It's so very frustrating to eat these many compromises about my body. To feel like I must accept a sub-standard self, because that's the outcome that is most palatable to the healthcare administration.

This machine which is effectively a part of my body, that I must kit out with cheap plastic (!) brake calipers, or is designed to have sloppy wheel mounts with tonnes of play...
Why must this prosthetic be shoddy, and feel bad?
I know that these things can be better from working with bicycles.

I am quoted in the article on this, but it also cannot be emphasized enough, that the overall quality of wheelchair parts and service is very poor.

We sure do love to externalize the management of services to individuals and then call it efficiency.
Nevermind if that means that disabled people need to spend hours and days of their lives chasing down basic services, and then wait weeks or months to finally get the most basic maintenance

I would love for these services to be more pro-active, and to shift some of the burden of management off of disabled people who are already overloaded and struggling to get by.
Is the dignity and quality of life of disabled people really where we want to cut corners?

I'd love for the whole system to be reformed, and I think ideally we would just administer this directly through the state (there's a broader conversation to be had about securing proper funding for healthcare, but I'm not doing that here).

It lays bare the lie of efficiency in the private provision of services. It's not a sector that can generate profit, it's a very small market with complicated needs, and these purchases are not optional. It's healthcare. It's maintenance of our bodies.

So first off, read the articles!
Okay.
So the way that wheelchair parts/maintenance/etc get funded by the state, but provided through private companies, is obviously very dysfunctional, basically getting us the worst of both worlds for private vs public provision.

There must be a better way!

A large head of cauliflower the size of a small head of cauliflower.

It's pay what you want, so there's nothing stopping you from grabbing it and playing it.

"If you just read the Silmarillion, you'll find that..."

Remembering stuff is Michael's job.