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You have a powered chair. Congratulations. You’re in for some surprises. You will find that you are more mobile in some ways and less so in others. If you are like me, you will find yourself having to adjust to being faster and stronger than those around you for the first time in your life. Some places that were available to you are no longer accessible. A two inch step is a cliff. Multiple steps become mountains. That grass filled meadow can now be crossed with ease, but you are on a limited power supply. It is a short hop to the store for a snack but you can’t get back in the chair from the toilet. Getting around at work is less tiring but you can’t go out to lunch because the chair won’t fit. However, the biggest surprise is the change in visibility. For example. Kristen and I went to the Main Street Arts Festival this past weekend. Having been in a wheelchair for a rather long time I have become accustomed to the way people in malls and other crowded places react to wheelchairs. I found that a powered chair makes you less visible. In one instance I watched as one person planted his foot squarely between my front and rear wheels. I did manage to stop, but did so on top of his foot. Another young man walked in front of me and wound up on his rump looking mildly annoyed. Now I’ve always come in on the short side so not being seen because people don’t look down or don’t want to look at the chair is not new to me. But I find this inability to see three hundred pounds of motorized steal plus 190 pounds of person frightening. Consider this, a powered chair can travel at a maximum speed of seven miles per hour. The minimum speed is one that will make your head ache trying to watch. At that minimum speed, a powered chair user can move twice the combined weight of themselves and their chairs. In fact, I have to be careful moving around the house or I will find myself moving furnature that Kristen does not want moved. A powered chair can do a 180 degree turn in under 4 seconds and on a flat dry surface can stop in something like six feet. These bits of information are based upon my attempts to find out what my limitations are. But I hope this information makes one thing clear. Those poor unfortunates out there that must walk simply cannot see a powered wheelchair, thus you must look out for them, although you will find that nobody wants to walk ahead of one. Marvin Giles