When I played wheelchair rugby they formed teams by having basically equal disabilities all around. A bunch of quads against a bunch of paras would be a sad game. So they split us up equally, and that was their criteria, waist down was a para, and since your upper quadrants were affected, you'd be a quad. It's also classified by where your spinal injury is. I'm considered a c5-6 quad, if you are paralyzed nipples down that means your injury was in the "c" vertabrae. Correct? What is your injury level? I may be way off, but this is what I've learned. Please respond if you know something I don't as I love to learn and hate to spout incorrect info. L8R.

Your nipples is the t4 level. Your belly button is the t10 level. I broke my t6 vertebrae, but for some reason my spinal cord is damaged at the t5 level. This makes my last normal level a t4. A quadriplegic simply means that you have some sort of impariment in all 4 limbs hence the term "quad". With all that said I can tell you for sure that ALL levels suck.

atleast we have r/c! I miss crotchrockets, quads, dirtbikes, snowmobiles, snowboards, etc. etc. The thing is miss most is my ability, I use to do my own custom car audio installs outta my dads shop, I could fabricate anything. In '00 I did an install in an '00 camaro ss convertible, I fit 3 jl audio 12w6s in that tiny trunk! I had to build the box in place, and had about 20 hours into the box alone. Custom kick panels, mid bass, it was my finest install. It sucks, but attitude is everything. I also suffer from depression, and it is a daily battle. I have to tell myself to focus on the positive, not the negative, and when things are real bad I force myself to go out and do something, anything, to progress my life and move forward. It takes hard work for me to remain positive as a quadriplegic with depression, but I take my anti-depressant every morning and remind myself of the power of the human mind, whether you think of something as positive or negative, for you thats what it is.

That's really inspiring paralyzed, and I mean it. Thanks for sharing your story with us. I gives me hope now. :smile: