Wheelchairs, Round 2

I know a lot about wheelchairs because when I was a kid I had an uncle and two aunts with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy. This is not the "Jerry's Kids" variety but rather a disease that allows the victim to live into his or her 50s. My uncle was the oldest of the three siblings. He rarely left his chair. Compare it to the more conventional metal chair which my aunts used.

When there was an empty chair I would occasionally get into it and try maneuvering it around. Not an easy thing. The small town where we lived had small sidewalks. Once I got the chair onto the sidewalk I may have had a few inches leeway on either side. I'd go a short distance and then the chair would slip off the sidewalk and onto the street. I'd have to get out of the chair and lift it back onto the sidewalk. Not exactly what an MD patient would do. It was a good learning experience.

Other relatives built a ramp going into the house. I would often try to wheel the metal chair up the ramp. I simply couldn't do it. I didn't have a great deal of strength when I was a kid. Perhaps if I tried it now, knowing a little more as I do about wheelchair braking I could have gotten up. 

There's one other thing I have to mention. When I would wheel any on my relatives around town I noticed that people we passed would avoid looking at us. Not sure why that is. It was another lesson