#unsurprisingly there's. not really any good options for wheelchairs for crocodiles. alas.

[rxttenfish]

@wheelie-butch replied to your post:

Do u have any miranda wheelchair design thoughts bc i have half an idea that i want to do wheelchair redesigns for the main ROs at some point 🤔🤔

okay so this is going to be primarily about my personal merfolk redesigns because this is where my thoughts are, so this is what i've been chewing on

also disclaimer that i am not an engineer and still need to put WAY more thought into this

the design is mostly based off of dog wheelchairs, as the best example i can find of a wheelchair designed primarily for quadrupeds. the wheels sit under the hips and are designed to be level with the arms, which are used as the primary means of locomotion, and thus connect up to the chest to provide support. there's a seat beneath the hips/stomach (more on that), and would have footrests for the back legs.

for most there'd probably be a latching mechanism activated either by reaching back with the arms or by pushing with the feet (as merfolk feet can act as somewhat less dexterous hands), to let the wheels back to sit closer to the tail, allowing the merfolk to sit and lay down, and some kind of wench to pull it back into position.

this is far from my full design for several reasons, the biggest of which is: merfolk spines move from side to side, and there's a lot more side to side motion their wheelchairs would need to be designed for to handle the movement of them walking. this is why there are bars by the tail - the tail is large, and drags on the ground, and moves side to side, which could interfere with the wheels, so the addition of bars limits the movement the very base of the tail does.

there's also the issue of their legs. pulling them up like this would be most comfortable for the merfolk, but it also puts them right next to the wheels, with a high risk of getting caught. add in the fact that there's a membrane of skin/scales/cartilage/fat/Meat that runs down their limbs to smooth them out for hydrodynamics, and getting caught would be an issue enough that there should probably be a shield between the legs and wheels. another option would be leg binding, which is pulling the legs back and binding them to the tail, based off of a practice that some merfolk do for fashion, but this could have circulation issues, be less comfortable, remove the possibility for control with their feet, and limit their ability to lay down and sit.

here i've also added a very large seat for the abdomen and hips, which could probably use to be smaller for some other merfolk. for miranda's uses, however, she'd need a larger seat that supports her stomach, because the reason that she needs a wheelchair would be a long-term strain injury caused by walking on land, especially the bad habit that she has of walking bipedally. merfolk aren't designed to be bipeds, or be very terrestrial at all, anymore, and part of this issue for miranda is the gastralia in her stomach starting to come detached and pull away from where it sits parallel to the spine. this would provide relief and an additional way to support that weight for miranda, and so it's what i included, through it'd probably also limit movement and the ability to sit.

additional things would be that there almost certainly needs to be some strap or securing over the back to prevent the merfolk from falling out, and thinking about how they would secure things like the chest harness. to be fair, most things merfolk make are created with the presumption that there will be another merfolk there to help them regardless, so limited movement of the user to secure themselves wouldn't be as much of a concern to a merfolk than otherwise. they'd probably be able to get in by moving up from behind and laying down into the wheelchair, fixing on the chest harness, and then adjusting any straps across the back.

why yes i am a “miranda and aaravi both are chronically ill” truther