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February 2011
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January 2011
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Wheelchair Sources?
Greetings, Suzanne_1, and thank you for your interest in this important issue. I happen to be fortunate enough to live i...
by
Andrew95060
on Thursday, May 05, 2011
Wheelchair Sources?
Suzanne, I recently just purchased a manual standing chair from the Standing Company in Michigan. I cannot begin to tel...
by
Glen
on Monday, April 25, 2011
Wheelchair Sources?
Someone should do a blow-by-blow analysis of the power chair used in the 'Dr. X' movie. I saw it at a DRLC fundraiser at...
by
Michael Collins
on Monday, April 11, 2011
Wheelchair Sources?
My second chair is an Extreme 4x4. It has all terrain vehicle tires and four wheel drive. it is great off road. You can ...
by
Rich
on Friday, February 18, 2011
Wheelchair Sources?
Hi Suzanne, That's a pretty wide range your asking about for chairs. You can connect with Marty Ball at TiLite wheelchai...
by
Candace
on Monday, February 14, 2011
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Computers, home remodeling, wheelchairs, driving, share the latest innovations and gadgets here.
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Postings about the latest in technology that might affect anyone living with a disability by Suzanne Robitaille. Author of The Illustrated Guide to Assistive Technology & Devices and the founder of abledbody.com. She is the former assistive technology columnist for BusinessWeek.com and continues to write on disability issues for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Ability Magazine and more.
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Wheelchair Sources?
Posted by
Suzanne_1
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Comments (6)
A national business publication is looking to do a story on wheelchair trends. Does anyone have any ideas for good wheelchairs (futuristic, sports-adapted, fold-up, other, etc.) that I should look into in order to inform the reporter? She is also interested in what people with disabilities are saying about newfangled chairs and their functionality. Please let me know - you can comment here or email me at suzanne@abledbody.com. Thank you, Suzanne
PRC_Harold
:
As a wheelchair user one aspect of wheelchair designs and development that drives me up the wall is the lack of thought that go into wheelchair seats. Why are wheelchair seats designed so poorly? I notice that there is more thought going into designing office chairs and car seats then there are in wheelchair seats. Keep in mind that the a person who's seated in a wheelchair may be in it for up to 10 hours or more in some cases.
Candace
:
Hi Suzanne, That's a pretty wide range your asking about for chairs. You can connect with Marty Ball at TiLite wheelchairs or Rick Hayden at
rickhayden@colourswheelchair.com or Marvel wheelchairs or Mary Carol Petterson at Top End via Invacare wheelchairs. All these folks can be found on Face Book also.
Let me know if I can be of assistance. I write a blog here, heart and nerve. Happy Generosity Day! In Joy Candace Cable
Rich
:
My second chair is an Extreme 4x4. It has all terrain vehicle tires and four wheel drive. it is great off road. You can get info. from Innovation in Motion
http://mobility-usa.com/
Michael Collins
:
Someone should do a blow-by-blow analysis of the power chair used in the 'Dr. X' movie. I saw it at a DRLC fundraiser at the Fox Studios in LA several years ago, and it looked like something I could be happy to be seen in on a daily basis.
Glen
:
Suzanne,
I recently just purchased a manual standing chair from the Standing Company in Michigan. I cannot begin to tell you what a difference this is making in my life.I was afraid my insurance carrier was going to deny me this opportunity. The people at Standing Company handled all the paperwork and discussions and 4 months later I was able to change my own wiper blades on my truck. Not to mention the health advantages of standing again. This I beleive would be a great start for you.
Andrew95060
:
Greetings, Suzanne_1, and thank you for your interest in this important issue. I happen to be fortunate enough to live in a county in our State that chose to organize administration of Medicaid services into an HMO. The administrators of this HMO are well informed about SCI issues.
Also, they understand well the crucial role that preventive care plays in lowering health care costs. With preventive care operating as one major guiding principle, they ultimately purchased the very best power chair I've ever owned or used. An Omegatrac. This chair easily outperforms both E & J as well as Invacare chairs.
The chair is outfitted with a pneumatic shock absorption system which has the dual function of raising or lowering the chair, so the user can fit under most standard height tables, for example.
It is the only chair I know of outfitted with straight tracking, so that you need not struggle to maintain a straight line of travel a you power along the typical grade of a street or road side.
The chair can be outfitted with a choice of different size wheels, depending upon what's appropriate to the type of terrain you commonly encounter in your home locale. And the Omegatrac is built very solidly. An elderly woman backed into me while I was awaiting a ride in the parking lot of a rehabilitation clinic. I was un harmed; my power chair undamaged. Her SUV however, sustained a smashed signal light cover.
Other features of this chair include leg rests that achieve a higher resting elevation than any other model on the market. A chair equipped to tilt and recline sufficiently to raise your feet safely above the level of your heart.. is an essential health feature for those of us spinal cord injured and, hence, susceptible to edema or swelling in our lower legs.
I could describe other features of this excellent chair. Instead, I think it important to point out that although I firmly believe that my power chair is worth far more than its high price tag, for it is a costly chair. It is an unfortunate fact of life in our time that the economy is a shrunken shell of its former self. Health care costs have continued to skyrocket, unchecked.
Therefore, the permissible cost ceilings for durable medical equipment under Medicare and Medicaid have shrunk and are continuing to shrink further. This poses a major obstacle to all who would design a better power wheelchair.
And the relative cost of the power chair is bound to increase with each additional feature. So we need to ask: Who is going to authorize payment for the chair? Can they be persuaded of the necessity or the specific health related value of each new and better feature, a new generation of more reliable, improved power chairs?
Or are we really just kidding ourselves with our pursuit for newly innovative advances in high tech power chair design? Yes, in theory, we who must rely on power chairs wish to have the best, most reliable and advanced power chairs we can possibly obtain.
But most of us are held hostage to the decisions of health care policy makers, Medicare & Medicaid government bureaucrats and insurance company executives. So we need to anticipate an inevitable obstacle to acquiring new and innovative power chairs.
So, sooner or later, we need to consider exactly how we can positively influence these decision makers, executives, budget analysts, and their ilk.. of our legitimate need for ever better power chairs?
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