Impending Wheelchair Assessment

I have my assessment with Wheelchair Services coming up a week today, so I'd appreciate any thoughts on stuff I should make sure to mention. The aim is to get them to supply a rigid framed manual with ideally a Jay back. I think I can demonstrate the current chair is inadequate, but the risk is they might just throw me a voucher for part of the cost.

Current thoughts:

Shoulder stuff
1a) Hypermobility shoulder issues causing problems with pushing the current chair with back erect, never mind with armrests fitted. The instructions are to take all of your chair with you, I plan to take the armrests in a bag on my lap because there's no way I'm pushing with them fitted. They came off the chair within the first 10 minutes. And I'm also going to have the back folded down (see icon!) to demonstrate its width is an issue in changing the way I push - medical appointment as performance art.

1b) Hypermobility shoulder issues/neuro issues and the extreme weight of the current chair for lifting into and out of the car, which I'm generally doing single handed because my left arm is so screwed it's easier to do it with right alone. I switched to the chair because my shoulders were getting iffy for crutch use, straining them lifting the chair instead isn't a positive move.

1c) Hypermobility shoulder issues/neuro issues and general pushing issues. My left arm is measurably weaker than my left, and that's a problem that gets worse the more I push. It's particularly a problem with the current chair on Rochester's cambered pavements as it won't hold a line and often I'm reduced to braking with the strong arm and pushing with the weak to try and get it to go straight. I know that's not a factor on a rigid framed chair with cambered wheels because I've used one and specifically checked that.

2) Hypermobility pelvic and hip issues and seating difficulties. Not so easy to draw attention to, but I'm definitely going to be talking about having had my hips sublux when the chair flexes under me on something as simple as a kerb-cut, and about two days on Athenian cobbles irritating my SI joint to the point I couldn't stand for more than a moment or two for six weeks. And that I've had the opportunity to try a rigid chair over the same terrain and that a rigid frame makes it a non issue. Any suggestions for also pressuring them for a better cushion than the £20 lump of memory foam they supplied gratefully accepted!

3) Hypermobility and back issues and seating issues. Need to emphasise that I'm not getting enough support from a low-backed chair, that I'm only using the chair that way because it's worse with the back up and with the back down it's only viable for an hour or two, and that if I need to sit without pushing then I have to have the back raised, but  that even then I'm supplementing it by using a thin seat cushion to make it more rigid (and I could really have done with a headrest too on that train journey last week). I may need to bring up the problems I had with seating at work, but I think the trick here will be avoiding them saying 'That's a work issue, therefore it's Access to Work's problem, not ours".

4) Leg length discrepancy - when I sit in the chair my right knee is visibly further forward than my left, it's difficult to measure, but it looks to be around an inch. I'm not sure if that's an actual leg length discrepancy, or if I'm consistently sitting with the right side of my pelvis twisted forward. If the latter then clearly it's an issue for Wheelchair Services, if it's the former it would be nice to get it confirmed so I can point it out to my GP as possibly a factor in my ongoing pelvis/hip issues.

5) General usability. The current chair seems to be explicitly configured to make it as difficult to wheelie as possible. That's all very well for a pensioner who only goes out with someone to push them, but I'm independent, active, and invariably on my own. I need a chair I can wheelie up kerbs without having to push so hard to do it I throw myself over backwards. And while they're at it actually giving me some training in using it safely would be nice!

Possibly also worth mentioning, intermittent problems with bendy left thumb interfering with pushing.

Any and all additional thoughts gratefully received.

(I've also had an email from them, I suspect all of their clients have, asking if I'm interested in being a patient rep on their board. I'm tempted, but I suspect I'm their nightmare candidate).