Category: Awareness

A day in the life, Adapted technology, Awareness, Home automation

9 Assistive Products to Support Quadriplegic Independence

| Charles Merritt

As a quadriplegic, independence means everything. These tools make daily tasks easier, safer, and more empowering. Below are 10 highly-rated Amazon items!

RMS Deluxe Sock Aid

1. RMS Deluxe Sock Aid

Summary: Foam-handled sock aid makes dressing effortless for limited mobility users. Ideal for putting on regular socks without bending.

Rating: ★★★★½ | Reviews: 39,000+

👉 Buy on Amazon

Vive Health Transfer Board

2. Vive Health Transfer Board

Summary: Lightweight wooden board with built-in handles supports safe transfers up to 400 lbs between beds, chairs, and vehicles.

Rating: ★★★★½ | Reviews: 200+

👉 Buy on Amazon

Adaptive Utensils

3. Special Supplies Adaptive Utensils

Summary: Easy-grip utensils with wide, non-slip handles make eating easier for users with limited hand function.

Rating: ★★★★½ | Reviews: 500+

👉 Buy on Amazon

Tablet Holder

4. Lamicall Gooseneck Tablet Holder

Summary: Long, flexible neck clamps onto beds or chairs, perfect for hands-free streaming, reading, or gaming.

Rating: ★★★★½ | Reviews: 20,000+

👉 Buy on Amazon

RMS Compression Stocking Remover

5. RMS Compression Stocking Remover

Summary: Lets users remove tight socks or compression garments without straining legs or back.

Rating: ★★★★½ | Reviews: 1,800+

👉 Buy on Amazon

Liftware Steady Spoon

6. Liftware Steady or Level Utensils

Summary: Battery-powered eating utensils that stabilize shaking and improve independence at meals.

Rating: ★★★★½ | Reviews: 300+

👉 Buy on Amazon

OXO Weighted Utensils

7. OXO Good Grips Weighted Utensils

Summary: Stainless-steel utensils with added weight and wide handles for better control during use.

Rating: ★★★★½ | Reviews: 1,000+

👉 Buy on Amazon

Weighted Cup

8. Spill-Proof Weighted Cup with Lid

Summary: A double-handled, spill-resistant drinking cup for easy use without spills.

Rating: ★★★★½ | Reviews: 700+

👉 Buy on Amazon

Echo Show 10

9. Echo Show 10 + Smart Plug Bundle

Summary: Voice-activated display with Alexa for calling, controlling lights, and smart home devices hands-free.

Rating: ★★★★½ | Reviews: 150,000+

👉 Buy on Amazon

✅ Final Thoughts

These tools not only help but empower. From daily dressing and transfer aids to smart home tech, they build confidence and restore independence. Shopping with our links helps support the Quadcapable mission at no extra cost to you—thank you!

A day in the life, ADA, Awareness, Power Wheelchair, Travel

Be gentle. Those are my legs! Airline Travel As a Wheelchair Using Quadriplegic

| Charles Merritt

Airline Travel As a Wheelchair Using Quadriplegic

UPDATE FROM DIAMOND PASSENGER LIFT CO.

Training was provided @MCO on several different dates in 2017 and 2018… Training was free and was offered to any airline or service provider who wished to attend.. The purpose of the free training was to make sure their were trained personnel to utilize the Eagle lift that was purchased by MCO…

Recently, I traveled through Orlando’s International Airport to Minneapolis-St. Paul where I attended a portion of the Paralyzed Veterans of America National Convention. As a C3 complete quadriplegic, traveling often takes its toll.  Due to the limited training of staff and airlines reluctance to understand my type of disability; I am disinclined to travel by airline. Having only traveled by airline once before (now 6: 2019) as a wheelchair using quadriplegic.

…the Orlando airport has ultimately worsened in respect to my needs.

At that time (2016), the Orlando airport utilized a lift system that properly on-boarded me to my seat. The issue then was that the gate agents and airport employees did not realize that the lift system existed, but were able to finally locate it with the paramedic services and

Airline Travel As a Wheelchair Using Quadriplegic

EMS.

Fast-forward to May 2018 and apparently, the Orlando airport has ultimately worsened in respect to my needs.

According to the gate agent at the Delta terminal, they could no longer use the lift system due to the “training cost” associated with ensuring their employees were properly certified on the equipment.  I used the device two years before but was told not all terminals or airlines have paid for the training.

…at the Delta terminal, they could no longer use the lift system due to the “training cost”

Airline Travel As a Wheelchair Using Quadriplegic

The general manager of Prospect Airport Services explained that Delta’s reasoning was accurate, and they could not even occupy the terminal because of insurance liability. I communicated to the gate agent the liability of manually lifting me and transferring me, is greater than if they were to use the lift.  They quickly redirected back to the training cost. Why aren’t the airlines paying to train their employees?  They need to know proper techniques to safely transfer customers with disabilities.

Airline Travel As a Wheelchair Using Quadriplegic
Utilizing the Eagle Lift for Airline Traveler with Limited Mobility

This is why airline travel as a wheelchair using quadriplegic and other people with disabilities is difficult. Further reducing our ability to live a normal life.

Why aren’t the airlines paying to train their employees?

Transferring with inappropriate equipment poses risks to the physical and emotional health of people with disabilities.  According to Prospect Airport Services, the training cost $4000 per employee (it’s actually free).

Airlines Will Not Pay for the Training

Given that one of my tickets was $700; I assume the airlines could afford to provide passengers with dignity, respect, and safe mode of transfer. This is not the case at either the Orlando airport, that had the equipment, or the Minnesota St. Paul airport which did not have the equipment.

I made it through my travel with only minor bruises and a small device broken from my wheelchair. I believe that airline employees should have a better understanding to be gentle with this equipment. Ask anyone with paralysis if they do not have their wheelchair it is the same as someone taking their legs away from them.

Get Ready for More Wheelchair Users

Orlando is home of the 2018 38th annual National Veterans Wheelchair Games with several hundred wheelchair users flying into the Orlando airport. Accommodations will have to be made for these athletes at every gate and in every terminal. Great work has been done with the air access laws, Continuing efforts through air access laws is necessary to eliminate these issues.

Thank you

Airline Travel As a Wheelchair Using Quadriplegic

Women Think These Are Sexy

Scars
A good friend of mine recently had a surgery and posted a picture of his scar. This prompted me to think about my own scars and whether or not they actually are attractive to the opposite sex? So I’m putting this out there hopefully to get an answer.

This also got me to thinking about my own trials and tribulations and that not all scars are external. Currently we have an epidemic with veterans that are dramatically scarred and living with internal psychological issues. I relate to that with my own internal scars, depression, living with the lack of my extremities makes the future a difficult thing to grasp…Continue reading below survey.

[socialpoll id=”2439879″]

I think the most important part of trudging through the world and our lives is connecting with other people in positive ways. I tried to connect on so many different levels and we are fortunate to have the outlets on social media that allow us to share and socialize without having to be right next to each other. I believe this is all that it takes to make sure your friends and family are staying safe and know that they are loved and like and enjoyed. Sometimes a like on Facebook, a retweet, a follow, or a comment to mean the world to people who are reaching out for help in ways that may not seem like they are reaching.

I appreciate each and every one of you that take the time to read and check out all of the random stuff I try to do to promote awareness for individuals living with paralysis. I hope to continue this for many years to come.

Charlie Merritt: My Story on Chive Charities

I’m so grateful to Chive Charities for all their help in obtaining some of the equipment I can use on a daily basis to assist my fiancé and caregiver in their day-to-day activities getting me in and out of bed and a great night sleep next to the woman that I love. It’s awesome to know that there are people and organizations available to assist people with spinal cord injuries and a myriad of other diseases and disorders. The fact they also single out veterans and their programs is just another example of how great The Chive community is. I’m appreciative of being a part of it and hope to be so for many years to come.
-Chive on
Here is the link to my story:
My Story Link

A day in the life, Adapted technology, At the beach, Awareness, Travel

Being a quadriplegic living with paralysis kind of sucks

| Charles Merritt

Being a quadriplegic living with paralysis kind of sucks

I know what you’re thinking, “well of course it sucks.” And I would tend to agree with that statement because as a whole it does kind of suck. But oh there is a silver lining in that black cloud of quadriplegia. “What?” you say? “There is no way. It looks like a horrible time.” Yes, for the most part the inability to move my appendages leaves me insurmountably frustrated. I have learned in my short time as a handicap to bury that constantly nagging feeling of helplessness. Mainly, underneath a fistful of antidepressants. But I digress. Being a quadriplegic living with paralysis kind of sucks.





There have been many good moments over the last 15 (now over two years) months: I’ve learned a lot about myself, and the people in my life. I have met a lot of great people, joined a couple of great organizations, continued to run my business, started a blog, and continued to meet life’s challenges head-on!

Being a quadriplegic living with paralysis kind of sucks

Being a quadriplegic living with paralysis kind of sucks

This post should provide some insight on what I do every day and in hopes to shed some light on the day-to-day awesome sauce that is my current “new normal.” That’s what the therapist call it when you have a catastrophic injury and have to figure out ways to make your life be somewhat normal.

I define normal as having a sense of purpose. The good thing about purpose it doesn’t take physical attributes to have. You just have to be willing to take action. Breaking my neck and said little change on my purpose. There have been some minor modifications to make sure I can still take action. My day is typically normal and just like everyone else’s.

So I get up and go to work.

This is typically a Monday through Friday thing and I get up. I mean Tina and an aide from the local home healthcare agency get me out of bed, put me in the shower, shave, brush my teeth, and then head back to the bed to dry off and put my clothes on for the day. I am then craned into my power wheelchair with an apparatus similar to what a mechanic uses to lift an engine out of the car. Then I’m off!

Into my home office to begin my day around 10 AM. During the day I am either on the phone, sending or receiving emails, fixing bugs in our marketing, interacting with clients, and all the other day-to-day activities of a business owner. This goes on usually till about 6 PM depending on how much work I have left to do. So for Monday through Friday this is where you’ll find me unless…

Go outside your house.

Lately I have been up to something very exciting. Working with UCF on new wheelchair technology and becoming Central Florida famous. Limbitless Solutions is a nonprofit that helps amputees and now high-level quadriplegic injuries and affects a better life for them and I’m proud to be a part of that. You may have noticed me on the news almost 1 million hits.

Sometimes we have to drive three hours to the Tampa VA to see my doctor. I have work to do for the Paralyzed Veterans of America Central Florida Chapter as the Treasurer that keeps my off time occupied. I am currently planning a poker night fundraiser, a group skydiving event, trying to find ways for the chapter to effectively assist our members, and the list goes on. It may seem like a lot, and it may be, but the one thing all of these have in common is I would not have done any of them without being injured. Some activities have changed but my mission has stayed the same.

I am damn sure not letting the inability to use my arms and legs stop me

Being a quadriplegic kind of sucks

My mission now as it is always been at least for the past decade is to do my best to take care of my family, earn some sort of living, and try to explore all life has to offer. My injury has not changed this it has just changed how I get there. I’ve also been given opportunities I wouldn’t have thought I would enjoy or be as passionate about as I am now.

Being a quadriplegic living with paralysis kind of sucks

I am damn sure not letting the inability to use my arms and legs stop me. So yeah being a quadriplegic kind of sucks but as with anything else you can either overcome adversity or go hide in the closet underneath your blanket and never come out and experience everything this world has to offer. Good luck with that I’ll be skydiving.




Many thanks to love my life Tina goes without her none of this would be possible. You are my lighthouse in the storm.