Wheelchair Diffusion blog

Follow The Adventures of GoggleQuad! Wearing Supergoggles and behind the stick of the grossly overrated GoggleMobile, GoggleQuad rolls forth to challenge the formidable enemies of wheeled mobility. Lookout Superman, Batman, and Don Quixote.

For those who may not know what a lift zone is- It’s the area off to the side of a parking space that is reserved for wheelchair accessible vans. The “lift zone” is reserved for the space required by the van lift or ramp which allows the wheelchair user to access and exit the vehicle.

Lift zones come with two inherent problems. First off, many businesses do not like the idea of dedicating valuable parking real estate in their already hard pressed parking lots. I know, ADA, codes, fines, loss of sales, bad P.R., and lots of other compelling reasons. Secondly, many of our fellow motorists think that these lift zones are really convenient places to park their small cars and motorcycles. They actually are since most of these zones are less competitive and often closer to store entrances. But then again, isn’t that the idea?

One of the major frustrations for the accessible van user is coming back to find a vehicle parked in the lift zone of their parking spot. Trapped, frustrated, and pissed-off probably describes the experience nicely. I guess you can toss in helpless for good measure since there is no real way to quickly and easily resolve this on your own.

Possibly the solution to this problem can be found in that old saying about “An ounce of prevention is worth more…”. While it weighs somewhat more than an ounce, the Lift Zone Cone is a cool self-help and advocacy tool. Just plop this scarecrow down and go about your business. Unless of course someone thinks that it’s so cool that they borrow or commandeer it while you are shopping.

A neat value added feature is the ability to create your own lift zone on the fly. Position it in the standard parking spot next to your van and create short term compliance for the business and a lift zone all in one shot. You will have peace of mind in knowing that you will be able to escape quickly after chewing out the management over their lack of handicap parking. There’s nothing like Taking Action on the issues.

You can find information on the Lift Cone Zone on the TS Inc. web site.

The USA TechGuide wheelchair review section has over time become a regular stopping place for people interested in wheelchairs or for those looking for user reviews on wheelchairs. In part, the success of this site can be attributed to all of those wonderful wheelers on the Message Board over at the Wheelchair Junkie web site who post inbound links or roll over to the TechGuide to post and read wheelchair reviews.

For those of you who are into wheelchairs or are newbies to wheeling, go over to the Wheelchair Junkie board and introduce yourself. The crew over there is user friendly to the max and they have a wealth of combined experience in all aspects of wheeling and wheelchairs.

Thanks again Wheelchair Junkies.

Trying to decide on a new cushion gives most wheelchair users a wonderful opportunity to indulge in some serious head scratching. The experience also lends itself well to a bit of confusion and some intense anxiety. Presently there are a large number of cushions being offered up. Of course these cushions come in every conceivable shape, size, and form. While it is impossible to answer the age-old question of which cushion is the best one, it is possible to at least set you on a path that can help lead you to a better one.

There are some prerequisites that you should take care of before deciding on which cushion to lay your hard earned dollars and your butt down on. First, familiarize yourself with some of the products that are available. Get on the Internet and just browse the cushion manufacturers pages. Try to stick with manufacturers rather than retailers. The manufacturers information is better, as long as you ignore the accompanying hype. If you want a short cut to these manufacturers just go to either the wheelchair cushion manufacturers listing or the wheelchair cushion review section on United Spinal’s Techguide. Take note of the different materials the cushions are made of, the different shapes and contours, and cushion weight and types of covers. Start to formulate some thoughts on which types might work for you.

Next, start thinking about some of those special needs you may have.

• If you have limited use of your arms and need to be able to move the cushion during transfers, or into a car, or from one chair to another, then stay away from heavy cushions.
• Realize that some cushions require more maintenance than others. Some need to be pumped up with air, others need to be pounded into shape regularly, while some are just sit and go. How much maintenance are you willing and able to deal with?
• If incontinence is a problem, make sure that an incontinence cushion cover is available and that the cushion and cover are washable. Just as imporant, make sure the cover is easy to change.
• If you are just making it under desks and tables in your wheelchair, or if you don’t like sitting up high, than stay away from those high cushions.

If possible talk to other cushion users. Find out what they like and dislike about their cushions. How it holds up to daily use and how easy it is to live with.

Once you finish all of your homework you will be ready to move on to the next step. If you have complex or changing needs, or if you are unfortunate enough to be considered at high risk for developing a pressure sore, you may want to try to locate a facility in your area that has a seating clinic or a seating and mobility clinic. The clinicians should have experience in your particular type of disability. If you are a sixty year old quadriplegic you may not be well served by a seating clinic that treats primarily children.

While we are on clinics- Prior to making an appointment, ask if the clinic has pressure mapping equipment. Pressure mapping makes it possible for you to see a visualization of the pressure between you and your cushion. It’s really great! You can try different cushions and see how they handle pressure. You can move around on the cushions and see where the pressure goes. You can also do your pressure lifts and shifts and see if they really eliminate pressure. It is a great tool and a super learning experience.

Realize that seating is more than getting something soft under your butt. It is also about your posture and how you are positioned in the chair. Proper positioning while in a wheelchair works for you. You feel and look better and you will also be able to function better. Roll in front of a mirror and decide what you don’t like about your posture.

• Is your trunk leaning to one side?
• Is one hip lower than the other?
• Are your legs too far apart or too close together?
• Do you tend to slouch while sitting?
• Do you look worse this time then the last time you looked?

These are the types of things that you should discuss at the clinic. Write your thoughts down and also make some notes about what you do and do not like about your present cushion along with information on any pressure sores you have or have had. Take your notes to the clinic with you and read or give them to the staff there. The notes will help them to help you. Make your wishes and thoughts known to the clinic staff. They are not mind readers. Telling them only that you need a new cushion tells them almost nothing.

Make sure you get answers and explanations. Ask, ask, ask!
• Why was this specific cushion selected for you?
• How do you maintain and manage it?
• How long will the cushion last (worn out cushions are butt killers)?
• What can you do to relieve pressure aside from just using the cushion?
• What other issues come into play when managing your sitting pressure?
• How often do you need to inflate, pound, or rotate your cushion?
• Will it work for you in your vehicle if you drive?

Other wheelchair users are a good source of information. They can offer you insights into things like durability and ease of use of the cushion. You will need to remember that everyone’s physical condition is different, this may therefore lead to different outcomes.

Take your cushion and seating needs seriously. Remember, your cushion is connected to your butt.

Good luck with your seating.

If you are into mobility the red Ferrari is probably the car most likely to get you salivating. Disability be damned on this one. Almost every person with a disability that I know would pop a piston trying to get behind the wheel of this red beauty. As for the powered wheelchair, well, it’s a nice kind of generic cruiser that very few people are getting in line to hop into. Regardless of differences in cost and raw sex appeal, the two mobility devices have something in common. Sooner or later, they will both need repairs. If you are lucky, the required repairs will be under warranty.

If it’s your car that is on the hook, repairs may be annoying but no big deal. You go to any dealership, sit in a nice waiting room complete with AC and coffee, and smile knowing that this one is on Ferrari, Ford, Honda, or whomever your payment book indicates. If it is not under warranty, then just follow all of the above but do not smile. Smiling under these circumstances will result in a juiced up repair bill.

Contrary to popular belief, the auto sales industry and the wheelchair sales industry are not the same. Car dealers are franchised. By their franchise agreement, they must supply certain services on their chosen make of vehicles regardless of where the vehicle was purchased. Buy your Ferrari in Peoria and break down in Poughkeepsie 7 hours later (counting bathroom and gas stops) and your warranty is good to go in Poughkeepsie. Have that happen in your brand new wheelchair and you will wish you never heard of Poughkeepsie.

Contrary to car dealers, wheelchair dealers or suppliers are not franchised. They can offer one brand today and another one next week. A wheelchair dealer can switch product lines almost as fast as the Ferrari can get up to 60 mph. To really put a damper on that trip to Poughkeepsie, the distributor who sold the wheelchair is the one that does the warranty work. The dealer that made the sale is expected to eat the labor cost of warranty work while the manufacturer supplies the needed parts.

This presents a number of problems for a wheelchair user who is experiencing problems that are under warranty.

• You can only get the wheelchair fixed in one place. Going someplace else does not work since that dealer made no money on the sale of the wheelchair and will not want to absorb the labor costs.
• You’re a done deal if your dealer goes out of business. No other dealer will touch your warranty work since they made no profit on the sale of the wheelchair.
• Numerous repairs under warranty may exhaust much of the profit the dealer made on the sale and will result in some seriously sluggish service.
• There is no incentive for the dealer to facilitate the repair in a timely manner.
• Shortcuts and quick fixes abound further complicating the user’s situation.
• Often times a wheelchair user will pay for repairs that are covered by the warranty just to keep rolling.
• Wheelchair users who experience poor or slow repair services often wind up “housebound” for lack of a usable mobility device.

Further complicating this situation is the inability of dealers to inventory the diverse spectrum of rather expensive parts. The industry also has a much less refined parts distribution system than is found in the auto industry. Remember, while wheelchair sales in the USA is a large industry it does not compare to the auto industry in size, volume, and dollars turned.

What to do? There is not much to say on that issue. Perhaps the manufacturers need to develop a fail-safe or rescue provision in their warranties. Perhaps wheelchairs should be considered more a vehicle and less an appliance. At present, a powerchair warranty reads like something that was contained in the box that your television or coffee maker came in. It is nothing like the one you get with a car. Possibly, there should be legislation that protects caught up consumers. Alternatively, just maybe, everyone should ride around in a red Ferrari. Me first!

I’m sitting around trying to get the brain cells in high gear and maybe have a couple of them team up for a good long rant. I can already tell that it’s not going to happen today. I do have some annoying things to rant about but it’s just to tiring for right now.

Every time I try to focus on the countless irritants that I could go off on something just pushes them aside and jumps in there. That something is Bingo. No kidding, Bingo. I’m sitting here thinking- “What ever happened to Bingo?” I can remember a time when you couldn’t go around a corner without having a head-on with a bingo parlor (I think that’s what they were called?) Churches, private schools, organizations, and fire departments. Life was one big game of bingo.

I remember going to my friends house. His mother, aunt, two cousins, sister, a couple of neighbors, and a few people who I thought were just along for the ride would pack up all of the bingo paraphernalia and march off to play bingo, twice each week, honest. Religiously, loyally, rain or shine, and with great anticipation they would cough up their hard earned lower middle class bucks for the thrill of the occasional win. Or maybe some other thrill which I never caught on to. Then again, that was before scratch-off mania and lotto fever became a disability. I guess the bingo money once used by the church to fix up the pews or by an organization to get little Joey and Sally out of the smelly city during the summer is now being put to other good uses by our well managed and fiscally responsible state governments.

I see all of the software being sold to keep track of numbers or to help make winners out of chronic losers. I also see the lines of people in the local stores with dollars in hand or quarters between fingers doing the scratch-off twitch. I don’t know, I think I would rather see new pews in churches, or maybe see Joey and Sally splashing around a country lake with a bunch of other kids. All courtesy of bingo.

Hey, it’s not because I work for a non-profit organization. It just seems unjust that there is so much good work being done out there by different groups and the state winds up with everyone’s Bingo money.

Every time the concept of wheelchairs and all terrain are mingled together people’s imaginations start to really go wild. Perfectly normal people start thinking and daydreaming way outside of the everyday box. Well, go wild! That’s what all terrain is about, going wild. Wilderness exploration, hunting and fishing, photo safaris, or just the back 50 acres you could never reach before in your wheelchair.

This terrain grabber is the Tara, from Life Motors. It is wheelchair accessible with adapted controls. It comes in two models- 4 x 2 and 6 x 4.

Here’s what it packs-

• Koehler V Twin 25 HP engine
• 12 volt electronic ignition
• Final drive, hydrostatic with one lever control
• Tires- 24 x 10 x 12 all-terrain
• Ground clearance- 6 to 8 inches(adjustable), ramp height corresponds with ride height
• Front & rear independent suspension
• White wheels
• Wheelbase- 70″, Overall height 80″,Overall width- 64″, Overall
length- 108″, Fuel Capacity- 12 U.S. gallons
• Dry weight- approximately 1130 pounds
• 3′ electric ramp
• High and low range - ( Maximum speed- 15 mph high range, 10 mph low range )
• Designed for off-road use only
• Steering wheel or joystick driven
• One year warranty on all parts and labor

• Other options.
* 6 wheeler- 4 rear wheel driven
* Special adaptability including passenger space
* Diesel engine
* Fold-down tinted windshield
* Choice of body colors (camo extra)
* 26 x 12 x 12 blackwater tread tires
* Rifle or fishing pole racks
* Front or rear mounted winch
* 4′ electric ramp
* Chrome wheels
* Canvas top- choice of colors
* Hood rack
* Trailer hitch
* Joystick control
* Side racks
* Extra ramp switch
* Snow Plow

This should get you outside of the box.

This looks like fun for the motorcycling enthusiasts who find that their wheelchairs have put them on the outside of the sport. It’s the Sidecar by Life Motors- An accessible and adapted motorcycle sidecar with a wheelchair ramp and controls. Neat, you stay in your wheelchair and you also get to control the motorcycle from the sidecar. The best of both worlds.

 

 
Here’s some data on the Life Motors Sidecar.

• Custom Designed- custom body, color and controls
• Convenient- drive on retractable ramp- never leave your chair or scooter
• Easy to Operate- push button or hand lever controls
• Adapts to most street or Enduro bikes
• Sidecar operated or companion operated
• Fiberglass nose- range of colors, lockable “trunk”
• Rigid steel construction, aluminum flooring, restraining system

•Available Options-
AM/FM stereo - Auto transmission (limited) - Trailer - Electric reverse - Passenger adaptability - Cellular phone - Steering wheel units - Helmet lock - Custom interior Custom lettering & detailing - Additional storage - compartments