this video reminded me of an event which happened in May 2026, which i had not mentioned online... i live on the beach in Old Orchard Beach, and for years was daily walking my dog on the beach, became paralized 2013, and only regained some ability to get out of bed and start using a wheelchair in 2021, after 9 years beridden. its only now in 2026 that im able to stand up and walk a few feet. this lead to excitnent of trying to walk on the beach for the first time in 14 years... uhm... my wheelchair made it down the boardwalk, but immediatly sunk into the soft sand soon as getting off the boardwalk... tried using a walker to get the rest of the way, but only got halfway to the water before a man in his 30s and his 2 sons aged around 8 and 10 picked up my wheelchair and tried to carry it off the beach to their truck... fortunatly, i yelled out, "that guy is stealing my wheelchair" and a group of teenaged girls who was near by, ran after the guy and started bonking him with their big beach bags, while yelling thry were going to call child protective services for teaching his children to steal... they helped me get back to my wheelchair and helped me back to the boardwalk... im in my 50s, the girls who helped me were maybe 14 to 16. i have not tried to go to the beach again yet. also, my wheelchair has a dash camera on it, so i have video footage of the whole thing. I miss going to the beach and im horrified that we live in a society where people think stealing a wheelchair is okay.
Wheelchair thieves are a thing
did you know that?
And, while I’m talking about wheelchairs… I’m going to answer a Reddit question.
Here is the question:
Why don’t more people use Powered Wheelchairs?
i’ve always wondered why people in this age tend to choose manual wheelchairs as opposed to electric or powered wheelchairs. Have you faced any issues with them? & What would it take (if anything) for manual users to shift to the modern ones?
https://www.reddit.com/r/wheelchairs/comments/1vkt6dk/why_dont_more_people_use_powered_wheelchairs/
Here is the answer:
my manual wheelchair cost $700 (seven hundred dollars)… I’m still saving up for my power wheelchair, which cost $25k (twenty five thousand dollars), I would use a power wheelchair if I could afford it, but it costs more money then both a used car and a house downpayment combined.
My income is $2k (two thousand dollars) a year. It will take me 50 (FIFTY) years to save up for a power wheelchair, even if I save ALL of my income and go without food for the next fifty years.
no, medical does not pay for wheelchairs
yes you can actually be too low income for medicare (in my case MaineCare)… because government issued medical coverage is not a free handout… it is a loan you have to pay back, if your income reaches a certain level, if you win a lottery over $100k, or if you sell your house… this is why you FIRST must ALREADY HAVE an income of a certain minimum level, because applies for medicare is literally you are applying for a medical loan… read the 84 pages long fine pint pamphlet you get with the application, it’s all right there in it.
likewise the government does not just hand out disability checks… which again, are a LOAN that has to be PAID BACK if your income reaches a certain level, if you win a lottery over $100k, or if you sell your house… AND because government issued disability checks are a LOAN that you HAVE TO PAY BACK eventually
side note… if you die before you pay back either your medicare/caid or disability checks, he bill goes to your spouse, parents, childre, or grandchildren 60 days after you death, AND the federal government can and WILL foreclose on THEIR house, reposes THEIR car, and take absolutely every single shred of everything they own, to pay off all your medicare/medicaid/and disability checks…and will go down the list of ALL of your family members and relatives taking ALL of their houses and cars, UNTIL they reach the amount to pay back your monthly disability checks and medicare/medicaid bills.
again… they outright tell you this, it is NOT a secret, it is in the fine print you sign, when you apply for government issued disability and or medical coverage.
by the way, I was told by the Maine department of health and human services that my income was “768% below the federal poverty level” and therefore “your income is too low to qualify for either disability or medicare” (side note, I have been quadriplegic, have movement in only 2 fingers and part of my mouth, for 13 years, am in a wheelchair, am homeless because of the same backhoe that drove over my house and left me crippled, and do not qualify for disability or medicare, because my income has not reached two thousand dollars in a single year, since becoming paralyzed November 14, 2013. My houser before and after the backhoe attack:
https://www.eelkat.com/images/eelkats_house_before_after.jpg
The backhoe driver has yet to be located or held accountablel, and i’ve no ability to work being fully paralized, and no ability to rebuild my house without an income, but, i also am going without medical treatment because my income is too low to get medicare and disability also being a thing that is a loan needing to be paid back, my income is also too low for that.
I have been paralized since November 14, 2013, and I COULD use a power wheelchair that entire time, if I had had one. Instead I was bedridden from November 14, 2013 until March 17, 2024, a full eleven years, because that is how long it took me to save up the $700 for the manual wheelchair I have now.
THAT is the reality we who power wheelchairs have to live with, and why more of us don’t have them, even though we desperatly need them
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