- Hello, lovely people.
Today we are going to be looking at
the pros and cons of power chairs.
(record scratches) Okay, hi, actually hi.
So I have some exciting news
and I thought it was so exciting
I should probably just insert it
into the start of the video because (gasps),
so last Friday I made a video
that was all about the pros and cons of mobility scooters,
the vlog where I tried one out.
And I was going to do the exact same thing for this video,
and I will in a minute,
that is actually still the video you're watching,
but I just wanted to let you know
that there is a kind of exciting development
and that I should probably tell you first.
So whilst researching for this video,
I came across a suggestion that one of you guys had left me
and I think I've actually found my perfect thing.
Maybe, does perfection exist?
It may possibly do so.
So I'm very excited and I'm very nervous
and I don't know, I feel a bit weird about it,
but the thing is, right?
I hit 600,000 subscribers
(crowd cheers) and that's a big deal.
That means that I should be allowed to treat myself, right?
And I have all you guys
from the lovely Kellgren-Fozard Club
who've been really supporting me.
And therefore, I think I'm actually gonna do it,
I'm actually gonna take the plunge.
I'm gonna treat myself, actually gonna buy it,
not at all scared.
Okay, okay, yeah, it's done.
That was a lot of money
and I am both terrified and excited.
Quite terrified, I hope I made the right choice.
I don't wanna cloud the opinions
that you might form in this video
by telling you which one I have gone for
and which one I have chosen
because, obviously, we're all different people
and we all have different needs and requirements
and likes and dislikes,
but I'm gonna tell you a bit more at the end of this video.
But now, the video as it was meant to be.
Much like my previous video
in the powered mobility aids series,
and if you haven't seen them all
I suggest you check out the link
in the description and in the card above,
I hired a power chair,
tried to use it in my daily life,
and actually ended up hiring a second one
because I got really, really freaked out
about how medical the chair looked
and really didn't want to use it
because medical trauma is a thing.
As if disabled people wanted to look good
in their daily lives
rather than everything being beige and disgusting,
because apparently you lose your taste
with your ability to walk distances.
It is sad but predictable that when it comes to looks,
there isn't a lot on the wheelchair market
for the discerning fashionista.
I mean, this chair looked like
it's straight from a hospital ward
and I don't need that reminder in my life.
This chair's going to tip you out
the second it sees a pavement.
Even looking at it makes me feel unsafe.
And for some reason,
the back wheels on this way really freak me out
'cause apparently my brain has decided
that this looks like a beetle going backwards
and that's terrifying.
To be clear, I have no issues with forward facing beetles.
My main sadness is that everything seems
to come in black and gray
with the occasional zany color thrown in there.
Okay, my main sadness, she says,
that is ridiculous, I'm not that vapid,
but I do want to feel confident in my power chair
and, for me, that does have an element
of looking fancy in it.
And I really like looking fancy.
It's taken me months to do this video series with help,
so if you're alone in this journey,
you're fighting against obstacles,
then I am sending you a lot of love.
Remember, also, that a number of companies
will let you rent a chair to try
and then offer a reduction in price
for any chair you subsequently buy,
which is what I thought I'd do with this first chair
but, wow, bad choices!
(upbeat music)
Yeah, don't look my happiest in that chair, right?
Mm.
For me, the portability of any chair was very important
and I wanted to be able to fold it up
and for it to go in the car
and I thought that's what it was going to be
but sadly, it was the only one available that folded
and was not astronomically expensive to rent.
And did they charge me
250 pounds for the week (register chiming)
and then 65 pounds (register chiming)
to deliver it
and then 65 pounds (register chiming)
to pick it up again
and did I then hate the chair so much
that I only went out in it twice?
I mean, yes, I say twice
but there's only video of one trip out
and my memory loss means there may be another
that I don't remember
so I'm choosing to believe that's the case.
Otherwise I spent 380 pounds (register chiming)
on a 40-minute trip to the park.
My insides hurt.
(sighs) I originally rented to chair
for Summer in the City, the YouTube convention,
and I wanted something I could zip around in
because the convention center is huge
but also then easily stand up from
and I also wanted to look good because,
why do I need to justify wanting to look good?
Calm down, Jessica.
So I rented another chair for the same week
without being able to get a refund on the first chair
and I died inside,
but I did look good.
(upbeat music)
So going 'round in the power chair yesterday,
it was really great.
I could get it under tables,
it's really nifty, it turns on itself.
I even managed to get around some really narrow ramps,
which was foolish as well
because I don't know how on earth
you'd turn on that in a mobility scooter.
You'd get stuck halfway down.
But the power chair did really well.
The only issue is it's set too low.
I'm quite a tall person apparently, who knew?
How are there grown men supposed to ride on this thing?
It's so low down,
which meant that all of the pressure was on my hips.
So my hips were just killing me all night long.
Though, today I'm gonna try and ride in it
whenever I am crossing a large distance
but then get out and walk around as much as possible
when I'm actually in places.
Like, we're gonna go to the lounges,
Instagram Lounge,
and I'm gonna make sure I take lots of photos.
(upbeat music)
We're apparently going to a panel, the LGBTQ+ Panel,
which I just managed to wrangle my way onto, ha ha!
I was not gonna be on it and then it was like,
Rose and Rosie have dropped out and now it's just men.
So, we're about some disabled lesbian representation, woo!
I think it's really interesting that you said that
because I think the opposite.
- Don't disagree with me, Jessica.
(audience laughs) Don't make an idiot of me.
- One of the things that I absolutely love about YouTube
is that it gives us the diversity of representation
that regular, traditional media is not giving us.
I think no matter what tiny box you fall in,
you are going to find at least 10 other people on YouTube
who are exactly the same
and I think that's really wonderful.
(upbeat music)
Hello, it is day three of Summer in the City
and I've kind of got my voice back,
unlike yesterday when it was just completely gone.
(Jessica sighs)
- Hello.
- How am I doing?
- You're okay. (Jessica chuckles)
I think I just left a bit of my mascara on you, sorry.
- Oh. (both laugh)
Hopefully it won't be too bad.
Off for another day of adventure.
For me, my channel is very much about,
it's not about our relationship,
that's not the main focus.
So my wife likes to say that she is a special guest star.
We obviously had to have talks about,
you know, what do you share and what do you not share?
The thing is, because I talk a lot
about disabilities and chronic illness
and I've lived that through my life,
I have a very different idea of what a boundary is.
So I don't have any expectation of privacy ever,
because when you have a chronic illness
and someone often has to help you get into the bath,
occasionally someone you've never met before
because your care agency sent someone really new
and you're like, oh, great,
first introduction, take my clothes off,
(audience laughs)
you have a very different idea of privacy.
And so she had to educate me in what privacy is
and what not to share with the world.
So, the second chair had its own issues,
namely that it was ridiculously heavy and slow,
at a bad angle for my hips,
and incredibly difficult to take apart.
I actually tried to film us taking it apart
but the chair made Claudia so angry
I thought she was gonna throw the camera
so I just very quietly put it away.
And look, just because I had that experience
with those two chairs,
I am not tarring power chairs with the same brush.
And please, if you decide that either of those chairs
are the chair for you,
don't assume that I'm thinking badly of your choice,
it's just that they're not the thing for me.
Or the chairs that I even had at the start of this video,
which, it's a whole thing, yeah.
But really the message that I hope you will take
from my mobility aid video
is that even if it's not the thing for me,
it may be for you.
So, calm down, wow.
Moving on to what I've gathered
about the pros and cons of power chairs.
As a few of you noted last week,
this pros and cons list is very much
what I have been able to gather
from my experiences and research
and it doesn't necessarily apply to all power chairs
and it would look very different,
is a list were I needing to use
a power chair all of the time.
We all have different needs, though,
so just think through your own list
and then apply that to your search.
Pros and cons.
Pros: compact, allowed on public transport,
intuitive joystick,
some can be both used indoors and outdoors,
it's faster than a manual wheelchair,
it's available in a variety of sizes,
narrower than a mobility scooter.
Cons: expensive!
Like, really, really expensive, yeah.
Slower than the mobility scooters,
requires disassembling if it doesn't fold,
if it's not foldable, you'll likely need a lift on your car,
if it is foldable, it's probably quite heavy,
nowhere to put your handbag.
Again, though, these are just thoughts for you
and you may have your own completely different list.
Let me know.
So I guess I kind of, in some ways,
feel a bit defeated maybe
and that's difficult.
Hey, you guys have left me
some really good suggestions, thank you,
on both comments on YouTube videos and on my Instagram
and I'm very grateful for those
and I'm gonna research, yes,
and find my thing, hopefully.
(record scratches) Okay, hi again.
So I'm just scrapping the outro that was gonna go here
and instead, I'm gonna tell you
all about the power chair that I just bought,
which one I bought, and also why,
because my needs and wants for mobility aids
fall kind of into two camps.
I want something that I'm able
to independently leave the house in,
go to the corner shops,
go to the park with the dogs,
that it should be able to handle hills and bumpy pathways,
and I also want something small
that I can easily get onto a bus,
remember, last week?
Yeah, a bus.
And that I can get on the train,
that I can go through a London Tube station in,
maybe even something that I can use inside my house
should it be one of those months
where walking just isn't happening.
So far, from what I've found,
and I've put a lot of hours into researching this,
that doesn't exist as one thing yet.
And so the compromise that I've settled on,
inspired by a wonderful commenter who suggested it
and thank you so much for this,
is the PW-999UL,
which is, what a name,
good job, guys, you named it well,
from Wheelchair88.
And it's not the snappiest of names
but it looks like a very snappy little chair.
So from what I've gathered through the website
and from reading copious reviews,
this chair genuinely is able
to handle very different surfaces.
It can be folded in, apparently, one second,
I mean, I'm assuming that's once you know
how to do it properly.
It's super light but it still goes over bumps
up to five centimeters, which includes curbs,
and the brakes can even hold the chair on a slope,
which is really great because I know some don't
and some people fall over backwards.
It's also possible to turn it into a manual chair
when it runs out of batteries.
Yeah, remember that from last episode too?
It's kind of a fear of mine now, running out of battery.
So you may be looking at the picture
that I've inserted of this chair
and saying, but Jessica, it's still black and gray.
To which I say, I have learnt to adjust my expectations.
And, also, motorbike workshops are actually willing
to respray a power chair, who knew?
So I guess the power chair version of "Pimp My Car"
will be coming in the new year.
So according to the website,
my new chair should be arriving
maybe at the end of November or the start of December
so my final video in the mobility chair series
will be out soon-ish.
I don't know, once it's here,
and we can try it out together for the first time.
It's very exciting.
(sighs) I shall see you in my next video (lip smacking).
(upbeat jazz music)