I don’t agree that no one pushes wheelchairs on people who don’t need them (based on my personal experience). I live in a country with socialized medicine so i am not used to cost being a barrier to care, and i didn’t consider the american context.
you are definitely right that i am looking at wheelchairs the wrong way. i agree that they are liberating for many people. lately i have been pushing a stroller and it opened my eyes the tiniest bit to how many places are hostile to anything on wheels. i can barely imagine the access challenges that a person in a chair faces. the metaphor i used was totally off the mark in that respect.
i will let my comment stand, but i will think about what you said and try to be better.
I don’t agree that no one pushes wheelchairs on people who don’t need them (based on my personal experience)
may I ask what you mean by personal experience? are you a wheelchair user who’s gone through the gatekeeping system to be prescribed one? if not, i think you have a highly idealized view of what that system looks like and how ableism is truly a global problem in medicine. i wasn’t even talking from an American perspective.
you may live in a country with socialized medicine but I’m not aware of any system whose universal healthcare also applies to disabled people. even if the cost barrier was eliminated, all the other barriers to access like legal status, ableism and racism wouldn’t go anywhere unless nation states and hierarchies ceased to be a thing.
You make a good point.
I don’t agree that no one pushes wheelchairs on people who don’t need them (based on my personal experience). I live in a country with socialized medicine so i am not used to cost being a barrier to care, and i didn’t consider the american context.
you are definitely right that i am looking at wheelchairs the wrong way. i agree that they are liberating for many people. lately i have been pushing a stroller and it opened my eyes the tiniest bit to how many places are hostile to anything on wheels. i can barely imagine the access challenges that a person in a chair faces. the metaphor i used was totally off the mark in that respect.
i will let my comment stand, but i will think about what you said and try to be better.
may I ask what you mean by personal experience? are you a wheelchair user who’s gone through the gatekeeping system to be prescribed one? if not, i think you have a highly idealized view of what that system looks like and how ableism is truly a global problem in medicine. i wasn’t even talking from an American perspective.
you may live in a country with socialized medicine but I’m not aware of any system whose universal healthcare also applies to disabled people. even if the cost barrier was eliminated, all the other barriers to access like legal status, ableism and racism wouldn’t go anywhere unless nation states and hierarchies ceased to be a thing.