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.

The story of disabled Samu touched the readers of IS - got the Chasswheel Four X as a donation!

Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat (IS) published a story about disabled Samu on February. The story got a huge amount of positive feedback - in addition he also gets a brand new Chasswheel Four X electric wheelchair and starts to design a new safety game. Samu is like anyone 14 years old teenager except he is also a person with a disability, because of the bones and gristle genetic developmental disorder. Samu cannot walk, but the family said they live normal happy life -happiness is right here, right now. Samu is a normal boy hanging out with friends, playing Playstation and his story was touched by many readers. "Teachers at school came to tell me that it was a good story and my taxi drivers did read it too and told the others that they drive my to school. It is always nice to get positive feedback."

Even bigger surprise was coming. We got a phone call from Chasswheel Ltd. and they would like to donate an electric wheelchair for me to be able to move around easier and different ground, even over some steps! The whole family is very touched by this donation and now Samu don't have to stay far when his friends go to the beach. He used to wait them on the road 20 meters from the beach, because he could not get there, but with this new wheelchair it is possible. Also moving in everyday any streets is going to be easier, because Samu can cross sills, pavings, icy roads and other obstacles independently. "Some walking streets has very high step on the side and Samu has had to drive on driving way sometimes." says Samus mother Janet. Samu also mentioned that he wants to study game designing and now he gets also an opportunity to test new safety game.

Why the health care systems do not care about the quality of life of wheelchair users?

The 15D Instrument developed by Harri Sintonen evaluates patients life quality with these 15 dimensions in many hospitals:

Mobility                       Vision Hearing Breathing Sleeping Eating Speech Excretion

Usual activities (hobbies etc.) Mental Function Discomfort and symptions Depression Distress Vitality Sexual activity

I bolded those parts in 15 Instrument of life quality of which is possible to effect with choosing the right wheelchair for the patient. It is important to know, how patients condition and welfare is measured and is this Instrument used also for something else than statistics? Does for example instant costs and costs in the long term effect on decision-making process? Or is the quality of life one of the criteria's in choosing the wheelchair for the patient?

Quality of life is very discussed topic in health care sector and this 15D Instrument is one of the tools used by hospitals to measure the healthiness of life years. Unfortunately the quality of life is not any criteria of choosing the right wheelchair for patients lifestyle. For example if the patient owns a summer cottage and would like to go fishing in summer time, but that is not a basic right of having a summer cottage and therefore the wheelchair cannot be chosen according to this fact. He is probably going to have a wheelchair for driving only on steady asphalt topped road. Who the hell would buy a car or even take it for free, if you could drive it only steady roads around 3 months in the year?!

According to 15D Instrument choice of the suitable wheelchair can be 10 out of 15. For example it is been proven that sitting down too long periods of time is very unhealthy for any kind of person (Huffingtonpost, Mayoclinic, NBC News). For this particular reason has been developed wheelchair models to be able to lift the person in standing position, which helps keeping the intestine and circulatory system functioning and the bone structure strong. Dear health care decision makers who disagree with me, I want to challenge you to sit down 16 hours per day during one month. After this I wish you to think deeply, how it would feel like sitting like that everyday in the rest of your life? You are making these decisions everyday for someone else.

A good wheelchair makes it possible to move also outside home. So why is that so important and has nothing to do with the quality of life? You walking health care decision-maker, what all this would be taken away from you: your job, friends and possibility to go to grocery store, beach, cinema, fishing, summer cottage, eating out with family and now and then meeting friends in pubs. Would you become depressed? 

I also argue that mental disorders and loneliness are serious things, which have effects on sleeping, anxiety, sexuality and even rehabilitation of any kind of sickness or injury. As far as I know the wheelchair users want to be seen as independent individuals and not only based of their disability, but thinking and feeling persons. Why this possibility for happy life is not offered to all disabled people in every country, but there are certain elite group of people chosen who gets the best wheelchairs?

We live now 2010 century, so should we change thousends of peoples' life and make the quality of life as a criteria of choosing a wheelchair? I think it is the one and only criteria of choosing a wheelchair.

Wheelchair did not define these people, why should it define you?

Sometimes we stuck into idea of people staring, talking first about our injury, asking if I you're ok or what has happened to you and my favorite...some people even talk over you like you'd be def (nothing against def people, but that would be a different story). Because of this I have learned to say "thank you not seeing me as a person" and the conversation can begin in the way or another. I have also learned if people sees the wheelchair at first, lets personalize the wheelchair fitting to my lifestyle, which forces people to open their eyes while watching.

It is true we need to handle the life changing event in our minds and go through different phases of acceptance. After acceptance becomes the phase of living, the raise of self-esteem and strong will of independence. Unfortunately some of our friendships change, because we are not the only ones scared at first. The best advice for a friend would probably be "treat the person as you used to and breathe". Feeling sorry just will make everything worse.

There are some respectful famous people using a wheelchair, who has not let the disability to stop you from inventing, working, being active and at the end -doing something great. The common thing for these people is that if we think of them, we remember their accomplishments first and then the disability. Respect.

Stephen Hawking 1942 - 
The greatest physicist since Einstein, who held the post of Lucasian Professor at Cambridge (the chair held by Isaac Newton in 1663). He has contributed the study that Einstein started and made many remarkable findings of black holes and quantum gravity. Stephen Hawkings advice for disable people: "My advice to other disabled people would be, concentrate on things your disability doesn't prevent you doing well, and don't regret the things it interferes with. Don't be disabled in spirit as well as physically."

Franklin D. Roosevelt 1882 - 1945
President of United States 1933 - 1945, who is constantly rated as one of U.S. top three presidents of all times among Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. Roosevelt is the only one elected for third term in presidential history and now it is not even possible according to constitution law. " The only thing we need to fear is fear itself", Roosevelt's speech on 1933.

Christopher Reeve 1952 - 2004
American actor, director and benefactor, who made his breakthrough as superman on 1978. Later he made a comeback to acting as a quadriplegic architect on 1998. He created the Christopher Reeve Foundation (currently known as the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation) to speed up research through funding, and to use grants to improve the quality of lives of people with disabilities. The Foundation has given more than $8,5 million in quality-of-life grants. His famous quote is about people's attitude: "Some people are walking around with full use of their bodies and they're more paralyzed than I am." Reeve told people to feel sorry for him first few years, but after he proved being active and alive, everything turned almost other way around.

Frida Kahlo 1907 - 1954
Mexican painter, who is best know for her self-portraits expressing pain, presence of death and the dark side of life. She used strong colors and was influenced by Mexican aboriginal culture with a hint of European realism, symbolism and surrealism. Her paints costs now millions of dollars and e.g. Madonna is a big fan of Kahlo and owns some of her paintings. Some of paintings exist now in Frida Kahlo's childhood home Caza Azui and they are borrowed to any other art shows. When she was hospitalized and her leg was amputated, she wrote in her diary: "Feet, what do I need them for, if I have wings to fly?" Kahlo continued painting in bed when she could and painting was a tremendous source of spiritual support for her.

Nick Vujicic 1982 -
A religious Australian motivational speaker, who suffered depression as a child but eventually came in terms with his disability. At the age of seventeen he started his own non-profit organization, Life without Limbs. In 2005 Vujicic was nominated for the Young Autralian of the Year Award and he has written that he keeps a pair of shoes in his closet due to his belief in miracles. Famous quote of Vujicic is: "The greater the struggle, the more glorious the triumph." Since the age of 19 Vujicic travels around the world sharing his story for millions, sometimes filling even stadiums to capacity. He speaks to students, teachers, young people, business professionals ans church congregations of all sizes and has accomplished more than most of the people on their life time.

I hope someone reads this blog writing and gets strength and power to reach towards interesting things in life. Stop fear the living itself.

Stephen Hawking, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Chistopher Reeve, Frida Kahlo, Nick Vujicic

Chasswheel smart wheelchair changed my relationship with my horse

An Austrian lady has been sitting in a wheelchair for ten years and she has a horse to take care of. 

"I have horse, who is a dear old friend on mine. She has got used to me sitting down in a wheelchair and whenever I wanted to scratch her, she learned to bend her neck down to get closer to me. After many years I got the new Four X DL and went to scratch my horse. She was acting like a miracle had just happen! The first time I was able to scratch her by standing and she felt my hands on her back. It was a very touching moment to see my old horse pricking up her ears forward and looking happy for the long time. I still cannot ride my horse, but I can take care of her now independently and I am happy for it. The technical development gives me hope that maybe one day in the future anything is possible, even riding my dear horse." 

Lady who owns Chasswheel smart wheelchair Four X DL, a true story.

Austrian lady with her horse and Chasswheel smart wheelchair