Charge!

Yesterday was my advisory board meeting for 211, actually this advisory board has become a “disability advisory board”. I kind of feel this board is 211,'s proof that the call center is working to address the needs of callers with disabilities. I intend to write more regarding this issue the next day or so. The meeting is held in the 257 building on second South downtown so I'm on the tarmac riding the buses and the trains to get to my meeting and that's the way I love it, especially during the seasonal transition point from warm to cold. I have to rely on my power chair it's as simple as that. I've been having some challenges with my charging system I. E. my battery charger. I feel I have finally isolated the issue which is I have a short with the plug that engages might power chair.I plug the charger and the lights which indicate the charger is working and the battery is being charged,, however I have found that often the cord will relax and somehow the electricity flow will be interrupted in the battery will not charge. I usually charge my chair and evening right before I go to bed as I jump from my power chair to my manual chair. I assume the battery is charging and go to bed.. Sometimes I looked in on the chair as I pass my study on the way to bed and see that the charger stopped and I finagle the court until the charger begins to do its job once again. Sometimes even, the chair she seems to be charging when I check on it before bedtime only to find the next morning that the charger had stopped charging at some point during the night and this is what happened yesterday. I woke to find the chair it stopped charging during the night at about 85% of charge. I had just about an hour before I had to leave so I plugged the chair into charge what little it might before I had to leave for the bus. So needless to say I was running on less than a full charge but yet I figured I'd be okay since I would be around ample sources of power and I would charge what I could. This is what I did, after the meeting I stopped off at my old office and visited with staff a little bit and powered up my chair which I thought was for about an hour which should've been enough time.

I actually had no problems at all accessing in the bus then jumped the train and then waiting for an hour and catching the 201 home. It was only after I began my trip home from the bus stop that my chair begin acting like it was energy starved. Any bit of an incline, even the crown of the road was enough to shut my chair down. I crept as much as I could, I seemed barely to be moving, luckily one of my neighbors noticed me as I passed and saw that something was up and asked if he could help. I should've let him but I was going to try to make it home on my own. I got about a street and a half further and realized I was not going to make it so I backtracked back to my neighbors house who finally saw me sitting in the road and came out to help. We disengaged the brakes, kind of, and Bruce pushed me all the way home. This is one of the first times my chair has actually failed me and causes me great concern. I guess I need to get a new charger for the house one that I could believe in which will fully charge my chair. I'm going through a lot of changes in my life right now and above charger is one stress I don't need.