty-inch wide walkway but I figured if they dropped me in the ocean, I’d probably travel free for the rest of my life!
I’ve been able to get over my fear of travel by doing just what scared me — traveling. I hope to post some of my travel tips here soon so it doesn’t seem like unexplored territory if you decide to travel yourself.
You’d expect that as your body slowly loses strength that your general level of happiness would dissipate as well. I have found the opposite to be true and believe it has a lot to do with attitude.
For some people, attitude is a choice. For others it is something that gradually forms. For me I think it was a combination of both. I definitely went through a phase where I was not happy about having muscular dystrophy. This state of unhappiness stemmed from a combination of uncertainty, fear, and general frustration. There was no internet back then so I didn’t know what to expect. I was afraid that if my friends found out that they wouldn’t want to be friends with me anymore. And I was frustrated that I was always the slowest runner and not able to do physically do things the same way the other kids were doing.
But one thing I seemed to always have going for me is my attitude. Even though I was the slowest runner, I still ran. Even though I was horrible at jumping, I still jumped. I played basketball until 8th grade and kept trying despite my difficulties. I also loved and still love tennis. I would hit a tennis ball against whatever garage door I could find. I play tennis against my dad the day after my first muscle biopsy, and beat him. No matter what, I still tried.
After doing this for a while my mind started to focus more on what I could do than what I couldn’t. This is the gradual change I am referring to. I spent my time doing things I could do instead of sitting around moping because there was something I couldn’t do. Focusing on the positive things led my mind to a state of happiness.
I lived in this state for many years. I wasn’t consciously deciding to be happy but it was happening anyway. Finally at age 32 I decided to travel to play wheelchair tennis tournaments. I packed up or sold many of my things in Hawaii and decided to spend at least six months traveling the U.S. and living in hotels or with family. The very first day of my trip I was driving from Atlanta to Pensacola, exhausted from my overnight flight but extremely excited. I couldn’t believe I was driving to a tennis tournament I was going to play in. I said it out loud. “I CAN’T BELIEVE I AM DRIVING TO A TENNIS TOURNAMENT!” I didn’t believe it. It was an extremely happy moment.
That’s when I decided that I had control over my happiness. I had made this tennis trip happen because I kept on trying. It made me happy. Therefore I can always find a way to be happy no matter what the circumstances.
And that was it. For the last several years my baseline level of happiness is higher than ever. I get more enjoyment out of the things I do than ever. It even makes me happy when someone looks at me and assumes I’m not happy. That means I’m beating muscular dystrophy, at least mentally. And let’s face it, your brain ultimately makes you happy or sad.
I didn’t ride a bus regularly until I finally got frustrated with traffic in Hawaii and decided to give it a try. The day I realized it was taking me 50 minutes to drive six miles and that my wheelchair could go faster than that was the day I decided to ship my truck to the mainland US and at least get some reading done on the bus while stuck in traffic.
Fortunately, the bus system in Hawaii is pretty good so I was confident I could make it work. However, that didn’t make it any less nerve wracking the first time I tried it.
Shortly after I put the truck on the boat, I had a tennis tournament on the weekend and that Saturday morning was my first adventure on the bus. I wondered – How did the ramp work? Would the driver hear me when I need to get off the bus? Will my chair fit? Where do I even catch the bus?
The first step was the most frustrating (at the time) and I can see how most people are immediately turned off to using the bus. The route maps are all separate and no one bus ever seems to go exactly where you want it to go. So I spent at least a couple hours trying to open up maps online and figure out which bus to get where. Finally I decided to look for the easiest, but not necessarily the fastest route. After all, I could figure out the maps later. This time I just needed to get where I needed to go. If I left early enough, it really wouldn’t matter. Of course now I find Google Transit to be incredibly useful.
Fortunately, Saturday morning was a good time to try this all out since few people were up and about at the time I needed to get on board.
I got out to the stop at least 20 minutes before I needed to and sat there waiting. Finally I saw the “A” bus coming down the road. With $2 in hand, I prepared to board. The driver saw me and immediately signaled something to the people on board. I saw a few people get up from the front seating area and move to different seats. The driver opened the door, lowered the ramp, and said “Hello.” I rolled on and with all the faces and eyes on me, I followed the driver down the aisle. He flipped up a few seats and I turned around and backed into the space.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
I told him where as he started to strap in my chair.
He returned to his seat and started driving.
That was it.
It was around this time that I realized that the things I was doing with my chair were not groundbreaking. People in chairs had done them before. It was just new to me. The bus drivers were trained to handle wheelchair riders. I didn’t have to tell the driver anything new.
This is one of the things I always have to remind myself – that even if it’s new to me, it’s likely not new to the people who are going to help me.
You Should Go Anyway 
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