Today we are going to be looking at

the pros and cons of power chairs.

(record scratches) Okay, hi, actually hi.

So I have some exciting news

and I thought it was so exciting

I should probably just insert it

into the start of the video because (gasps),

so last Friday I made a video

that was all about the pros and cons of mobility scooters,

the vlog where I tried one out.

And I was going to do the exact same thing for this video,

and I will in a minute,

that is actually still the video you're watching,

but I just wanted to let you know

that there is a kind of exciting development

and that I should probably tell you first.

So whilst researching for this video,

I came across a suggestion that one of you guys had left me

and I think I've actually found my perfect thing.

Maybe, does perfection exist?

It may possibly do so.

So I'm very excited and I'm very nervous

and I don't know, I feel a bit weird about it,

but the thing is, right?

I hit 600,000 subscribers

(crowd cheers) and that's a big deal.

That means that I should be allowed to treat myself, right?

And I have all you guys

from the lovely Kellgren-Fozard Club

who've been really supporting me.

And therefore, I think I'm actually gonna do it,

I'm actually gonna take the plunge.

I'm gonna treat myself, actually gonna buy it,

not at all scared.

Okay, okay, yeah, it's done.

That was a lot of money

and I am both terrified and excited.

Quite terrified, I hope I made the right choice.

I don't wanna cloud the opinions

that you might form in this video

by telling you which one I have gone for

and which one I have chosen

because, obviously, we're all different people

and we all have different needs and requirements

and likes and dislikes,

but I'm gonna tell you a bit more at the end of this video.

But now, the video as it was meant to be.

Much like my previous video

in the powered mobility aids series,

and if you haven't seen them all

I suggest you check out the link

in the description and in the card above,

I hired a power chair,

tried to use it in my daily life,

and actually ended up hiring a second one

because I got really, really freaked out

about how medical the chair looked

and really didn't want to use it

because medical trauma is a thing.

As if disabled people wanted to look good

in their daily lives

rather than everything being beige and disgusting,

because apparently you lose your taste

with your ability to walk distances.

It is sad but predictable that when it comes to looks,

there isn't a lot on the wheelchair market

for the discerning fashionista.

I mean, this chair looked like

it's straight from a hospital ward

and I don't need that reminder in my life.

This chair's going to tip you out

the second it sees a pavement.

Even looking at it makes me feel unsafe.

And for some reason,

the back wheels on this way really freak me out

'cause apparently my brain has decided

that this looks like a beetle going backwards

and that's terrifying.

To be clear, I have no issues with forward facing beetles.

My main sadness is that everything seems

to come in black and gray

with the occasional zany color thrown in there.

Okay, my main sadness, she says,

that is ridiculous, I'm not that vapid,

but I do want to feel confident in my power chair

and, for me, that does have an element

of looking fancy in it.

And I really like looking fancy.

It's taken me months to do this video series with help,

so if you're alone in this journey,

you're fighting against obstacles,

then I am sending you a lot of love.

Remember, also, that a number of companies

will let you rent a chair to try

and then offer a reduction in price

for any chair you subsequently buy,

which is what I thought I'd do with this first chair

but, wow, bad choices!

(upbeat music)

Yeah, don't look my happiest in that chair, right?

Mm.

For me, the portability of any chair was very important

and I wanted to be able to fold it up

and for it to go in the car

and I thought that's what it was going to be

but sadly, it was the only one available that folded

and was not astronomically expensive to rent.

And did they charge me

250 pounds for the week (register chiming)

and then 65 pounds (register chiming)

to deliver it

and then 65 pounds (register chiming)

to pick it up again

and did I then hate the chair so much

that I only went out in it twice?

I mean, yes, I say twice

but there's only video of one trip out

and my memory loss means there may be another

that I don't remember

so I'm choosing to believe that's the case.

Otherwise I spent 380 pounds (register chiming)

on a 40-minute trip to the park.

My insides hurt.

(sighs) I originally rented to chair

for Summer in the City, the YouTube convention,

and I wanted something I could zip around in

because the convention center is huge

but also then easily stand up from

and I also wanted to look good because,

why do I need to justify wanting to look good?

Calm down, Jessica.

So I rented another chair for the same week

without being able to get a refund on the first chair

and I died inside,

but I did look good.

(upbeat music)

So going 'round in the power chair yesterday,

it was really great.

I could get it under tables,

it's really nifty, it turns on itself.

I even managed to get around some really narrow ramps,

which was foolish as well

because I don't know how on earth

you'd turn on that in a mobility scooter.

You'd get stuck halfway down.

But the power chair did really well.

The only issue is it's set too low.

I'm quite a tall person apparently, who knew?

How are there grown men supposed to ride on this thing?

It's so low down,

which meant that all of the pressure was on my hips.

So my hips were just killing me all night long.

Though, today I'm gonna try and ride in it

whenever I am crossing a large distance

but then get out and walk around as much as possible

when I'm actually in places.

Like, we're gonna go to the lounges,

Instagram Lounge,

and I'm gonna make sure I take lots of photos.

(upbeat music)

We're apparently going to a panel, the LGBTQ+ Panel,

which I just managed to wrangle my way onto, ha ha!

I was not gonna be on it and then it was like,

Rose and Rosie have dropped out and now it's just men.

So, we're about some disabled lesbian representation, woo!

I think it's really interesting that you said that

because I think the opposite.

- Don't disagree with me, Jessica.

(audience laughs) Don't make an idiot of me.

- One of the things that I absolutely love about YouTube

is that it gives us the diversity of representation

that regular, traditional media is not giving us.

I think no matter what tiny box you fall in,

you are going to find at least 10 other people on YouTube

who are exactly the same

and I think that's really wonderful.

(upbeat music)

Hello, it is day three of Summer in the City

and I've kind of got my voice back,

unlike yesterday when it was just completely gone.

(Jessica sighs)

- Hello.

- How am I doing?

- You're okay. (Jessica chuckles)

I think I just left a bit of my mascara on you, sorry.

- Oh. (both laugh)

Hopefully it won't be too bad.

Off for another day of adventure.

For me, my channel is very much about,

it's not about our relationship,

that's not the main focus.

So my wife likes to say that she is a special guest star.

We obviously had to have talks about,

you know, what do you share and what do you not share?

The thing is, because I talk a lot

about disabilities and chronic illness

and I've lived that through my life,

I have a very different idea of what a boundary is.

So I don't have any expectation of privacy ever,

because when you have a chronic illness

and someone often has to help you get into the bath,

occasionally someone you've never met before

because your care agency sent someone really new

and you're like, oh, great,

first introduction, take my clothes off,

(audience laughs)

you have a very different idea of privacy.

And so she had to educate me in what privacy is

and what not to share with the world.

So, the second chair had its own issues,

namely that it was ridiculously heavy and slow,

at a bad angle for my hips,

and incredibly difficult to take apart.

I actually tried to film us taking it apart

but the chair made Claudia so angry

I thought she was gonna throw the camera

so I just very quietly put it away.

And look, just because I had that experience

with those two chairs,

I am not tarring power chairs with the same brush.

And please, if you decide that either of those chairs

are the chair for you,

don't assume that I'm thinking badly of your choice,

it's just that they're not the thing for me.

Or the chairs that I even had at the start of this video,

which, it's a whole thing, yeah.

But really the message that I hope you will take

from my mobility aid video

is that even if it's not the thing for me,

it may be for you.

So, calm down, wow.

Moving on to what I've gathered

about the pros and cons of power chairs.

As a few of you noted last week,

this pros and cons list is very much

what I have been able to gather

from my experiences and research

and it doesn't necessarily apply to all power chairs

and it would look very different,

is a list were I needing to use

a power chair all of the time.

We all have different needs, though,

so just think through your own list

and then apply that to your search.

Pros and cons.

Pros: compact, allowed on public transport,

intuitive joystick,

some can be both used indoors and outdoors,

it's faster than a manual wheelchair,

it's available in a variety of sizes,

narrower than a mobility scooter.

Cons: expensive!

Like, really, really expensive, yeah.

Slower than the mobility scooters,

requires disassembling if it doesn't fold,