Manual wheelchairs, the cheap and lightweight option
Some people say that there are more disabled people now than ever. That’s simply not true. What has happened is that people with disabilities are being treated best than ever. That not only means that they survive more than they did in the past, but also that they are much freer to appear in public without being harassed or discriminated, as it was unfortunately the case in the past.
Now awareness about physically challenged people has increased and so has the number of technological innovations aimed at making them independent and comfortable.
Perhaps manual wheelchairs are the most useful invention for disabled people who lost their ability to walk, or who can walk for only very small distances.
Although wheelchairs have been around for centuries, they weren’t used at first for disabled people. It was high officials or rulers that used them, in order to be more comfortable when moving around. These wheelchairs weren’t really manual wheelchairs as we know them, as they weren’t designed in a way that the user could use his or her arms to make the wheelchair move. While the master would sit comfortably on the manual wheel chair ,one of the servants would push and steer the wheel chair. It wasn’t until the 18th century that manual wheelchairs as we know them started appearing.
Manual wheel chairs continue to enjoy popularity despite the arrival of motorized and electric motars into the market. There are some vital benefits that always prevents manual wheelchair from being completely replaced by motorized and electric wheelchair. One of the factors is cost. While freedom of movement is valuable for physically challenged people but insurance companies are not much enthused by it and refuse to pay for motorized wheelchairs. In certain cases, they simply decline to foot the bill for manual wheel chairs. Many people go for the manual wheelchairs because of the huge cost difference between manual wheelchairs and motorized wheelchairs.
Additional benefit with the manual wheelchair is their light weight. The advantage with manual wheelchairs over their motorized rivals is that they are light weight and hence they could be easily loaded into cars and vans. They also tend to occupy less space, which is helpful when carrying it over stairs and other obstacles.
Finally, manual wheelchairs are an effective instrument for disabled people to strengthen and exercise their arms. Because they tend to live a sedentary life, this is very good for getting them to do exercise while moving from place to place. If motivated enough, some disabled people can even participate in wheelchair sports.
Manual wheelchairs lack far behind the motorized wheelchair as far as advanced features are concerned but still they are cheaper and usefull option which can make life of the physically challenged person a lot easier.
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Tagged with: disability • disabled • electric wheelchair • lifts • mobility scooter • motorized wheelchair • power chair • power wheelchair • ramps • used wheelchair • wheelchair • wheelchair lift • wheelchair ramp
Filed under: Family Topics
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