Motorized Wheelchairs
Motorized Wheelchairs
The variety of motorized wheelchairs today is exciting.
According to Susan Taylor, an occupational therapist, to help determine which one of the motorized
wheelchairs is right for you, you have to look at your physical, functional and activities of daily
living skills. Other considerations include
your environment, transportation, and how much technology you can tolerate.
For example, if a person has C-7 tetraplegia, he/she can usually use a
joystick as the input device, but the top of the joystick may need to be modified to accommodate
for the person’s lack of grip.
The Functional and ADL skills are very important to consider. Parts of the motorized wheelchair
can actually make these skills more difficult if not addressed. For example, if you require a certain seat
height from the floor to independently transfer, and your new chair varies from that height, you
may not be able to transfer anymore. Think through how you accomplish tasks throughout the day
to ensure you will still be able to do them with the new motorized wheelchair.
Consider the environment the chair will be driven in. Will the motorized wheelchair be used
primarily indoors or outdoors? Unless you are primarily indoors, the very lowest level (and priced)
motorized wheelchairs are not appropriate. These chairs are essentially reinforced manual bases
with low power motors and batteries. If you plan on really roughing it outdoors, you will probably
need to look at those high level motorized wheelchairs with more powerful motors.
How the chair is transported is also important. If this is a first motorized wheelchair, you will need
some type of accessible transport unless you have ready access to public transportation. If you
plan on obtaining a modified van, it is a good idea to wait until you have the chair to ensure it
will fit into and inside the van.
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