Wheeler spotting

[ada]

I found out this weekend that I have a wheeler cousin. Not exactly a wheeler, though — a 'crutcher'. I think he has CP, but I can't be sure as I just saw a picture of him (sitting on the iron throne, crutches as swords) that another cousin showed me. I was surprised. He's around my age, how come I never heard about him?! As far as I can tell (dev factor aside) he's very cute, and he likes good stuff.
There's a huge family meeting again next year, and it's in his hometown. I'll cross my fingers.

[malibu]

I see wheelers pretty often, and weird enough I got seated right behind a para student last week...so close I had to pay attention not to kick her wheels all the time. It only happened 3 times during the 2 hour presentation, but I know it's still very annoying. If she had turned around, I'd certainly apologize!

Of course the person who was trying to convince us all how great the sovietic union was for reals had to use a very odd example. "Imagine you were a para all your life long. Now think there was a cure, but you only found it on the last day of your life. That's when you move to Armenia and the union ends." (I thought to myself, wtf?? and almost asked her about what she thought about all that but I think there was already too much going on and it was early and we were late and I saw she was much more interested in seeing if people would make space, they were all crowded sitting on the accessible ramp and she was stuck in the front row and it's stressful because there are no designated spaces for wheelers so she would maybe not be able to see any other presentations that day because of the crowd and and and...)

Oh and I saw a woman who had a manual chair that had a motor and I wondered if they did the adaption themselves or if they bought it like that...her chair looked much lighter than a powerchair and not sure if you can fold or what. I wanted to ask but I guess it would be too awkward.

[Deleted]

It's funny but I don't even count female wheelers into my wheeler spotting experiences. Female wheelers don't even come close to the reaction I have when I see a nice looking male wheeler. Female wheelers are like just another person but in a wheelchair. The only thing that would interest me then is really only what kind of chair they have, going back to the interest in the hardware. But I feel nothing seeing a female wheeler. I do like to check out women but have no special interest in women in wheelchairs.

[strawberrybubblegum]

Jun 3, 2017 10:50:15 GMT -5 myrrh said:

I know what you mean Dani , except for me it's people with SCIs.  I'm attracted to AB people of both genders, but my "main thing" is people with CP, by a large margin. It's almost a bit disappointing, because there seems to be soooo much for SCI devs and most of the PWDs that I see seem to be paras. I'm not even attracted to them at the level I'd be attracted to them if they were AB. It's just a resounding meh.

This is so funny, because I feel it's the other way around for me. I'm only attracted to SCI and most of the PWDs I see seem to have CP, SMA, DMD and whatnot.

Maybe it's because of where my boyfriend lives... but this makes it even more special to see a guy with SCI.

[parashoot]

I saw two wheelers in power chairs last week while I was waiting in a convenience store parking lot for my husband.
One was a female and one was I THINK a male, but possibly not. Very petite and sort of feminine...but I do think it was a guy.
They were cruising around together and the one that was definitely a girl had her legs crossed. For some reason I think a chick in a chair with her legs crossed is incredibly cool.
I don't know if it's just me being aware of my devness more or what, but I seem to see sooo many more wheelers this spring than I ever have before...mainly older people, but still actual wheelers.
No mega hotties though, which majorly sucks.

[ada]

I see wheelers whenever I go out, but they're rarely ever men, or young (or when they're young, they're VERY young). Today I went out with my dad, and when we were leving the parking lot we saw a guy around my age, really cute, wheeling with his caster wheels off the ground. The sidewalk was torn apart, the ground was completely irregular, even an AB person would have problems going that way, but he did it so elegantly! I was in awe. Even my dad was. While I pretended to look elsewhere, he said "Look at that young man's skill!", and I agreed/giggled like an idiot. It was so devvy. His chair was neon green, it even matched his shirt. He was also wearing shorts, which was amazing. I think he had polio by the look of his legs.

[Deleted]

ada
I'm just curious where you are from since you are considering the young guy you saw had Polio. Since it's a mostly wiped out disease I'm just curious where they would still have it...

[Deleted]

I actually had to deal with an attractive Quad my age yesterday at work. I was a bit nervous to talk to him and while I did he kept tilting his chair back and forth...
The only bad thing was that he had a SO with him and while we were talking she fed him and gave him juice to drink. Yeah, I was kind of engulfed in this little experience since we were in a small space and of course in my mind I wondered if she was a dev or if he knew that devs existed. He did have a very cute smile and longish brown hair, tanned skin and was just a good looking dude.

[ada]

Jun 16, 2017 13:44:24 GMT -5 Dani said:

ada
I'm just curious where you are from since you are considering the young guy you saw had Polio. Since it's a mostly wiped out disease I'm just curious where they would still have it...

I thought the same thing too, because Polio is considered to be gone here. I'm from Brazil and I live in the capital, so it's unlikely that someone younger than my dad would have it. Could be something else, considering the odds. But his legs were very, very polio-like.

[malibu]

Jun 16, 2017 14:19:28 GMT -5 ada said:

Jun 16, 2017 13:44:24 GMT -5 Dani said:

ada
I'm just curious where you are from since you are considering the young guy you saw had Polio. Since it's a mostly wiped out disease I'm just curious where they would still have it...

I thought the same thing too, because Polio is considered to be gone here. I'm from Brazil and I live in the capital, so it's unlikely that someone younger than my dad would have it. Could be something else, considering the odds. But his legs were very, very polio-like.

Could be because of inconsistent vaccine politics here in Brazil many years ago. They dont talk about it but many even died because of the missing vaccines from what I heard

[ada]

Could be that, @malibu. Plus, until not that long ago there were people who lived in rural zones and didn't have access to vaccination. He could've lived in a place like that as a kid.

[elyse]

Yesterday I drove past a man on a recumbent hand trike! Then he ended up right next to me at a red light. I swear he looked like he could be a para, though for all I know he could have been AB!

[Nia]

Tonight I went out with my sister and my BF and we stumbled across a young, blond, cute and attractive guy who is amputee/ he misses his right leg very high above the knee. He just stood at the corner of two streets and we were waiting for the green light for pedestrians... he was on a mobile phone talking to someone. He was in light jeans and a t shirt and using crutches, not prosthetic. I had an opportunity to just watch him like 2 minutes before we have to move on.
This was the best encounter I ever had- by far...

[Nia]

I've been traveling for the past 3 and a half weeks out of which 2 weeks I've spent in Paris. Of course I visited the Eiffel Tower and when I least expected, on my way down, while resting on the 2nd floor, I've spotted a guy in the wheelchair- just couple of meters away from me.
I could see him from behind and what I saw was just amazing:) I could tell that he is in his thirties (33-34, something like that), he was fit and super nice dressed. Skinny jeans, nice shoes and some short, tight, dark blue jacket. He had a perfect haircut that revealed his awesome neckline:) he was with a woman that was probably his mother.
And then, totally unexpectedly, he just grabbed the fence that was in front of him and pulled himself up into the standing position. He did that without much visible effort but it was still very clear that he can't walk not even a bit. He could pull this position only because he was holding on to the fence and I could tell that it's not the most comfortable thing to do for him. He stood like that for a minute and he just went back into his wheelchair after that.
You girls know that I am not a para dev in the first place but this scene left me speechless:) I was in love lol
I immediately went closer to him pretending that I want to take a look over the fence:) so I've managed to see his face as well. Oh my god! Girls:) beautiful, masculine face... strong jawline, perfect skin, and beautiful nose:)
I just enjoyed the view for the next couple of minutes and then I left...
He didn't even notice me lol
He was talking to the woman that was with him and I couldn't recognize the language.... I suppose it was Duch or something similar.
I was so jealous of his girlfriend if he has one...

[elyse]

I was at a mall last weekend and saw a wheeler waiting for an elevator! He was a little too far away, but I swear he was young (as in close to my age... 20's or 30s) and probably a para. I wasn't going in that direction so I couldn't think of a reason to keep walking closer. Couldn't stop thinking about it the next day and just wished I had a chance to go closer!!!

On another note... I 'spotted' a wheeler in an Oscar Mayer commercial (I went and found the commercial after on youtube) Not sure which thread is better for this...
8sec mark...