I want to live -- give me the chair!

Writing this essay helped me move into a world with less pain. It also, to my total joy, has helped others make the same move. Using a wheelchair is not a fate worse than death!

Wheelchairs are powerfully handy tools. I can walk, I can swim, and I prefer to use my limited energy store for activities where that's all I'm doing.

I want to live -- give me the chair:

My body began falling apart decades ago. I get dizzy and pass out when I stand too long or tip my head back. I can't tolerate exercise or repetitive motion: Leafing through a magazine puts my hands out of commission for half a day. Sitting in standard chairs is difficult, since so many joints, muscles, and tendons hurt. Thankfully, my brain developed a rapid-forgetting technique so I'm not overwhelmed by chronic pain. Unfortunately, this means I forget my topic in mid-sentence, and the marketable skills I had seem to have been, um, ahh, misplaced. In 1991 I had to quit even part-time paid work.

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