Sir, - Not perhaps, a world-shaking dilemma, but for crutch-users a serious situation.
I have but one leg and have been a crutch-user for many years. Always I have used the wooden axillary (under-arm) type, made from single poles of ash. Simple, effective and completely satisfactory. Now, needing to replace them, I discover that this type of crutch is apparently no longer being produced here. Now I am expected to use a light metal version of a walking stick, with a clip holding it onto the forearm - an apparatus which I consider so unsuitable that it should carry a health warning. To control these requires very strong arms and extremely sound balance, not always possessed by disabled people.
The main objection to these new-fangled devices is that they remove any chance the disabled person has of overcoming his functional and even social deficiencies. As soon as you take your hands from these crutches you are virtually immobilised. You can't perform any of the simple automatic actions you would normally expect to be able to do while walking. You cannot, for example, bring anyone a cup of tea, or even carry a drink to them from a bar. With the "old-fashioned" crutches, using what I would call "oxter control", which becomes second nature with very little practice, both hands can be liberated and used quite normally.
Perhaps someone could explain why these excellent appliances have been abandoned - together with the independence of their users - or, better still, suggest how they might be reinstated. It is, perhaps, significant, and maybe a hopeful sign, that these traditional walking aids seem to be making a reappearance in North America and Australasia. - Yours, etc.,
Arthur J. Duffy, Glenageary Lodge, Glenageary, Co Dublin.