Sunday 22 November 2015

Lets party!!


What will my chair be like when I am 80? 
I hate to imagine but my top end Q6 Edge 2.0 is a game changer, when at my grandmother's surprise 80th birthday party. I really appreciated what the iLevel could offer me. 
- I was also hoping that I pressed the right button at the right time.


I was given the job of photographer for the day, as this is my favourite past time. I also took it upon myself to greet the guests, as I do a lot with my grandmother and I know her friends. Both of these tasks required me to be on iLevel.

Before I just accepted the fact that everyone had to bend to communicate with me and I realised that I would just talk to be polite, but now I was holding my own conversations.


It was great being able to photograph people and not looking up at my subjects.
I even got one of my grandmother cutting the cake.

But the best bit was being able to lead my grandmother up to the food table linking arms.

          I am now on the same level, Thanks to iLevel.




Friday 20 November 2015

Sophie has a new perspective on ilevel



From the Left (Theo from Quantum, Bryan from Kinetic Mobility and Me

I was really nervous at first when picking up my new power chair. 
I recall the first day I received my first power chair, Bruce. 

When I got Bruce I wasn’t as petrified as I was seeing my new Q6 Edge 2.0. Perhaps this was due to when I got Bruce it was long over due.  

Over the years I have known that Bruce was on his way out, but I was used to him and knew him inside and out.
So when I moved from Bruce to my new Q6 Edge 2.0 (Sheldon) I knew straight away, how much this would change my life!


With my new power chair, the Q6 Edge 2.0, trust has to be built. Nonetheless, from the moment I first saw the demo chair at Kinetic Mobility (apart from the green colour), I knew it was going to change my life.



....There just was no going back!!




WIMBOURNE!!!! :)
The reason for all my nerves was more about the joystick control. Like many wheelchair users there were one or two joysticks on the market 4 years ago and they mostly worked in the same way. 

However turning the Q6 Edge 2.0. on was slightly different. The new Q Logic 2 control technology was a massive positive from my previous control systems. The Edge and its new control system gave me a great amount of value. It gave me a new way to access my powered controls, which is pretty important. 
It made me feel alive.



Before I was a person that could drive her wheelchair without thinking about what button to press. Yet when I came to using the new QLogic 2 Controls, it was hard to relearn, especially when it came to operating the Q6 Edge 2.0... Although it didn’t take long to adjust. 



The QLogic 2 power options control

With the control switches, I found them particularly difficult at first, as it was new to me.
The hardest part was working out which switch to press for the power function I needed. 


For me the easiest way to press switches is using my right hand, so I Bryan from Kinetic Mobility had them triggered, which means a one touch system, allowing iLevel to go up with ease, another press stopped it.


This is a good idea, but I struggled when with this concept in the pub and my power chair lever lifted the table... :) I guess this will take some time to get used to!


Talking about the pub, I was desperate for a drink. I tried out iLevel whilst treating my friend to a drink. As I’m quite shy and have a speech impediment (and I like a free drinks), I don't usually order drinks often, but this time at the right height it was so easy to speak to the bar man.
 

 
So on that note let the trouble begin...