The result of his therapy was not just a crutch for lazy writers, but a wheelchair. Not one of those wheelchairs that one has to grab the hind wheels and push, but one of those newfangled ones...oh, heck...what do they call them? I wish there was a book that would tell me what those newfangled motorized wheelchairs are called if I looked up
wheelchair.
Oh, well. He was a giant of words, on whose shoulders many journalists have sat and been inspired, aroused, excited, prompted, provoked, stimulated and stirred.
It is indeed an interesting story. And as I was just discussing with someone, today they would have sent Roget off for psychotherapy for his obsessive compulsive disorder-- and medicated!
I believe the term that escapes you for 'newfangled' motorized wheelchair is scooter. But technically speaking that is not considered a wheelchair but a POV (power operated vehicle), which is distinct from a power wheelchair.