I am so very keen that Eilidh becomes independent as quickly as possible so that you can explore her world and the beautiful world that she lives in. I am keen for her not to develop learned helplessness. I am keen to give her as many opportunities as possible.
Over the last few weeks I have been exploring the possibility of a manual chair for Eilidh. As far as I can gather these are not frequently used in the UK, but are in America and especially in Scandinavia. Eilidh has reasonable upper body strength and good truncal control at present and I can see no reason why she should not be able to use one. Eilidh's physio has no experience of little ones in manual chairs and thinks that our local Rehab and Mobility Centre will provide us with a buggy only. I am sure why this is the case and suggest that it may be that many disabled children under 2 will be cognitively impaired and therefore unable to self-propel themselves. Unfortunately, to date, I have been unable to discuss this with a clinician at the centre.
Instead I have been in contact with other families on SMAspace who are using manual chairs and there has been mixed responses, but two chairs have been suggested which are incredibly lightweight and suitable for Eilidh
The Panthera Micro from a Swedish company Panthera
The good news is that we have reps coming over the next two days with both chairs for us to try out. I'll keep you posted as to how we get on.
Of course, we would need to fund this ourselves at another £1500... D wonders whether we should be paying for a chair while waiting to fund raise for the Snappie, but what price can we put on Eilidh's independence?
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