A system for wheelies apparently.

**Toby Christensen** · Posted On: 6/21/2006 2:47am

Originally Posted by War Phalange

Unless his lessons have to do with:

1) Pistols

2) Knives/mace/tasers

Then it will be total ****. You can't do anything really if you're mobily (wtf?) imparied like that. Can't generate the power for a punch, can maneuver for a throw or lock, can't even dodge. Equalizers are your only real option.

I'm not in a wheelchair. About the only thing I can't do is throw T3H D34DLY highkick or do things with my hips (which is a shame, because saying warningly
"I know savate!" before kicking a bewildered redneck's head off would give me heaps of street cred).

I would concur that most wheelchair using folk aren't dangerous unless they get a hold of you. I was punched AS A JOKE by somebody who used his forearms for everything and saw black for a moment.

**TKD Black Belt** · Posted On: 6/21/2006 11:44am

I watched a guy in a club I was bouncing at run his wheel chair into another guy who was being a dick. Funniest thing I'd ever seen, plus the guy in the chair was looking up at him with this 'Go on, I dare you' look!

Had it gone off I'd have probably put money on the guy in the chair, apparently using your upper body to move you around all day gives you some strength benefits, who knew?

TKD

**PirateJon** · Posted On: 6/21/2006 11:52am

There's a crazy armless dude in downtown Charleston that's gone after people with his prosthetic hook.

But he's like 80 so it's mostly just funny.

**DdlR** · Posted On: 6/21/2006 8:36pm

In the '80s I had a private self defense student who was paralyzed from his mid-abdomen down, and we developed a pretty good system designed for his needs and abilities. His lifestyle was such that he really needed some form of self defense. The defensive techniques were drawn mostly from boxing and wrestling, with some nasty tricks pulled in from ko-ryu jujitsu.

His major advantages were that sitting in the wheelchair he had a very low center of gravity, and he had exceptionally strong hands and arms from the exercise of wheeling himself around all the time. The biggest disadvantage was that although he was strong in the upper body, he could not perform any techniques that required him to lean forward beyond a certain point, as his lower adbomen had no strength and he would collapse.

It was difficult for him to initiate attacks other than lunging the foot-rest of the chair into the attacker's shins, so the system was based on counter-attacks against grabs and strikes from the front, side and rear. His position in the chair gave him a strategic advantage in that many standard "attacks" (leg dives, many kicks and throws, etc.) just could not be applied against him - the chair itself acted as a shield and limited the attacker's options. Also, the attacker almost always had to lean forwards and down to be able to reach him with either a grab or a strike.

We developed a forearm shielding technique based on a boxing cover, and a number of specific hold-breaking techniques, transitioning in to tie-up skills similar to freestyle wrestling. As there was no point in him "trading punches" with an attacker, the main tactic was to defend, control the attacker's balance with a head/neck twist, and then do enough damage that the attacker was no longer a threat. Because quick escape wasn't an option for him, the damage moves were extreme.

Any realistic wheelchair self defense system should include serious groundfighting and grappling as an option, but it's no panacea. Prior to our training, my student used to haul himself out of the chair and go to the ground in real fights; natural aggression and lots of upper-body strength worked for him, until one night when he thought he'd won the fight and was beaten up while trying to climb back into the chair.

We never got into weapons but I know that many people in wheelchairs do carry various "implements" at times.

**patfromlogan** · Posted On: 6/21/2006 11:03pm

+ rep for mr DdlR

I saw a wheel chair guy (hey angry, where's that other thread?) use his arm rests as short stick and nunchucks and he could flip himself in a backward flip out of he chair and scurry around on his hand pretty fast.

It comes down to activity level. A buddy of mine has those crutches that wrap around the wrist - he says prosthetics are for side walks and he hunts, fishes, hikes, canoes etc and runs a fish farm - and his upper body is big. As he says, I walk on 'em. We spent a long time as wilderness farmers in another life and he'd be the water dipper, raising five gallon tubs with one hand up to me on the trail, the trail to our hidden "tomatoes." He could vault barb wire fences and do a single horizontal stomp kick above the garage door.

*edit* He lost one leg in a rock slide, got pinned in S Utah and it took two days before they could get the rock off... He just says, "A rock fell on me." But his wife had got pinned and he got her out and got pinned himself. Never said it to now, but his (now) ex probably caused the whole damn thing. Have to tell my son to only **** good climbers and hikers. Oh, and I can't remeber what a LARP is... clue me please. Someone out there in BSland help me out while I make myself another rum!

So Angry, where is that other thread? Is the function that provides the info on all posts and threads of individuals gone now or what? This new fangled BS! It just ain't like in was back in the old days, by crimminy.

**DubhGhaill** · Posted On: 6/22/2006 12:40am

Originally Posted by War Phalange
Unless his lessons have to do with:

1) Pistols

2) Knives/mace/tasers

Then it will be total ****. You can't do anything really if you're mobily (wtf?) imparied like that. Can't generate the power for a punch, can maneuver for a throw or lock, can't even dodge. Equalizers are your only real option.

Sadly, all that good stuff is illegal in most of Australia, therefore totally useless to A.S.