Another joystick adjustment

I tried the chair using the readjusted joystick. Then, the next morning the joystick flipped all the way forward when the aide was putting it into position. It looked like it was going to fall right on the floor. Miraculously, it didn't. It stayed attached but it would move around. It was strange.

I emailed the vendor telling him the joystick needed adjusted. I did not mention that I had been injured again. I got no immediate response.

The next day the therapy manager and an occupational therapy assistant I will call Mike stopped me in the back dining room. Nan, the therapy manager wanted me to meet the new OT assistant. I had seen him around for a few days. She asked how the joystick was. I had her move it a bit and she saw how it would almost flip all the way forward.

Nan agreed with me that the vendor, or his tech, needed to take a look at the joystick and see what was going on. I emailed the vendor several times and got no response.

But I had been busy on some power wheelchair forums online. The men and women on there were giving me suggestions for how to fix the joystick to make it easier to adjust. I really appreciated their input. I shared the information with the vendor. But since he did not answer, I did not really know how he felt.

Nine days after bruising my toe the tech, John, showed up to adjust my joystick. He said he could not get another joystick exactly like the one that came with the chair because they are no longer manufactured. He told me that the smaller joystick could be interfered with by cell phone signals. I thought that was hogwash and the wheelchair forum folks agreed. I wondered if it was still manufactured.. I thought possibly they decided to replace it with something that was less expensive and maybe right on hand.

The tech tightened it down while I was in the chair so I could make sure it was in a better position. John said he had tried very hard to put the new joystick in the exact same position as the old one.

He had brought my old joystick cover. I asked him to please put it on and take the other one that was more slippery back with him.

I told Nan the therapy manager, the regional ombudsman, and anyone who would listen, that I needed a better set up for the joystick.

I began writing a blog on the power chair manufacturer's website. They actually had free blogging for wheelchair owners. I thought maybe someone would learn something from my experience. I did about six or eight postings.

Then, at the beginning of September all my postings on the manufacturer's website disappeared. They had taken down all the postings and removed the blogs. I was referred to a blog of of one of their employees who is physically disabled and uses a power wheelchair. I went there for assistance.

I also wrote a letter to the Attorney General asking whether this was some type of consumer fraud situation. I did not know. But I thought if I was told I was getting one thing and got something different, it might be.

I wondered if that was why my blog on the manufacturer's website was taken down.

I didn't care about all that. All I wanted was for my joystick to be in a better position for me to use it safely.