Dr Georgie Budd, a practicing physician and wheelchair user herself, has underscored the importance of weight as a vital health parameter. Despite the sensitivity attached to the topic of weight management, it is undeniably a valuable metric in making health-related decisions and of personal significance. However, for wheelchair users like Georgie, the ability to access scales for regular weight checks is daunting, if not nearly impossible.
Lizzie, a wheelchair user now at 37, recalls the last time she checked her weight was at the age of 15, nearly 22 years ago. The lack of weight information left her in the dark about her body’s adaptations and her child’s growth through her three successful pregnancies.
Lizzie’s muscle-related degenerative impairment, based out of Devon, renders traditional bathroom scales impractical as they require still and independent standing on a small platform. Attempts involving quick posture transitions akin to complex yoga moves result in inevitable inaccuracies.
Although tailored equipment like chair scales, bed scales, hoist versions, and wheel-on scales exist, they are alarmingly scarce. Therefore, even though Lizzie and countless others like her could benefit immensely from such devices, accessibility remains a concerning issue.
Putting into perspective, Ability Superstore, a renowned mobility aids provider, reported zero customer demands for such scales in its thirteen years of operation. This shortfall can likely trace back to the hefty pricing, often in hundreds of pounds, of these accessible scales, in stark contrast to the average-priced alternatives that costs as low as £9.99.
Dr Georgie Budd voices her concern over the lack of access wheelchair users encounter, while also highlighting the critical applicability of weight parameters in medical areas like anesthesia, drug dosing, general health monitoring, and particularly in pregnancy weight assessments. Georgie also clarifies how the common proxy of clothes fitting can prove misleading as clothes are rarely tailored for wheelchair users.
Weight management, she emphasizes, is a necessity for wheelchair users considering their reduced physical activity compared to the able-bodied populace. Georgie also mentions the motivational factor, often undermined by inaccessibility to scales.
Another testimony is Gillian Morphy, an amputee due to dystonia. Currently, on a weight loss regimen, she admits a lack of support from the medical community despite constantly being advised on weight reduction. Lamenting on the scarce scheduling of weighings and the cumbersome logistical procedures, Gillian underscores the need for accessible, frequent weight checks.
Disappointingly, the state of affairs seems unchanged with the absence of procedural guidelines for equipment usage or data on the prevalence and distribution of such equipment in hospitals, neither from national health bodies nor government agencies. There are on-record requests from The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for further research on this issue since 2014, while no such initiative has begun.
Lizzie and Gillian’s respective health providers claim the availability of dignity-preserving, safe weight measurement equipment, yet the offer for usage hasn’t been extended to users like Lizzie. Gillian suggests an alternative approach of pooling resources among local doctors to procure accessible scales.
Midway into her amputation clinic revisit, Gillian eagerly awaits her weight check-in to glean her weight loss progress. However, she sighs at the six-month-long waiting period she’d have to endure post-Christmas for her next weighing session.
