Wheelchairs

A wheelchair is a wheeled mobility device in which the user sits. The device is propelled either manually (by pushing the wheels with the hands) or via various automated systems. Wheelchairs are used by people for whom walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, or disability. People with both sitting and walking disability often need to use a wheelbench. The earliest record of the wheelchair in England dates from the 1670s and in continental Europe this technology dates back to the German Renaissance.

Contents of this Wheelchair Article

History of the wheelchair 
Types of wheelchair 
Manual wheelchairs 
Electric Wheelchairs or Powerchairs - power wheelchairs
Other wheelchair variants 
Sport wheelchairs 
Golf wheelchairs

Beach wheelchairs

Recent developments 
Building access 
Notables and Celebrity users of wheelchairs
Fictional users of wheelchairs 

History of the Wheelchair

There have been many attempts to connect furniture to wheels, dating back to 530 B.C. when the Greeks placed wheels on a bed, creating the first known wheeled furniture. By 525 ad, the Chinese had placed wheels on chairs. However the first recognisable wheelchair was invented for King Phillip II of Spain. A drawing of the King dated 1595 shows him in a chair with wheels, armrests and footrests. However, it was not able to be self propelled, and perhaps had a closer resemblance to a highchair than a wheelchair of today.

The modern wheelchair began to take shape in the late 19th century to early 20th century with the advent of push rims for self-propulsion in 1881, and wire spoked wheels replacing wooden ones in 1900.

The 20th century saw a rapid development in wheelchairs, from the first motorized wheels in 1918, to the first folding wheelchair, built in 1933 by Herbert B. Everest, paralyzed in 1919 in a mining accident, and his friend Harry C. Jennings Sr., a mechanical engineer. By the mid 1970s Errol Markheim at Sopur in Germany, Jeff Minnebraker at Quadra in California, and Rainier Kuschall in Europe, had all created lightweight, aluminium, highly-adjustable chairs.

The most recent two decades have seen the progress in the modern wheelchair accelerate. They are lighter and perform better than ever before. There are now many possibilities available to improve the ride, from suspension systems which help to remove vibrations and jolts, to ultra-light weight frames which enable better performance, to special designs for every individualized need and taste.

Types of Wheelchair

 
Wheelchair fitted with Mecanum wheels, taken at an exhibition in the early 1980s.A basic standard manual wheelchair incorporates a seat and back, two small front (caster) wheels and two large wheels, one on each side, and a foot rest.

Wheelchairs are often variations on this basic design, but there are many types of wheelchairs, and they are often highly customized for the individual user's needs. The seat size (width and depth), seat-to-floor height, footrests/leg rests, front caster outriggers, adjustable backrests, controls, and many other features can be customized on, or added to, many basic models, while some users, often those with specialized needs, may have wheelchairs custom-built.

Various optional accessories are available, such as anti-tip bars or wheels, safety belts, adjustable backrests, tilt and/or recline features, extra support for limbs or neck, mounts or carrying devices for crutches, walkers or oxygen tanks, drink holders, and clothing protectors.

Experiments have also been made with unusual variant wheels, like the omniwheel or the mecanum wheel. These allow more directional movement options.

An electric wheelchair can be fitted with Mecanum wheels (sometimes known as Ilon wheels) which give it complete freedom of movement. It can be driven forwards, backwards, sideways, and diagonally, and also turned round on the spot or turned around while moving, all operated from a simple joystick.

Manual Wheelchairs

Manual wheelchairs are those that require human power to move them. There are three types of manual wheelchair: self-propelled, attendant-propelled, and wheelbase. Many manual wheelchairs can be folded for storage or placement into a vehicle, although modern wheelchairs are just as likely to be rigid framed.

Manual or self-propelled wheelchairs are propelled by the occupant, usually by using large rear wheels, from 20-26 inches in average diameter, and resembling those of bicycle wheels. The user moves the chair by pushing on the handrims, which are circular tubing on the outside of the large wheels. The handrims have a diameter that is slightly less than that of the rear wheels. Skilled users can control speed and turning and often learn to balance the chair on its rear wheels - do a "wheelie". The wheelie is not just for show - a rider that can control the chair in this manner can climb and descend curbs and move over small obstacles.

One-arm drive enables a user to guide and propel a wheelchair from one side. Two handrims, one smaller than the other, are located on one side of the chair, left or right. On most models the outer, or smaller rim, is connected to the opposite wheel by a folding axle. When both handrims are grasped together, the chair may be propelled forward or backward in a straight line. When either handrim is moved independently, the chair will turn left or right in response to the handrim used. Another alternative is a lever-drive chair that propels the chair forwards by using a lever that is pumped back and forth. Some chairs are also configured to allow the occupant to propel using one or both feet instead of using the rims. Many of these variants were designed for medical reasons, but are also useful in wheelchair sports: e.g. the one-arm drive enables a wheelchair user to dribble a basketball while moving forward.

Attendant-propelled chairs are designed to be propelled by an attendant using the handles, and thus the back wheels are rimless and often smaller. These chairs are often used as 'transfer chairs' to move a patient when a better alternative is unavailable, possibly within a hospital, as a temporary option, or in areas where a user's standard chair is unavailable. These chairs are commonly seen in airports. Special airplane transfer chairs are available on most airlines, designed to fit narrow airplane aisles and transfer a wheelchair-using passenger to and from their seat on the plane.

Wheelbase chairs are wheeled platforms with specially-molded seating systems interfaced with them for users with a more complicated posture. A molded seating system involves taking a cast of a person's best achievable seated position and the either carving the shape from memory foam or forming a plastic mesh around it. This seat is then covered, framed, and attached to a wheelbase.

Light weight and high cost are related in the manual wheelchairs market. At the low-cost end, heavy, tubular steel chairs with sling seats and little adaptability dominate. Users may be temporarily disabled, or using such a chair as a loaner, or simply unable to afford better. Heavy unmodified manual chairs are common as "loaners" at large facilities such as airports, amusement parks and shopping centers. In a higher price range, and more commonly used by persons with long-term disabilities, are major manufacturer lightweight chairs with more options. The high end of the market contains ultra-light models, fancy seating options and accessories, all-terrain features, and so forth.

Electric Wheelchairs - Power Wheelchairs

Three general styles of electric wheelchairs or powerchairs exist: rear, center, front wheel driven or four wheel driven. Each style has particular handling characteristics. Electric wheelchairs  or powerchairs are also divided by seat type; some models resemble manual chairs, with a sling-style seat and frame, whereas others have 'captain's chair' seating like that of an automobile. Electric wheelchairs or powerchairs run the gamut from small and portable/foldable/disassemblable models to very large and heavy full-featured chairs (these are often called 'rehab' chairs).

Electric wheelchairs or powerchairs ay be designed specifically for indoor use, outdoor use, or both. Electric wheelchairs or powerchairs are generally prescribed for persons who have difficulty using a manual chair due to arm, hand, shoulder or more general disabling conditions, and do not have the leg strength to propel a manual chair with their feet. A person with full function of the arms and upper torso will generally be prescribed a manual chair, or find that their insurance will not cove an electric wheelchairs.

The user typically controls speed and direction by operating a joystick on a controller. Many other input devices can be used if the user lacks coordination or the use of the hands or fingers, such as chin controls and puff/suck scanners for those with C2-3 spinal cord lesions or head injuries. This controller is the most delicate and usually the most expensive part of the chair. Electric wheelchairs or powerchairs can offer various powered functions such as tilt, recline, leg elevation, seat elevation, and others useful or necessary to health and function.

Electric wheelchairs or powerchairs use electric motors to move the wheels. They are usually powered by 4 or 5 amp deep-cycle rechargeable batteries, similar to those used to power outboard boat engines. These are available in wet or dry options; most these days prefer dry cell batteries. Many electric wheelchairs or powerchairs carry an on-board charger which can be plugged into a standard wall outlet; older or more portable models may have a separate charger unit.

Other Wheelchair Variants

A standing wheelchair is one that supports the user in a nearly standing position. They can be used as both a wheelchair and a standing frame, allowing the user to sit or stand in the wheelchair as they wish. They often go from sitting to standing with a hydraulic pump or electric-powered assist.

A mobility scooter is a motorized assist device similar to a powerchair, but with a steering 'tiller' or bar instead of the joystick, and fewer medical support options. Mobility scooters are available without a prescription in some markets, and range from large, powerful models to lightweight folding ones intended for travel.

See on this site: Mobility Scooter

A bariatric wheelchair or powerchair is one designed to support larger weights; most standard chairs are designed to support no more than 250 lbs. on average.

Pediatric wheelchairs are another available subset of wheelchairs.

Travel Wheelchairs

Folding travel wheelchairs are travel wheelchairs that fold up and are easy to take when traveling by air, on an airplane. The travel wheelchair folds up so you can slide it easily into designated areas on the airplane during your flight. You an also take the travel wheelchair along on the road on RV, van, motor home or car trips.  You can take them along on a cruise also. Travel wheelchairs come in handy just getting around town and for short trips too, whether flying, cruising or traveling by train. They fit in neatly into tighter storage areas. They are usually have no batteries - are not electric or power wheelchairs. Usually if not always manual wheelchairs. Someone may invent one though.

Sport Wheelchairs

A modern racing wheelchair disabled athletes use streamlined sport wheelchairs for disabled sports that require speed and agility, such as wheelchair golf, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, wheelchair tennis, wheelchair soccer and wheelchair racing. Each wheelchair sport tends to use specific types of wheelchairs, and these no longer look like their everyday cousins. They are usually non-folding (in order to increase solidity), with a pronounced angle for the wheels (which provides stability during a sharp turn) and made of composite, lightweight materials. Sport wheelchairs are not generally for everyday use, and are often a 'second' chair specifically for sport use, although some users prefer the sport options for everyday.

Golf Wheelchairs  

See on this website: Golf Wheelchair for Disabled Golfers        Wheelchair Golf USGA Rules 

Beach Wheelchairs

This wheelchair allow users to enter the water and provide a better mobility in the sand. There are lots of different models available. In many countries in Europe where the Accessible Tourism is well set, many beaches are wheelchair accessible and provide this kind of wheelchairs to clients free of charge.

Recent Wheelchair Developments

Recent technological advances are slowly improving wheelchair and powerchair technology, although these are slow to trickle down to standard consumers. The iBOT incorporates gyroscopic technology and other advances, enabling the chair to balance and run on only two of its four wheels on some surfaces, thus raising the user to a height comparable to a standing person. It also incorporates stair-climbing and four-wheel-drive features. However, the iBOT is limited to certain types of users, and is not covered by most insurance plans. Other newer powerchairs are developing stair-climbing or curb-climbing features, and motorized assists for hand-powered chairs are becoming more available and advanced.

Three-wheeled wheelchairs are wheelchairs with the least wheels and are found in powerchair technology. Two-wheeled wheelchairs do not exist as it is not physically practical for an abled or disabled person to maneuver such constructions.

Grady A. Dugas, M.D. (1923-2007), as the medical director of a nursing home in Marion, a small town in Union Parish,Louisiana, became aware of the problem of wheelchair-related falls among semi-ambulatory patients who forget to use manual brakes on their wheelchairs. Some patients in wheelchairs, particularly the elderly, have a tendency to fall and injure themselves when trying to stand because they fail to engage the manual locks. Dugas began his experimentation with locking systems and procured his first patent (#5,203,433) on April 20, 1993. The wheelchair locks/brakes are made of stainless steel, and worked well but were heavy and had a tendency to require maintenance.

In 1996, Dugas joined Bill Hoge of United Plastic Molders in Jackson, Mississippi, for further experimentation to improve the wheelchair locks/brakes. A second patent (# 5,984,334) was issued on November 29, 1999). Dugas and Hoge formed the corporation SAFER Automatic Wheelchair Wheel Locks of Mississippi, Inc.

Building Access

 
Building access by wheelchair ramp and disabled parking space.

Adapting the built environment to make it more accessible to wheelchair users is one of the key campaigns of disability rights movements and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). The most important principle is Universal design - that all people regardless of disability are entitled to equal access to all parts of society like public transportation and buildings. A wheelchair user is less disabled in an environment without stairs.

Sometimes it is necessary to add structures like ramps or elevators in order to permit people in wheelchairs (and those using crutches, canes, walkers and so forth, or those with unsupported walking disabilities) to use a particular building. Other important adaptations are powered doors; lowered fixtures such as sinks and water fountains; and toilets with adequate space and grab bars to allow the person to maneuver himself or herself out of the wheelchair onto the fixture. In the United States, most new construction for public use must be built to ADA standards of accessibility.

The construction of low floor trams and buses is being encouraged, whereas the use of paternosters in public buildings without any alternative method of transportation has been criticized due to the lack of access for wheelchair users. Modern street furniture design now incorporates better accessibility for people with disabilities.

Notable and Celebrity Wheelchair Users

Morag Balfour, co-chair Scottish Socialist Party
Lionel Barrymore, actor, continued to act after being confined to a wheelchair in 1938.
Max Cleland, former US Senator from Georgia
Georges Couthon, a follower of Robespierre, died with him in 10 Thermidor (in a wheelchair)
Justin Whitlock Dart, Jr. (1930-2002), disability activist. Worked on the Americans with Disabilities Act
Judith Durham, singer, from The Seekers
Julie Fernandez, British actress (see The Office)
Michael Flanders,1922–1975), English songwriter, actor and performer
Steven Fletcher, Conservative Party of Canada MP
Larry Flynt, publisher
Aaron Fotheringham, wheelchair acrobat.
Frank Gardner, BBC journalist who was paralysed after being shot by Al-Qaeda.
Rick Hansen, athlete who successfully circumnavigated the globe in his chair for spinal cord injury research.
Stephen Hawking, theoretical astrophysicist
John Hockenberry, American journalist
Ron Kovic, Vietnam veteran and peace activist
Jim Langevin, US Congressman from Rhode Island
Vladimir Lenin (~1870 to 1924) A Russian Revolutionary, the leader of the Bolshevik party, the first premier of the Soviet Union and the main theorist of Leninism used a wheelchair for the last year of his life after suffering a stroke
Eric the Midget, leader of The Wack Pack and World record holder for most American Idol call-in votes
Jan Potměšil, Czech actor, received Alfréd Radok Award for performing Richard III
Wayne Rainey, former Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion
Christopher Reeve (1952–2004), late movie actor, famous for playing Superman
Clay Regazzoni,former Formula One driver and disability activist
Ed Roberts, disability activist
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), 32nd President of the United States
Reba Schappell, Folk singer
Wolfgang Schäuble, German Minister of the Interior, former CDU party chairman, paralysed after being shot during an election campaign
Sam Sullivan, mayor of Vancouver
Alan Tholkes, inventor of the EasyStand standing frame
George Wallace, Governor of Alabama, shot in 1972 and later a wheelchair user, died in 1998
Frank Williams, founder and manager of the WilliamsF1 Formula One racing team
Ahmed Yassin (~1937–2004), founder of the Hamas organization
Chinua Achebe Writer

Fictional Wheelchair Users

 
A puppet of Katie from Sesame Park, at the CBC Museum in Toronto.Colin Craven from The Secret Garden, mistakenly thought to have a hunchback all his life, never walked on his own before he goes out to see his mother's garden, and uses a wheelchair until his legs get strong enough to walk.
Jimmy Brooks and Nadia from Degrassi: The Next Generation
Guy Caballero, Joe Flaherty's SCTV character used a wheelchair, to try and gain sympathy around the network he owned.
Kevin Girardi played by Jason Ritter in the television series Joan of Arcadia.
Maya Goldberg from Degrassi Junior High.
Barbara Gordon aka Oracle, formerly Batgirl, Internet information broker
Grigotte from 5, Rue Sésame, the French adaptation of Sesame Street
Robert T. Ironside from Ironside
Katie from Sesame Park, the Canadian adaptation of Sesame Street
John Locke on the television series Lost is no longer paraplegic, after the jet he was on crashes on a mysterious island.
Reilly O'Reilly in "John Callaghan's Quads": the main character in a satircal cartoon about a quadriplegic man and his friends.
Pelswick, star of an animated series by the same name
Andy Pipkin from Little Britain, although he does not strictly require a wheelchair.
Brian Potter from Phoenix Nights
Lisa Randolph from Carol Ellis's novel The Body.
Lincoln Rhyme from Jeffery Deaver's novel (and movie) The Bone Collector.
Stevie from Malcolm in the Middle
Dr. Strangelove, Peter Sellers' title character in the 1964 comedy film of the same name.
Joe Swanson, from Family Guy
Timmy, from South Park
Professor Charles Xavier aka Professor X, founder and leader of the X-Men
I'm with stupid is a British TV comedy with much of the cast in wheelchairs.