The power wheelchair has been a huge blessing for many individuals who are developmentally disabled and who use a wheelchair.
A power wheelchair is a wheelchair that is electrically powered via a large battery. It provides motorized wheeled 輪椅接送 mobility and body support specifically for individuals with impaired mobility. It can be successfully operated by someone, who may have little use of his or her limbs, by an electronic device or joystick.
There are many forms of power wheelchairs, but they all have certain things in common. They are relatively large, heavy, and cannot be collapsed for easy storage or be easily transported.
Power wheelchairs open up a vast array of social and business opportunities for individuals who are developmentally disabled. Many of these individuals, in all probability, have Cerebral Palsy.
Successfully using a standard wheelchair is a very difficult task for the majority of individuals with Cerebral Palsy who have to use a wheelchair. This is due to the fact that many of these individuals have very little functional use of their upper and lower extremities.
So, these individuals probably need someone to push the standard wheelchair in order to be mobile.
Sometimes, if there is adequate power in the lower extremities, the chair can be propelled by a pushing movement of the legs. Usually the individual will be looking over his shoulders and moving backwards.
Now bring the power chair into the equation and immediately we have a much different picture. With very little training the person using the chair can learn to navigate the chair successfully. Someone who was dependent upon another in order to go to the grocery, investigate the neighborhood or do many other things that we may take for granted, now becomes relatively independent.
But there are certain disadvantages that come along with the power chair. Remember we said it was heavy and could not be collapsed. So adaptations to the person’s living arrangements will have to be made to accommodate the power chair.
These adaptations vary, depending on the person, the severity of the disability, and the living quarters. Typical of adaptations might be a ramp, a lift of some kind, and widening of doorways to accommodate the wider width of the power chair. Storage is also a problem.
Another major problem with the use of a power chair by a person with Cerebral Palsy is in connection with transportation. If a regular wheel chair is used, irrespective of its adaptations, the chair can probably be collapsed and will fit snugly into the trunk of a vehicle.
With more and more users of power chairs, special vehicles large enough to accommodate power chairs must be employed, if the person using the chair is to be successfully transported.
So, costly transportation, via specially equipped vans, is often the only solution.
Recently, in New york city it was announced that people with disabilities could now use regular taxi cabs at a price reduced to what the charge would be for Access-a Ride. This was a wonderful thing. But wait, a person using a power chair had no way of getting the chair into the cab. It was too large and too heavy. A regular wheel chair could be collapsed and stored in the vehicles trunk.
Many users of power chairs own a second regular wheel chair to make up for the times when a power chair just can’t fit in.
The power chair is a wonderful appliance and its use provides much freedom for someone who is severely disabled. For some seniors it can open a new world of mobility. But for many individuals who are severely developmentally disabled it is not the complete solution.
The lack of adequate transportation keeps many individuals from getting much needed social and therapeutic intervention, because Medicaid does not pay for transportation to and from medical and therapeutic intervention.
Dr. Ira Jacobs has been in the field of developmental disabilities for over fifty years. He has covered a wide array of positions ranging from physical therapist to CEO of a large multi services treatment center.