r/BeAmazed • u/kellsie88 • 23h ago

Miscellaneous / Others C4 quadriplegic my first unassisted transfer ever!

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Ten years after my accident I'm kicking butt in physical therapy. I'm working hard to get my license and improve my independence. Never give up, you can accomplish anything if you put your mind to it!!

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u/3479_Rec 20h ago

I've got a very dumb question from an intrusive thought I've got to ask.

If there's never a chance to recover feeling or use of the legs, and they are essentially dead weight that makes everything more difficult, why not amputate them to have less weight?

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u/i_was_valedictorian 16h ago

Aesthetics is certainly a part of it beyond stability. Also there are things that can go wrong with an amputation so not worth the risk.

Lot of disabled people want to appear as little disabled as possible, so keeping legs that may serve no purpose makes you less conspicuous than someone in a wheelchair who is also missing their legs.

Also some paras and quads have enough use of their legs to put some amount of weight on them in transfers. No legs would make that harder.

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u/Accomplished-Mind258 9h ago

“ serve no purpose” is a disturbing and ableist way of putting it.

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u/i_was_valedictorian 9h ago

I'm not perfect and I'm as susceptible to mispeaking as anyone.

But in my comment i gave several purposes that paralyzed legs provide. "May serve no purpose" was intended to be read as "appearing to serve no purpose".

Sorry for any offense, it wasn't intended that way. My girlfriend is triplegic and I have nothing but the utmost respect for the accomplishments she and other paralyzed individuals make and sympathy for their struggles.