Hello, all:
Yes, yes, I know it has been a very long time since I've actively posted and commented in here -- although I read every day. Teaching, health issues and single parenthood have taken every spare moment I've had for a long while.
So...OF COURSE, I would come back in here asking for something -- but, there you have it. I need help. Advice. Research. Links.
Those of you who've been here for years may remember my terrible car wreck in 2006. If you don't, well, stay with me anyway.
The time has come for me to replace my mobility equipment, and I'm hoping some of you out there know of grant or other assistance programs that may be able to help me out.
More below:
I got my first mobility and scooter lift about a year after my wreck, when all the data was in and it was clear I wasn't going to be recovering nearly as quickly as I would like.
Flash forward to 2012: both my lift and my scooter are completely worn out, and I remain unable to walk more than a few feet. I've repaired the lift, which carries my scooter on the back of my car, more times than I can count and it will, finally, have to be removed from the frame of my car for safety reasons within the week.
The scooter, my second, is in much the same shape, having been patched together professionally, semi-professionally and, around the edges, with everything from duct tape to chewing gum to a fellow teacher's old leather belt.
Given that the car that actually struck mine in the multi-car pile-up was driven by a guy with no insurance, my first round of equipment was paid for under my uninsured motorists policy. This time around, there's no ready source of replacement cash, either from my "posh" teacher's insurance here in the state of Texas or my "posh" teaching salary here in the state of Texas.
Total replacement for a lift appropriate for both my car and my physical ability to control it as well as a replacement mobility scooter will run about $7K-8K, depending on the final models and features. And that is, honestly, $7-8K more than I have or will have on hand for the immediate future. A portable scooter model that obviates the need for a lift, too, runs several thousand dollars.
I need the equipment upgrade to continue teaching, so I'm approaching the Texas Rehabilition Commission in hopes that there's a possibility of some assistance. Thus far, indications are that my teaching salary means I'm earning too much, but they're going to have to tell me that face to face. Having said that, in these economically challenging times of ours, I'm expecting that that will indeed turn out to be the case.
So...at this stage of the game, I'm throwing open and kimono and asking those of you who deal with these issues as well to throw me ideas, advice, links, research -- anything you can think of to set me on the right path. Many of you here surf the net far more extenisvely than I've had the luxury to since I'm still completing this teaching year.
Thanks in advance for both the advice -- and for politely looking the other way since my first diary here in a while is a request for help.