Wheelchairs are a necessity and a blessing for many millions of people throughout the world today. People from all walks of life for whom walking is difficult or impossible due to injury, illness or disability require the use of wheelchairs.
The circumstances through which people find themselves in wheelchairs are mostly tragic and often resulting from accidents of many sorts but various diseases such as multiple sclerosis also are the cause of people needing to use wheelchairs.
Hardly a day goes by when you have opened a newspaper or turned on a radio or television set only to read or hear of some tragic accident which has resulted in spinal injuries turning the person into a paraplegic or quadriplegic. Many of these accidents are simply that, tragic accidents but many also are caused by the person's own stupidity or lack of commonsense and quite often also, the stupidity of others.
You see pictures in television news stories of horrific motor vehicle accidents resulting in spinal injuries. You hear of footballers in sports reports suffering spinal injuries as the result of a reckless tackle by opposing players. You shudder at the sight in another news report of a mountain climber lying motionless on a ledge having fallen from high above. You read about reckless abandon where swimmers have ignored the warning signs not to dive into creeks where some parts are far too shallow.
Is the result of the accident the fault of the injured person? Sometimes. Is it the fault of another party? Quite often. Regardless of excessive speed or driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Regardless of the buzz that mountain climbers get by conquering another peak. Regardless of the stupidity of swimmers ignoring clear warning signs. Regardless of footballers lifting opponents and driving them into the ground in a wanton reckless manner, all of these tragic accidents have happened many times in the past and unfortunately, will continue to happen in the future across the globe.
In nearly all of these cases where spinal injuries occur, life in the future for the recipients of these injuries depends on the use of wheelchairs. Does this mean that the future for them is lesser in quality than that of a non-disabled person. Absolutely not as they have available to them in the form of a wheelchair, accessibility, mobility and independence. For them, wheelchairs are a necessity, but also a blessing.
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