Wheelchair Advice for the Disabled

I am C5/6 tetraplegic. In 21 years, I have owned three electrically powered wheelchairs. In hindsight, the first one, a Myra was totally unsuitable, the second one, a Cheetah was mediocre, the third one, a Permobil is absolutely perfect. If you have never had an electric wheelchair but are thinking about getting one, take my advice, take your time choosing one, don't rush into it. It is vitally important that you choose the correct electric power chair to suit your needs. A lot of these chairs cost many thousands of pounds. The last thing you want to do is rush into buying one only to find out a year later you have made a terrible mistake. Believe me, it's very easy to do, I've done it myself.

I really don't think that some of the wheelchair manufactures have put enough thought into who is going to be using their products. I have lost count of the times that I've seen wheelchairs fitted with Recaro rally seats.These are car seats, originally manufactured for use in rally cars. This type of seat is unsuitable for the majority of people who need to use a wheelchair. Most people who sit in a wheelchair for long periods of time need a suitable cushion to prevent pressure sores. Rally seats are not really designed to be used with cushions; they are designed to support your body so as to make a comfortable ride when traveling at speed in a sports car. Putting a cushion in one, makes a mockery out of what they were originally designed for.

One of my first wheelchairs had a rally seat fitted on it, the only way we could fit the Roho cushion successfully, was to carve out a space for it, not an easy task believe me. Even then, I found it incredibly uncomfortable to sit in. If you're looking at buying a new electric wheelchair, steer well clear of rally seats. I have included some photographs of the permobil. you can see the different positions the chair can be set at.

For nearly 10 years I have used a power chair called a Permobil. Permobil are not cheap wheelchairs by any means. My wheelchair costs me something like £12,000 when I purchased it in 2000. However I do have various extra components fitted to a my wheelchair. These components include a seat raise, complete tilt of the seating, backrest recline and adjustable foot rests. All of these functions can be performed electrically by the press of a button on the control that also houses my joystick. I find the seat raise function particularly useful when I am fishing, all may be if I am visiting a pub amounts of the sitting at everybody else's level next to the bar. The backrest and tilting seat function enable me to perform pressure relief as well as enabling me to either have a little sleep or relax. Although I don't use the foot rests that much, I do need to adjust them when entering the driving position in my van so this obviously gives me a great deal of independence. The wheelchair is also front-wheel-drive which gives you a lot more maneuverability than a rear wheel drive wheelchair, very handy if you use the wheelchair indoors a lot.

These photographs show the various functions that you can have fitted to your Permobil. Please note that some of these functions may be extra & may not be included in a standard wheelchair.

If you want to drive a vehicle from your Permobil then they sell a wheelchair lockdown system that is securely clamped to the floor of the vehicle. This makes sure that when you are driving your wheelchair is completely secure and you not going to move. It is very important that you have this kind of system in place if you are traveling in a vehicle, especially if you are the driver. This type of system much like the wheelchairs themselves are not cheap by any means. However, they are made especially for Permobil wheelchairs.

These wheelchairs are very expensive to buy. Sadly spare parts don't come cheap either, in fact I would go as far as saying that Permobil are blatantly ripping disabled people off by charging them ridiculously high prices for any spare parts that you may need for your wheelchair. For example I recently purchased two plastic covers for my leg restraints. I was charged £40 for two small plastic pouches with a zip on. I'm sorry but that is daylight robbery and Permobil should be ashamed of themselves for charging disabled people this kind of money for something that probably doesn't cost any more than a couple of quid to produce. Replacing the rear tires actually means buying the whole wheel. A pair of rear wheels cost £70 last time I bought some. Unlike the front tires which are universal and can be purchased from any wheelchair supply services, the rear wheels can only be purchased from Permobil, so they really have got you by the short and curly's.

God help you if any circuit boards breakdown, you're looking at hundreds and hundreds of pounds for placement boards. If the joystick goes wrong then it is a throwaway job because they are a sealed unit. By all accounts the new wheelchairs have been designed in such a way that if you have a problem with light controls for instance, the whole unit has got to be replaced. At least with my older version of the chair, individual parts can be replaced.

One other thing to bear in mind if they charge a £90 call out fee plus something like £45 an hour for any work carried out.

Permobil manufacture some really functional power chairs but they come at the price. I have recently obtained a Storm 4 power chair through the wheelchair scheme. I could either take what was available on the scheme, or use a voucher to buy a chair of my choice. I decided on the Storm power chair which although doesn't have quite the amount of functions my Permobil has, I was able to have fitted various important functions within my budget. These include complete check tilt, and backrest tilt, both of which are vitally important for my daily living needs. To give you an idea of the price difference, The Storm caused something around £6000, I paid over £12,000 for my Permobil chair 10 years ago. I can't imagine what they cost nowadays if you want all the extra goodies.