The person in a wheelchair - who can propel it themselves - does not ride. Perhaps they "go"? Perhaps they "use a wheelchair"?
Certainly they are a wheelchair user. Or (depending on sense of humor) a crip.
A short word for wheelchair is "wheelchair". Or perhaps "my chair".
The act of controlling and steering a wheelchair is called "using a wheelchair".
The problem is that wheeled chairs haven't been around more than a few centuries (if that), and it wasn't until a few decades ago that a person in such a chair could propel themselves. Before that, they were "invalids", and they got "pushed" by "nurses".
It's only been the last couple of decades that has seen large numbers of otherwise-able people using wheelchairs, because surgical methods have improved so vastly. So people who would otherwise have died from car accidents or mountain climbing falls* are now surviving to use wheelchairs and walkers and be other kinds of athletes.
Perhaps you can find a sports magazine focussed on wheelchair athletes - that will have all the good terminology in it.
(*I had a housemate in college in this situation.)
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Certainly they are a wheelchair user. Or (depending on sense of humor) a crip.
A short word for wheelchair is "wheelchair". Or perhaps "my chair".
The act of controlling and steering a wheelchair is called "using a wheelchair".
The problem is that wheeled chairs haven't been around more than a few centuries (if that), and it wasn't until a few decades ago that a person in such a chair could propel themselves. Before that, they were "invalids", and they got "pushed" by "nurses".
It's only been the last couple of decades that has seen large numbers of otherwise-able people using wheelchairs, because surgical methods have improved so vastly. So people who would otherwise have died from car accidents or mountain climbing falls* are now surviving to use wheelchairs and walkers and be other kinds of athletes.
Perhaps you can find a sports magazine focussed on wheelchair athletes - that will have all the good terminology in it.
(*I had a housemate in college in this situation.)