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Check Out Your Options When Choosing a Wheelchair Van

If you’re in the market for new wheels for your wheels, you’ll find that there are amazing new and used wheelchair vans to be had at some very cheap costs. In this article you’ll find information on some of the wagons available. Perhaps you will even decide that you need to take a look.

You are going to love the new Honda Odyssey vans. They are some of the best on the market when it comes to sturdiness and style and are an excellent choice for families who enjoy traveling. The space inside an Odyssey has been maximised. Additionally, it will include quality CD and cassette players, a back-up sensor, and two removable front seats. Since both seats can be removed, you are going to be able to either be the passenger or to drive for yourself when there is no one else around.

The wagon is designed for easy accessibility and has a power ramp found in the floor. The dual air conditioning guarantees a comfortable ride in both front and back. You’ll be able to select the color of your wheelchair truck from a good selection of interior and exterior options so that your wagon will reflect your own personal style.

A Dodge Grand Caravan would be another excellent choice. These vans also come with the dual A / C, a power ramp that will fold out, and a power sliding door. The interiors are terribly roomy and comfortable and have seats that adjust so you won’t feel cramped or claustrophobic when traveling for long amounts of time.

Chevrolet puts out a great wheelchair wagon called the Venture. A venture features lots of space, keyless entry, and seats which can be removed. There’s also a CD player so that your tunes can travel with you and keep you pleasantly occupied while traveling.

If any of these lorries sound like what your folks might like, you should talk with your local dealership to see what can be done to customize your van for your needs. Some dealers will wish to charge more for these services than you should have to pay, so make sure that before agreeing to any deal you do some comparison shopping in order to get the most your get for the littlest price .

A good way to comparison shop is to visit internet sites such as mobilityvansusa.com where you are going to be able to read more about each lorry as well as compare costs. Another good site is libertymotorco.com which has photos of all of the different trucks listed. By doing your research ahead of time, it’ll eliminate surprises when you see the completed product.

Be certain to check out Honda or Chrysler. You’ll be able to visit with a rep about the customized wagon packages they offer as well as prices, so that when you are through doing your research, you are going to be able to find the ideal wheelchair van for you and your family.

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Learning to Live With Your Wheelchair Choices

Wheelchairs are many things to many different people. They may be a short term aid for recovery or they may be long term primary meanings of locomotion. Which other ways you use them may vary but one thing is for sure, the modern wheelchair is a modern marvel in design compared to 100 years ago. Wheelchairs are divided into 2 main categories, the manual wheelchair and the power wheelchair. Both have advantages and disadvantages. The manual wheel chair is dived into two categories, the folding frame and the rigid frame. The folding wheelchair folds together (wheel against wheel) for easy compact transportation. The disadvantage of the folding frame is that they are heavier than a one piece rigid frame. The one piece rigid frames have no scissor arms that are needed for folding so a rigid chair frame is much light weight. Rigid frames are sometimes referred to as sport wheelchairs. Combined with new light weight metals like titanium, they are having the weight of the folding wheelchair.

There are manual wheelchairs and powered wheelchairs to choose from also. The advantages of each are contrasted with drawbacks. The manual wheelchair can be picked up and placed into the truck of a vehicle. Plus the manual wheelchair gives the user a physical workout in arm exercise. The power wheel chair gives you a 20 mile range in effortless locomotion. However the operating provides no physical exertions at all. The electric wheelchair can weigh over 200 pounds. Plus you must remember to recharge the battery ever night. They have a limited distance they travel on one charge that usual requires all night.

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Wheelchair Curling – Amazing Disabled Players Make it Look Easy

Wheelchair curling is a sport for paraplegics. It is a sport that combines a lot of skill and it takes a ton of strategy to be a winner.

Wheelchair curling is the only Paralympics sport that comprises teams made up of both men and women on the same team. The Torino Paralympic Winter Games saw the first entry to this sport.

The sport requires that the entrant must have a disability to the lower half of the body. You must require a wheelchair for mobility.

Your disability could include double amputation, multiple sclerosis, a spine injury or cerebral palsy.

In this sport no brooms are used as in curling for the able bodied athletes.

So how does it work?

Wheelchair Curling works similar to shuffleboard in one way and bowling in another. The teams made up of both male and female athletes play against another team. The object of the game is to propel the 19.1 kilogram stone down to the other end of the ice where concentric rings are marked on the ice similar to a bulls-eye.

An end is similar to an inning in baseball or a period in hockey. The teams play six ends. Each person on each team will slide or throw, as it is called, two stones, 16 in total. The wheelchair must be stationary while doing so. The player can either use their hands or an extender cue that connects with the stone to push the stone to the circles.

At the end of each end, the team with the most stones closest to the center wins. At the conclusion of the six ends the scores are tallied and the team with the best record is declared the winner.

Because there is no sweeping of the ice, strategy is most important.

In able bodied curling, players are allowed to sweep the ice in front of the stone as it is sliding. The rapid sweeping causes the ice in front of the stone to melt momentarily. Since there is less friction from water than ice, the ability of the stone to curl is delayed therefore allowing the stone to be steered as the players desire.

This is why it takes more skill to curl without sweeping. The person throwing the stone must calculate distance and the amount of curling the stone will turn. The stone glides on the surface of the ice because the ice has a surface that is similar to a pebbled effect. Skilled icemakers will set up the surface once the temperature of the ice is maintained at about 25 F or -5C.

The pebble effect is applied by an expert using water droplets. During the game the pebbles act upon the stone causing it to curl or turn. The pebbles slowly get knocked off as the game progresses thus changing the curling effect of the stone.

The ice surface is 146 feet long and approximately 16 feet wide. The 12 foot set of rings, called the house, are the target and the distance from the center, or button as it is called, to the backboard is 16 feet. There is a line drawn that is 37 feet from the backboard and that is called the hogline. Any stone that does not even touch the house is not counted.

A gentleman named Rusty Drew passed away early in 2008.

He was the inventor of the extender curlers cue. It is so named because it extends the playing career for those curlers who cannot handle the curling stones by bending down. Disabled curlers use them while in the wheelchair. The stone is released by pulling back the cue at the last moment of the push.

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Wheelchair Ramps – How to Construct Them Within the ADA Specifications

Wheelchair ramps are a statutory necessity in building construction. The American with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) gives construction specifications of wheelchair ramps. These ramps enable disabled persons and patients to move into and out of buildings without undergoing undue difficulties. Hence, construction of wheelchair ramps to ADA specifications is mandatory. A few construction consultants recommend long-tread lower-riser steps. These long-tread lower-riser steps are safer and easier, compared to a 1:12 slope ramp due to a stronger ground grip. However, the wheelchair has to be tilted back a little, lifting the front wheels to provide enough clearance to negotiate the riser. As such, they are useful mostly for attendant-propelled wheelchairs.

A sloping route constructed with a slope greater than 1:20 is considered a ramp in ADA specifications. The ADA plans for wheelchair ramps are detailed in the schedules and appendices. The ease of using a ramp depends on the slope as well as the length of the ramp. Normally, ramp slopes in the range of 1:16 to 1:20 are preferred. Most wheelchair users can manage a slope of 1:16. However, a slope of 1:12 for a distance of about 30-ft. would be very difficult for disabled persons using wheelchairs. As such, the least possible slope has to be used in the construction of the ramp. Construction or alteration below the stipulated requirements is not permitted.

The ramps must have level landings both at the bottom and at the top of each ramp. To comply with ADA specifications of building wheelchair ramps, the landings must be as wide as the ramp leading into the landing. The minimum landing length has to be 60 inches. If there is a direction change of the ramp, the minimum landing size has to be 60 inches by 60 inches. Ramps and landings with drop-offs must be protected with curbs, railings, walls or projected surfaces to protect users from slipping off the ramp. Outdoor ramps and landings should be planned for complete water drain to avoid slipping on wet surface.

Handrails with a maximum height of 28 inches from the ramp surface to the top of the rail surface would be advisable. To assist children, a second set of handrails in between the top rail and the ramp surface has to be provided. The ramp should be constructed with handrails on both sides, if the ramp has a rise greater than 6 inches. The gripping surface of the rail has to be continuous. The ends of handrails should be rounded or joined to wall or post or floor to avoid injury to users.

Specifications of ADA require that the slope of a ramp should be one inch or lesser for every 12 inches of ramp run. ADA further specifies that the wheelchair ramp surfaces must be hard, stable and regular. Soft loose surfaces and irregular surfaces that could impede wheelchair movement have to be avoided. Carpets, loose sand or gravel and wet clay are normally considered soft loose surfaces. Cobblestones and the like are treated as irregular surfaces. Pressure treated wheelchair ramps are the most suitable method of ramp construction.

ADA recommends a static friction coefficient of more than 0.5 for surfaces used by normal persons. On the other hand, the static friction coefficient recommended for ramps is 0.8 to assist disabled persons using wheelchairs from slipping. Pressure treated wheelchair ramps would normally conform to the ADA guidelines of slip resistant surfaces.

The do-it-yourself wheelchair ramps are usually made of steel. They are modular in design for easy use by wheelchair persons. The ramp is normally of steel mesh type so that water and snow do not stagnate on the ramp. These ramps are available both with handrails on both sides or without handrails. The standard widths offered vary from 30 inches to 60 inches. Lengths are determined by the needs of the user. Steel turning landings are also available with sizes of 4 ft. by 4 ft. and 5 ft. by 5 ft.

Wheelchair ramps for GMC Safari as well as GMC Safari vans fitted with ramps for use by disabled persons and patients are available from several van dealers in most American cities. GMC Safari vans with wheelchair ramps can be purchased for prices ranging from $6,000 to $25,000, depending on the model of the GMC Safari and its condition.

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How To Choose A Wheelchair Basics

Choosing a wheelchair can seem a difficult choice, since there are many different models on the market. However there are really only a few types of wheelchair on the market, and understanding what each type offers can make the job of choosing one much easier. The main types are manual wheelchairs, motorized wheelchairs and heavy duty wheelchairs. This article will look at these types and some considerations that need to be borne in mind when choosing a wheelchair to suit your needs.

Manual wheelchairs are, as the name implies, a wheelchair which requires manual power to make it move. These type of wheelchairs are best used in the home, and especially where there is a flat surface which facilitates easy movement. But any kind of rough terrain makes it very difficult to move in these wheelchairs.

For rough terrain, or even for a journey outside for most people, demands the use of a motorized wheelchair. These wheelchairs are powered by a battery, or sometimes two batteries, and make it very easy for the disabled person to move around. Many of these types of wheelchairs have a range of up to twenty miles when the battery is fully charged, which is more than enough for the person to go about their daily business such as going to the shops and back.

But a normal motorized wheelchair won’t do when the disabled person want to go onto really rough ground. For that what is needed is a heavy duty wheelchair. These wheelchairs have an extremely strong body, and tyres which can cope with the roughest terrain. These wheelchairs give a mobility that is unthinkable with lighter types of wheelchair.

So before you choose your wheelchair, take time to think about what type of use you will need it for, and then do some research into the type of wheelchair that suits your needs.

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