A wheelchair can be much better than nothing and still be far inferior to a potential exoskeleton. I use a wheelchair whenever I leave the house, and I am not a fan. There are so many places I cannot go: anywhere that requires stairs, the beach and most other places that are unpaved, anywhere without curb cuts, any foreign country that doesn’t have accessibility laws, anywhere with a hill that’s even a little bit steep. I would happily pay $100k for a really great exoskeleton (if what’s in my imagination could be made real, anyway).

Well the goal wa actually turn potential into reality. I completely agree with your argument

you didn't say anything wrong, it is a throw away account making claims about how a technology that doesn't exist would definitely decrease quality of life.. I wouldn't put too much stock in what they say.

I'm just relaying my wife's opinion. She's kinda tired of people presuming that her life isn't great because she's in a wheelchair and that everything would be better if she could walk.

UC San Francisco used to run disability inspiration porn ads showing a plodding exoskeleton that would go about maybe 1 mi/day? My wife would joke that in the time it would take the exoskeleton to get her to the front door, she could used her power chair to walk to Starbucks, order breakfast, and bring it home. Has society put limits on what she can do in her chair due to crappy architecture, yes. Would a practical exoskeleton fix that, we doubt it.

What about an exoskeleton with retractable wheels, that had motion powered or rollerblade style? I remember seeing a video of a robot that switched from quadruped/hexapod walking motion to sway like a rollerblade / skater.

Have you looked at the robots out of boston dynamics? They look more mobile than a lot of non-handicapped people. Maybe another avenue is smart physical assistants instead of just exoskeletons, "i, Robot (2004)" style.