I'm worried about two of my friends. They're "Living in the Mobility Buying Options" Zone, otherwise known as LIMBO. No, not the Catholic kind of limbo - just a generic form of limbo. In abeyance.
Both had their claims for wheelchairs denied on their insurance so they're in this limbo of living with a wheelchair that has a limited future. One friend keeps adjusting her chair. I've told her that won't change the fact that it's falling apart. However, setting the chair up at different angles does change the ominous sounds coming from it. Instead of screeching, it simply squeals. Or it goes back to screeching when you readjust it. She convinces herself it sounds better every time.
"That's better," she says, getting back into it. "Don't you think?" Screech!
Another friend is in what I refer to as Total Equipment Denial, where she maintains that the screws falling off her old chair are- get this - from the weather.
"It's the heat," she recently me. "As soon as fall comes, the screws willl stay in."
"I don't know," I said, watching another screw fall off.
"It must be the humidity today," she replied, picking up the screw with a practiced movement and reaching for one of her screwdrivers which was somehow concealed underneath her jacket. "Or the barometric pressure."
It's never a good sign when you carry three screwdrivers with you because your chair needs so many repairs - and your insurance claim has been denied. It's a bad combo. Screwdriver in your left hand, insurance denial letter in your right. It's a sad sight.
LIMBO results in all kinds of bizarre behavior. One of these friends emailed me because she saw a wheelchair that's usually $4000 listed for $400. I calmly said it was a typo.
"No, it must be a deal!" she exclaimed. A half hour later she called me. "You were right. The guy laughed at me. And then he offered to sell me just the wheels."
He laughed because he doesn't understand the symptoms of LIMB0. People who suffer from it are desperate. They grab for any hope, any sign that maybe they'll be able to get a wheelchair without hocking themselves into debt for the next three years.
They do things like play Powerball. Spend their evenings going through ebay looking for someone who bought a new chair and just doesn't "like the color" (that does happen). And, in the end, somehow these people who live in the LIMBO zone manage to come up with a solution because, after all, they've been through it before.
That would be the last time their insurance claim on a wheelchair was denied.
2 comments:
I am not sure why you label this as humor - it certainly doesn't seem funny to me. It seems horrid and just reading it my heart started making odd papatation of fear.
Are there not specific auction for wheelchairs that isn't ebay - I heard that ones had been set up to stop pretenders and wannabe's from buying used equipment other people need?
Ah, I finally clicked - Powerball must be some sort of lotto. There are charities which provide chairs aren't there? Can you list a couple good ones so those of us with chairs can at least raise money for those without?
wheelchairfoundation.org is one place you can give donations, however there are many others I've also listed on my blog under the mobility label.
I'm not aware of any auctions for wheelchairs other than ebay. ebay ,however, is really not a bad solution if you can't afford new equipment. many people on there are just passing on gently used equipment to others who need it - and that's a good thing!
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