My name is Sandy Miller.  I've had Cerebral Palsy since birth and I've had to use a wheel chair since 1992.  I'm now 65 and, as I've aged, remaining independent has been more and more difficult.  I applied and was approved for a new wheelchair, but Medicare did not approve two very important features for my wheelchair -- an elevating seat with anterior tilt and lights for night travel.  

I live in an accessible apartment, but I still can't reach all the shelves in my kitchen cabinet and all the food in my freezer, or see what I'm trying to cook on the stovetop, so my diet is very limited.  My health is not what it could be if I could cook healthy, organic, nutritious food.  The chair I have does not have an elevating seat, and the chair I am getting is much shorter than the chair I have.  If I don't get the features I need, I won't even be able to push myself up to get out of the chair to go to the bathroom or get in bed because the chair is too low.  The anterior tilt and elevating seat will assist me with this.  I do a lot of studying and I have 2 4-drawer file cabinets of notes and things.  Getting files out of the top drawer is extremely difficult because I can't see the tabs to find the one I need because my chair sits too low.  The elevating seat would  solve this problem.

I live less than a mile from my very small church and it is so much easier to just drive my chair to church, especially in the summer.  But by law I need lights on my chair if it gets dark before I can return home.  There are sidewalks all the way and friends will escort me home to make sure I get home safely, but they can't put my chair in their car, so I need lights on my chair to drive home.

My independence is extremely important to me.  I am capable of doing more than I'm doing now if I have the right assistive technology.  Please help me get the assistive technology I need to maintain my independence.  Please donate and share this with friends.