runaway wheelchair experience 8th November 2014 - HSE- DANGEROUS!

you really couldn't make this up if you tried!

the debacle of the powered wheelchair provision is ongoing.

when the 11yr old powered chair finally sat down and died, that's the one that went into a wall when it lost its wheel i had to request a new one from the HSe.
but i requested actually a 'temporary wheelchair' so that i could be properly assessed and finally get a proper wheelchair.

i was refused a proper wheelchair assessment by the hse but this thing came - the one mentioned above as the 'runaway wheelchair,'  it didn't come all at once, it came twice.

the first time all smiles was the local area OT and the man in the van (company provider) came and announced 'here is your new wheelchair.'
well, yes it looked new and no it wasn't to be my new wheelchair, it was to be my 'temporary wheelchair, as agreed between HSE and An Taoiseach's office.

i asked, 'er, new?  you mean 'temporary?'
"no this is the final real one decided for you."
All smiles.
"No,"  I said "WE decided on a temporary one, between the HSE and An Taoiseach's office."
"oh, i know nothing about that."
"hang on and i will show you on the laptop i have it confirmed there."
"no, (a lot of No's come from the HSE), we shall have to go and get confirmation of this.

the summer is short and they went, wheelchair, van, man and OT, and her car.
all went.

finally they got that confirmation as i had on the computer, but they never believe the client, ever!

this temporary, new wheelchair behaved badly today.
it was behaving strange anyway around the back left wheel.
(i am having awful trouble with back left wheels on wheelchair, ditto the back left wheel of the last, which flew and rolled half way to Dublin and i went into a wall).
Does it have anything to do with being a left handed do you think?
anyway, where was i?
the temporary behaving badly.

poor twin was poorly today and i decided on a trip.
autumnal weather, changing colours of beautiful trees as leaves fade and fall.
i rang up Powerscourt Estate and got permission to travel by wheelchairs, down onto their walks in the estate itself, this is a beautiful place with a flowing river on one side and green fields and woodland, with a 'smooth as baby's bottom' pathway.
we even got the code to the electric gates so off we went, we had picked up a lunch at Enniskerry, sambos and we were to eat them at the Estate.
we got through the gates well but fumbled getting the dynamic smooth of disembarking one barking dog and two anxious chihuahuas.
it was raining so coats, hats and gloves on the ready and mags helped me with leggings over my trousers.
two cars stopped to ask if we needed help
it was messy alright with so much to consider there.
well finally we were sitting, a good place to be actually after all THAT!
mags moved off with Saffi and i was fumbling.
but i am slower anyway always.

margaret heads away with
her beloved Saffi, soon after i go but soon the
powered chair decided not to stop!

i got camera out and took twins back as she steamed on.
then i followed.  i thought something was caught at the back wheel and i kept looking.
funnily just as i came to twin on the downward slope which the wheelchair should have been able for, it didn't stop when i took my fingers away from the guide joystick, it took off.
'ah, oh' i whimpered.
mags was not far from me, "hey mags look, its not stopping"
she saw me then fishtail to the side of the path and into the orange leaves falling and fallen.
that's not where i should have been!
mags came back and pulled me out as i tried to use wheelchair power so as not to strain on her.

that was OK and down.
then i tried to go off again but it was too dangerous.
the back wheel wasn't moving but sliding and twin said the front tyres looked bald and also she said they seemed a few centimetres from the surface of the ground.
not good.
we were fumbling again when two lady walkers approached with a fabulous golden retriever.

i asked for help back to the van.
the younger lady of the two pushed me from the back and i used the wheelchairs own power to get me up the hill.
she said it was OK and she wasn't pushing at all but more steering, she felt the machine trying always to go over to the left - that's called 'fishtailing'
so fishtailing, restraining and power plus we got back to van.
the poor old retriever saw the high gates and thought his wet romp was over and sat there waiting.
no, this way, c'mon this way said the lovely woman.
off they went back down from whence they came and off to the horizon of beauty.

i got my gear into the van, that is the wayward wheelchair the one that wanted to get away from it all and push me again toward a vertical hard surface, this time maybe try the tree in the leaves.
i went to meet twin and she decided that's it, we best get both the darn chairs into the van.
besides, her motors are leaking and one is not going well and she was never confident it would ever get back to van in the first place.
both in van we crawled and i snapped the beauty, one of the reasons we came.
finally we stopped at a clearing, the sun began to shine beautifully through the leaves.
what happens, tell me again what happens?
the battery of the camera died. and i couldn't find the spare.
god spare me disadvantage i ask.
the wheelchair fishtailing had me blasting a certain organisation.

you know that actually it is my right to find enjoyment in life, its short enough.
now all summer i was more or less penned in without a powered chair as the hse argued about this and that.
now when i get one its seemingly faulty and the hse has cursed me with it, and bloody seems hell bent on doing me in, vis a vis a defective wheelchair.
i could have been pitched forward and out.
pitched left and wet and slap into the rugged trees.
i could have been seriously injured.

the point where no more
images can be taken.  the very spot
where the camera batteries died.

this actually is an indoor powered wheelchair.
the HSE had KNOWN all along what the two women from Wicklow had KNOWN was their priority 'to mobilize outdoors' independently as is our right under the UN charter and the disability act 2005 and the World Health Organisation.
you wouldn't kind of think that the HSE wondrously believes they comply with human rights legislation.  they do.  they would object fiercely if anyone decided to tell them they actually were violating peoples' human rights.

but this wheelchair story and its ongoing dramatics, IS a human rights issue.
and a human rights violation.
its a violation of health and safety too.

so i wonder, when oh when will the HSE ever give me a decent wheelchair.
I am not impressed, so i am not!