The Power Of Power

Mankind underestimates the subtleties of body language. It’s a skill that we develop through observation and experience, and then carry with us subliminally for the rest of our lives. Well anyway, some of us do, others don’t. We learn it through watching our parents, family and peers. They are learned rather than taught, for no good reason other than that most parents do not understand the power, or possibly even understand the role, of body language. If able-bodied people struggle to come to grips with body language then how much more so is it for the mobility impaired?

Research has shown that female chimpanzees and gorillas that are born in captivity do not always have the skills to be good mothers. It’s a skill learned, not inherited or genetically ingrained. In much the same way the skills of body language are learned, and if the environment is such that learning is inhibited then we loose out.

Interaction with our fellow man is an integral part of our human nature. This is most often seen as a verbal medium, but body positioning, body movement, and gestures play a vital role. Gestures are not limited to hand, arm, or head movements, they are also performed with the whole body. Consider a meeting of three people . . . hold the meeting firstly over a telephone (i.e. no visual contact), now hold it around a table with everyone being seated, and then hold the same meeting with the three standing freely in an open room. The results would differ in each case, as the parties involved were able to utilise additional skills. Organisations such as Toastmasters who deal with communication every day around the world will tell you of the importance of body positioning when speaking. The body can be used to project positive or negative, re-assuring or distancing images. It can draw the audience in, or push them away. It can emphasize a point, or dismiss it. These rules apply regardless of whether the audience is measured in hundreds, a small group, or one.

Severely mobility impaired people will understand and appreciate the frustrations of being “rooted to the spot”. The mind knows what it wants, but the body cannot provide the solution. In the office, at a cocktail party, at home, able-bodied people move around one, stepping in and out of one’s personal space, in and out of conversation, in and out of one’s sphere of influence. In the game of body language it is not so much a question of “mobility”, rather one of “ability”. The ability to move during a conversation, the ability to gesture, the ability to turn to face someone, the ability to turn one’s back, the ability to “step” forward to greet someone, and the ability to “leave”. These are the subtle movements that are only measured in seconds taken, or centimetres moved, but the messages they convey are huge. Many severely disabled people complain of feeling like seated puppets, able to speak, but dependent on another for movement and motion. The powerchair can make the first move, the powerchair can control proceedings, and the powerchair can lead. A powerchair puts these abilities in their own hands. A powerchair user can achieve this with the flick of a joystick. Gone are the struggling movements to move a wheelchair on deep pile carpets. One can re-position without even breaking eye contact!

The powerchair can be an incredible accessory to communication if used effectively. It can be open and inclusive when positioned to face one’s audience. It can be furtive and elusive if kept on the move, never allowing the subject to settle. It can be final and conclusive when swiftly turned away. Whilst these initially may sound manipulative, pre-meditated, or calculated they quickly become natural when used in conjunction with the rest of one’s communication media, such as eyes, voice, and hands. It’s a transition phase, only lasting as long as it takes one to catch up with able-bodied mankind! Few powerchair users have been motorised since their youngest years. Most only manage to obtain access to a powerchair in their teens or later. This means that they have essentially missed out on those formative years of body language development.

It’s a strange thing but a powerchair gives one a distinctly physical presence. Somehow a normal manual wheelchair projects itself as a “chair with wheels”, but a powerchair demands attention. When you cruise into a room people notice! It becomes an extension of one’s personality. I often find myself “pacing” in the powerchair whilst waiting for lifts, something which is impossible in my manual chair. I can impose myself by riding straight up to someone, or can calm things down by slowly idling through a shopping mall, or lift the pace considerably when I’m purposeful or in a hurry. If I’m feeling full of fun I find myself weaving around furniture, spinning circles in shopping malls, speeding up and slowing down, or zooming over the grass lawns of Kirstenbosch when everyone else is sticking to the paths. If I’m annoyed and in a crowd I can hold my line and force people to avoid me. I can sneak up on my wife when she’s engrossed in a book. I can walk my own line when out with friends. It’s the games we all play.

Parents of severely mobility-impaired children need to be more aware than most of the importance of these skills, how their child can learn them, and more importantly how to put them to good use. As a member of the human race we have to accept that communication is integral to our makeup, we are sociable animals. In order for disabled children to achieve equity within the broader community they need to use communication and personality skills even more effectively than their able-bodied counterparts in order to compensate for physical shortfalls. Using a powerchair need not be seen as slipping down the ability ladder. Far from it. It is an empowering instrument, it gives more than it takes. It allows one to say “I am in control, I decide when and how I wish to move”. It’s the power of power.