Summer is finally here (in Finland)

Finland is one of the coldest countries in the world. At winters, the outside temperature might be even – 30 C°. We have lots of snow and ice at winters, which makes living sometimes more difficult. Our previous blogpost was about coping with winter, but now it is gladly not time to think about those snowy, cold and dark winter mornings, because it is SUMMER! 

Finnish summer is very beautiful, as you can see from these pictures I took when I was hiking last weekend with my friend. Lakes and untouchable nature are the absolute strengths of Finland. In my opinion, going out to the nature is one of the most relaxing things you can do. Fresh air and quiet environment makes it possible to clear your thoughts and reload your brains for the upcoming days and challenges. With Four X it is fortunately possible to go to the nature easily and enjoy it's benefits.

Our hike included riding paths at the forest while listening birds singing. It was a beautiful day so we took many pictures, which I am going to post here later. After about an hour of hiking, we took a break next to the lake and ate some snacks and drank coffee. What could be better? When the break was over, we rode back to the city and finished our day by eating ice cream at the centrum of Kuopio.

It would be fun and interesting to see how you are enjoying your summertime. If you want to, you can send your own post about your summer day. I could then post it here so we all could have new inspiration to summer days and see what it is like in different countries! 

You could send your post to: mywheelchairlife@gmail.com

Great summer to everyone!

IN FINNISH

SUOMEKSI

Kuten me kaikki suomalaiset tiedämme, talvella on kylmä. Viime talvenakin useaan otteeseen pimeänä aamuna – 30 asteen pakkasessa tuli väistämättä ajatuksia tulevasta kesästä. Mutta hei, nyt se kesä on vihdoinkin täällä!!! Juhannuskin jo kolkuttelee ovella.

Suomen kesä on todella kaunis, kauniimpi kuin aina muistammekaan. Suomessa on ainutlaatuinen luonto, sillä se on suurimmilta osin koskematonta ja puhdasta. Lukuisat järvet ja tunturit ovat poikkeuksellisia etuisuuksia maailmanlaajuisestikin. Four X:n avulla on onneksi mahdollista nauttia luonnosta vaivattomasti. Nämä kuvat otin viime viikonloppuna ollessani luontoretkellä ystäväni kanssa. Kuvat otin retken loppuvaiheessa kun olimme palanneet jo kaupunkiin.

Retkellämme kuljimme luontopolkuja ihaillen maisemia ja kuunnellen lintujen laulua. Keli oli todella hyvä, joten otimme lukuisia kuvia, joita tulen myös täällä julkaisemaan. Noin tunnin retkeilyn jälkeen pidimme tauon, jolloin söimme eväitä ja joimme kahvia järven rannalla. Onko mitään parempaa?Tauon jälkeen aloimme palaamaan takaisin kaupunkiin päin. Viimeistelimme retken jäätelöllä Kuopion keskustassa 

Olisi mahtavaa jos kertoisitte omasta kesäpäivästänne! Voisitte esimerkiksi ottaa päivästä pari kuvaa ja kirjoittaa lyhyesti miten päivän olette viettäneet. Jos lähetätte kuvat ja kirjoituksen minulle, voisin sitten täällä julkaista, jolloin me kaikki voisimme saada inspiraatiota kesäpäiviimme! 

Kuvat ja kirjoituksen voi lähettää: mywheelchairlife@gmail.com

Mahtavaa kesää teille kaikille!

5 tips to cope with winter on a wheelchair

Winter can be a really difficult time to anyone driving a wheelchair and no matter if you drive manual or electric wheelchair. Snow is the pain in the ass, no matter how positively you think. Sometimes when you look outside the window in the morning you just decide to stay in, because there has been snowing 5 centimeters last night - too much effort! So how do you cope with winter if you decide to go out?

1. Get a proper winter tires

With a proper winter tires you can drive anywhere safely. Pneumatic tires prevent you getting slip on icy road or getting stuck into snow.

2. Put warm clothes on

It is wise to make sure you are warm! Head and hands get cold fastest to wear decent gloves and winter hat. Keep extra gloves and wool socks with you and layer clothing to keep your body warm all the time. Try to get comfortable and also remember to take a blanket with you.

3. Take care of you safety

Have fully charged batteries in as well as in your wheel and also you mobile phone. Keep a buddy or assistant with you during these winter months to have extra set of helping hands during winter months. Snow can stress anyones life so it is not good to be alone.

4. Plan extra time

Going places can take extra time, especially when it is a proper snow storm. Take also into consideration the time to dress up and all the other normal daily activities which take longer because of the snow. Make sure the wheelchair will not slide and brakes are locked while transportations. Plan ahead and take into consideration extra layers, extra traffic, extra steps -and extra time.

5. Buy yourself a mobility solution, which works!

Don't just stay at home! Figure out solutions, which are available and invest some money be able to live the way you want! Don't mind about restriction and dare to do all exiting things in life. Have a courage and find freedom to live and experience!

With Four X you are not able to only drive in  winter -you can also clear the whole front yard of the snow! (snowplough is an extra equipment)

This lovely pink Four X is capable even go up gently sloping stairs -not to mention slopes in winter! Get a wheelchair, which does not stuck into snow

Find the best suitable Four X product for you! www.chasswheel.com
www.fourx.fi / more info about Four X products

Photographer Veli-Matti Lehtinen tells about his life in wheelchair

Veli-Matti got CP injury during his birth, because he could not get enough oxygen. Luckily he thinks the injury has not influenced too much to his life and Veli-Matti is a regular person, who uses a wheelchair in mobility. "Ofcourse there are some challenges in life of having a CP injury and not the least of them is people's attitude, which varies quite much. For example if someone stranger calls to my mobile, he/she may end up the phone call, when I am trying to ask what this person wants to talk about. Caller may not understand that assistant person is helping me and I am not able to speak myself. Except I am able to say the word 'no'. Once when I was out without my assistant and only using handsfree, one friend of mine learned to speak with me by asking yes and no questions and I answered no or stayed silent when I meant to say 'yes'. Sometimes if I am very nervous when someone stranger is calling and then even the word 'no' does not come out my mouth."

For journal sellers Vel-Matti says sometimes a very strict 'NO!', especially if they try to sell something. Nowadays mostly assistants answer his phone, because he lives in his own apartment. Veli-Matti communicates through Bliss-symbols, but communication is not the biggest challenge but the attitude towards diversity is. "Sometimes people think that I am hearing impaired and speak to my assistant instead of me and when I try to make new friends, they may look at me like something cheap and leave. So they are not interested, but children come to talk to me and they are very curious. Adults are not." tells Veli-Matti.

If he could change something in this world, Veli-Matti would give everyone a possibility to live at home and not in hospital or some institution, because that affects directly for growing as an adult mentally if someone is always making decisions for you. That is the reason why assistant should also not to take control over an adult person's life. " Medical staff may say that falling in love and finding a girlfriend is not something which will happen in your life and definitely sex is not a part of you life, because of the disability." Veli-Matti thinks these thing belong to everyones life and medical staff should be more supportive in finding a partner, because traditional marriage is the most natural thing in peoples lives." (Check the Charity calendar campaign for equality) When Veli-Matti turned 15 became a Christian, which has helped him in difficult times in life. "I personally recommend religion to everyone, because Jesus is important friend for me."

Veli-Matti tells it is important to find the personal assistant, who's with is easy to cooperate and if communication does not work for some reason, that should be able to switch to someone else. Ofcourse the termination of employment needs to be done carefully that the assistant finds a job first. It is important to be able to speak about everything that disability services will not come between immediately. Assistants should consider that which kind person would be the best for this person that the personal chemistry works best. Bad chemistry can have effects on employers health and wellbeing so it is a serious matter, because the situation can go even that far that employer considers a suiside, if he/she does not find a way out of the situation. "I think it is important to talk about these things, because there are many people in difficult situation and they do not try to solve it themselves or dare to talk about it. They settle and have no idea what it is to cooperate with assistant who's with communication works." 

Veli-Matti loves to take beautiful photos and he started his hobby at the age of 25 with special equipped Four X with built in camera stand. His favorite shots are challenging for example photos against the light and the good camera with decent functions is needed. His favorite objects are lake sceneries, people, flowers, close-ups and different details. Here are few photos taken by Veli-Matti:

Veli-matti Lehtisen mielestä vamma ei saa vaikuttaa normaaliin elämään

Veli-Matti sai CP-vamman synnytyksen yhteydessä, koska hän ei saanut riittävästi happea. Hänen mielestään vamma ei ole vaikuttanut suuresti elämään ja hän kokee olevansa tavallinen ihminen, joka käyttää pyörätuolia. "Vamma ei saa vaikuttaa elämään ja haluan elää normaalia elämää, kuten terveet ihmiset". kertoo Veli-Matti. Elämä CP-vamman kanssa on silti joskus haastavaa ja ihmisten suhtautuminen vaihtelee hyvin paljon. "Esimerkiksi jos joku vieras ihminen soittaa minulle, hän saattaa lopettaa puhelun kun minä yritän kysyä mitä asiaa hänellä on. Soittaja ei ehkä ymmärrä, että avustaja auttaa minua, enkä voi puhua suulla itse. Toisaalta taas yksi ystäväni oppi puhumaan kanssa, kun olin ulkona ilman avustajaa ja käytin handsfree:tä. Pystyn sanomaan yhden sanan ja se on 'ei'. Kun taas olin hiljaa niin se tarkoitti 'kyllä'. Kun joku vieras ihminen soittaa niin minua saattaa hieman jännittää ja silloin tuo sana ei tule."

Lehtimyyjille Veli-Matti saattoi aikaisemmin sanoa hyvin tiukastikin 'EI!', varsinkin jos he yrittivät myydä jotakin. Nykyisin avustajat vastaavat puhelimeen, sillä hän asuu nykyisin omassa asunnossa. Veli-Matti puhuu bliss-symbolien avulla, mutta kommunikointi ja ymmärtäminen ei ole suurin haaste, vaan ihmisten suhtautuminen erilaisuuteen.  "Välillä jotkut ihmiset luulevat etten kuule ja he puhuvat avustajalle eikä minulle. kun minä yritän saada uusia ystäviä niin he saattavat katsoa minua kuin jotain halpaa tavaraa ja lähtevät pois. Eivät ole kiinnostuneita. Mutta lapset tulevat kyllä ja ovat uteliaita ja kiinnostuneita! Aikuisia ei kiinnosta." kertoo Veli-Matti.

Veli-Matti haluaisi muuttaa maailmassa sen, että kaikilla olisi mahdollisuus asua kotona, eikä sairaaloissa ja laitoksissa. Hänen mukaan näissä instituutioissa eläminen vaikuttaa henkiseen kasvuun ja on hyvin hankalaa kasvaa aikuiseksi, jos joku on aina päättämässä asioita puolestasi. Avustajan pitäisi myös olla puuttumatta aikuisen ihmisen elämään ja asioihin. "Hoitohenkilökunta saattaa sanoa, ettei rakastuminen ja tyttöystävän löytäminen kuulu sinun elämääsi. Ja varsinkaan seksiä ei saa harrastaa." Veli-Matin mielestä hoitohenkilökunnan tulisi huomioida, että nämä asiat kuuluvat jokaisen ihmisen normaaliin elämään. He voisivat keskustella esimerkiksi naimisiin menemisestä ja jopa auttaa kumppanin löytämisessä, sillä perinteinen avioliitto on maailman luonnollisin asia" (Ks. Kalenteri-kampanja asian puolesta). Kun Veli-Matti täytti 15 hän tuli kristityksi, mikä on auttanut paljon elämän vaikeina aikoina. "Suosittelen kaikille ja Jeesus on tärkeä ystävä minulle". 

Veli-Matin mielestä on myös tärkeää löytää oikeanlainen avustaja, joka on sellainen ihminen, jota hän tarvitsee. Pitäisi myös olla mahdollista vaihtaa avustajaa, mikäli yhteistyö ei suju jostakin syystä. Toki irtisanominen tulee hoitaa niin että avustaja löytää ensin itselleen toisen työpaikan, eikä irtisanoa työsuhdetta heti. On tärkeää pystyä keskustelemaan asioista, niin ettei vammaispalvelu tule heti väliin. Avustajien olisi tärkeää pohtia, millaisen henkilön työnantaja tarvitsee, eikä vain katsoa pikkutarkasti mitä työsopimukseen on kirjoitettu, mikäli henkilökemiat eivät yksinkertaisesti toimi. Tällainen tilanne voi mennä liian pitkälle, jolloin huono henkilökemia vaikuttaa työnantajan hyvinvointiin ja henkilö voi jopa alkaa suunnitella itsemurhaa, koska ei löydä muuta ulospääsyä. ”Mielestäni tästä aiheesta on tärkeää puhua, koska on monia jotka ovat hankalassa tilanteessa. He eivät yritä ratkaista tilannetta ja kokevat olevansa alemmassa asemassa, eivätkä siksi uskalla puhua asiasta. Nämä henkilöt pitävät tilannettaan täysin normaalina, koska eivät tiedä millaista yhteistyö voi olla sellaisen avustajan kanssa, jonka kanssa yhteistyö oikeasti toimii. ” 

Veli-Matti harrastaa valokuvausta ja hän aloitti rakkaan harrastuksensa 25-vuotiaana. Veli-Matin lempikuvauskohteet ovat haastavia ja hän kuvien ottamisesta esimerkiksi vastavalossa, johon tarvitaan hyvä kamera useine toimintoineen. Hänen lempikuvauskohteita ovat järvimaisemat, ihmiset, kukat, erilaiset lähikuvat ja yksityiskohdat. Tässä on muutamia Veli-Matin ottamia valokuvia.

Fashionable wheelchair women don't play with rules.

We are all similar and all so different people in our personalities and willing or not willing to represent that in style. Why would wheelchair users show any less fashionable than walking people? May be one reason is that it is slightly harder to find nice and comfortable clothes. IZ Adaptive Clothing for wheelchairs manufactures amazing clothes for wheelchair users, which do not wrinkle while and look the best while sitting unlike other clothes. Metro article about 10 ways to stay stylish gives great tips with a proper fashion attitude by ignoring the rules, because fashion is all about the personality and the person wearing it! And do not forget all the lovely accessories, like Olivia Palermo says: "style is all about accessories."

These comfortable jeans look great while sitting

Fashionable biker jacket for wheelchair users

Wheelchair fashion icon Jillian Mercado, who is a model in Diesel advertisements, writes about style, trends and fashion events in her blog manufactured1987. Her amazing photos about her in photoshoots, wedding gowns and lipsticks make every women willing to improvise with make up and outfits. New Yorker Magdalena writes funny and entertaining blog Prettycripple.com and I loved the last post about dating tips for women! She also shares wild ideas for scarfs, hats and necklaces. Wheelchair Mommy also loves fashion, make up and just recently changed her hairstyle for fashionable short style from long one. Pricilla is a mother of three boys and a husband Charlie and she blogs about everyday life with her family. She just bought a lovely pink and metal color iPhone.

Wheelchair Mommy's pink and metal color IPhone as accessory

Diesel advertisement with Jillian Mercado

What if the wheelchair would be fashionable describing your lifestyle like all the other accessories? It is actually the most visible accessory, which also often seems to define a person in the eyes of certain people. Why not to disrupt them a little bit? Have a little bit of an attitude and become visible in the eyes of all the people. Shock people with Chasswheel's cool Four X multifunctional wheelchair, which you can even go up some stairs and stand while driving!! Go to clubbing by standing or to an cocktail event and speak to people on the same height as them and be more self-confident as you have ever been. Colourswheelchair sells manual wheelchairs with different colors and abilities like trendy camouflage or any color fitting to persons style.

Relaxed autumn fashion with boots, Louis Vuitton bag and the pink Four X wheelchair for snow, soft sand and even stairs.

Camouflage manual wheelchair for all terrain use

My tips for all wheelchair women who are willing to express themselves with fashion are: dare to be visible, play with colors, find your own style, wear what is comfortable and be confident. Happy and fashionable autumn and here is a song for all the brave women :)

-Amy

The Story of Janika: "If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It!"

Janika is a sweet young 20 year old girl from the small town in Finland called Seinäjoki. Her passion is to write a lifestyle blog called 'Rullailua' and she loves knitting in every spare moment, which shows in the blog every step at the way. Rullailua means rolling in English, which describes rolling and wandering thoughts in the head as well as rolling around with a wheelchair. Janika has born with a spinal cord injury MMC and she doesn't remember, what she thought about it as a child but on later on as a teenager unfortunately the bitterness came into her life. She had those feelings that 'I am not a good enough' and 'nobody likes me'. Even today in weak moments in life, those hopeless feelings still arise, but overall she has accepted herself as who she is. And maybe all these experiences makes her the stunning and awesome personality -the fighter with a great ability to listen what people has to say.

Maybe the previous experiences also influence why other peoples bad attitudes makes her angry and sad, for example she gets frustrated if there is a possibility to get some place with an assistance, but a close friend will not be bothered to help her to get there at all. Luckily Janika has realized that she is not worse than anyone else, even if she uses the wheelchair to move around. The other things she gets angry of are dishonesty, lying and secrets about things which concerns her. And on the other hand she gets really happy about her family, friends, love, warm sun shine, crafts, having yarn in her hands to start knitting...and she loves little surprises in her daily life!

The best things on her life are related also to family and friends, especially to her godson :) Exercise, crafts and hot chocolate are the moments she really enjoys and therefore her quote in life is: "If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It." 

Janika is the girl with an attitude of the fighter

Beginning of the year 2015 Janika had 99 rolls of yarn. Lets see how many she has at the end of the year.

Put the music on and lets start knitting!

Free wheelchair from a charity organisation?

It is estimated that 100 million people around the world need a wheelchair without the means to get one and charity organizations do their best to offer help for those who need a wheelchair desperate. There has also been a lot criticism towards these donated wheelchairs, because those are not usually made in good quality. That is an ugly truth that if you try to manufacture something with low costs, then the quality of components and the final product suffers. Also the local producers are concerned about their  wheelchair businesses survival and it would be great if foundations could support local helping aid companies somehow. Wheelchair is also very personal equipment and should be exactly suitable for that particular person to make sure sitting is comfortable and no more injuries will be caused. That requires quite amount of background research...Tricky! I hope I did not scare you off and if you need a wheelchair or you want to make a donation, here are few foundations to contact to.

http://www.wheelchairfoundation.org
Wheelchair Foundation is a nonprofit organization, which purpose is to donate a wheelchair to every child, teen and adult worldwide who needs it. Foundation has donated nearly million wheelchairs more than 150 million countries. Even is the United States of America -the greatest country on earth -there are so many who need a help of getting a wheelchair.

http://www.freewheelchairmission.org
Free Wheelchair Mission is a humanitarian, faith-based, nonprofit organization that provides wheelchairs at no cost to people with disabilities living in developing nations. In collaboration with a network of like-minded partners, FWM has sent more than 822,000 wheelchairs to people in 91 countries, providing dignity, independenc and hope through the gift of mobility. FWM has a focus of becoming a leading provider of mobility in developing nations, employment opportunities and community that these individuals only dreamed of before receiving the gift of mobility. Transforming lives through mobility This organization also has events and now there is coming up motivational speaker Nick Vujicic in Costa Mesa, CA.

http://www.lifenetswheelchairproject.org 
LifeNets is a nonprofit organization, which goal is to put wheelchairs that are not currently being used into the hands of someone who can benefit from them. Project is for those who live in United States and the program is designed to facilitate the exchange of wheelchairs between individuals and is not for the use of vendors and distributors. On the site you can browse listings anonymously, but when contacting or posting your own items, you must be a registered user,

http://www.chariotsofhope.org
Chariots of Hope is also a nonprofit organization ans its mission is to collect used wheelchairs. Donated wheelchairs are repaired and distributed without any costs for the recipient. Organization has donated wheelchair e.g. in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Honolulu, U.S.