Hi I’m new to Lemmy hopefully I’m doing this right. I was wondering if anyone in this community could help point me in the right direction in regards to choosing a wheelchair. (I live in the UK for context)

I’ve finally accepted I need a wheelchair as I am currently housebound and cannot walk more than 25 meters with my crutches on a good day.

The problem is I have no clue where to even start in terms of looking into wheelchairs. I’ve heard getting a manual wheelchair with a power attachment is beneficial as it folds down (whereas power chairs don’t) and my new apartment isn’t very big.

Any wheelchair users able to help point me in the right direction?

  • Vampires Of Decay@retrolemmy.comOPEnglish
    51·
    1 month ago

    I have the enhanced rates for both daily living and mobility for PIP (disability benefits in the UK)

    I have a social worker but she is pretty ableist and doesn’t tend to provide accurate information, so she would not be much help

    I am moving into a supported living facility soon where I will have to use up all of my savings for my care costs for the first few months to get me into the threshold for the council helping to fund the care so if I manage to research and get one soon (next few months) then money shouldn’t be too much of an issue as I have a fair amount in savings I am willing to spend.

    Unfortunately the places around me that seem to do wheelchair programs or discounts require you to be able to make it to an inaccessible area of town for me.

    • FundMECFS@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      4·
      1 month ago

      Don’t have much useful advice. Just wanna send u hugs.

      You should be able to use PIP for that purpose hopefully (unless Starmers cuts affect you but I think that’ll take a while).

      Ur situation of navigating bureaucratic nightmare is all too common :(.