[Travelling Blackbird]

Does my bum look big in this?

The seat is 16 inches wide, and I could probably fit in a 14. I'm a skinny little get.

The company I bought it through kept trying to talk me up to an 18, because they said a 16 was a woman's size, and I'd probably put on weight and regret the narrow seat. I should be so lucky - I've been trying to put on weight for years!

[hipcrip]

My current chair is 18", but my new one is a 20" so that when I will have room to tuck in winter clothing when we move back to Michigan.

--HC

[Santa Cruz Soul Surfer (LRO)]

hipcrip, on Mar 5 2009, 03:28 PM, said:

My current chair is 18", but my new one is a 20" so that when I will have room to tuck in winter clothing when we move back to Michigan.

Ya, but with a 20" how do you fit through doorways?

[Travelling Blackbird]

Santa Cruz Soul Surfer (LRO), on Mar 6 2009, 07:20 AM, said:

hipcrip, on Mar 5 2009, 03:28 PM, said:

My current chair is 18", but my new one is a 20" so that when I will have room to tuck in winter clothing when we move back to Michigan.

Ya, but with a 20" how do you fit through doorways?

Depends on the doorway. ;)

In Europe, a 20-inch seat would start to be a problem: elevators and exterior doors can have non-standard widths anywhere from 22 to 30+ inches. Interior doors can also be quite narrow. I felt like there was more of a standard in the US, and that I generally had more clearance room than here.

[Santa Cruz Soul Surfer (LRO)]

Ya, we have the ADA laws (Americans with Disabilities Act-1989) which stipulates that all new buildings, as well as renovations done on older buildings, comply with a set standard guideline for wheelchair accessibility...It really a godsend for chair users out here...I think on of the biggest issues in europe as a whole, is that the vast majority of buildings are MUCH older and therefor are much harder & more expensive to retrofit for wheelchair accessibility.

[Travelling Blackbird]

Santa Cruz Soul Surfer (LRO), on Mar 7 2009, 08:45 AM, said:

Ya, we have the ADA laws (Americans with Disabilities Act-1989) which stipulates that all new buildings, as well as renovations done on older buildings, comply with a set standard guideline for wheelchair accessibility...It really a godsend for chair users out here...I think on of the biggest issues in europe as a whole, is that the vast majority of buildings are MUCH older and therefor are much harder & more expensive to retrofit for wheelchair accessibility.

I definitely saw the benefits of the ADA laws when I lived in the US, and would like to see more comprehensive laws being brought in over here. However, as you say, a major problem in Europe is also the age of the buildings and the cities.



Take Amsterdam: if you wanted to adapt many of the buildings there, you'd have to change the entire facade of the ground floor, dropping and widening doorways and hallways, putting in ramps, and so on. Take the London Underground: many of the zone 1 stations have such limited overground presences that you'd have a hard time finding space to add a lift (you say elevator here ;) ) without knocking through into a surrounding building - Marble Arch is a great example. Take Cologne: even though many of the city center buildings have wide enough entrances, everything down by the river has at least three steps up into it, not to mention the acres of really old cobblestones through the old town. Different countries are putting effort in, but the costs really hold them back.

Dublin's claim that they're going to be Europe's first fully accessible city... I'll believe it when I see it. The Dublin I lived in was the least accessible place I'd ever been.

And back to the topic...

[Santa Cruz Soul Surfer (LRO)]

LOL, try Paris sometime!...That is about as inaccessible as a city can get...Danm good chairskating though, if your into that kind of thing! ;)

[Travelling Blackbird]

Santa Cruz Soul Surfer (LRO), on Mar 10 2009, 08:40 AM, said:

LOL, try Paris sometime!...That is about as inaccessible as a city can get...Danm good chairskating though, if your into that kind of thing! ;)

Paris comes a close second to Dublin for inaccessibility.

One common feature of those cities is that the people themselves seem to be intolerant of/impatient towards wheelchair users. Dublin's the only city in the world where I've been flat-out refused help by a shop assistant (I wanted help getting over the high step at the doorway, or for him to bring me one of the items so I could get a look at it). Paris is one of the only places where I've had people cut in front of me to get into elevators, blocking me from getting in... although San Francisco was another one, so it's not exclusively a European thing.

[rue2you]

My new chair is being ordered. When I was measured (and became paralyzed) I was 5 months pregnant. My belly does not get big and cute like other pregnant ladies. My hips and rear end start spreading. So, the wheelchair guy wanted to order me a 19 inch (maybe even 20 he said) and make sure I had room to spread. However, now that I know a little more about it all I am insisting on a 18 inch chair and maybe I should even go 17 inch. I don't really know. I know that I have never been skinny and I do carry weight in my hips and rump so maybe I should say 18. However, I KNOW that 19 and 20 would be too big for me after I have the baby. Now that I only have about 10 more weeks to go, I would rather be a little tight in a chair for a few more weeks, than to be swallowed in a chair for the next 5 years. So, I am going to insist on the smaller chair. If it is still a little tight a couple months after I have the baby, then that will be a good incentive to lose a few pounds!!

[CR_L1]

19 inches [ 7 ] [5.26%]
20 inches [ 9 ] [6.77%]
21 inches [ 0 ] [0.00%]
22 inches [ 4 ] [3.01%]
Bigger than 22 inches [ 1 ] [0.75%]

I just entered my vote & now I'm on a high, there are others like me out there....
I'm one of the 5.26% currently on a 19 inch

however I could really do with a 20 but don't tell anyone

[Char]

14 width and 15 depth for me.....

[WetRain]

16in wide and 18in depth

quite impressed I've been in this bracket for the last 22 and a bit years




Mark

[allister]

17" was 19" 4 yrs ago. always wanted a nice firm butt !!!!

This post has been edited by allister: 10 July 2009 - 07:43 AM

[USMC_FMAgirl058]

I'm either 14 or 15.

...I have no hips, thats pretty much all there is to it.

[cathie]

I'm now in a 16" chair down from a 20"

[LaurenP]

15w X 16d for me woo-woo

[Scott_C4-5]

22" Seat width and length.

I'm not a big butt man, just a big/tall man.
I wish I was a little frame guy like some others.

I'm 6'6" and around 235lbs. To non-Americans, that's 1.98 meters and 107 kilo's.

I may have been in a 20" 20 years ago and I was skinny as a rail then.

I'M NOT A FATTY!! Sorry... got a little defensive. lol

[tyvin]

16 by 16; fits very nice. If it was any wider I wouldn't be able to fit around my apartment very well. With the 16" wide I find I can fit almost everywhere. So this means I definitely can't gain weight. I don't have a cushion; the whole wheelchair ordering etc...was so botched that I ended up not getting a cushion but I'm an l4/l5 so I do without for now.

I've only had the chair for 6 months and it's already falling apart. I had to take it in because the bearing were falling out of the wheel housing, whenever I go fast the thing shakes, now the bearing are falling out again and the chair rides to one side. It's a type of chair not meant for serious use. It's a thing with the DME place; they keep giving me the business. I know they have quickies but they say that insurance companies won't pay for the quickie Hmmm......I got to do something. The thing is about ready to actually fall apart.

[greybeard]

Scott_C4-5, on 18 February 2011 - 10:14 PM, said:

To non-Americans, that's 1.98 meters and 107 kilo's.

No. No. No. That's for those damned continental snail-eating foreign Johnnies.
You mean for us proper non-Americans, you are 6ft 5inches and 16 1/2 stones.