How a Powered Wheelchair Can Enhance the Living Condition of the Handicapped and Elderly?

Title: How a Powered Wheelchair Can Enhance the Living Condition of the Handicapped and Elderly? Word Count: 722 Summary: Wheelchairs are a boon to not only the handicapped but also for the elderly people. There are various types of wheelchairs. Some are manually operated and the others are electrically operated. Some wheelchairs are operated with the help of sensor devices. Here is a little information about the enhancement of living condition of the elderly and handicapper people with the help of the wheelchair fitted with sensors. Keywords: wheelchair, electric wheelchair Article Body: Wheelchairs are a boon to not only the handicapped but also for the elderly people. There are various types of wheelchairs. Some are manually operated and the others are electrically operated. Some wheelchairs are operated with the help of sensor devices. Here is a little information about the enhancement of living condition of the elderly and handicapper people with the help of the wheelchair fitted with sensors. As mentioned earlier the wheelchairs are of immense help to the handicapped people, elderly people and others who could not walk due to various medical ailments. Those people need to move on their own. Confining themselves within four walls will harm them physically and mentally. Wheelchairs are nothing but chair on wheels. The chairs will have four wheels. The rear wheels will be larger than the front wheels. The chairs will be provided with sensors for safety, ultramodern navigation modules and steering that is omni directional. The introduction of powered wheelchair is of biggest help for the severely disabled persons. They can move to different places without the help of others and even without exerting themselves much as in the case of manual wheelchairs. Conventional wheelchairs are very difficult to operate for the people who have limited psycho -mental capacity. There are two reasons for this. The first one is their mental and physical inability to operate the wheelchair. The other reason is the complicated household environments such as small bathrooms located in one corner of the house with narrow passage. Controlling the wheelchair will be hard for those who have restricted psycho-mental capacity. In order to help severely affected people through research the technicians have come out with newer model. These models are provided with sensor instruments. These sensor instruments fitted in the wheelchair prevent the collision of the machine with any object be it is wall or other furniture items. Hence the occupant need not worry about the collision and the subsequent injury while maneuvering the machine through the narrow passage. There is more freedom of operation. Some of the wheelchairs are provided with facilities like playback [moving on the prescribed or recorded direction and path] and back -tracing [facility to reverse the recent application] The occupant of the wheelchair should be taught very well about the functioning of the wheelchair. It is better to make the occupant to go through the operating booklet thoroughly. Incase on any doubt about the particular function, it has to be clarified by the technician then and there. The basic function of the wheelchair must be made to known to the occupant otherwise we may need to design or order specific wheelchair for the occupant, I mean for the disabled person. Few models of the wheelchairs are fitted with IR or ultrasonic sensors. The prime function of this sensor is to prevent dashing, thus providing safe movement. Some other wheelchairs are provided with sensors that help in movement directed by the environment. These sensors help in moving the wheelchair along the wall or through the door or for docking the wheelchair at station. Few other models were provided with special control devices such as play-back and back-tracing as mentioned earlier. As the wheelchair is fitted with more advance equipments the movement the wheelchair by the occupant becomes very easy and the occupants are less burdened. At the same time as the functionality of the machine becomes more the safety becomes very important which should never be compromised. Though the powered wheelchairs move automatically with the press of button, the speed and the direction must be decided by the occupant. Hence the occupant must be given proper training before letting him to operate the machine on his own. For some time it is better to ask the occupant to operate the machine inside the house. Once he is confident of himself, he can be allowed to use the wheelchair wherever he wants. Though there are difficulty in understanding and operating the powered wheelchair, there is no doubt that these powered machines enhance the standard of living of the handicapped and the elderly people once they are familiar with the machine and its operation. The occupant will be confidant of himself, the dependency of the occupant on the other person for his movement will be less. The freedom of the occupant is ensured with the sensor controlled wheel chairs.

Traveling in Wheelchair

Traveling always give a person the feeling of excitement and fulfillment. Visiting new places, eating at a great restaurant or watching your favorite football game at the stadium is a great way to spend a free time. But for disabled individuals, especially for those in a wheelchair, these activities can be overwhelming and difficult. But there are things disabled people can do before traveling to make the experience more relaxing, comfortable and enjoyable. Say for instance you are thinking of having a meal at restaurant that you saw in the advertisement offering great foods. You can call ahead to make a reservation and to make sure that they have facilities that accommodates disabled individuals. You would not want to arrive at the restaurant and find out that they don’t have ramps and as a result they have to carry you to get inside the restaurant. Nor is it amazing to find out that their bathrooms can accommodate average sized people only but not you and your wheelchair. It is, thus, good to call ahead to make sure that you have a great dining experience. Here are several questions you can ask when calling for a reservation in a hotel or restaurant. First, ask if they have elevators or stairs. Do they have ramps or elevators in all floors of the building? You can also ask how wide their doors are and what kind of knobs, latches or handles they have. How big their bathroom is? And some other questions that you think you need to know. If the restaurant or hotel has problems with accommodating disabled individuals, you can try talking to the management for the necessary adjustments. Most business places today are required by the Americans with Disabilities Act to have facilities appropriate to disabled individuals or make adjustments in order to accommodate them. But of course, every disabled person’s need is unique. Hence, your needs will really depend on your environment. If you are in a rural hotel you cannot expect them to offer you the same services given by those in urban places. But still, they have to provide adjustments in order to accommodate you. So before you get on on with your travel it is important to make the necessary preparations to make sure that you have a great experience. You need not regret anymore that you have chosen the hotel or restaurant because they did not provide you the necessary accommodation. When you come prepared you can be sure to make the most of your traveling experience.