Well, it's keeping my ankle from hurting, so I call that a plus. And it does look like they're a feasible fall back in case of problems with the chair while I'm away and I don't have crutches with me.

I just had lunch with my calliper-wearing friend, her reaction was "Oh, you've got splints now," and once I explained what was going on we just segued into a discussion of 1) all the ways people make travel more complex for disabled travellers, and 2) how dire the budget is for disabled people.