In the spotlight: How the right wheelchair helps Logan shine
Following his dreams on stage, Logan's loving life with a power chair from Whizz Kidz
We’ve known it for decades at Whizz Kidz. One of the most significant differences the right wheelchair makes is at school. Whether it’s the start of a child’s learning journey in Reception or supporting access to larger secondary sites, the right equipment can unlock education. It turns out it’s not just real-life schools. For 12-year-old Logan, the fictional educational establishment his wheelchair got him into was East High, as he appeared in a professional touring production of Disney’s hugely popular High School Musical.
How was it?
"Hard. Scary,” Logan says. These two emotions are familiar to any performer. His mum, Charlotte, saw the opportunity advertised and knowing how much Logan loved High School Musical, they thought it was worth auditioning.
“I said, but obviously, you need to know you might not get in. It's a big thing, isn't it?” she says. At the audition, a casting assistant gave Logan a script. They were getting called in groups of 10, reading out lines and singing songs.
“And I told her, I’m sorry Logan can’t read. He can read certain things but wouldn’t be able to read a script. And she said, oh, does he know the songs? I said, yeah, he knows all the songs.”
Logan went into the audition, “I was trying to watch him through the window. And my heart was breaking because I could see them all reading the script, and he was just sitting there. When they finished and came out, the assistant said, ‘he did really well.’”

Smashing it on stage
There was the wait to hear back officially. And then, "I opened the letter when it came through the post before I gave it to him. It said that he'd been given a part in the ensemble bit, which is the singing and the dancing. Oh, he was absolutely buzzing,” Charlotte says.
"For 12 weeks, he worked really well. Every Thursday night after school, we went there for three hours, and he learned all the songs that he knew anyway, including all the dance moves."
"He wheeled in, got into the middle and then did his pom poms and did his dance."
Charlotte told us how much it had meant to Logan and the whole family: "He did really well. We asked him to repeat a few words after us, and he knew all the words to the song. He absolutely smashed it. It was just tears because, for us, I never thought that he could be in something like that."
"He was so upset, and he cried when he finished because he was so proud of himself for doing it."
The experience left Logan with a long-term ambition: "I will be an actor when I grow older, he says.

Logan appeared onstage in High School Musical and knew all the words
His mum describes Logan as funny, with a big personality, and “cheeky, definitely cheeky.” He’s into “Fortnite, Marvel, and Disney” and loves gaming and being online. He has quadriplegic cerebral palsy, which makes self-propelling a manual wheelchair challenging. Even more so if it’s the standard, heavy wheelchair local services offered them.
Local services didn't meet his needs
Charlotte found that Logan’s needs weren’t being met when the family went to local wheelchair services. The negative experience left Charlotte feeling that "I just did not have any hope in my local wheelchair services because they just did not help."
"I know him better than anybody. And I know the seating position that he’s in, and I feel that he needs to be in to make him comfortable. And every time I said things, they were like, but he can't sit like that. And I'm like, but he needs to sit like that.”
“So we were given a standard wheelchair from the NHS, which was the one that you kind of get for older people, like the standard wheelchair. And Logan just really struggled.”

Logan gets his wheelchair adjusted by Senior Mobility Therapist Sarah Wallace in our Billingshurst clinic
“The number of times we went back to local services to request footplate straps, chest straps, anything really. I felt like, without them, Logan would just fall out of his chair. He'd be in absolute agony with his back.
“He wasn't able to get a good position. Even with the cushions, they weren't set to his kind of body… And I mean, we were back so many times that in the end, I just thought, I can't keep doing this.”
Logan comes to Whizz Kidz
Charlotte and her husband James were determined to find a better option for Logan.
“So we decided to fundraise for a new wheelchair. It wasn't until we asked Whizz Kidz to have a look at theirs. And then they were like, oh, we fund it for you. You don't have to pay. I mean, that's amazing. You can think of the amount of money that things cost. But anything with a disabled sign on it, it's tripled."
When the family came to Whizz Kidz, our clinicians decided a powered chair was the right option for Logan. Charlotte says, “When we were offered it for free, it was just incredible. Like, absolutely incredible. The whole independence is just the best thing ever.”
What’s the best thing about your power chair? we asked Logan.
"Just that I am free,” he says.
So what does it let you do that you couldn't do before you had it?
“It lets me go so fast. [My other manual chair] it gets hard to push. But with my powered, it's easy because I just have to push the control and I move.”
School in a wheelchair
It’s not just fictional American high schools that constantly break into song that benefit from the right wheelchair. Logan started in Year 7 at the Abbey School, a special needs school, last September. It was his first time at a school with other young wheelchair users, which made a big impression.
“It felt nice to know that I'm not the only one in the world,” he says.
“You find it hard to get around with your friends quickly when you're in your manual chair, don't you?” Charlotte adds. “And I think that's quite upsetting sometimes at school, isn't it? So when he is able to get into his power chair, we're kind of off, aren't we, joining with everyone.”
Logan hopes to use his power chair from Whizz Kidz at school every day once the staff are more used to supporting him in controlling it.
“We're hoping within the next year, our aim is so that he's more independent in that school in his power chair than in the manual chair.”
So I said to Logan, you're like your friends... I know you can't walk, but your friends, all they want to do is be like you
Charlotte, Logan's mum
Life for Logan before Whizz Kidz
So what was life like for Logan, you, and the family before you got the power chair?
“It was hard,” says Charlotte. When Logan was in his manual wheelchair, he needed to be pushed everywhere. “We struggled a lot because we have two little ones (Tillie and Hadley), there are only 18 months between them, and I had a double buggy. When we had Logan in a manual wheelchair, and I wasn't able to go anywhere at the time. But with the power chair, for me, being able to push a pushchair was just the best thing ever. Not only that, for him to go off and not me have to say, oh, I can't push you there. He was able just to go. So, the whole independence is just the best thing ever.”

Logan first came to Whizz Kidz five years ago
It’s this independence that Logan and his family experience every day that can make a real difference. Charlotte says: “If he's sitting in his [manual] chair, in his bedroom, and he needs something, it's just constant ‘Mum, Mum, Mum, can you do this, Mum, can you do that’, because he can't move this chair that much because it's quite heavy. But I know if I pop him in his power chair, I'm in the kitchen, and the next minute, he's there next to me asking me for something, so to be able to just come out of his bedroom and come and ask me instead of just shouting, yeah, I think that's a big thing for us.”
Time for teenage independence
Logan’s independence is becoming even more important for Charlotte as he approaches his teenage years.
‘I find that the age he is now, he's needing it more than ever. I mean, he's going to be 13 this year. He needs to start being more independent. Like I say to him, I'm not always going to take you to the toilet and brush your teeth, and I'm not always going to do this. You need to be doing more independent things. And his biggest thing was like, well, I can't move. I can't push my chair into there, and I can't do this.
“In his power chair, I find that I'm not asking as much. I asked him to do his teeth yesterday, and he was in the bathroom getting his toothbrush ready. And for me, that's something massive. It might not be for a 12-year-old in another household, but for me, that's massive.
"Now I just feel when we're using the power chair more, every time I look at him, he's got a smile on his face. He's laughing his head off because he's going really fast, and he's doing his own thing."
"I think his independence has come on massively. And he's so much more confident when he's in his power chair. He's able to go and do things that he wants to do and not me having to stand there having to tell him."

The right chair for duck whispering
When a young person doesn’t have the wheelchair they need to be fully mobile; their whole family can be negatively affected. When they get the right one, the kind of carefree, fun days out that many of us take for granted can happen.
“We went out for the day, didn't we?” Charlotte tells Logan, “To feed the ducks over the park and go to the Thames. It was lovely because you could go off. It was a bit of a nightmare because he was like the duck whisperer; he had bread on his tray, and he was just in the middle of all these ducks, but every time he moved his chair, they were running after you, weren't they, trying to go fast and they were chasing you,” she says as they both laugh.

One of the joys of being the sibling of a young wheelchair user are the free lifts. Logan’s little brother and sister, Hadley, six and Tillie, four, take full advantage, (although Whizz Kidz can’t endorse this mode of transport!)
"Hadley stands on like the wheel bit. So every time he goes over a bump, Hadley's up in the air, and I'm like, ‘Oh, God, please be careful’.
"His little sister Tillie will sit on his lap. Hadley will be on the back, and the three of them will go off together.
"He literally had one on the back, one on the front, and we were just walking back, and he was just going in his power chair with those two, taking them back on holiday because they were so tired.”
“A very tall, bearded Mary Poppins”
Logan has had his power chair from Whizz Kidz for five years. The charity invests in equipment that can be adjusted as young people grow. We met Logan and his mum when they visited our Billingshurst mobility clinic for repair and maintenance. Logan’s chair needed extending to take account of his latest growth spurt.
Sometimes, Charlotte explains, it’s the small things that make a difference. He wanted a tray for his power chair to enjoy eating out with his family. “You can never find a table that goes with the power chair. So he then can't eat independently,” Charlotte says. Logan also likes to keep his tablet and phone close by, like any 12-year-old. She mentioned it to John Bearman, the Whizz Kidz Mobility Engineer in her clinic, and after a quick rummage in his van, he emerged with a tray that fitted perfectly. Logan was able to use it a couple of days later when they went to a petting farm and had lunch.

Engineer John Bearman adjusts Logan's wheelchair as he's had another growth spurt, while Sarah looks on
“This is great because he was able to have that independence in his power chair, but also to still have the independence of eating on his own. If he was in his power chair without the tray, we would have had to feed him. You need to feed him because he can't eat off the table because his chair won't go under it. So, yeah, just the little things make a massive difference. It was great we got that tray.”
We agree that John has all those essential ‘might come in useful’ bits and pieces in his van, like all truly handy people. “Yeah, he's like a very tall, bearded Mary Poppins,” Charlotte laughs.
Feeling the need for speed
The difference the right wheelchair makes develops over time. Controlling a powered chair takes practice, experience, and possibly Whizz Kidz’s Wheelchair Skills Training. One big element of controlling the chair is the speed setting. The powerchair Logan has can be configured between one and five for speed by the young person or their parent or carer, depending on their needs. Has Logan become speedier as he’s grown more confident? And who sets the pace?
“Oh, he does that on his own,” says Charlotte. “The amount of times I'm like, ‘turn it down!’. It's on number five, and he's zooming off. If I'm in the house. It's on one or two. School, when he used it, I was like, no more than three. And I called the school and said, do not let that light go more than three. And then he came back, and he said the teacher said it was fine. I was allowed to go on the five on the grass outside. And I'm like, oh, my god! I panic more than anything.”

Friends want to roll with it
How have his friends reacted to his wheelchairs?
“He always says it's crazy when his friends turn around to him and say, oh, you're so lucky. What a cool chair you've got that you can just go off. And it's like your own little car.
"And they're like, oh, I wish I was in a chair. And then Logan's like, but I wish I could walk. So I said to Logan, you're like your friends. You're in the same situation as your friends. I know you can't walk, but your friends, all they want to do is be like you. And it's kind of a nice thing to hear from some of the children.
"The number of times his friends have come round, and I've gone in the bedroom. And one of them's in the manual chair or the power chair and they're sitting there just chatting.”
Just that I am free... It lets me go so fast
Logan, on the best thing about his power chair from Whizz Kidz
"Literally, Logan will be in his power chair, and then one of his friends will start wheeling along in his manual chair. And I ask, what are you doing? And they're like, oh, it's just fun. It's just great fun. And Logan loves it. It makes Logan laugh."
That’s not to say that being a young wheelchair user comes without challenges. Charlotte explains how Logan is at an age where he notices his peer group getting more independent, going out all day to the park on their own and playing football.
“I think you struggle a lot with your friends at the moment at the age that you are because you just want to get up and go out. But I think Logan just gets on with life. Yeah, he's such a good boy, aren't you?” she says to him, smiling. “We don't have any issues. At the odd time, we might have a little bit of an upset here and there, usually when he's in pain with his legs. But generally, every day, he is just loving life, aren't you?
“I’m happy,” says Logan. “Happy boy. Loving life”.

The Whizz Kidz difference
So, what do you think life would have been like without Whizz Kidz?
“Very, very dull,” says Charlotte. “I feel like, yeah, if we didn't have his power chair now and we were still in the manual chair, we would be struggling, especially having the little ones as well. I feel like all my time is with them. And then, for me to have to keep pushing Logan around in a chair is quite hard. So for him to be able to just go off and not have to worry and not rely on me and James, I feel like when he's in his manual chair, he's always relying on us. So, for him, I know how grateful he is to have that chair from you guys. So, yeah, it just makes a massive difference.
“I feel like when he's in his manual chair, he's kind of stuck, and he's just looking around at everybody. And I just think he feels like he's got a sad face on when we go places. And yet now I feel when we've got to use the power chair more, and for us, it was getting our vehicle with our ramps and being able to take the power chair out.
Now, like I say, he's gone every time I look at him, he's got a smile on his face. He's laughing his head off because he's going really fast, and he's doing his own thing. And like he'll be in his own little world sometimes, just doing doughnuts on the grass and laughing and moving backwards and going higher. And he just loves it. Absolutely loves that. It's just lovely to see.
Can you sum up the difference that the right wheelchair has made for Logan?
“Just life-changing. Yeah, it is life-changing. I think to get the perfect chair, to get the right seat in the position for Logan, for Logan to be comfortable just changes him massively. Confidence level, independence. Yeah, just incredible. Really incredible.”

We know that with the right equipment and support, young wheelchair users like Logan are on a roll. Find out more about why the right wheelchair is the real difference.