Power Wheelchair for Disabled Youth

Hi. I am Benjamin! I am an 18 (nearly 19) year-old, queer, disabled, homeless individual. While incredibly helpful, my manual wheelchair is not providing the support I require for running errands, going to doctor appointments or accessing my resources and support groups in the hilly terrain of downtown Portland. I have injured my shoulder several times from pushing myself up hills or stopping myself from rolling down. When I injure myself like this, I become mostly immobile since I cannot manually push myself while my body is healing.

The chair that would fill my needs the best is a powered, lightweight folding chair. This is the best option for me because I often rely on transportation support from family and friends and the lightweight and foldable features would allow the chair to fit in the trunks of their cars or to be carried up multiple flights of stairs if necessary. I have been working on a way to fund or even just have access to a power chair for nearly a year now, including going through my health insurance which, unfortunately, does not typically cover these kinds of chairs because they are seen as "leisure" chairs.

This chair will liberate me from my physically challenging situation and allow me the freedom to go almost anywhere I need to go in this city (and beyond!) I will be able to do many things independently and confidently! I deeply appreciate all of your support and look forward to sharing my joy when I can enjoy my time around town!