Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/09/25/wheelchairs-could-one-day-be-a.html
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Fuck yeah, Science!
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Fuck yeah, universal health care!
And science!
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And it’s Tuesday too!
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Eh?
Not knocking mind. Tuesday is, no joking, my favorite day. But feel I’m missing a reference. 
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Tuesday is the new Wednesday.
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Celtic before Odin’s Day. Works for me. 
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Wow!. Just Wow!
Somebody seeing this today has new hope.
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I never could get the hang of Tuesdays. Oh, wait . . .
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Is this the type of thing that could be patented, or charged outrageously for? If so, I expect it will be.
Cynicism aside, this is fantastic news. I wonder what Callahan would have done differently if this had been possible for him?
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oh, click bait headline…love those.
Just missing ‘#4 is my favorite’
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If I was an insurance company I would be pushing this to market for pure self interest. Even if it’s expensive it’s probably going to be less expensive then a lifetime of disability support.
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Spinal cord injuries and paralysis are not the only reasons people use wheelchairs (I use a wheelchair, and I don’t have a spinal cord injury). While a possible cure for paralysis is a good thing, it won’t completely eliminate the need for wheelchairs.
There’s also a whole lot of implicit pity in this post that just reflects social stigma and stereotyping about disability. It’s entirely possible to be disabled and active and healthy; it doesn’t prevent people from exercising and enjoying the same recreational opportunites as all you bipeds do. The reason it’s a problem to use a wheelchair is not the wheelchair, it’s all the crummy design of buildings and spaces and the bizarre attitudes some people have about wheelchair use and users.
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so…we aren’t going to get these?
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And the medical equipment lobby would be fighting you tooth and nail.
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Came here to say this. As the partner of a bedbound person with a healthy spine who nonetheless cannot stand or walk, the headline made me annoyed, and the clueless prattle in the first paragraph about how awful it would be to lose your ability to walk made me livid.
Seamus needs to get a clue and educate himself before posting on issues about which he knows less than nothing.
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My cerebral cortex was temporarily paralyzed trying to parse that first quoted sentence.
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As the spouse of a BK amputee, thank you for covering this objection better than I could have.
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Sorry, Seamus, but this may be the most insensitive article of yours I’ve ever read.
There are so many reasons for mobility devices and most of them aren’t spinal injuries. Nor is the need to use a mobility device binary: people may need them in chaotic environments but not at home. Mobility is sometimes cyclical or dependent on factors outside of the user’s control. Please don’t contribute to the binary thinking that device equals devastation equals despair and people who don’t need a device 24/7/365 are somehow faking it when they do need one, and if this device won’t help them, they’re just malingering. Mobility device users get way too much of that already.
Please try to do better, and please, BB, can you hire someone who informed to write on disability tech? (There’s a whole #spoonie twitter-verse you can talk to…)
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When do we get tacos?
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