I can sort of envision a wheelchair mod that would lock the opposite wheel if you wanted to go straight, and unlock it for turning (although this probably isn’t terribly useful – you could only turn one direction, I think).
Shrinking Violet, I’m curious – wouldn’t manual wheelchair users be prone to much RSI? Your hands have to do double-duty, so to speak. No?
Something very popular in Scotland is doors you need both hands to open. There will be a thing about eye level that you turn with one hand, while turning the usual handle with the other hand. Ever since I moved here, I’ve been thinking that it may be a good way to keep kids from going outside on their own, but it’s a PITA if you’re short, overburdened or one-handed.
I stayed in a hotel where the upper knob in my room was at a height of about 6’ off the floor - that was way too high for many women!
I broke my dominant arm* as a college student. So I had a cast for four weeks or so. On the plus side, as a college student I had no car and no kitchen (so no cooking and no dish-washing). I don’t recall jeans being a major problem, but bras were a hassle, and earrings just didn’t get worn. I had my shoes tied for me more than once–including once by someone who tied such big floppy bows they didn’t accomplish anything. and I had a roommate who complained that her middle name should be “bottle-opener”.
On the not so plus side, college student meant writing papers. Which meant going to the library to get down large volumes of journal articles. Which had to be dealt with one at a time, because my right hand wasn’t strong enough to pick them up off the shelves or have two or three leaning on it at a time.
Today, it wouldn’t matter, everything which is important is online anyway 
But then it wasn’t so true.
*non-dislocated fracture of the radius, from hyper-extending my wrist when I fell while roller-skating.
Two wrongs may not make a right, but three rights make a left. 
Speaking personally, I’d have to say no - I’ve been told by physios I have incredibly strong arms and wrists. If you think about it, people who walk don’t get RSI in their ankles as a rule.
Just for the record, it’s possible to push yourself forward with one arm in a wheelchair. It’s difficult, slow, and not very effective, but it can be done.
I ponder the difficulties of single handed persons every time I get beverage from the model of soda fountain that requires you to push a button to get your cola, as opposed to the ‘older’ style that allows you to use your cup to push the lever.
But with those soda fountains, you can put the cup down and then press the button, so you only ever need one hand anyhow.
The guy who lives next door to me only has one hand.
You would be amazed at the things he can do. He does the work of two men around his house. He is always fixing something or building something. It’s easy to forget he’s handicapped. Only when he is lifting something heavy does he come around looking for help from me. It shows what you can do when you get used to having one hand.
People don’t usually get RSIs in their ankles, but for some, depending on their overal mobility and type of chair, the movements they use to propel themselves in a wheel chair could be much more strictly repetative than walking usually is, it being easier to change gait than find a new posture and way to turn the wheels, and we have had more years as a species to adapt to walking.
My understanding is that RSIs are fairly common with continuous crutch use even though having incredibly strong arms and wrists is also pretty common. My lay person’s guess is that while you can build up muscles, nerves are still vulnerable to compression, especially with crutches where you bear your weight on your wrists. With wheel chairs, you are not compressing the nerves in the wrist from bearing weight, and after the muscles are built up, I suppose they are not as prone to inflammation which would compress the nerves and exacerbate an RSI.
When I lost the use of my dominate hand, I found wiping my ass to be rather difficult.
At least your ice-cream-scooping problems are solved–you just get the kind of scoop Thrifty’s uses, which is one-handed. (Invented by a one-handed Thrifty’s ice-cream scooper many moons ago.)
In high school I took gym class with a set of twins. One twin’s left arm ended above the wrist. The only thing that I saw the two-handed twin do which the one-handed one did not was archery. For other sports, they had different styles, and I won’t claim they neccessarily had equal talent, but both participated in all the activities. Our archery unit was indoors and paired with table tennis, so the one-hand twin spent the whole time playing table tennis.
Well, people dont stop to think how hard it is getting to and from work with only one hand accessable … if you are carrying your computer in a messenger bag you can open the door, but if you also have to use a passcard/fob/key … you hold it on its lanyard threaded through the fingers, wave it at the box on the RIGHT side of the door and home that you can get to the knob before the timer relocks … and the door knob is the left edge of the right side double door … and if you have a cup of coffee … forget it =)
I telecommute now, they building my company is in has the ramp … but the only doors in the entire building that open by button are the mens room and the ladies room on the first floor. I can manage with a cane, I can even mostly manage to get in unassisted with crutches … forget in my chair. It is physically impossible to get into the building or any of the locked offices without someone managing the doors.
I am not worrying, it made them turn me into a telecommuter=)
If you rolled one wheel forward to turn one way, couldn’t you just roll that same one back to turn the other way?
Time for a little experiment!
… PHEW! :eek:
OK … sitting on my left hand, I wanted to go into the next room which involved exiting the door behind me on my right, turning right into a narrow hallway (less room to manoeuvre) and then turning left into the room.
It took me 42 forward-back shuffles to achieve this, and I’m knackered.
So yes, it’s possible in an emergency, but not practical on a day-to-day basis.
