The Strangest Wheelchair You’ll Ever See
get around: to move from one place to another
At a museum in Halifax, Canada, a wood turtle named Root lost one of his front feet. Because one leg is shorter than the others, his shell dragged on the floor. Every step made a soft clunking sound, and the hard floor was slowly damaging his shell.
So a museum worker named Tessa Biesterfeld built him something clever. She took a dog harness and fixed it to a small platform made of LEGO bricks. Then she added wheels. LEGO was perfect, because it is safe and she can change the size as Root grows. The harness lifts his body just enough. Now Root can get around without scraping his shell using his makeshift wheelchair.
If a turtle on wheels is surprising, a fish in a wheelchair sounds impossible. In New Hampshire, a red goldfish named Mr. Sue developed a problem in his swim bladder. This is the organ inside a fish that keeps it upright. When it stopped working well, Mr. Sue kept sinking and rolling onto his side.
His owner, Angela Chaisson, tested one homemade design after another until she finally built a soft float harness that held him steady. In time the disorder passed, but by then he was too weak to swim on his own. With that gentle support, Mr. Sue can get around his tank and slowly rebuild his strength. Angela talks to him and even kisses him, the way you might greet a puppy. Watching her goldfish swim steadily, she described his happiness as “pure priceless bliss.”
Sample sentences
In a city with good buses and trains, you really don’t need a car to get around.
After the surgery, it took him a few weeks before he could get around on his own again.
The village is so small that most people get around by bicycle.
Read More
Museum Staff Build Disabled Turtle a Custom Mobility Aid Made of LEGO Parts
Woman Builds an Underwater “Wheelchair” for Her Goldfish That Can’t Stay Afloat
