Joy of Movement

Mobility aids are freedom.

Dear Reader,

It’s been a little while for this second update of my letter here, as I’ve been battling with the chronic fatigue that accompanies my long Covid. This has left me drained, exhausted and struggling far more than I’m used to, and at times making engaging with my beloved reading a chore rather than a joy.

However today I want to share with you a piece that I was invited to write for a Unitarian gathering on the Joy of Movement.

At the start of August 2022, I fell ill with Covid that has developed into long Covid, robbing me of concentration, mobility and energy. However it’s not all doom and gloom, as a couple of weeks ago I took the plunge and hired a powerchair bringing me the gift of freedom. After 3 months at home, I can see trees, a change of view and feel the wind on my skin. Plus hear a new set of sounds in comparison to the quiet of home. It’s all black, can handle curbs and I can nip along at my friends’ side rather than tottering behind needing to sit down regularly and feeling too tired to talk.

Many people look at a wheelchair and have said: why are you giving up? Don’t you want to walk anymore? Are you saying that you’ll never walk again? Instead it makes me feel less disabled right now because I have more energy as I’ve done less physically. It’s enabled freedom from my 4 walls to new ventures: dates with my boyfriend, food shopping alone and a visit to the park.

On my second day with my powerchair, I visited the park with the farmer’s market for the first time in months. A place of familiarity and simultaneously newness. I sat there for a while with a mug of mulled apple juice overlooking a water feature teaming with autumnal colours: rust, ochre, crimson and oranges. This world was noisier than the quiet of home filled with children playing, adults chatting, and birds tweeting. There were so many kinds of wheels: bikes, scooters, pushchairs and my wheelchair - all embracing movement in its many forms. The most exciting thing about that adventure was while I felt tired when I came home, I finally had the energy to write about the adventure rather than just sleep for a few hours.

To me, in these past few months with long Covid discovering different mobility aids has been joyous, as each one facilitates freedom. Don’t pity me with my rollator or powerchair - see it through my eyes that now the world feels more accessible again. Mobility aids bring freedom.

What does movement and mobility mean for you? Write and let me know.

Keep dreaming my dear readers,

autistic special pigeon

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