Why a wheelchair user needs a wheelchair
- Please help me in my fight with AOK Nord-West and LWL
My name is Matthias Klei, I was born in 1970 and live in Bielefeld. I am starting this petition because I want to go public with my fight for help and assistance against AOK Nord-West and the LWL Inclusion Office for Social Participation.
I have been quadriplegic since birth and am dependent on a wheelchair to manage my professional and private life. In order to be able to participate adequately in social life, I need, among other things, an electric wheelchair and an adaptive wheelchair. An adaptive wheelchair is foldable, narrow, has the smallest possible folding dimensions, and a special seat unit. My assistants use it to push me around for most of my daily routine.
An electric wheelchair has clear advantages in terms of ease of use and low effort, but it is also bulky and very heavy. I cannot use it to move around my own wheelchair-accessible apartment, visit my therapists and doctors, or even reach my family and friends. The electric wheelchair cannot be stored in a car, it only fits in very few elevators and, as already mentioned, it does not fit in most indoor spaces. In principle, it is ideal for covering (even longer) distances outside the home.
My current adaptive wheelchair model (not the electric wheelchair) is now 18 years old and has served me well. For a year now, my wheelchair has been considered damaged due to wear and tear and has irreparable defects that would be economically unviable to repair (according to the medical supply store – RAS-Team GmbH Melle). I have therefore submitted an application to AOK Nord-West for approval of a (new) adaptive wheelchair. Although I already had some experience with the attrition tactics of bureaucracy and authorities in this context, I had applied for a replacement model in good faith with the support of my doctors and therapists, as my wheelchair clearly needed to be replaced after many years of use (which was also confirmed by the medical supply store RAS). However, AOK Nord-West, which would be responsible for providing this aid, immediately questioned my need and, in the ensuing dispute, vehemently refused to approve a new, functioning adaptive wheelchair. This circumstance impairs my mobility and also poses a permanent source of danger for my employees, for example due to a loose footrest that tends to fold away uncontrollably when moving and can cause bruising.
How can it be that, in the eyes of AOK Nord-West, my need for wheelchairs is decreasing rather than increasing? I am not becoming less disabled with age. In the past, this was approved, even in parallel with my electric wheelchair.
As a “full-time and lifelong disabled person,” I am far from giving up my fighting spirit. Although I have ‘only’ managed to pursue a career as a businessman in the primary labor market on my rocky path, from today's perspective, I would encourage my younger self to study law, because being disabled is a paper war in which the “other side” always has the best lawyers.
Apart from the fact that this is an enormous emotional burden and psychological challenge, I feel it is my duty to inform others about these injustices. For a year now, I have been caught in a crossfire of official letters and administrative files, questioning my right to participate as a human being and growing uncertainty about how to secure my livelihood. In this context, AOK Nord-West has informed me that a “disabled person” is only entitled to guaranteed mobility in the “local area” in the context of participation and coping with everyday life. Imagine if your health insurance company told you that you had to live your life within a radius of about 1,000 meters from your home. Furthermore, AOK Nord-West states that there is no obligation to provide anything beyond the electric wheelchair, as this sufficiently ensures my mobility and thus my participation in everyday life. However, I have already explained above that this is not the case.
I really cannot and do not want to be told how to live my life. I am supposed to reorganize my work, my health care, all my shopping facilities, and my social environment in the local area. In plain language, this would mean that my opportunities for participation and shaping my life would depend centrally on the conditions and possibilities in my immediate vicinity. If the conditions within this local area are not met, would I have to give up my right to self-determined participation? How can that be? If I could, I would put the Caribbean in my garden, but even I have my limits.
In short: if my current wheelchair completely loses its function, I lose my everyday life in all its facets.
I have built my entire life with a lot of passion, fighting spirit, and iron will. Please help me with your signature to make my voice heard by the cost bearers. Support me as a human being! Every person who stands behind me gives me more strength to continue resisting the attrition. I would be grateful if you could share my cause on social media to increase my chances of success.
Yours, Matthias Klei
Thank you, click here for the petition: www.change.org/AOKverweigertRollstuhl
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Diligent readers of the Neue Westfälische (nw.de) | Diligent supporters (change.org)
Further press coverage of my petition can be found here.
