Devin Strong

Spirit of Peace Lutheran

One of our church members works at Fort McAllister State Park, and she invited me to try out a new GRIT wheelchair that the park purchased for their disabled guests.

Instead of the small front wheels, called casters, the GRIT has a larger wheel about two feet out in front of the main frame of the chair. There are no small casters to get stuck in the grass, so the chair is better for off-roading.

I have a device called a ChairTopper that sits on top of my car like extra storage, but it opens electrically from the side and drops a chain which can pick up my folded, manual wheelchair, flip it on its side, and store it up top. It’s a godsend for my independence!

There’s a lady in our congregation who uses an electric wheelchair, and her chair has a button that can raise her seat a foot or more, a very nice feature for having an eye-to-eye conversation with someone.

Next month I will visit another state park where I plan to go hiking in an All-Terraine Track Chair. Instead of rear wheels, this special chair has treads like a tank. It looks like a military assault wheelchair, guns and ammo, not included! These are just a few examples of the exciting technology available to disabled folks today. Of course, all this fancy stuff costs. The GRIT chair retails for $4,000. My ChairTopper cost me $6,000 about five years ago, elevating electric wheelchairs start at 3,000 and go up from there, and the All-Terrain Track Chair can run up to 20 grand! Moreover, most of these items are deemed “non-essential” and not covered by insurance.

Adaptive technology is so pricey that some disability advocacy groups talk about a “disability tax,” referring to the extra money that it costs just to function with a disability in our society. Still, it’s wonderful that this technology exists. I have often wondered how my life with a disability would be different if I were born in a different place on the planet.

Unfortunately, existence is one thing, and access is another. As Americans, living in the richest, most powerful country in the world, we can provide almost anything for our citizens, provided we have the desire and the political will to do so, But the world is a complicated, messy place, and just because we can do something does not mean that we will.

I have been thinking a lot about access to the best that America has to offer in the wake of the floods in Texas and elsewhere. Texas officials knew about flooding risks in the Hill Country for decades but fixes to make things safer were deemed too expensive.

Amid political wrangling will FEMA even exist for the next disaster and the next? The Federal Department of Education seems almost certain to go away. Will states have adequate funds to provide special needs kids with the services that they need? Will folks who need durable medical equipment be able to afford it going forward?

As we give thanks for fabulous technology and fabulous people who work tirelessly to help others, my prayer is that people who need help of all kinds will also have access to what they need.