A Motorized Wheelchair Glider May Have To Wait A While
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Maybe someday soon someone will invent a motorized wheelchair glider. It might be for the person who doesn't walk too well but hasn't given up dreams of flight. Who hasn't dreamt of gliding or soaring? There's something special about flying silently above the earth on currents of air. It's something most people, whether they can walk or not, only dream about.
It's unlikely anyone will invent such a glider in the near future. Wheel chairs have to be sturdy and sometimes that requires heavy materials. The first electric wheel chairs were just standard wheel chairs with motors added. But the experience of disabled students at UC Berkeley CA revealed that something as harmless as bumping an electric powered chair into a curb could damage the frame.
The University of California at Berkeley became something of an ad hoc research lab for wheelchair technology after the first students with severe disabilities were admitted in the early 1960s. These students and their wheelchairs faced unusual challenges due to the geography of the city and the campus which were built on hills. Climbing the hills just to get from one class to another required powerful motors and big batteries. Chairs had to be built stronger to accommodate the extra weight as well as the wear and tear of active student life.
Modern motorized wheel chairs are far different from those early prototypes. Computer technology helps to make chairs easier to maneuver and faster. The power of a modern wheel chair makes it possible for users to go places that were once out of reach.
People who use motorized chairs nowadays have options undreamed of a generation ago. Chairs can be adjusted to meet individual preferences as well as the size and shape of the user's body. New designs are built to be easily maneuvered. They are shaped without protruding parts that damage walls and doorframes. Accessories such as drink holders and a rack for an oxygen tank can be added.
Not everyone who uses an electric wheel chair lives in a city with Berkeley's hills. People who live in flatter places might not need so much power and would prefer a chair that is lighter and not so zippy. People who spend most of their time indoors might not need a chair with the durable construction that Berkeley undergraduates and world travelers find desirable.
Don't doubt for a minute that there are world travelers who use motorized wheelchairs. They pack them along on trains and planes to the far corners of the earth. It may be a while yet before anyone invents a motorized wheelchair glider but in the meantime there are plenty of places to go and things to see for the wheelchair user who has found the perfect combination of power and comfort.
motorized wheelchair glider
Article Source: Articlelogy.com
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