What Kind of Wheelchair Is That?

[jesse_the_k]

I come bearing ways to find answers and also to not address this question.

Comprehensive Visual Dictionary of Wheelchair Types improving the search skills of all who seek knowledge in this field:

https://www.unitedspinal.org/types-of-wheelchairs/

United Spinal is an advocacy group by and for people with SCI (spinal cord injury) or disease. It’s been advocating for disability rights since 1946, and (when it was previously known as EPVA) filed path-breaking lawsuits on public transit and sidewalk construction.

Membership is free, and includes their glossy monthly magazine New Mobility, packed with ads from wheelchair manufacturers as well as practical articles for any wheelchair user.

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Jocelyn Maffin researchgirlca is the British Columbia SCI Resource Centre manager. She skewers the well-intentioned “concept designers” who predictably spit out wheeled mobility devices we can’t use and can’t afford.

https://sci-bc.ca/wheeled-mobility/

Designers and engineers (and for that matter, the well-meaning friends and family of wheelchair users who litter our social media with these pictures)–it’s time to take a break. Sit back and let wheelchair users give you some insight before you sink even more hours into the next high-tech wheelchair idea that will win you a design prize (or your thesis) but never make it to market.

She explains the damage done by the media attention to these theoretical devices at the expense of reporting on the true crisis of unaffordable wheeled mobility.

It’s such a fascinating thing that most of these design concepts don’t feature a person in any of them, let alone a person who looks like they might use a wheelchair a lot – someone with paralysis or spasticity, maybe. There’s a reason most wheelchairs have a footplate that looks pretty much the same – a rectangular tray with bars on either side – it’s because our feet rarely do what we tell them to, that’s why we need the chair in the first place. ​

Comments

[wohali]

Agree 100%, especially with researchgirlca's observations.

If I were in a wheelchair and another wheelchair user asked me about my chair, looking to "upgrade", I'd probably answer questions willingly. I *might* be willing if someone asked for tips for a loved one, just maybe. Anyone else would get the cold shoulder.