The whole purpose of wheelchairs is to facilitate greater freedom and independence for people who might find it difficult or impossible to do without the assistance of the wheelchair. Only 1 – 2% of everyone who could really use a wheelchair actually has one or has access to one at this time.
Those reading this article are more likely to come from a part of the world where most of the people who need wheelchairs actually get them. For people who have suffered from an accident or an injury there may be some difficulty in adjusting to the need for a wheelchair and the person may suffer from feeling confined to it and limited by it rather than perceiving the whole thing as more of a matter of liberation.
The level of disability and what caused it influences which type of device is best. A patient resting a broken or injured leg does not have the same wheelchair needs as someone else temporarily ill but needing extra support while in the bathroom. These are both quite different examples that someone who does not have all their legs, or has only one or something of that nature. In fact, scooters suit some people better than others. I personally once saw a man using a scooter. He had no feet but everything appeared to be intact and working normally. I observed him in a library in London, England. The device was small enough for the elevator/lift and fast enough for him to move around in an urban environment. It was quiet enough to not be disruptive to the others using the library at the time.
For those who would not be able to walk anywhere, there is a great increase of freedom and mobility with the wheelchair. The only downside – please laugh even though there may be a grain of truth in this, is that people who enjoyed certain aspects of their dependency may have to make some adjustments to new independence. There may be more responsibilities than there were for awhile, for example.
There are restrictions, at least some of the time, that are not caused by the person or the wheelchair. Elevators are fine, but stairs are impossible. For those learning to live with a wheelchair for the first time, it may require some new investigations into the local terrain in order to get a sense of what is going on. Once learned, some of these things can be changed, but some cannot. People should know that efforts can be made to have ramps and other wheelchair accessible entries included in buildings. It is good to know that there have been some efforts to improve conditions for those disabled people able to make use of wheelchairs to obtain greater freedom of mobility.
Learn more about San Diego wheelchairs. Stop by Access Medical’s rehab wheelchairs site where you can find out all about power wheelchairs and what they can do for you.
