Going Back to Civvy Street: a historical account of the impact of the Everest and Jennings wheelchair for Canadian World War II veterans with spinal cord injury

In February 1945, the Canadian government agreed to provide the Everest and Jennings folding, self-propelled wheelchair to all World War II veterans with spinal cord injury. These wheelchairs replaced wooden and wicker invalid wheelchairs that were usually assigned to hospital wards rather than to individuals. Veterans with spinal cord injury were among the first group of Canadians to use these wheelchairs to participate in community life. By 1947, Canadian veterans had demonstrated that it was possible to return to education, employment and leisure activities using a wheelchair. Drawing on oral history interviews and archival research, this paper provides an account of the introduction of folding, self-propelled wheelchairs into Canada following World War II. It discusses the impact of these wheelchairs on the life experiences of veterans, and outlines the strategies used by these early pioneers to live and work in communities that had neither expected nor planned for individuals using wheelchairs.