A Tour of My Custom Wheelchair | Tilite Aero Z with SmartDrive
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- Опубликовано: 22 сен 2024
- As promised, I have finally made a video to show you all my wheelchair! In the video, I show some clips of me using it to go on fun outings, go grocery shopping, and go on dates with Matt. I also share some specs that make my wheelchair unique and custom fit for me. To those of you who donated to my wheelchair fund, THANK YOU!! I will never be able to express how much this mobility aid has improved my quality of life. You are all my heroes. 💜
Here is a complete tour of the unique features of my custom ultra lightweight wheelchair. I am nearly 6 ft. tall, so there are some measurements that are not seen on the average user's chair. Stay to the end of the video for tips on seeing more of my videos in the future and a special thank you to those who donated to my wheelchair fund. Happy spinning!
My Wheelchair Bag:
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Gloves Similar to Mine But Way Cuter😜:
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I love your creativity!❤
I've been using a wheelchair for 18 years, 37 now. Best thing I ever did, give so much independence. Great video.
I completely agree! I wish I had started using one earlier. With my wheelchair, I went from almost becoming reclusive to being able to confidently leave the house and participate in life again. I'm so glad that hear that your wheelchair gave you freedom too! 💜
I’m getting the TiLite soon myself! I love it!!
Awesome!! It's such a nice wheelchair 🙌💜
Which model are you getting?
This video is so helpful! I’m a newly diagnosed POTS patient, who has diagnosed hyper mobility, but not EDS (due to lack of available specialists where I live in Canada). I’m also Autistic.
This is super helpful as I’m needing an ambulatory wheelchair and have been using rentals for about 7 months.
This seems like a perfect option for me - thanks again for the great video!
Thanks so much for sharing how this chair works and works for you! Obviously we all wish you never needed such a thing but since you do is awesome to live at a time when such an elegant and freeing machine is available. And as always, I have the best feeling that your open and honest way of dealing with and sharing about your life circumstances will be live enhancing and likely life changing for others well into the future.....a ripple in a very big pond!
Wonderful video and really helpful as I research my first chair. Thank you!
Hey Tara! I'm so glad it was useful to you!! 💜
thanks for this video! it was very helpful as i shop for my first chair.
No problem! I'm glad it helped! Happy wheelchair shopping 👍
Great demo...thanks...my son just ordered a new aeroZ.
How does your son like it I am interested in purchasing one for my son. Please post pros and cons thank you
Hi! Can understand your happiness with smart drive! I've got a M 25 by Alber and am as happy as you are now2 l'll get a customed wheel chair next time my doc will say "yes!
Fingers crossed that your doc helps you get a custom wheelchair soon! 💜
Amazing!! I love your channel!
Thanks! I love yours too! 🎉
Yay for Zebra RUclipsrs!
Is there a way to lean the back part of the chair backwards?
Unfortunately not. It only folds forward, and that's just for storage purposes. If I get a power chair in the future, I think one of my criteria would be a reclining option. 💜
What are you talking about? The brand is Permobil.
You are correct. Permobil bought Tilite a while back. 💜
wow nice wheelchair you have.
Would it be impossible to get insurance to cover the tilite and the smart drive? What qualifiers did your physician write in your DME order for the insurance?
I have a extra oushtracker watch if you need it.
Hey! Thanks! Unfortunately, my SmartDrive is an old version that doesn't connect to the smart tracker. 💜
Thank you for making this video. I am a zebra in WI looking for a good chair. This gave me a lot of good information and confirms that TiLite will work well. Do you find your smart drive has issues or limits you? Thank you.
I'm glad that this video helped you! The major limitation of my SmartDrive is that the on/off/mode button makes a very quiet sound to indicate which mode it is in. Outdoors or in loud buildings, I can't hear it all, and so I have to guess which mode it's in. Sometimes that really sucks, because I will accidentally have it in outdoor mode and almost run into people or objects 🙈
Besides that, I love it. It can get me up ramps and hills without me having to push it at all. I have some footage of it climbing a hill at a state park, which I will include in my upcoming vacation vlog. Let me know if you have any other questions. I'm happy to help! I wish that I could have talked to someone with a SmartDrive when I was looking into them. 💜
Hello, I was wondering what was the process for getting your wheelchair because I am looking in to possibly getting a custom chair but do not know what all I would have to do to be able to get one. If you could possibly tell me or make a video about it that would be awesome. Thank you so much.
Hi Jon! The process for getting my chair was pretty complicated. My rheumatologist wrote the DME (Durable Medical Equipment) order, which stated that I needed a custom chair. The reasons which qualified me for a custom chair were: 1) Greater risk of injury with a non-custom chair, 2) my need for an ultra lightweight chair, because I can't push or lift a heavier chair, 3) my need for a chair that would accommodate a Smart Drive system. We ended up self-funding the chair instead of going through insurance for several reasons, including the fact that there were no DME companies within a two-hour radius of our home who were qualified to do the custom fitting. In the end, I had a teleconference with the Tilite people and they helped me make all of the customizations. Thanks for the video suggestion. I will definitely consider making a video to explain the process more clearly : )
You stated that the model is an areo z 2 . When doing research I don't see anything with a z 2 model. Can you please tell me what the difference is between theaero z and aero z 2? Thank you
Hello! It is the Tilite Aero Z Series 2. Here is a link to more information about this specific model: www.spinlife.com/TiLite-Aero-Z-Series-2-Rigid-Wheelchair/spec.cfm?productID=93114 💜
Thanks
Wish i had smar drive.... im jelly😂❤so IMPOSSIBLE to get it in Israel you need to sell a kidney 😪
So glad you have one!!! Hugs
They're pretty unattainable here in the US too, unfortunately. I was lucky enough to find mine secondhand.
I'm going to be chair shopping on monday and I'm so happy you like the tiLite! I'm leaning towards them and have been going nuts watching videos and doing research!
Also, my sisters name is Lindley too!
Cool! I'd love to know what you end up getting and how you like it! In my research, I found that Tilite had the lightest ultralight wheelchairs on the market, and that was a big factor in my decision.
And that's crazy that we have sisters with the same name. 💜
It's not a super common name!
@@LifeinBonnieland I do like the light weight aspect of Tilite, but for my it's not the biggest concern. I'm able to lift 30lbs fairly easily (not something I could manage doing repeatedly! But a afew times wouldnt break me) I need something that will withstand northern Canada life, so a bit more bulky is fine if it will tackle the weather.
I'm on the list to see an OT about my needs and they will be fitting me for my chair 🤩 it's a long process but I'd rather have a chair fit to me perfectly than to rush it and end up with something that just doesnt feel right
I definitely understand the climate concerns. It's best to get a wheelchair that can handle the conditions where you live. ❄️
@@LifeinBonnieland hey girl! So I got to try chairs today! So exciting! I've decided to go with the TiLite chair, and my OT is also requesting smart drive :D it is so much fun, and so so handy! Going through funding is going to take a while, it's going to be a nail biting wait!
@@14Raine14 That's great news! Can't wait to hear how it all works out for you. I'm so glad that your OT requested a SmartDrive 🙌
💣💣💣💣💣💣
That foot rest is the TiLite Angle Adjustable footrest which was pretty much made for the FreeWheel. 😳 18 X 18...how much do you weigh? TiLite really needs to be a shamed of themselves with their back design. That will be saggy and unsupportive with in a year...if it lasts that long. The front casters should swing freely. You should probably check those. I thik if you weigh the parts of the chair individulaly, you will find the FRAME weighs 12 1/2 pounds. There is no way an entire aluminum chair comlete with wheels, seat and back, weighs 12 1/2 pounds. The cushion is adorable, but really should be the width and length of your seat. You will find pressure sores will start on the thighs, toward where your knees are. I'm assuming you are just a part time wheelchair user...which is a good thing.
Thanks for pointing out the foot rest. I went back to the specs on my receipt and you're right. Good eye! As far as the seat size goes, it's less about my weight and more about how incredibly tall I am. My legs are really long and my hips go almost to the edge of the seat when I'm wearing anything more than a thin t-shirt. I completely agree about the backrest. I've had my chair for about two years now and it has never been terribly supportive. I usually use a lumbar cushion for added support. 💜
@@LifeinBonnieland I tried those lumbar cushions...in my opinion, they aren't focused on the back, but more the tushy. I have the Jay 3 back. Do you get it because insurance will pay for a cushion every 2 years? If your back ends up bad becuse of the bad back...it's almost worth paying out of pocket. I have the deep contour Jay 3.
Where do you get the deep contour j three? Do you like it and is it very comfortable
Nice😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢
I'm also Autistic and have EDS 😄🥰🤗
Woot! Love meeting other people with the same combo! 💜💜💜
@@LifeinBonnielandMe too!
I thought it looked too big until you revealed your height. I’m 5’4” and have yet to meet a taller chair user than myself. I use an electric wheelchair that is very tall so that doesn’t help!
Ha ha yeah, when the Tilite rep was helping me customize it, I asked him if we would be able to make it compact enough to fit through doorways in my house and he basically told me that I was too tall to have both a properly fitting wheelchair and one that fits through home doorways. Fun times in tall people land 🙈
@@LifeinBonnieland And I'm on the other end of the spectrum - short people problems: I'm getting an Aero Z as well, and since the ATP wasn't present in person for the seating evaluation (and the PT who measured me doesn't normally do seating evaluations), he and I have gone back and forth for the last 3 weeks to make sure we got some of the dimensions right because my legs are so short (I'm just under 5') - deciding on the footrest type was a nightmare, because if accounting for the cushion thickness, I'm right on the edge between the lowest high mount and the regular one (we finally decided on the lowest high mount so that my feet won't ever dangle, which is a problem I have in all adult sized chairs, whether wheelchair or regular). Mine is going to be ocean blue metallic, and they're pushing insurance to cover SmartDrive (I can't afford it otherwise). I should get mine in early October - can't wait!
@@SnowySpiritRuby Oh, the challenge with seating 😅 So glad your chair will be here this Fall 🥳 I bet you can't wait!! Let me know how getting a Smart drive through insurance goes. When my hand-me-down one dies, I'm gonna have to try to get a new one through insurance too. 💜
@@LifeinBonnieland It seems to have gone fine - I have hypermobility (most likely GHSD, but could possibly be mild hEDS) as well as a longstanding shoulder injury and POTS, so they took that info for the LMN, and, as far as I can tell, insurance didn't fight covering it.
@@SnowySpiritRuby Woohoo! I'm so glad to hear that insurance isn't fighting you. Getting the right mobility aids and other help is life changing 🙌🙌🙌
I'm sorry, but that chair is definitely not made to fit. Who scripted that! It's 1 1/2 to 2 inches too wide and the with your apparent core, the back could be 1/2 to 2/3 as high. You are swimming in there. What is wrong with the people who script these things!! As an incomplete paraplegic of 44 years, this makes me sad that this is still happening.
Hi Brian! I was recently fitted for and received a second chair, and the measurements are almost identical to this one. As I am not paraplegic, I have very different needs for my wheelchair. I cannot have anything touching or squeezing my hips, and I live pretty far north where I need plenty of space on either side of me for bulky winter coats.
I'll be making another video soon to showcase the differences between my two chairs 💜
Sir I want to leave your mobile no